The GMDO Home Study Course
A comprehensive training in Druidry by Correspondence.
Ancient Yew Gateway
The Green Mountain Druid Order (GMDO) is a modern-day Mystery School based in Worcester, Central Vermont, and teaches ongoing classes of students. As the GMDO’s reputation grows, so does the demand for their training by those who live further away, and who cannot make the time commitment required for the Vermont training. The GMDO Home Study Course was created to meet these needs.
The curriculum follows the three grades, or levels of Druidry: the first is that of the Bard, the second is the Ovate and the third and final is the Druid. The course is designed so that the student can study at his or own speed. As soon as each Grade is completed, students will need to write a Review about their experiences, growth and insights through their studies. This will be sent to Ivan and Fearn who will read it and assess whether the student has completed the grade sufficiently to graduate to the next. What we are looking for is whether the student has grasped the basic concepts, has maintained a daily spiritual practice, has done most of the exercises, ceremonies and readings for each grade, and has begun to integrate these into his daily life. If we consider that more is needed to graduate, we (with the support of their mentor) will help guide that process for the student.
Successful 3rd year graduates will receive a certificate acknowledging the completion of their training. At that point they will become official graduate Druids of the Green Mountain Druid Order. At the completion of their course, students have the opportunity to graduate in true Druidic style by journeying to the UK for 10 days to make pilgrimage to some ancient sacred sites, culminating in a ceremony of union with Gaia, inside Stonehenge!
Be very clear – Druidry, and our training, is designed to become a living, breathing way of life, and will transform its practitioners through a steady series of initiations (and extracurricular challenges provided by life itself), into the person of their dreams. The empowered graduate will, after the training, have acquired the tools to create a conscious, clear and powerful life, and all he or she needs to do is to practice, practice, and practice!
Bluebell Forest
Yet – a Druid’s training never really stops, or becomes complete. There is only one main issue: how far will he or she journey on the Path? The process of change is rarely smooth, or enjoyable (although the results can be) so all students must be prepared for an interesting journey! The intent of the training is to create a safe, supportive, yet real container within which each student may unfold in their collective, yet individual process of becoming whole (called by Carl Jung as the process of individuation).
During the Home Study course, each student will learn the Druidic view of life, develop the attitudes that are most beneficial for traveling the Druid Path, and will practice those techniques which are essential to generate the energy necessary for self-transformation. This must then be integrated into the student’s life. Only by embodying our growth, and by manifesting new skills into our lives through action, can we actually change this world (or ourselves) according to our deepest desire.
Each student will be assigned an individual mentor. These are advanced students from our Vermont Druid Training. Your mentor will be available to you for phone and/or email check-ins 6 times per grade. At these times, they can answer questions, share personal experience and wisdom, and support you in meeting your course work goals. Your mentor will contact you soon after you receive your first packet (Chapters 1&2). At that time you can introduce yourselves, get clear about your first set of goals, and then schedule your next communication.
After the first contact, students will be expected to make calls to their mentors at the agreed upon time. Please respect the boundaries of your mentor. If you have an emergency, or need to talk to someone outside of your scheduled check in, first try someone in your Training Grove. If that doesn’t work, your second option is to contact your mentor if he or she is OK with an unscheduled call. If none of these options work, try Ivan and Fearn. We encourage you to take full advantage of your mentoring opportunities. We have chosen our mentors carefully based on their proven experience and understanding of the Druid practices and path. They are also wonderful people to know!
Training Grove
A group of Druids is called a ‘Grove’ (a Grove is, literally, a sacred circle of trees). A ‘Training Grove’ is a group of people studying Druidry together. A Training Grove becomes a Grove when there are at least two graduate Druids as part of the circle. Knowing we are a part of something larger than ourselves is a basic human need. We strongly encourage community-based groups to start the training together and continue as a Training Grove.
Rainbow Waterfall
The exercises and ceremonies given in the Home Study Course can be adapted for either group or solitary work. It is a huge gift to have the support of a group of peers that gathers periodically to practice ceremony, group exercises and sharing circles. When doing magical workings, the power of a group is usually much greater than the sum of the parts. The potential for deep healing, transformation and manifestation is multiplied exponentially.
Another benefit is that we learn and receive so much from our fellow Druids: communication, conflict resolution, cooperation, listening, reflection, shadow projection, story telling, decision making, leadership, compassion, spiritual family, laughter, great potlucks, circle dynamics… just to name a few. It isn’t always easy but it is usually well worth the effort! We will send instructions about the running of a Training Grove to any potential community, or group, wanting to study Druidry together. Some matters we feel are essential protocol for the running of a Grove, and there are other things that will be up to the individual members of the group to decide.
Our intent is that any problems will be sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction over an initial period of time, and that soon an empowered Training Grove will be up and running. Simply creating a healthy, functioning Training Grove is an awesome task for a community and an essential project for Druids in training. A project such as this takes lots of energy to initiate and will need a certain amount of voluntary input by each member.
PLEASE NOTE: JOINING A TRAINING GROVE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR THE HOME STUDY COURSE!
Tuition
Tuition is $360 per grade if paid in full at time of registration, or $390 if paying in 3 installments of $130.
IF MORE THAN ONE PERSON/PARTNER FROM A GIVEN HOUSEHOLD IS SIGNING UP, THE SECOND REGISTRANT GETS THE COURSE FOR HALF PRICE.
Please, only one paying student per home study course!