Membership

There are two types of membership.

1. Friend of the Order
2. Member of the Order as an Aspirant or Druid

Friend of the Order

If you have read "Who We Are" and "The Druid Path" and the content of these articles resonates with you, leaving you with the desire to learn more and get to know us better, then you are ready to become a Friend of the Order. To do so, simply register with us, here at this web site and at our Yahoo group. By registering here at the site (go to "Login" and choose "Register"), you will gain access to the entire site except Sylvan Sanctuary, which is only for Members (see below). With this site access, you will be able to deepen your understanding of the Order. Our Yahoo group will allow you to join our ongoing communications and receive up-to-the-minute messages about our events and discussions.

Friends of the Order are encouraged to follow the site blogs so you will learn of new posts as they are made, getting to know some of our individual members.

Sylvan Sanctuary is the Mother Grove of The Druid Order of the Three Realms. Sylvan Sanctuary meets in Lawrenceville (metro Atlanta), Georgia to celebrate the Solar Holidays. All Friends of the Order are welcome to celebrate with us. See our calendar for specific dates and times.

Order Membership

An individual may join the Druid Order of the Three Realms when he/she discerns that this path is one they wish to commit to with this community. A one time new member fee ($50.00) helps defray ongoing costs of the Order. No one involved in the Order leadership takes any payment or receives monetary profit from the Order. A new member has options in joining the Druid Order of the Three Realms:

1. joining as a local member of the Mother Grove or future groves
2. joining as a solitary Druid who wishes to work the path alone but attached to the closest grove with a mentor Druid in the Grove. With this option, the solitary Druid may work face to face with the mentor Druid, or by email for members outside the Atlanta area.

The Druid Order of the Three Realms will recognize sister Groves within the Order outside of Atlanta when there are at least four initiated Druids in that area requesting to establish a Grove. A representative of the Custodian Druids of sister groves would be included in decision-making about the Order by phone and email conferences.

Joining our Order

If the description of our Order resonates with you, calls to you, or somehow describes your way in the world, we invite you to consider joining our Order. Contact us with your initial responses to one of the options described below. The order will assign a mentor to assist you.

After reading these documents carefully and meditating, then consider the two options below for joining the Order.

For Those With an Established Druid Path and who can give an affirmative answer that they have established practices, then you may choose to join our Order as a Druid with an established practice.

1. I have established ways of working with the Earth that recognize the Earth as “our mother” and which recognizes the vital relationship between the Earth and our humanity. My way(s) of working with the Earth, my Telluric practice(s) include: (please list)
2. I practice the Solar Path keeping the festivals and days of the Celtic year either solitarily or with others in community: Samhain, Alban Arthuan, Imbolc, Alban Eiler, Beltane, Alban Heruin, Lughnasad, and Alban Elued. I am willing to learn the Grove’s Community Ritual and use it when in community with the Grove, even if I use a different or altered ritual when alone.
3. I have established some interior practice of reflection that allows me to integrate what I am learning on my path and identify what is wisdom for me. This may include meditation, journaling, divination, martial arts combined with meditation, etc. I keep a Druid journal in some form (may include computer files or blogging). Please list what your practice includes:
4. I have special interests, studies, practices or crafts that I engage in that I consider part of my Druid path, and I engage in this for my own benefit and as a benefit to the larger community. I am glad to share with the Grove community out of these practices. List your spirals of practice:
5. I agree to take on the Three (Nwyfre/Nem, Calas/Talam, Gwyar/Muir) as a personal and communal working ethos. That is: I will acknowledge the three in my path and see them as guides in decision-making, relating to others and walking my Druid path, alone and with this Order.
6. Once received as a member, I agree to be a contributing member of your Grove. I recognize that a Grove community only works when all are contributing to the “ecosystem”, and so I pledge my gifts, both personal and monetary, as established by the covenant.

The Custodians of the Order will review responses to these affirmations. If all affirmations are in order, you will be received into the Order as a full Druid member. If an area is lacking, you will be asked to clarify and establish that area for the space of one Sun festival (a quarter of a year). Upon the satisfaction of that area, you will be received as a full Druid member. The Custodians of the Order will appoint a Druid member to be your Druid Friend. If you know a Druid in full membership in the Order, you may request him/her to be your Druid Friend. This Druid Friend will simply be a support for you during your first year as a member of the Order.

For those new to Druidry who can give an affirmative answer of willingness to the following, then you may choose to join our Order as an Aspirant. As an Aspirant, you will work with a Druid member of the closest Grove who will be your Druid Mentor. This work will last for at least a year and a day. After that year and a day, when you and your mentor agree that you have an established Druid practice that is in line with our Orders documents, you will be received as a Druid member of the Order.

1. I will establish ways of working with the Earth that recognize the Earth as “our mother” and which recognizes the vital relationship between the Earth and our humanity. My way(s) of working with the Earth, my Telluric practice(s) may include environmental concerns and practices, gardening practices, studies of my local terrain (trees, plants, wildlife, water resources) that take me beyond books into active engagement.
2. I will practice the Solar Path keeping the festivals and days of the Celtic year either with the Grove community if at all possible: Samhain, Alban Arthuan, Imbolc, Alban Eiler, Beltane, Alban Heruin, Lughnasad, and Alban Elued. I am willing to learn the Grove’s Community Ritual and use it when in community with the Grove, even if I use a different or altered ritual when alone. I will, with the help of my Druid Mentor, also establish a personal druid ritual which I will practice on a regular basis.
3. I will establish some interior practice of reflection that allows me to integrate what I am learning on my path and identify what is wisdom for me. This may include meditation, journaling, divination, martial arts combined with meditation, etc. I will create a Druid journal where I will record what I am learning in all three of these paths: the Telluric (Earth), the Solar (Sun-ritual), and the Lunar (Moon, meditation and reflection).
4. I will identify at least one special interest, study, practice or craft that I will engage in that I consider part of my Druid path, and I will engage in this for my own benefit and as a benefit to the larger community. I will be glad to share with the Grove community out of these practices. This may take time to identify, or it may be something that I am already engaged in, but by the mid-point of my year and a day, I will have settled on my “spiral” of special practice.
5. I agree to take on the Three (Nwyfre/Nem, Calas/Talam, Gwyar/Muir) as a personal and communal working ethos. That is: I will acknowledge the three in my path and see them as guides in decision-making, relating to others and walking my Druid path, alone and with my Grove.
6. For a year and a day after being received into this Grove as an Aspirant, I will work with another member of the Grove as my Druid Mentor. We will agree to meeting at monthly during this year and a day, preferably in person, but at least by email or phone (for aspirants who do not live local to a Druid member), to discuss the cultivation of my Druid path and any questions/ concerns I may have. During this year and a day, I will be an Aspirant of the Grove. After this year and a day, I will be able to enter full membership as a Druid of the Grove if my Mentor and I agree that I have established all of the necessary aspects of my Druid path.
7. Once received as a full member, I agree to be a contributing member of the Grove. I recognize that a Grove community only works when all are contributing to the “ecosystem”, and so I pledge my gifts, both personal and monetary, as established by the covenant.