In the 37th, and final, chapter on my retracing of Sir Gawain's quest for the Green Knight, I revisit the soldier-seer who left us the tales of the Mabinogi, and reflect on what it's all meant. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-soldie...

Gawain's quest was to find the Green Chapel and fulfil his ager with the Green Knight. But who was the Green Knight, and why did he come to King Arthur's Christmas feast in the first place? Morgan le Fay now enters the tale... and so does Gwyn ap Nudd... traethiad.substack.com/p/lord-berti...

As I visit the place where Gawain was buried, I ask: what was his wager with the Green Knight all about? What should we learn from the tale of his quest? I reach some partial answers as we prepare for the arrival of Morgan Le Fay, traethiad.substack.com/p/the-grave-...

A seer foresaw Glyndŵr's death under a black banner. I explore his last years, his links with warrior monks, and the worldview that produced the Mabinogi and the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-death-...

In this post, I arrive at Gawain's destination: the Green Chapel, where he at last meets the Green Knight. What's the connection with an ancient High King of Britain, the lord of the Otherworld, and the frontier of a lost Wales? traethiad.substack.com/p/i-arrive-a...

Sir Gawain's footsteps lead me to the Wirral - and the Cilgwri where Arthur's men asked the ousel about Mabon ap Modron. Why did the poet send him there? Perhaps to stir memories of the bloody birth of England and of the Welsh claim to lost lands. traethiad.substack.com/p/from-the-b...

The poem - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - says Gawain went by fords and forelands and over the Holy Head. JRR Tolkien was certain it was a real place - but where? In this post, I find it, and show how it matches the poem's description. traethiad.substack.com/p/i-find-the...

How did the medieval Welsh understand their place in the world? I discuss giants, and ask: were the tales of the Mabinogion and of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight part of a multi-generational magical conflict? traethiad.substack.com/p/magical-wa...

The great Welsh rebellion of 1400 should never have happened, but a simple act of malice plunged Wales into years of brutal war. I contemplate Tarot card XVI, The Tower, and ask: how do we respond when our former life is destroyed in an instant? traethiad.substack.com/p/when-the-t...

A miracle-working saint who was Sir Gawain's nephew; the original Robin Hood; a medieval rap battle presenting different views of feudalism... plus a cat. And I still don't get to Sycharth traethiad.substack.com/p/tales-from...

In the latest chapter of my walk in Sir Gawain's footsteps... I don't walk at all. Am I being opposed by a long-dead, miracle-working saint and his niece? I suspect I am. traethiad.substack.com/p/two-saints...

In this chapter, I walk through lands where rioters once revelled in churches, where travellers feared to venture, where crusaders built a church inside a stone circle... and one man created a garden and a library in the Green desert. traethiad.substack.com/p/aelwyd-a-h...

A raised bog, a hidden abbey, and crusading warrior-monks. As my pursuit of Gawain brings me to the Green Desert, I encounter some of the complex layers of medieval Wales. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-bog-and-...

As I progress in Sir Gawain's footsteps, I pass through a place of miracles, where the role of divine grace versus human free will was once passionately debated, and where Hu Gadarn lost an ox. traethiad.substack.com/p/towards-th...

In a clan-based society, family is everything. What would make a man reject his name? Especially a soldier-seer and master poet? Answering that leads to a man who was hanged until dead twice, and came back to tell the tale. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-soldier-...

As I follow Sir Gawain's search for the Green Knight, I'm led into the world of Welsh master-poets, who were expected to master history, verse... and divination. Also, the legacy of Pelagius, and spiritual dissent. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-scab-o...

It's one thing to visit an ancient tomb; quite another to receive news of a death. In this instalment, I'm forced to contemplate whether the person I thought I was is also gone. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-grave-...

In November 2023 I visited Waun Mawn, the original site of the Stonehenge bluestone circle. Here I piece together myth, history and archaeology to restore a tale spanning millennia... and explaining the link between druids and pigs. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-site-of-...

Owain Glyndŵr was - reputedly - born on the line between two languages and cultures... and in a parish where our world and the Otherworld overlap. My walk in Gawain's footsteps leads me to the feet of the mountains of magic - and the kindness of strangers. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-forgot...

My latest article on Bylines Cymru, on life in Timor-Leste and the lessons it holds for the Welsh independence movement. bylines.cymru/politics-and...

From the pleasure garden of Camelot to Wolf’s Castle: my latest episode explores how the tales of Sir Gawain and Owain Glyndŵr, the last Prince of Wales, are intertwined. We’ll explore dreams of lost lands, the land of Logres, and futures not yet grasped. traethiad.substack.com/p/from-camel...

We all know the name Camelot. In this latest instalment following in the footsteps of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I explain what Camelot really meant, and where it was to be found. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-cold-r...

Welsh tradition has it that Sir Gawain left Arthur's court to become a hermit living on the south Pembrokeshire coast. I went to his chapel - and something unexpected happened. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-knight...

