Remembering Gwydion Pendderwen

Gwydion Pendderwen (Thomas deLong) was born May 21^st 1946 and passed on November 9^th, 1982.

He was a musician, conservationist, and Pagan and is probably best known for his music, including the albums, Songs for the Old Religion and The Faerie Shaman.  He was also one of the founders of “Forever Forests”, an tree planning organization in Northern California. He was also one of the early leaders of the Feri Tradition and is known as the start of the “Watchmaker Line” in that tradition.

His music was among the first specifically Pagan themed music I ever purchased. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s there wasn’t much Pagan music available; Gwydion’s material was one of the few one of the few.  Songs such as “The Lord of the Dance “ and “We Won’t Wait Any Longer “ were important to the Neopaganism movement in general and helped define the period. He and the other folks Northern California Pagans set the tone and direction of Paganism in the 1980’s. Gwydion had given a concert at the Pagan Spirit Gathering, in 1980, before I began attending the Gathering.  With his release of Faerie Shaman in 1982, I was hoping he would return to PSG (in 1983) to promote it and give me the opportunity to listen to him in person.  I recall my sadness when I learned of his death due to a car accident in the fall of ‘82.  Because of his work with Forever Forests, I still think of him at Arbor Day and other times when tree planting take place.



Today, on the 66th anniversary of his birth, I remember Gwydion Pendderwen and give thanks to him as an Ancestor.