AVALON Center for Druidic Studies

[gittarius]

Is this a good organization?

Is it legit?

Is anyone a part of or have been a part of AVALON?

[Clamhan]

I initially didnt recall them but having now looked at their website I recognise a number of their advisory board and have met one of them.

I have no reason to doubt their work and teaching abilities.

G

[Creirwy]

i havent done any of their courses but I know folks that have and have really enjoyed them...
Most of the tutors and faculty staff are OBODies (i think) and theres no reason at all to think they arent 'legit'. The head person (chancellor or some only fancy title) is known as Alferian on the board, so keep a look out for him (in his lovely purple robes!)

Give them a try

[Fox]

Er, I believe Avalon had to stop teaching, for a variety of reasons, though it still exists in law as an organisation.

See this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25097

[gittarius]

Thank you for this reply. I am deeply saddened for the schools closing, I hope it will reopen or another concept like it will come to pass.

[Fox]

I receive an email newsletter from this lot, which you might be interested in checking out:

http://www.druidschool.com/

I don't really know much about them, but I do like the newsletter and looking through the website from time to time.

[Alferian]

Hi everyone, and thanks to Fox for drawing this query to my attention.

I am the chancellor of Avalon Center and we are undergoing some fundamental reorganization. We are not quite defunct, but hoping to be resurrected under a new administrative system that does not require me to wear so many hats. However, nothing will be decided until the Board of Governors meet next Sunday.

Our course offerings are entirely on line courses at this point, which is not really the organization I wanted to found back three years ago when I started Avalon as Avalon College. We have found, as we have jumped through the hoops of the federal and state governments in the U.S. that creating a druid college with a campus, funding sources, and all that is needed is far more work than any of us expected. As no one in Avalon's staff can afford to devote themselves to it full time, it has proved to be an almost impossible challenge. In the normal course of things, schools almost always start out with a permanent faculty and a reliable funding source. I have been unable to attract either of these things in three years. Without a benefactor or two, there is very little to work with.

Indeed, we would not have accomplished anything were it not for the Internet and the new technology that makes it possible to start an organization with a distributed staff and the donation of web space. At the moment I am having so much trouble with my internet service provider that I myself may have to go offline and find a new one, which gives you a sense of the difficulties that the new technology presents when an organization is dependant on it.

It is true that I have a few of my classes available on our course management system (called "Moodle"). These course modules can be taken at your own pace with up to a year to complete and still get "credit" recorded on a record established in our files, and a certificate of completion. At present we are not in a position to carry out the full study programs which we show on the web site. I hope that Avalon Center will continue but at this point I cannot say with any degree of certainty.

You will find that most of the "schools" that exist (at least those I have heard of) offer workshops or classes and are built around either a single individual or a couple who have some land. Whether or not any of these are "legitimate" who can say? There is not authority that legitimates them as they operate as private businesses. There are a couple of pagan institutions that have achieved that legal status of seminaries in the U.S., a category of non-profit institution that is much easier to achieve than that of a "school." So, at the present, it seems to me, that the only way you can know if an organization is on the level is by contacting the people in charge and, if possible, asking for references to satisfied clients or students. Even doing this does not eliminate the possibility of fraud or teachers who are misrepresenting themselves. Some teachers are very hung up on the idea that they are teaching the "real thing" and everyone else is teaching something phoney just to make a buck or exploit the unwary.

In my case, I have a Ph.D. in English and am a druid companion of OBOD, and with these credentials I attempt to create courses that are essentially the kind of college-level courses that I have taught for many years, only rather than being in English literature or history, they are focused on Celtic literature, history, and druidry (which is broadly defined, not limited to the definition of any single druid order). I am not teaching "OBOD Druidry" -- only the order can do that. Avalon Center was created to supplement study with established initiatic orders and provide courses in subjects that are seldom included in college and university catalogs. These courses offer a structured environment in which you can work with a teacher and sometimes peers (our classes have been small) in order to read further and write on a subject and receive further ideas about meditative and contemplative work, exercises in the magical arts, and so on.

Thanks for your continued interest and watch our web site for further developments in the fullness of time.

Yours,

Alferian

[Beith]

Alferian! how wonderful to see you back! I hope you will stay or visit more often. We miss you!

