Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery and Inner Wisdom

by Jhenah Telyndru

Journey to the legendary Isle of Avalon and experience the magic, mysteries, and mysticism that have inspired women throughout the ages.

Jhenah Telyndru, founder of the Avalonian Tradition, invites you on a unique spiritual path of healing and personal revelation built upon the beloved Avalon mythology. Connect with the Goddesses of Avalon through guided journeys and powerful rituals. Explore Glastonbury's Sacred Landscape with eight pages of gorgeous color photographs. Develop legendary Avalonian skills--such as the Sight and the art of Glamour--to heal wounds of the soul and unlock the sacred wisdom at the core of your being.

Drawing on Celtic mythology, Arthurian legend, and Druidic lore and exploring the way of the priestess as alluded to in Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, the Avalonian path empowers women everywhere to transform their lives by seeking the Goddess and the Sovereign self within.

Genres: Spirituality, Mythology, Paganism, Witchcraft, Occult, Religion, Nonfiction

311 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Jhenah Telyndru has always felt called to dance with joy in that liminal space which straddles the realms of history and myth, of individuality and collectivity, of the seen and the unseen. A creative mystic who loves science and values fact, Jhenah embraces the conscious co-creation of the future, while immersing herself in an impassioned study of the past. The path between, she believes, is where the mysteries are revealed and where true magic happens.

Jhenah is an author, educator, and priestess who has devoted her life to exploring the spiritual and mythic traditions of Wales and the Iron Age Celtic tribes of Britain and Gaul. A formally trained Celticist, Jhenah holds an MA in Celtic Studies from the University of Wales, as well as a BA in Archaeology from Stony Brook University. She founded the Sisterhood of Avalon  in 1995, and serves as Academic Dean of the Avalonian Thealogical Seminary. Jhenah hosts residential training retreats around North America and the UK, presents internationally at conferences and festivals, teaches online workshops and immersion programs, and facilitates pilgrimages to sacred sites in the British Isles and Ireland through Mythic Seeker Tours.

Her published works include  Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery, and Inner Wisdom (Llewellyn, 2010), The Avalonian Oracle: Spiritual Wisdom from the Holy Isle (Schiffer, 2016), Rhiannon: Divine Queen of the Celtic Britons (Moon Books, 2018), The Mythic Moons of Avalon: Lunar and Herbal Wisdom From the Island of Healing (Llewellyn, 2019), Pagan Portals – Blodeuwedd: Welsh Goddess of Seasonal Sovereignty (Moon Books, 2021), and The Ninefold Way of Avalon: Walking the Path of the Priestess (Llewellyn 2023).

Her writing has been featured in fiction and non-fiction anthologies; has appeared in a variety of magazines, literary journals, and periodicals including PanGaia, SageWoman, The Beltane Papers, Circle Magazine, Watkins Body, Mind, and Spirit, and The Tor Stone; as well as various annuals and datebooks from Llewellyn Worldwide and Ninth Wave Press.

A priestess in the Avalonian Tradition for over 35 years, Jhenah has been following a Pagan path since 1986.She is an Awenydd Druid of the Anglesey Druid Order (ADO), and is a certified Amicus Mortis (Friend of Death) through the Order. As a member of clergy, Jhenah performs rites of passage in her community, has trained in herbalism and a variety of alternative healing modalities, and is in service as a Transpersonal Tarot Counselor and teacher.

To find out more about her and her work, she invites you to visit www.ynysafallon.com.or https://linktr.ee/YnysAfallon.

Reviews

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely new edition of this book and special to me as some of my photos are included

[Andrew McAuliffe-Shave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I did enjoy the book I personally felt this book was written exclusively for women and that I kind of wasn't supposed to be there in a way. The writer does have talent for sure though and i will read her next book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jhenah's work in the Avalonian path is unmatched! If you are interested or following the Avalon traditions? This is the book for you!

[Lenno Vranken · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She lives! She lives within us still!
The Holy Well and Spiral Hill
The Lake, the Barge and mist-hid swans -
Come sing, with joy, of Avalon."
-Jhenah Telyndru

Well, it must be said that I've never taken so long to finish a book before. After more than two years, I finally read the last page of this work.
This book was very heavy on many aspects. I found the rituals in each chapter to be very detailed and effective, but they each took alot of time for me to process. And so, as I truly dedicated myself to complete each and every ritual, I would allow a time-span of over fourteen months to pass.
I truly don't regret me taking so long to read this book. Reading it was somewhat of a process of itself and in the end, I feel like I've taken a deeper understanding of Avalon and it's traditions.
This book does touch upon some witchcraft aspects, but it isn't fully based on the Craft alone. Minding that there are alot of heavy topics in this work, I would not recommend it for a beginner witch. For medium to experienced practitioners however, this could prove to be a powerfull companion in their workings. I know that I'll keep this book on my altar for sure.
As with almost every book on magick, witchcraft and ritual workings in general, this work is heavily feminine based. Men are completely excluded from this book, wich I find a shame as always, seeing that witchcraft is about balance in everything. One can simply not live without the other. We have to do this with respect for eachother, however.

