The Golden Dragon Of Wales Is Awake

Five Kingdoms. One Wales. The Golden Dragon At Our Heart.

They call me Goldie The Grey.

The gold needs explaining. The grey speaks for itself.

And that golden dragon?

There’s a story behind that. So, grab a coffee, tea, or something stronger if you prefer. Sit back and enjoy the visions I create through the art of storytelling.

The Beginning of the Journey

You might expect it to begin with a sword, a prophecy, or a mysterious stranger arriving on a particularly dramatic evening.

Mine begins with finding somewhere to store Mam’s paperwork in digital perpetuity.

Quite enough responsibility, you might think.

But family paperwork has a habit of refusing to remain paperwork. A name becomes a question. A branch becomes a journey. Before long, you are looking at a family tree and wondering how much of yourself you understood before you started.

Somewhere along that journey, the story became much bigger than creating a home for Mam’s paperwork.

The Names Between Us

In the family line I am tracing, the family tree places me thirty-five generations after Rhodri Mawr.

That is how I understand my connection. Following the generations matters, because a family tree is more than a line drawn between a king and someone living now.

There are people between us.

People with households to keep, children to raise, losses to endure and decisions to make.

People whose lives deserve more than being hurried past on the way to an impressive name.

I want to know about them, too.

And I want to make room for the family stories that do not fit neatly into a chart.

Because the House of Rhodri, as I am coming to describe it, is a rather unusual house.

A House With Many Names

Witches. Mages. Shamans. Seers. Healers. Empaths. Mystics.

Those are some of the names I use when speaking about the mystic lives and experiences within my family.

Not everyone would choose the same description. Not every generation would have understood those words in the same way.

I am not suggesting that every ancestor left behind a certificate declaring their particular speciality.

Mam had enough paperwork already.

But these are part of the language through which I understand our family: love, intuition, mystic practice, inspiration, care, and experiences that sometimes take longer to explain than they do to feel.

I can tell those stories without asking everyone to interpret them exactly as I do.

They are worth hearing in their own right.

Finding My Own Language

As for me, I describe some of my experiences as shamanic, and others as mage-like. Inferred

Those are the words that presently come closest to what I mean.

The experiences behind them will need their own telling. I do not want to dress them in borrowed mystery, or pretend I have explained something simply because I have given it a mystical name.

There is room here for belief.

There is room for questions, too.

When I tell this story, I want to distinguish what I remember, what my family has told me, what I can document, and what I understand through my own mystic life.

The golden dragon can carry a great deal of meaning without serving as proof of everything.

I Am Claiming A Kingdom

So, before anyone gets carried away:

I’m not claiming a throne.

I’m claiming a kingdom.

The heavenly kingdom of Wales is the name I give to the mystic landscape of this story: ancestry, imagination, belonging, and a vision of what might yet be possible.

As Above, So Below.

On the map, that vision begins to take shape.

Gwynedd.

Powys.

Seisyllwg.

Then Dyfed and Gwent.

Five Names. Five Colours. One Wales.

The map began with an interest in Rhodri’s world. But the conversation did not stay in the past.

The family story reaches beyond the first three coloured regions. As it grew, so did the vision.

And that is the distinction I want to make plainly:

We are not redrawing the past and pretending it always looked like this.

We are imagining a future.

Our five-kingdom map is a proposal expressed through story and art. Its boundaries are the shape of an idea, not a claim that every part of it belonged to one ruler in one historical moment.

The House of Rhodri is the name under which I am gathering that idea.

The Castles Beneath The Dragon

Then came the castles.

If we were going to speak of five kingdoms, we needed to name the places standing within our vision.

Fifteen castles became our first landmarks.

Not the only castles in Wales. Not the limits of the story. Fifteen places around which to begin gathering its threads.

In our Gwynedd, we named Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech.

In our Powys, we named Powis, Montgomery and Dolforwyn.

In our Seisyllwg, we named Cardigan, Dinefwr and Carreg Cennen.

In our Dyfed, we named Pembroke, Carew and Manorbier.