And I wish you the very best with the reorg of Avalon college and you deserve huge applause for your achievements to date. I hope indeed you will get to wear the most splendind of hats ArchChancellor! (just be wary of crop-circles of the scalp) http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Archchancellor's_Hat

wizard_hat.jpg (22.56 KiB) Viewed 2616 times

[wyeuro]

i'm sad too that avalon college is in retreat at the moment, but it's too good an idea to let slide and i hope it will recover.
i personally can vouch for alferian's total authenticity. he is a very deep-thinking and sincere druid and a very well-informed and intuitive practical magician - as well as a profoundly ethical person of great warmth and personal charm.
wyverne /|\

[Alferian]

Thanks Beith and Wyeuro.

Yes, last Samhuinn, I thought the college would need to be laid to rest for a time, but being a believer in reincarnation and rebirth, and indeed hibernation (being from Minnesota), I think that we can overcome our first difficulties and continue following our bliss.

The great challenge is keeping enough committed people together to man the ropes, as it were, and to get a helmsman to man the helm so that I can be a proper captain. Creating wonders out of nothing is what wizards do, but having a few more benefactors would be useful, especially for establishing our physical campus space.

If you will indulge me, and for the sake of those who have not heard me tell the story before, I will just mention that I've done some research recently into the history of famous colleges, universities, and even English boarding schools. In almost every case, the school started with a benefactor who donated land and/or buildings. Now, we have actually had a few offers to partner on land but none here in Minnesota where I live, which raises difficulties. Neither my dear lady wife, nor my daughter, the esteemed princess, have any desire to move from Minneapolis.

For the first two years of Avalon's growth, I held on to hopes of relocating to Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire, Wales, and even Nova Scotia or British Columbia. But you see I am a writer, not a corporate moghul and so I find it very easy to imagine things happening and getting the universe to cooperate is more of a challenge (and yes, I have read "The Secret"). But Arianrhod, who takes me as her friend and follower, gave me a very strong message when I stood atop Glastonbury Tor and when I was in meditation with the the Grove of Druids two summer's ago at the Solstice Assembly there. She indicated to me that I was put in Minnesota for a reason and it was no good feeling homesick for Yorkshire and Britain. Minnesota is not a place that is very notable in political or cultural terms on a world scale, or even within the United States. It is most noted for its many lakes and sport fishing, and particularly long winters.

The fact is, however, that in the ecosphere, Minnesota occupies the headwaters of the Mississippi, the western end of Lake Superior and the chain of Great Lakes, and the watershed that flows northward to Hudson's Bay, thereby making it the center of the North American Continent's greatest waterways and connected by the blood of the land to the Arctic Ocean, the North Atlantic, and the South Atlantic via the Gulf of Mexico. Indeed, it is not too far a stretch of the imagination to realize that via the Mississippi River and the Gulf Stream we are connected to Eire and Britain.

Besides this, Minnesota demarks the boundary of three distinct ecosystems -- the boreal pine forests that extend to the Arctic Circle, the Oak Savannah, that once extended to the East Coast of America, and the Great Plains that extend westward and southward to the Rocky Mountains and the southwestern deserts. So, looked at in this way, I was forced to admit that Minnesota was not just the place where I was born, but a place of significant energetic quality and importance for druids. So, I still hold out hope that we will host the first residential college for druids, and hopefully not the last.

I have been working for the past year on some annoying health issues. According to modern medical science, I have sleep apnea of a very peculiar kind, and I have some sort of digestive disorder that seems to set off my immune system. The doctors have not diagnosed Celiac Disease and indeed my current physician things it is all in my head, spawned by clinical depression, rather than the other way around. My shrink, God bless him, says I don't have "depression" but what they now like to call "disphoria" which I think they used to call melancholia in the 19th century. Some call it GOMS (Grumpy Old Man Syndrome) (not to be confused in any way with our esteemed and amiable Chosen Chief).

This cocktail of disorders leaves me very up and down, but I have been getting a handle on it more and more. I need to lose 20 lbs., stop smoking my pipe and cigars, stop drinking whiskey, and get more exercise. I'm too Hobbitish, alas. Bilboesque.

In any case, I very much appreciate hearing that there are spirits alive and wishing Avalon Center well. We can bring a druid college into manifestation with the concerted magical will of as many druids, witches, wizards, and seekers as we can muster.

Now I am off on my bicycle to take my daughter the princess to a play date with one of her school chums.

Be well,

Alferian

[MistyNightWind]

I just came across this thread when searching for Avalon College on google.
What is the latest news about Avalon? Is it running again?

Love and Laughter
Misty