ANIAN
ANIAN :
~ y drefn naturiol, y cread, athrylith, hanfod
~ the natural order, creation, genius, essence
What Our Participants Say
I loved it! The idea, the delivery, the vibe, the storytelling - everything!
Daniel
I am deeply grateful to have been part of the Cyfarwydd circle and to have experienced how stories can be real medicine. The space was so safe and loving that it helped me find my voice.
Sandie
The combination of storytelling, landscape, time for creative response and group experience is magical. Impossible to put into words the honour you deserve. It was fantastic!
Maggie
ANIAN is an old word in Cymraeg, to describe innate nature and a shared essence that connects all living beings. It reminds us that humans, animals, plants, stones and rivers are kin—bound to each other in the web of life.
Anian explores what it means to be deeply human in relationship with the living world. Rooted in myth, ceremony, story, pilgrimage, contemporary animism and the earth-based spiritual traditions of the British Isles, our work invites a deeper connection with spirit, place and the web of life. Anian's programmes and events offer deep enquiry and grounded pathways for restoring relationships with the more‑than‑human.
As we stand at the precipice of psychological, ecological and societal collapse, it’s time to listen deeply to the land and the wisdom traditions of our ancestors, to grieve what has been lost, and work with medicine stories, indigenous lore that has sustained humanity for millennia, and the generative practices that will guide us into a future in which all species thrive together. This reclaiming and re-membering form the foundation of our work; how we apply and practice this way of relating as modern humans in our daily lives is our ongoing enquiry.
Formed by Angharad Wynne, Anian is a circle of experienced international practitioners, facilitators, tradition bearers, wisdom keepers and guest teachers, and a community of participants and enquirers coming home to kinship and active reciprocity with the living world. We are part of a growing global resurgence towards a reparative and regenerative relationship with the more‑than‑human. Anian brings together a number of programme strands that have been developed and honed over the past twenty years: Dreaming the Land, In the Footsteps of Ancestors, Cyfarwydd, Cynefin and Dadeni. For details of all our forthcoming events and programmes, click here.
If this calls to you—if your bones sing or your soul howls as you read this—come join us.
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WHO WE ARE
ANGHARAD WYNNE
Tradition Bearer, Storyteller, Ceremonialist, Founder Anian & Dadeni Spirit School.
Angharad carries the indigenous wisdom tradition of the British Isles and weaves it with ecology, philosophy, creativity and contemporary animism practice.
She is Founder and Director of Anian, a co-founder with Colin Campbell and Rachel Flemming of Animate Earth Collective and a member of the Wisdom Keepers Collective. She is co-author, with Sharon Blackie, of ‘Wise Women’, published by Virago.
GWILYM MORUS-BAIRD
Musician, Storyteller, Tradition Bearer, Tutor Dadeni
Prof. Gwilym Morus-Baird is a Welsh literary historian, musician and storyteller whose work brings together early Welsh literature, the native spiritual traditions of the British Isles, and music. Through his YouTube channel, Celtic Source, and his writing, he shares his research with audiences worldwide. In 2023, he published his first book, Taliesin Origins: Exploring the Myth of the Greatest Celtic Bard, and he continues to compose, perform, write, teach, and consult.
FIONA SHAW
Medicine Woman, Ceremonialist, Teacher Dadeni
Fiona was initiated as a medicine woman, and spiritual leader, and given the responsibility of carrying the lineage of the Red Path tradition and Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan by Aurelio Tekpankali. He entrusted Fiona with the honour of carrying, these indigenous ritual ways in the UK and abroad.
Since 1997, Fiona has been gathering communities in the UK and Europe with ceremony at the heart of all things.
COLIN CAMPBELL
Diviner, Sangoma, Teacher Dadeni
Born in 1963 in Zimbabwe and raised in rural southeastern Botswana, as a child, Colin travelled widely across Africa with his father, cultural historian and archaeologist Alec Campbell. In 2000, Colin and his brother Niall were initiated as sangomas into the Fondo lineage, and in 2001 they founded the Ngonyama lineage and traditional healing school in southeastern Botswana. Through Ngonyama, Colin leads public outreach programs sharing wilderness-based knowledge systems with politicians, environmentalists, and indigenous leaders from around the world.
SIMMY SINGH
Musician, Composer, Collaborator Tân Festival & Lammas Pilgrimage
Simmy Singh is a violinist, composer and Earth activist whose work dissolves the boundaries between classical, folk, electronic, and improvisational sound. Her creative voice is rooted in a deep connection to land, lineage and the sacred. As a Future Wales Fellow (2023–25), Simmy explored the theme “How can art aid connection to nature?” This led to being mentored by Angharad and collaboration on a series of seasonal workshops and events. Their work together has continued and deepened ever since.
GWYN EDWARDS
Folklorist, Bard, Guide, Healer, Storyteller, Teacher Dadeni
Gwyn has been part of our Anian team from the very beginning, initially supporting on Dreaming the Land and In the Footsteps of Ancestor pilgrimages. His deep knowledge of the mythic landscapes and folklore of Gwynedd and his in-depth study of the lore and tales of the Tylwyth Teg - the fair folk, have brought him into the heart of our teaching team for Dadeni.
