If you are on Facebook, we invite you to join the new Facebook group for the New Order of Druids.  You can find it at this URL:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=359180900290

Don't forget to invite your friends to join our group too, and help our community grow!

We would also like to remind you that the New Order of Druids has a profile on Myspace.com to which you can add yourself:

http://www.myspace.com/neworderofdruids

Thank you for your support!

We would like to announce some fundamental changes in the "Grove of Dana" online Druid college of the New Order of Druids.

Due to a recurring shortage of volunteering mentors, we were forced to reorganise the way in which we offer our free courses in the college. The changes as explained below, are effective immediately.

If you wish to enter the Bardic Course, you will henceforth be directed to the "Bardic Course" forum (under the category "College Campus") where you will be able to post your written work, discuss it with the mentors (moderators) and fellow students like an actual "classroom".  You will also be able to discuss the written works of other students, thus making it possible to learn from each other in the process. More practical information can be found in the Bardic Course forum.

We still offer the service of a personal mentor who guides you throughout the course. However, this service is only available for our upgraded members as of today. Upgraded membership with N.O.D. starts at 29,97 euro per year and serves to cover the expenses to keep this website up and running for you. It is sufficient for you to get enrolled in the Bardic Course during your upgraded membership, you will be able to continue with a mentor even after your upgrade expires, so long as you remain enrolled (by logging into the course at least once every 60 days).

These changes only affect the Bardic Course and (in the future) the Ovate Course and Druid Course! The Bardic YOUTH Course remains available with mentor for free members!

Transition students arrangement

To make these fundamental changes as smooth as possible, we have built in a "transition" arrangement which will still allow a certain number of students to remain within the Bardic Course with a mentor.  Any student who has turned in at least two assignments to date, remains enrolled in the Bardic Course and is allowed to continue the course with mentor, without the need to upgrade. However, if you get unenrolled after an inactivity of more then 60 days, you will no longer be able to benefit from this transition arrangement.

In the Ovate Course, all current students are allowed to continue their course with their mentor.

If you are already an upgraded member, you should also remain enrolled of course. Keep in mind that the old enrolment key will no longer work to re-enroll.

We thank you for your understanding, and if you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact the College Coordinators, Bran and Myrddin, on the Support Helpdesk.

We are proud to announce the launch of a brand new service: NODCast, the Podcast of the New Order of Druids!

A podcast is a series of audio files on the internet, made available to listen to or to download through syndication, such as Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers.  There exist many podcasts out there on the net already, and we figured we shouldn't stay behind but add our own stone to the pool!

You can listen to the NODCast editions entirely for free, whether you're a member or not, and we intend to add new editions on a regular basis.  The NODCast editor is Council member Maya, who has released the very first edition today!

We invite you to visit this URL and give it a listen:
http://neworderofdruids.mypodcast.com/

We are happy to announce, that the Bardic Course and Ovate Course of the Grove of Dana online college, are now also available in book form!

Our thanks goes out to Jason Kirkey in particular, for writing the coursework and giving permission to the New Order of Druids for printing it in book form and making it available in our online shop.

You can buy the Bardic Course and Ovate Course books in our online shop right now, for only $15 USD per book! Click the images below for more information about each book.

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BARDIC COURSE HANDBOOK - OVATE COURSE HANDBOOK

THE BARDIC YOUTH COURSE IS ALSO STILL AVAILABLE IN OUR SHOP!

Our online shop also has much more to offer, click on this link to visit: http://www.cafepress.com/nodshop

We would like to invite you to pay a visit to the new profile of the New Order of Druids, created on Myspace.com:

http://www.myspace.com/neworderofdruids

If you have an account on Myspace.com and you didn't already receive a "Friends Invite", then just send an invite to us on that account, so that we can add you!

If you have a Myspace account and add the NOD profile to your friends, you will have the advantage of automatically being updated about any important news through that way as well. It is our intention to add similar profiles to other similar networking communities as well, such as Facebook and Yuwie, and we will inform you when those profiles become available as well!

February is a feastly month for the New Order of Druids. Not only because of Imbolc, but also because February 1, 2008, is the 5th anniversary of N.O.D.!  On this day 5 years ago, the New Order of Druids was first created and opened to the public on the internet.

To celebrate this special occasion, we offer the following:

Discount on 1 or 2 year Upgraded Membership!
- The normal price of 1 year upgraded membership is 29.93 EUR. This is now reduced to 19.97 EUR.
- The normal price of 2 years upgraded membership is 49.64 EUR. This is now reduced to 29.93 EUR.

In other words, you can now upgrade to a two years membership for what is normally the price of one year!  Or you can just upgrade for one year and still profit from the promotional price!

This promotion is valid throughout the entire month of February and will be ended on March 1, 2008.

This promotion is available to both new and existing members, and also for upgraded members who wish to renew their upgrade. There is no additional promotion for the "family member discount". For more information please contact us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoL20otGjIY

FIVE YEARS N.O.D.

We are proud to announce the release of the N.O.D. Poetry Book "Spirit of Dán". 
 
This book, which has taken us a few years to compile and complete, is a compilation of Bardic works – ranging from poetry and storytelling, to drawings and photography – that has been contributed by members of the New Order of Druids over the past few years.  May the 180 pages of works within these pages take you on a journey to many worlds and open the doorway to your own... path of Inspiration.

You can purchase this book from our online store for only $16 USD at this URL:

http://www.cafepress.com/nodshop.184148994

All profits made from the sales of these books remain within the New Order of Druids non-profit organisation and will be used to cover expenses and help us expand our projects. Thank you for your support!

The first issue of the Oran Mór is set to be out on Samhain. If you are an upgraded member and haven't subscribed yet, click on "The Oran Mór" in the left hand menu to be sure you don't miss it!