LEADERSHIP STUDIES
The Department of Leadership Studies includes courses in teaching and mentoring, and work to prepare advanced students who are called to a ministerial or leadership role in their community, in Druidry, or in other religious organizations.
LS 401 Teaching and Mentoring (3 cr)
Readings, discussion, and role-playing in various approaches to teaching children and adult learners. How to organize a syllabus and a course of study. Preparation of lectures and talks, leading group discussions, writing assignments and evaluating student work. Classroom and distance learning methods. The role of spiritual and professional mentor.
LS 501. Leading Meditations (3 cr)
Training in the leading of guided meditations for groups and individuals in ritual settings and in counseling situations. Psychology of visualization. Meditation for health and healing.
LS 502. Conducting Rites of Passage (3 cr)
Weddings, funerals, infant naming ceremonies, coming-of-age rituals for boys and girls, midlife rituals for men and women. Students will discuss approaches, forms, and options within Druidry and other pagan paths. If possible, students will assist in one or more of the rituals being studied.
LS 503. Law, Ethics, and Modern Druidry (3 cr)
Examination of Brehon law and a number of traditional Celtic stories and triads to formulate a modern sense of Celtic laws and ethics. How this may be applied today to one's own life and the life of the Druid community. Druids as judges of behavior. Councils and conflict resolution, arbitration. Applications to community service and working on environmental policies and practices. Consideration of peace as a Druid teaching and Druid attitudes towards war, warriors, and conflict. Current issues in religious freedom and civil rights related.
LS 504. Organizing and Leading a Grove (3 cr)
Training to organize, manage, and lead a Druid grove. Considerations of size, membership recruitment, ritual formats, location, involvement with the public, openness and privacy, conflict resolution, the place of drama and humor in rituals, decentralizing the power and authority, calling councils, and other issues.
