Episode 164: Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue - Courting The Wild Queen: Animism & Our Romance with Life

Throughout this episode, Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue weaves a wonderful conversation that brings nature alive in our awareness. He sees plants and fungi as our ancestors and kin with their own intelligence, and we delve into the concept of identity and what it means to break the habit of being human. He speaks of a time when the King was wedded to the land and that the core of our suffering is due to forgetting and the severing of our relationship with it. Sean shares his insights into animism, where the world is alive, and all beings, including humans, are equal in significance. He suggests that building a relationship with other-than-human beings is vital, and it begins with consistency and spending time with a place in the natural world, or a tree, river, local or plant to develop a relationship. Sean suggests that dropping the veil is necessary to see beyond certain levels of reality and see’s our consciousness as a variation of the microrisal webs that form the minds of forests and fields, and that in order to reach beyond- reorganization of the brain is necessary. Take a deep dive into discovering your true self and your connection to the natural world in this episode Topics discussed: * Herbalism and plants/fungi as ancestors * Astrology * Sovereignty * Building relationships with other-than-human beings * Identity * Animism Sean is an herbalist, writer, poet, teacher, and initiated priest in two traditions, and his work with plants and fungi weaves together traditional western herbalism, contemporary science, Irish and Nordic animism, and his own lived experience. Special Guest: Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue.