An authoritative account of a secret Welsh Druidic sect and their forbidden sex magic practices

• Draws on never before translated occult manuscripts to reveal the origins, philosophy, and ritual system of Y Derwydd Dywyll—the Obscurants—a breakaway Welsh Druidic order

• Explores how Aleister Crowley, Viscount Evan Morgan, and the occult networks of early 20th-century Britain influenced the formation of the Obscurants’ doctrine

• Describes the sect’s seven-degree initiation system, the crafting of sacred elixirs, and the philosophy of Universal Equilibrium that governs their magical work

A dramatic schism fractured Welsh Druidry when a faction led by the scholar-farmer Gwanwyn yr Ysgolhaig broke away to preserve what he believed were the authentic rites of the ancient Druids, including the practice of sex magic. Expelled from the convocation, Gwanwyn and his followers became Y Derwydd Dywyll, the Obscurants, a secretive order that has guarded its lore for over seventy years.

Drawing on secret Welsh manuscripts, personal journals, and oral testimony gathered under strict conditions, Jon G. Hughes traces the philosophical and historical currents that shaped this hidden tradition. Hughes recounts Gwanwyn’s years at Tredegar House, where encounters with Viscount Evan Morgan and Aleister Crowley introduced him to the practice of ceremonial sex magic. These experiences, synthesized with ancient Welsh Druidic lore, gave rise to a philosophy centered on Universal Equilibrium: the disciplined alignment of sexual energy and focused intention as a means of engaging with the primal forces of nature.

Hughes documents the sect’s seven-degree initiation system, the crafting of ritual elixirs, the use of secret Words of Power in Welsh, and the precise ceremonial procedures governing their rites, providing a window into this living tradition.