And in our wider Gwent, we named Caerphilly, Cardiff and Chepstow.

There they were.

Fifteen Castles. Five Kingdoms. One Wales.

Within our vision of the House of Rhodri, each stands beneath the golden dragon.

That is how we place them in the story; not by pretending they were all built by our ancestors, or that their histories began with us. Each keeps its own history, and this declaration does not change its present ownership or care.

We are imagining how these places might belong within a shared future.

Some may enter our family story through a memory. Others through a connection still to be explored. Some may be places where we pause, look around, and ask what we want the next chapter of Wales to be.

Naming them makes the vision less distant.

You can say “five kingdoms” and leave people picturing almost anything.

But say Caernarfon. Say Dinefwr. Say Pembroke.

Now there are places to visit, questions to ask, and stories to hear.

The map begins to feel like somewhere you could travel through.

Which is all very well.

But before anyone asks where I intend to keep the keys to fifteen castles (it's a secret!), I should remind you that this began with finding somewhere for Mam’s paperwork.

We are taking things one responsibility at a time.

The Flag Above Them

Then we gave the vision a flag.

For this proposed flag, we kept the white above and the green below, and placed a golden dragon at the core, where the red dragon would ordinarily stand. The red dragon is a base emotion, one of will, fire and ash. We replace it with purpose, love, no fear ...

The white represents the heavens.

The green represents the land.

The golden dragon represents our hope for Wales' prosperity within our vision of the House of Rhodri.

To me, the colours speak to the belief that God created the heavens and the earth. They bring the mystic and the earthly into the same image.

As Above, So Below.

And beneath that image, our guiding words:

Peace, Prosperity, Patience & Justice Under God.

• Peace - not a demand that everyone agree, but a commitment not to force agreement.

• Prosperity - not riches gathered into a few hands, but the flourishing of people, communities, culture and land.

• Patience - because a future worth building cannot be summoned into existence merely by declaring it.

• Justice - because none of the other promises means very much if people cannot expect to be treated fairly.

“Under God” expresses my blind faith and the responsibility I feel within it. It is not a requirement that everyone share my beliefs.

No one should have to profess a religion, accept a mystic claim, or recognise something sacred in the dragon to enjoy equal dignity.

I would raise this flag as an invitation to consider a vision.

Not as permission to take away someone else’s voice.

What Would The Kingdoms Stand For?

A map is an excellent place to begin.

It is not enough to govern by.

Sooner or later, someone is entitled to ask a practical question.

What would this mean for the people living here?

Fair enough.

A golden dragon is striking, but it cannot answer a complaint simply by glowing more brightly.

So the story needs a charter.

I do not recognise the present form of government as the future I want for Wales. But dissatisfaction, however deeply felt, is only the beginning of an argument.

If I am going to speak of a different future, I must be prepared to explain it.

Not merely who would stand at the centre of the map.

How power would be limited.

How people would be heard.

How someone could disagree with the House of Rhodri and remain just as free, just as safe, and just as Welsh as anyone else.

A Modern Charter

For that foundation, we have chosen to look towards Cyfraith Hywel ... the Laws of Hywel Dda.

Not a literal restoration of every medieval rule.

A modern charter founded on that inheritance, studied carefully and shaped for the people who would live under it now.

That is the proposal we have begun to put into words.

No longer the Laws of the Sea, we demand the Laws of the Land ...

Equal dignity.

Freedom of conscience.

Freedom of Speech.

Leadership that must answer for its decisions.

Justice that seeks to repair harm where possible, while protecting those who have been hurt.

Care for the land, the water, the minerals, the language, the traditions and the places entrusted to us.

A meaningful voice for people throughout all five kingdoms.

These are commitments we would have to honour in practice, not phrases to place beneath an attractive picture.

And the charter must leave room for people whose beliefs differ from mine.

There must be room for the mystic and the sceptic, the religious and the agnostic, the person who finds meaning in the dragon and the person who enjoys the artwork.

No one should need to share my mystical understanding to possess equal rights.

