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CERs – Clanfolk Educational Requirements

ClanFolk Educational Requirements (CER) is a program whose aim is to educate prospective ClanFolk members about the "Tuatha de Brighid: A Druid Clan" vision and functions, and to provide them with an opportunity to evaluate the depth of their commitment to Tuatha de Brighid: A Druid Clan.

PREREQUISITES:

To start CER, a member must first have obtained Clan Friend membership status.   To do this, please see our membership procedure.

CERs PROCEDURE:

If you are a TDB Clan Friend member, and would like to start CERs process, please do the following:

1. Write to our Spirit Chief, or the Assistant Spirit Chief, and ask to start CERs.
2. If you do not have convenient access to our web site, you may request your own copy of this document at any time - it will be sent to you via an email attachment.
3. You will be assigned a mentor, who will contact you as soon as the assignment is made, and will be available to you for questions and assistance until you have completed the Requirements.
4. You may present your Requirements either in writing, or orally (in person or by telephone or other medium) to your mentor, who may then either accept your project as completed, or ask further questions to encourage you to complete it.
5. If you are in a disagreement with your mentor regarding your projects evaluations, you are welcome to bring your concerns to the Spirit Chief.
6. There are no time limits on your projects, and all are encouraged to work at their own pace.
7. Once you and your mentor have agreed that you have completed the Requirements, you will be eligible to become a TDB ClanFolk member - which means that you will have the voting responsibilities in the affairs of the Clan, and will be eligible to serve as an officer of TDB.

REQUIREMENTS:

I.   HIGH DAY REPORTS:

Please submit a brief (300 words or equivalent per High Day, not including the ritual description) written or oral report on how you have celebrated at least three High Days since you have joined TDB. In the course of your report please do your best to answer the following guideline questions:

1. What is the traditional meaning of this High Day? (feel free to address any tradition you wish)
2. What is your personal meaning of this High Day?
3. How did you celebrate it this year? (provide written or oral description of the ritual with a short explanation as to why it was used, written, done, etc.)
4. How do you feel about your celebration?
5. Was it what you expected and planned, or different?
6. How did you feel during the Rite?
7. Do you plan to do it the same way next year? (why? or why not?)

The eight High Days are:

     Winter Solstice (Yule) *
     Imbolc - Feb. 2
     Spring Equinox *
     Beltaine/May Day - May 1
     Summer Solstice *
     Lughnasadh - Aug. 1
     Autumn Equinox *
     Samhain Oct. - 31

   * For the dates on Solstices and Equinoxes please consult an astronomical calendar.

II.    BOOK REPORTS:

Please present three oral or written book reports (no less then 500 words or equivalent each). You may choose books according to the following guidelines:

• Please choose at least one book from the "Modern Druidry" or "Historical Druidry and Indo-European Paleo-Paganism" categories as given in the Recommended Book List.
• Please choose at least one book from the "General Theology and Religion" or "Comparative Religion" category as given in the Recommended Book List.
• Please choose a third book from any other category as given in the Recommended Book List.

If you wish to submit a report on a book that is not included in the Recommended Book List, please obtain prior approval from your mentor.  It is an understood thing that we will be adding to the book list on continuous basis, and provided that the book in question is within the quality guideline provided with the book list, the approval should not be difficult to obtain.

The complete list of the book categories is as follows:

       Modern Druidry
       Historical Druidry and Indo-European Paleo-Paganism
       General Theology and Religion
       Comparative Religion
       Lore
       Miscellaneous

In your reports, please do you best to answer the following guideline questions:

   1. Why did you pick this particular book to review?
   2. What is the book about?  (a short summary)
   3. Did you like this book?  (why? or why not?)
   4. Did you learn anything new to you about Druidry from this book, and if so, what?
   5. What is your favorite quote from this book and why?

III.   ECOLOGY PROJECT

Please submit a brief (300 words or equivalent) oral or written report on a nature-oriented project that you have completed or participated in, which may be either personal or public in nature, explaining the relevance of the project to your spiritual life and growth.

Some examples might be: beach clean-up, tree planting, gardening, area beautification, animal rescue, river clean-up, or some educational project with an ecological theme.

Please keep in mind that nature includes not only wildlife, but also *all* life, including human, therefore for some a charity project or something similar might be equally appropriate.

IV.    TUATHA DE BRIGHID VISION STATEMENT

Please submit a brief oral or written report (about 300 words or equivalent) regarding your understanding of our Vision Statement and how it relates to your personal spirituality.

NOTE:

To give you some idea of the length of the reports the requirements ask for, consider the following examples:

A five hundred word report constitutes a little less then one full page, typed in MS Word, in Arial Font, sized at 12 points, and all margins set at one inch.

A three hundred word report is a little more then half of such a page.

In other word – these are small reports, no more then summaries, and the questions given need not be answered in any great detail.