Who studies the stars and destroys armies? Who dwells on Glastonbury Tor and roams Welsh peaks? Who demands you be your best, and lures you to your death if you don't? My walk through Wales takes a wrong turn... but a useful one. traethiad.substack.com/p/on-the-edg...

Alternative technology, the cauldron of inspiration, and why a Christian knight has a pentacle on his shield. Oh, and star-gazing giants. All part of my quest for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. traethiad.substack.com/p/annwn-awai...

Our lives are defined by the stories we tell ourselves. But, if they don't fit - if they can't help us deal with objective reality - things go bad very quickly. That's where I was in August 2023. But a chance encounter with the Green Knight changed things. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-knights-...

How is a conversation between a Saxon saint and a reanimated corpse linked to the Mabinogion? Why does the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begin with the fall of Troy? And why does the Virgin Mary get involved? It's all in my latest piece on Substack. traethiad.substack.com/p/from-aenea...

I love this: a mashup of cowboy bluegrass and Mongolian throat-singing. youtu.be/E5oHBMo1pQk?...

How did a court case connect Owain Glyndŵr with King Arthur and Cornish independence? And what did Sir Gregory Sais have to do with Sir Gawain and the end of English feudalism? traethiad.substack.com/p/a-gold-bar...

Who wrote 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight': an Anglo-Norman? A Welshman? He must have been Welsh: too many things in the story only make sense when viewed through a Welsh prism. And it tells us that the unsung hero of the Second Branch is... Efnisien. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-son-of...

Le Morte d'Arthur helped a traumatised nation heal. it came 100 years after Gawain & the Green Knight, so doesn't help our understanding of the poem. But Malory's creation dominates the way we think about Arthur, so we need to talk about him. traethiad.substack.com/p/arthur-in-...

Who was King Arthur? There are 3 different answers to this question. What's that got to do with Myrddin & Merlin, Gwalchmai & Gawain? To follow 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', we need to know the answers. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-arthur...

The medieval poem, 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight', was written in Middle English. Everyone assumes it was written by an Englishman - but it emerged from the Welsh Marches. Perhaps the author was Welsh. Perhaps the author was Owain Glyndŵr. traethiad.substack.com/p/ghosts-in-...

People in the middle ages understood the world better than we do. And if we want to grasp what Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have to tell us, we must first see the world as they saw it. So let's meet Hopcyn ap Tomas ab Einion: soldier, seer and poet. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-hawk-a-h...

My latest on Substack tells of a long-ago encounter with awe and enchantment in Africa - and how science is now confirming what bards, priests and magicians have known all along. traethiad.substack.com/p/dancing-wi...

I once met a god in Singapore, and had to flee another. Science doesn't say there's no spirit world: it only says we have no way to test it. And that's a very different thing when a god is talking to you. My latest on Substack. traethiad.substack.com/p/meeting-go...

Another perfect pastel sunset. Boa noite.

In my Substack posts, I'm discussing the re-enchantment of the world before I move on to my walk across Wales in search of the Green Knight. In this post, I tell the true story of when I encountered dragons on the North China Plain. #reenchantment #reality traethiad.substack.com/p/the-time-w...

In my latest on Substack I turn away from politics to discuss how I fell into despair - and how walking across Wales, retracing Gawain's quest for the Green Chapel, saved me. The start of a series. #reenchantment #myth #sirgawain traethiad.substack.com/p/seeking-th...

Happy Sunday evening from Timor-Leste.

My latest on Substack. A surprise city-wide power cut gets me thinking about how complex systems (one's own life just as much as a post-industrial society) can suddenly come unstuck - and on the importance of having a structured plan for the future. traethiad.substack.com/p/crisis-and...

Hope your Sunday's going well. Greetings from Timor Leste!

A derelict taxi... No water in my shower... Transhumanism and Elon Musk... and society in Wales. This week's Substack article is about complex systems and their requirements - and how Wales no longer has what it needs to run an advanced society. traethiad.substack.com/p/the-future...

Gang violence has been a big problem in Timor-Leste. The government banned martial arts in response- but the gangs are still here. Prompted by a brief encounter, in this Substack post I consider how gangs emerge - and whether we'll see them emerge in Wales. traethiad.substack.com/p/east-timor...

The world has changed in the last week, and will never be the same again. Wales faces a political and economic tsunami. We need leadership - but the indy movement is missing in action. traethiad.substack.com/p/a-tsunami-...

A new Substack post on why Wales needs to look to Asian nations such as Singapore and Timor-Leste for lessons on how to be an independent nation. traethiad.substack.com/p/thoughts-a...

A new Substack post on why I quit Plaid Cymru. traethiad.substack.com/p/why-i-left...

Cold beer. Very spicy chicken noodle soup. Happy Saturday from the tropics!

A Substack post on rejoining the Welsh diaspora: Diaspor-ing (Again) traethiad.substack.com/p/diaspor-in...

Last year, Kishore Mahbabuni, a prominent Singaporean former diplomat, said directly that the Anglo-Saxon media tells outright lies. Now the serving Minister For Defence. Dr Ng Eng Hen, says that the US is "a landlord seeking rent", pondering a world in which the US is withdrawing from hegemony.