He shares a name with Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the Tylwyth Teg, and none of us are completely sure that he's not one and the same!
DR . ANDY LETCHER
Musician, Specialist in Dark Green Religion, Teacher Dadeni
Andy began his career as an ecologist before moving across to the humanities and the Study of Religion. He specialises in the critical and psychological study of what have been called 'dark green' religions. Andy is the author of Shroom. A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom (Faber &Faber 2006) and numerous papers on psychedelics. He is Programme Director for the MScs Psychedelics - Mind, Medicine, Culture programme at Exeter University.
BETHAN LLOYD
Singer, Composer, Dadeni Alumna, Teacher Dadeni.
Bethan Lloyd is a Welsh artist whose trance-inducing vocals expand over an ocean of sublime strings, harmonic layering and otherworldly ecstasy. Her sonic exploration has taken her from training as a classical singer, immersing herself in Berlin’s experimental music scene, to learning with shamans, masters and the ancient teachings of the natural world. Bethan weaves her original Welsh songs with improvisations inspired by place and spirit, offering her voice as prayer, as ceremony, as invocation.
KIRSTEN MANLEY
Conservationist with a passion for trees, Dadeni Alumna, Celebrant, Dadeni Support, Anian event support.
Kirsten Manley has followed a green path since moving to the UK from South Africa in her twenties. She works as a Communication and Engagement Officer for Coed Cadw, the Woodland Trust in Wales, a role that allows her to share her passion for trees and the natural world. An alumna of our first Dadeni programme, she has returned to support our current cohorts while developing her skills as a group facilitator and ceremonialist and Celebrant.
ALICE CLOUGH
Artist, Archaeologist, Anthropologist, Ceremonialist, Dadeni support.
Alice Clough is an interdisciplinary artist, archaeologist, anthropologist, ceremonialist and facilitator.
Her work is grounded in close observation. Attuned to both deep-time and lived experience, she focuses on how meaning is translated through materials, bodies, and environments.
Across her practice, animals, rocks, plants, and objects become a visual language for thinking through human relationships.
KEN FISHER
Therapist, Healer, Psychopomp, Teacher Dadeni.
Ken Fisher is an Edinburgh-based therapist and healer. He completed his core shamanic training with The Sacred Trust and serves as a conductor of souls and spiritual guide, operating in the capacity of a "psychopomp" – a role concerned with facilitating the passage of the soul from the physical world into the spiritual realm, particularly during the transition of death.
JODY WHITE
Drummer, Nature Bathing Guide, Writer, Podcaster, Dadeni Support.
At eighteen years old, Jody was diagnosed with a rare form of Acute Leukaemia and given just two weeks to live. His near-death initiation led to a deep interest in shamanism, yoga, herbalism, and foraging, alongside his day job as a graphic designer, with evenings often spent playing drums with various bands.
In 2022 Jody published his first book, Chimera, chronicling his journey with and recovery from leukaemia.
DAWN NEWMAN
Therapist, Grandmother, Dadeni Support
Dawn juggles her time between being a shamanic therapist, running a busy campsite in Devon and duties as a doting grandma to a gaggle of grandchildren. When she's not doing all of that, this Dadeni alumna returns to support our current cohort.
MIKE JONES
Landscape Designer, Anian Support
If you're attending one of our pilgrimages or physical events, you'll likely meet Mike. Often in charge of parking and logistics, welcoming and sorting all manner of things out behind the scenes.
CADI
Chief Rounder-upper and Companion, Anian Pilgrimages
Now thirteen years old, Cadi has been a fixture of most of our 'In the Footsteps of Ancestors' pilgrimages from the very beginning. She rounds everyone up, keeps up the pace and alerts the whole pilgrimage group if anyone tries to sneak off for a wee. Receives more fan mail than anyone else on the team!
OUR PARTNERS
SOME OF THE ORGANISATIONS WE WORK WITH
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ANIAN PROGRAMMES & PROJECTS
Storytelling and Story-delving explorations into the mythopoetics of life. This medicine thread leads to the forest, the cave, the giant's lair, the fairytale castle and the heart of our own story and that of our world right now.
A modern mystery school offering a three-year initiatory process informed by the lore and Brythonic wisdom tradition of these Isles. This initiatory process invites participants into a tradition and into a new way of relating with all life.
Pilgrimages and adventures in the mythic landscape, from day events to four-day expeditions delving deep into the history, archaeology, energies, and mythos of the land, her creatures, and people, and responding creatively through ceremony, song, vigil, story, poetry, and deep dreaming.
A transformational enquiry into belonging and generating a deeper relationship with the land that we're on - right now. We care for our world by starting with our own square miles, falling into deep relating and loving these places better, weaving ourselves into our habitats and understanding how our stories intersect with place, and how our current home always has something to teach us.
A festival of fire, music, storytelling and ecology to welcome the returning light at Gŵyl y Golay ~ Imbolc each year, in partnership with National Trust Dinefwr.
A campaign to reclaim lost words for deep relating with the more than human, a quest to reconnect the English language with animate experience, and to bring this old way of relating to the world from the edges to the centre of our culture. In partnership with the Return to Earth collective of international animists.
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