The Path of the Bard

Fearn will teach one class per month, and the other monthly class will be taught by another GMDS graduate, TBA…

Classes will be a blend of didactic, with engagement thru guided ritual and practice, as well as Q & A and sharing time.
This format allows for the same amount of content, but in smaller doses with more time to practice, discuss and integrate each one.
Online learning will be accessed through Zoom, Youtube, Google files and a private Facebook group for ongoing discussion.

PLUS, there will be two Dreamland Immersion weekends per grade; one in spring and one in fall. These will involve lots of juicy practices to connect with each other, with the staff, with the land and with Spirit.  Ritual, ceremony, time in Nature and in the temples, sharing circles, meal times, etc.
The dates for the Bard Immersions in 2024 are: June 7-9, and Sept.18-20 (leading into Druid Camp)

You will be sharing space with the Druid grade students. We will begin at 6pm on the first day and complete by 5pm on the last day of each. We scheduled the fall weekend to lead right into our annual Druid Camp so you can stick around for more AWENsomeness!

Druid Camp is open to all of the Order and larger public, and is put on by the most recent graduating clan of GMDS students.  Click here to get a flavor of  last year’s Druid Camp. 

Bardic buddy system– 2 or more students may choose to support each other in accountability by checking in and/or meeting up to practice regularly.

Mentorship– you may choose to receive mentorship by one of our Druid students or graduates. Mentoring may be done in groups or singly; in person or virtually; regularly or as needed. 

Temple Time–  Every Sunday at Dreamland from 2-6pm students are invited to spend time on the land. TempleTime is limited to GMDO members- students and grads. It can include personal or group ritual and practice, sharing, mentoring, journeys and meditation.  These times are open and self guided, with no formal schedule or plan, unless folks make it happen.

Bardic Training includes:

• *The background and history of Druidry
• *The Elements- Earth, Air, Fire and Water
• *The Conscious Breath Meditation
• *Awareness through gazing
• *Pilgrimage
• *Ritual and Ceremony
•  *Journeying
• *Sacred Dance and Song
• *The Druids Goddess
• *A Council of All Beings
• *Meeting the Divine
• *The AWEN- opening to divine inspiration
• *Developing and expressing creativity (Music, Poetry, Storytelling, Dance, etc)
• *The heart of  Circle and Community
• *The Power of the Word and Compassionate Communication
• *An Introduction to Magic
• *Becoming the hero/ine of your Magical Adventure

Fill out our registration form here!

Ivan writes: If an aspirant is ready to commit to the Druid Path – initially for a year and a day – they will undergo an initiation ceremony that symbolizes their birth into a new life of magic, transformation, empowerment and service. The first grade they enter is that of the Bard, and here the work starts! They enter an established magical community, and undertake practices and techniques designed to open their heart through interacting with others in trust and loving awareness. They learn to reveal themself, warts and all, in a process whose intent is immersion and integration in the Circle of Life.

The Bard can be understood as a child starting to journey along the magical path of adventure towards healing and eventual wholeness. In Tarot symbolism they are the Fool, setting out on their adventure with little experience, yet with trust and courage. They break through the confines of their former, habitual behavior by leaving the familiar life they know well, and by stepping out into the Unknown. The consequences of this action is to unite both the physical and the spiritual worlds.

Bards are taught the rules of magical adventures, the magical tools needed on such a quest, and are led to the magical gateway that opens up to their unique individual adventure. The Bard concentrates on the first stage of the Druid’s Path, discovering and liberating his own inner magical child, and unlocking the creativity that is bursting to be expressed. Any excuse to play!

Students learn to interact in a group, exploring themselves and the others through practicing non-violent communication, sharing, making music and telling stories together, by performing ceremony, and by learning to interact deeply and meaningfully with nature. In this manner the Bard is introduced to the Druid view of the world, a very different world than the one we were introduced to as children!

Students will also be encouraged to let go of their stiff and stuffy adult personalities, loosening up, and enter the spontaneity of the present moment. Here they will explore their inner magical child who trusts, is still connected to Spirit, is outrageously spontaneous and dances innocently yet courageously through life.

Bards are introduced to the Druid’s way of interacting with Nature and the world. Our souls evolve as we participate in life; learning to perceive Nature in a wholesome way facilitates our unfolding as human beings. Bards are taught from the first weekend how to communicate with trees, rocks and all the kingdoms of Nature, and are encouraged build a deeper and increasingly profound relationship with the great Earth Goddess sometimes called Gaia. The first space travelers were shown an awesome cosmic truth as they sailed through space: that all beings and all objects on and in the Earth are truly One. Druids strive to make that vision a reality in their lifetime.

Bards consciously develop their creative skills in order to initiate transformation, and to create sacred space. By studying the power of the Word, a Bard, through practice, will learn to transport his audience into alternate realities in which healing and expansion of consciousness occur. The ancient Bards – Taliesin, and Merlin, for example – had this ability and they were in great demand to perform for their king or people of power and influence. In the days of yore, Bards and poets were greatly honored, were given protection wherever they traveled, and were given free passage through the land, even in times of war and strife.

An archetypal Bardic situation is to sit around a fire in the dark with a group of other creative people, watching the sparks whistle and wriggle upwards to dance with the stars, singing and making music both as a group, and individually. Sharing our own creations such as a poem, a story, a song or some music is an exquisite experience and makes our souls sing… what is life for, if not for this?