NOD News

We would like to announce some changes in the Grove of Dana online Druid College.

The first change is that we have decided to close down the "Becoming Aware" course. The course was lacking mentorship, and since it never attracted many students we have decided it would not be worth the effort of finding new mentors for it for the time being. All other specialisation courses remain available, of course.

The second change is that there are now two College Coordinators. Elke remains college coordinator as before, but she will now get the help of a second coordinator, Ben (Ontwaken). Please allow Ben a bit of time to get up to speed with everything. The recommended communication channels remain the same: the helpdesk support system, e-mail or the "College Technical Support" forum.

Thank you for your understanding.

This year, in May 2016, the New Order of Druids will exist for 10 years as a non-profit organisation.

The New Order of Druids initially began on February 1, 2003. Originally, it was only a website with a discussion forum, which was later expanded with a college. On May 3, 2006, we became an official non-profit organisation for the first time. The event received a great deal of media attention in the Belgian press. 

The New Order of Druids couldn't be what it is today, without the input of all our members. Therefore, we would like to thank you for your input, help and even simply your presence with us. We hope that, with your help, we will be able to continue to grow!

We would like to inform you about a few changes and updates within the New Order of Druids.

The first update is of interest to all students of the Bardic, Ovate and Druid courses in the Grove of Dana online Druid college. As of now, it will be possible to request a certificate for completed courses in both digital and printed format. The printed version is available only to upgraded members, as it was already the case before, but the digital version is available to all members, including the free ones.

Note that digital certificates are only available for free members if your date of course completion took place on or after September 1, 2014. For upgraded members, this date is extended to July 2007 (for both the printed and digital formats). You can read all the information and requirements at this link:

http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/druid-college/college-certificate

The second update concerns a decision we have had to make in relation to the NOD Circles (work groups). Due to prolongued inactivity in all existing groups, it has been decided to close down these circles. The discussion topics that were posted in the related forums, however, will not be lost as they have been moved into the nearest relevant general forum (mostly The Druid Inn and The Celtic Cauldron, depending on the subject). We regret having to make this decision, but we hope to count on your participation in various other topics of interest in the general forums.

These past few days, you may have heard of several warnings for the so-called "Heartbleed bug". This bug allowed hackers to exploit an OpenSSL vulnerability among several servers, and steal login details (such as passwords) of several well-known websites from Google to Yahoo.

The question is: does the server of the New Order of Druids website (druidcircle.org and druidcircle.net) have the same vulnerability, and do you need to change your NOD account password?

The answer is no. 
Priorweb, the host of the NOD website, has announced on their website that their servers did not use the vulnerable versions of OpenSSL. This means that hackers would not have been able to steal login details from any websites hosted by Priorweb, and that includes the websites of the New Order of Druids. 

In short, you do not need to change your password on the NOD website, unless you happen to use the exact same login details on other websites as well, that do or did have that vulnerability. 

Here you will find a list of websites that have, or have not, been affected by the Heartbleed bug:

http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/

More information on Priorweb's announcement (only available in Dutch):

http://www.priorweb.be/over-ons/nieuws/20140410/kritiek-lek-in-openssl

The New Order of Druids is slowly but surely growing. We are happy to announce that a new Vernemeton - local grove of NOD - has recently been created.

We would like to welcome the Grove of the White Oak, a Vernemeton in Asheville, North Carolina, USA! If you live in the western NC area, east Tennessee or upstate South Carolina, you might be interested in joining, either formally or informally. The Vernemeton focuses upon Bardic and Druidic studies, and on celebration of the seasonal high days of the year. The Grove of the White Oak will be officially consecrated at Beltaine this year.

For more information about the Grove of the White Oak, you can visit their website:

http://danusgrove.org/

Or read more about it on the NOD website: http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/nemetons/find-a-local-nemeton/240-grove-of-the-white-oak

We wish founder Finn the best of luck with this new Vernemeton, which is now the third local grove of the New Order of Druids. The other two are:

* Lady Angel Christian Bards, a grove inspired by Christian Druidism located in Topeka, Kansas: http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/nemetons/find-a-local-nemeton/232-lady-angel-christian-bards

* Nervii Nemeton, mothergrove of NOD located in Antwerp, Belgium: http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/nemetons/find-a-local-nemeton/190-nervii-nemeton

The Membership Administration and Webmaster of the New Order of Druids will be on vacation until August 10. E-mails or support tickets sent directly to these departments will not be answered until sometime after August 10. 