[e. gwynevere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m torn between 4 and 5 stars and honestly I might go back and change it. There was nothing ‘wrong’ with this book at all, on any objective metric, so that should logically make it 5 stars, but I admittedly judge spiritual nonfiction on how well it resonated with me personally (as well as more standard metrics such as how well written it was, how well researched, etc) and *something* about this just wasn’t quite giving me that full body reaction where I know something is going to change my spiritual outlook forever, at least at this time. I began reading this book last summer, and when I hit the parts specific to each part of the cycle, I decided to hold off on reading it until I could do the whole cycle aligned with its corresponding part of the year. So that’s why it took me so long to finish this. However, annoyingly, I lost the little journal in which I was recording all my work done in the Immrams, not long after I’d completed the Station of Emergence work. I could’ve just picked up a new journal and started from there but my autistic brain wouldn’t let me because I wanted everything to be in the one place, so I decided to just call it quits and start the cycle again with the Sisterhood of Avalon (of which I am a newer member) this autumn.

So I KNOW I’ll be returning to this as I am planning on going through the whole cycle with the Sisterhood this Calan Gaeaf. After that, with the assistance of women who have done it before, maybe my review will change from 4 stars to 5. Jhenah is an incredible priestess, scholar and spiritual teacher, and this is an amazing piece of work, but for some reason, something wasn’t clicking with me that would make this a 5 star book at this very moment. I can’t quite place my finger on what it is, other than maybe it might be because it was more focused on personal development than worship and devotion to the Goddesses, but that’s what it claimed it would be so it’s not like I was misled.

[Leeza Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book for research purposes but was blown away with how well written it was. This book transported me and connected me to the conscious energy we call Avalon. If you are feeling the call of the great goddess, then this is the book for you.

[MaatsFeatheredMouse]

I don't really feel like I can rate this book as my experience is incredibly subjective and has nothing to do with the overall value the text offers. The visualizations and spiritual journeys are quite cool, but I think I tend to use a combination of intellectual curiosity and mindfulness grounded in embodied wisdom to obtain self-awareness. The idea of connecting with a specific Goddess for such insights to be granted to me, while I can see the potential benefits from a psychological point of view, just isn't my cup of tea, I guess. However, many of the questions and insights she leads you through are one's I have gone through in the past using a similar process, so I can attest to its effectiveness. It's never a bad thing to follow a practice that encourages self-reflection, I just personally resonate a bit more with the Baghavad Gita and Buddhist philosophy, than New Age spiritualism, even though I'm always trying to sate my curiosity with it.

[Suzanne Singman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was so much wonderful information in this book. Everything seemed very well researched and i want to try the cycle of healing. Like any esoteric mystery there are things that are discussed later in the book that will help with the rituals of the cycles. I felt happy to know that there is something alive of Avalon, even if it is pieced together from many sources and mystic experiences. So many women are hungry for the Avalonian experience in our lives. Thank you Jhenah for making this possible.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at one type of witchcraft practice. Because it didn't match my own, it took me a long time to read. I dipped in and out of it for 3/4 of a year taking what resonated and leaving the rest. I would recommend this to someone who is interested in or has a very Celtic-centered practice.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to rely heavily on a previously published book, The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. In my opinion, it is neither good nor bad. I did not learn anything new with this one. I give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, though it's not really something I think I'm going to pursue.

[Sharon Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is as much a very practical guided adventure in trans personal psychology as it is a journey in a very rich landscape of our mythic heritage. The meditations described are elegantly simple and yet require the kind of personal accountability that is present in any genuine spiritual or psychological path of growth. Indeed I found this book made me engage in my own personal journey of growth and good old fashioned "growing up" more so than many a visit to a therapist. I was surprised, perhaps naively so, that such a beautiful journey through such a beloved mythic landscape would require real, sometimes uncomfortable, participation, work, and effort. I could feel the neurons reaching. Anyone who values Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey" and has a place in their heart for the legends of Arthur will find this useful, and beautiful. But it is more a field guide and practical map to the soul than an academic or poetic book on myth, just so you know.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a truly thought-provoking book, I did find it sometimes redundant and lacking in the implementation strategy. Telyndru does beautiful work with analogy (clearly) connecting Avalon and Glastonbury to an interdisciplinary set of concepts that can help any woman develop a stronger sense of self. I'll reference this book again, to be sure, but I'm disappointed that the implementation will require several things not housed in the book: researching elements that are referenced without critical detail and practicing self-guided meditation from the aid of only short-term memory (courtesy of having to read it to hold it in the mind for the meditation). This would be much better in audio form.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really do magic or even consider myself pagan, but I really enjoyed reading about some aspects of Celtic spirituality and mythology and a lot of this book focused on Jungian archetypes and self-actualization which I related to, loved, and learned a lot from. I liked the questions the different sections of the book asked and wrote a lot based on them.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avalon Within provided information on the history of Avalon and the Celts. It also provided information on the myths and legends of the area. Then it went into how to discover yourself and come to terms with your own strengths and weaknesses. I would recommend this book.

[NormaCenva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second edition, and some changes have been made. It is more well presented and colourful, how ever less grounded in Depth Psychology, but still a good guide for any aspiring Avalonian practitioner in the modern circumstances.

[Jessika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding this book and the Sisterhood felt like coming home for my soul. Absolutely love love love it! ☆