Justice Within The Castles

Within this proposed future, the castles would have a purpose beyond their place on the map.

We envision them as homes for courts: places where justice is heard within the communities it serves.

Not the present judicial system with a new flag hung above its door, but a proposed alternative whose authority would come from an agreed charter and laws openly established with the people’s consent.

Our intention would be for all courts to sit within castle settings, wherever conservation, safety and accessibility could be reconciled with that purpose. Where a site could not accommodate a working court, suitable facilities would have to be considered without damaging the place we intended to honour.

Because a symbol is no use to justice if someone cannot get through the door.

Judgment would be entrusted to people’s peers; members of the community under the new laws we propose.

But “the community” must never become another name for the loudest voices in it.

A person should not lose a case because they are unpopular, unfamiliar, poor, or different.

Knowing someone’s reputation must not be mistaken for knowing the evidence.

The charter would therefore need clear protections: impartial selection, the removal of anyone with a conflict of interest, independent legal guidance, and a fair opportunity for each side to be heard.

Anyone accused would be presumed innocent unless the case against them met the legal standard. They would have the right to understand the accusation, receive legal assistance, challenge the evidence and seek an independent appeal.

Those who report harm would deserve safety, dignity and support throughout the process.

Decisions would need reasons.

The laws themselves would need to be public, understandable, and open to challenge and revision through agreed procedures.

And no one - not a leader, not a relative, not the founder of the vision - would be entitled to dictate a verdict.

Including me.

Especially if I happened to be standing beneath a particularly impressive dragon at the time.

Where harm could be repaired, the court would seek meaningful repair. Where protection was necessary, it would have to provide it. Forgiveness could be freely offered, but never demanded of someone who had been hurt.

That is the justice I would want these castle courts to work towards.

Not spectacle.

Not vengeance.

Responsibility, fairness and a way forward.

These are proposals for a possible future, not courts we can bring into lawful existence simply by announcing them. Until any change were lawfully established, the vision would not replace existing courts or release anyone from their present legal obligations.

The Meaning Of A House

If I use the word “House”, I want it to carry a sense of responsibility.

My ancestry may help explain why I began this journey. It does not make me more valuable than the people beside me.

It does not place me above the law.

And it cannot, by itself, grant me authority over people who have not chosen it.

Any future political arrangement would need the freely expressed consent of the people, achieved through peaceful and lawful change.

Otherwise, we would have drawn five kingdoms without answering the most important question:

Whose home are we talking about?

Wales is already home to people with lives, convictions, hopes and disagreements of their own.

A worthwhile vision must have room for them.

The House, as I imagine it, must be able to listen as well as speak.

And if its proposals do not withstand scrutiny, then the proposals need more work.

What It Means To Be Awake

When I say the Golden Dragon of Wales is awake, I am giving a name to the awakening at the heart of this story.

My growing attention to family.

My search for a language for mystical experience.

My wish to imagine a Wales organised around belonging, responsibility and justice.

The dragon is the symbol I have chosen to carry those things together.

Its awakening is not proof that I have all the answers.

It is the beginning of asking what I intend to do with the questions.

What does ancestry ask of me?

What does faith require of the way I treat someone who does not share it?

What would I be willing to change in my own vision after listening to someone else?

Those questions belong beneath the flag as much as any declaration.

Where The Story Stands

So this is where we are.

A family line being traced.

My mother's research.

My own attempts to find words for experiences that matter to me.

Five kingdoms on a map.

Fifteen castles named within the vision.

A proposed flag of white, green and gold.

And the beginning of a charter: something to discuss, test, question and improve.

There is still much I do not know.

That is not a reason to invent the missing pieces.

It is a reason to keep looking.

They call me Goldie The Grey.

The gold needs explaining.

The grey speaks for itself.

And if you came here expecting a demand for a throne, you may have to settle for a family story, a proposed charter, and a rather ambitious map.

All of which began with finding somewhere to store and digitise my mother's research.

Peace, Prosperity, Patience & Justice Under God.

As Above, So Below.

The Golden Dragon Of Wales Is Awake.