Thank you for your understanding.

On February 1st, 2013, the New Order of Druids reached its 10th birthday! 

Back then, we already announced that this will be celebrated with temporary discounts of 10 € on upgraded membership, valid between February 1 and October 31, 2013. The discount prices are therefore 19,95 € (1 year) and 39,95 € (2 years). These discounts are still valid, of course, but they are now handled a little different on the website.

If you are planning to upgrade your account between now and October 31 of this year (or your upgrade will expire in that time and you want to renew), you can apply your discount with this promo coupon code: NOD10

An upgraded membership with NOD includes a membership card and introduction booklet (first time upgrade), access to courses with mentor included, course certificates, access to the Oran Mór quarterly Celtic e-zine, and more! By upgrading your account, you help us cover the expenses required to keep our website and its services running each year again. Read more about the advantages of Upgraded Membership at this link:
  http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/my-account/upgrade-my-account

How to upgrade with the discount price?

- In order to apply the discount, simply go to "My Account" - "Upgrade my Account". Then click "Upgrade now".
- Select whether you want to upgrade for 1 or 2 years, and click the "upgrade now" button below.
- Enter your invoice address (first time upgrade) and continue.
- In the field next to "Enter coupon code if available", you fill out the coupon code: NOD10 and click "redeem coupon".
- The prices near the top of the page will now reflect the discount price!
- Click "pay now" (for payment with credit card or Paypal) or "pay offline" (for payment with money transfer by bank) and follow further instructions to complete your payment.

Please note:
- The discount coupon is valid only until October 31, 2013.
- The discount does NOT apply to family membership prices, as they are already discounts themselves.
- There will no longer be a free copy of the book "Spirit of Dán" included in a 2 year upgrade, as there are no more copies left.

Learn more about the upgraded membership at this link:
  http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/my-account/upgrade-my-account

Also check our FAQ:
  http://www.druidcircle.org/druid/index.php/en/home/frequently-asked-questions

It was long in coming, but it's finally here: the brand new website of the New Order of Druids!

As you will notice, the website has been given a complete new design. The top menu covers all important areas of the website, and by hovering over them you will also see the related sub-menus on which you can click. Of course, there will be more menus and submenus when you are logged in on the website.

Here's an overview of what's new:

1. Brand new "activity wall" (now called "newsfeed") with features similar to those of Facebook.

2. A new design for your user profile

3. Improved private messenger and enhanced chat bar

4. A brand new "Friends Map" which allows zooming and connection lines between you and your friends.

5. Circle Forums have been rearranged. It is now also possible to "like" or "dislike" a topic on the forums. 

6. Brand new Grove of Dana online Druid college (see below)

7. Nemetons Map: search on the map for a Nemeton near you

8. Enhanced NOD Circles with attached forum

9. Newly implemented NODCast - the NOD Podcast


A note on the new Grove of Dana online Druid College:

We have started using new software for handling our College courses. When you go to "Druid College" and "Getting Started", you will find a step-by-step tutorial to get you going on how to start following a course.

If you are already taking a course, you don't need to do anything different. Upgraded Members who are following a course with mentor on our old College software, can continue doing so until they have completed the course. They can go directly to the old College using this link: http://college.druidcircle.org/moodle/ (link also at the bottom of the "My Courses" page). If you only just started a course there though, we recommend that you re-enrol to start at the new college software.

Right now we are still in the process of setting up our mentors in the new college software, and copying over the last of the courses. This should all be completed in the next few days. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

If you have any questions, or you have run into what could be an overlooked bug on the website, do not hesitate to let us know.

As of today, you can also follow the New Order of Druids on Twitter. You can find us there at this URL:

https://twitter.com/NODDruidcircle

Our new website will go online near the end of this month, and will allow for further integration with Twitter and other social networks.

It is possible that you may currently experience the website as slow, or that you are logged out again automatically after a few hours. We are aware of these issues, and are currently working on a completely new version of the website of the New Order of Druids. This new website is expected to go online in June or July.

In anticipation of the launch of our new website, we would like to inform you that the following website features will be discontinued:

- Image Gallery: if you uploaded your own pictures to the general image gallery and you don't have a copy of them anymore, please download them again as soon as possible.

- Druid Blogs: if you posted blog entries of which you do not have a copy, please copy them to your computer as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.