 Academics have found it difficult to ascertain " exact and verifiable information " about the ONA 's origins given the secrecy with which the group shields itself . As with many other occult organisations , the Order shrouds its history in " mystery and legend " , creating a " mythical narrative " for its origins and development . The ONA claims to be the descendant of pre @-@ Christian pagan traditions which survived the Christianisation of Britain and which were passed down from the Middle Ages onward in small groups or " temples " based in the Welsh Marches – a border area between England and Wales – which were each led by a Grand Master or Grand Mistress . According to the Order , in the late 1960s a Grand Mistress of one such group united three of these temples – Camlad , the Temple of the Sun , and The Noctulians – to form the ONA , before welcoming outsiders into the tradition . 
