International Women's Day is
celebrated each year on March 8th.
As Friday is International Women's Day and today is Witchcraft Wednesday here on the blog - I thought I'd honour both days with a post about Princess Gwenllian...
Princess Gwenllian, daughter of Gruffudd ap Rhys, was born into the wild heart of medieval Wales, a land steeped in mysticism, resistance, and ancient sovereignty. Raised amidst the rugged hills and sacred groves of Deheubarth, she inherited not only a royal lineage but the fierce bloodline of warriors, a legacy woven with the whispers of Druids and the guardianship of the land itself.
In 1136, as invaders sought to unravel Welsh rule, Gwenllian did not shrink from battle - she became the storm, leading her people against the Norman forces with a fire that still burns in folklore. Her defiance was not merely mortal; it was spiritual, an invocation of Wales’ mystical past, where kings and queens stood as chosen protectors of sacred earth.
Though she fell in battle, her name was never silenced - her spirit lingers in the winds that howl over the valleys, her legacy carried in the blood of those who still fight to preserve their heritage.
For Celtic witches, Gwenllian is more than legend - she is an ancestral force, a guardian entwined with the magic of the land and the spirits of resistance. They invoke her name in spells of protection, sovereignty, and defiance, drawing upon the same energy that once coursed through her veins as she rode into battle.
The Welsh believed their rulers held a divine connection to the earth, and Gwenllian, taken before her time, became more than history - she became a symbol of untamed magic, lost but never forgotten.
Her presence lingers in the ruins of castles, in the tides that crash upon Welsh shores, in the spectral hush of ancient forests, guiding those who seek strength in the unseen forces that shape the world.
To those who practice Celtic witchcraft, she is a warrior, a sorceress in spirit, a beacon of power that refuses to fade.
I hope you have something you love doing planned for Friday.
Happy International Women's Day.
♥