Big news!
Isle of Wight Order of Druids (IWOD)
Announcement
Since the launch of its Druid teaching courses in November 2021, the Order has grown at an extraordinary rate, with currently over 1,500 members across the World. The Order's website attracts up to 200 visitors daily and with a new Birch Grove course starting at the beginning of every month, attracting up to 100 or more new members, this growth seems set to continue.
At the moment, every aspect of the Order is run by me alone. If the Order is to develop to achieve its potential and meet the needs of its rapidly growing membership, clearly this cannot continue. It is time for change.
With immediate effect, I am implementing a new structure for the Order involving IWOD Regional Centres. Those regional centres will be:
IWOD Home (Isle of Wight)
IWOD Europe
IWOD North America
IWOD Australasia
IWOD Rest of the World
I am delighted to announce that the Regional Centre IWOD North America is now in place. Patrick C Archambeau and Annette M Archambeau have most kindly agreed to run the Centre. Based in Colorado USA, Patrick and Annette have a wealth of experience as Druids to offer the Order. Full members of the Order, they will both complete the Birch Grove course in April of this year. They run Crann Na Cailli, an affiliated Grove of the Order and are both OBOD Druids, as well as running their own Nature focussed organisation called Archway Adventures in Colorado. Their initial thoughts on activities by IWOD North America include:
"A hub for North American IWOD members and affiliated Groves to stay connected. 4 seasonal zooms with other means of communication including email, text etc. Answering questions from regional members on setting up and running affiliated Groves and mentoring on IWOD courses. Providing a place in America where all members can gather, holding 12 peace ceremonies and the 8 primary ceremonies as a baseline each year."
Their email is now active:
All IWOD members in North America, please do make contact with Patrick and Annette, and I very much look forward to working with them.
For the moment, I will continue to run the Order from IWOD Home (Isle of Wight) and IWOD in all other regions. The other IWOD regional centres will be set up in due course when people volunteer to run them. I will continue to run the IWOD courses myself, although I would hope to see an increasing input from IWOD Regional Centres collecting ideas from their regional members to ensure the Order fully reflects Druidry throughout the World.
I very much hope you will all welcome this next important step in developing our Order to support you, the Druids of IWOD.