Gwyn

Ancient god of Glastonbury and key to the Glastonbury Zodiac

 By Yuri Leitch

Gwyn is a new book by long time friend and collaborator Yuri Leitch. Yuri has lived in the shadow of Glastonbury Tor for the past 5 years, and this superb new book is the creative result. Yuri has thoroughly researched the legend of Gwyn up Nudd and his associations with Glastonbury Tor. He explores the Welsh origins of the legend, and looks at the Vale of Neath as Gwyn's ancestral home along with St Nectans Glen in Cornwall, and interestingly discovers that Neath and Nectan are the same name, Nectan being the Cornish variant of Neath.

Yuri tells the story well, and draws us back in time, beyond the legends surrounding Gwyn and Glastonbury to reveal some of the original stories and puts it all in context, by re-telling the story of the Saxon invasion of Britain.

The book is beautifully bound and has exquisite illustrations by the author and an introduction by Paul Broadhurst. Gwyn is available as a numbered hardback edition direct from the publishers.

For me the best part of the book is the original, thought provoking and meticulous research that Yuri has done, and the results give us a fresh and interesting insight to the way that we approach the old gods of Britain.  If more people, especially neo-pagans, researched the gods that they honoured, I believe that they would gain a far greater understanding of the true nature of the ancient and diverse living traditions of the islands that make up Britain. 

Reviewed by Alex Langstone, August 2007 http://alexlangstone.blogspot.com/

Published June 2007

The Temple Publications, UK

Hardback 978-0-9555970-0-8

Paperback ISBN 978-0-9555970-1-5