Dana O'Driscoll

Dana O’Driscoll has been an animist druid for 20 years, and currently serves as Grand Archdruid in the Ancient Order of Druids in America (www.aoda.org). She is a druid-grade member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids and is the OBOD’s 2018 Mount Haemus Scholar. She is the author of Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel of the Year through Earth-Centered Spiritual Practice (REDFeather, 2021), the Sacred Actions Journal (REDFeather, 2022), and Land Healing: Physical, Metaphysical, and Ritual Approaches for Healing the Earth (REDFeather, 2024). She is also the author/illustrator of the Tarot of Trees, Plant Spirit Oracle, and Treelore Oracle. Dana is an herbalist, certified permaculture designer, and permaculture teacher who teaches about reconnection, regeneration, and land healing through herbalism, wild food foraging, and sustainable living. In 2024, she co-founded the Pennsylvania School of Herbalism with her sister and fellow herbalist, Briel Beaty. Dana lives at a 5-acre homestead in rural western Pennsylvania with her partner and a host of feathered and furred friends. She writes at the Druids Garden blog and is on Instagram as @druidsgardenart. She also regularly writes for Plant Healer Quarterly and Spirituality and Health magazine.

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13 Comments

  1. Looking from the point of view of just the material aspects of body: a body is the food to the earthworm, the earthworm to the robin, the robin to the eagle, the eagle to the crow, the crow to a fox, the fox to the grass, the grass to a cow, the cow to a human child… your body will scatter across the world and the cosmos, being part of multiple living things from trees, to people to spiders.

    My knowledge is reasonable of Celtic and Druid philosophy, and in that philosophy you probably know that a Celt considered death to be like half time in a soccer match, which he went onto a new body. There is good evidence (James Leininger) of reincarnation from children remembering past lives.

    You may be aware of the Voyage of Bran son of Febal, a highly symbolic tale that addresses how the Druids saw the otherworld.

    1. Yes, I was just reading about Bran of Febral recently :). I didn’t want to bring the Celtic views into this post (although it would certainly fit!)–that’s material for a dozen other posts, haha.

      I really wanted to focus on the natural processes that may support reincarnation. Thanks for the comment!

  2. daniel j rosenberger

    Life is one shot,we were created by God! We did not evolve from slime! It is like saying you picked up a bunch of cells and threw them on the ground and a perfectly formed,living frog appeared. It takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creation! The universe,our earth,our bodies are to complex for chance or coincidence.Are sure what you believe? What else in life is more important than knowing for sure! Investigate for YOURSELF!

    1. I really don’t know what your post has to do with my friend’s death, and honestly, its kind of rude to post such a thing in a post that honors a passing friend. But since you’ve posted, I’ll give you a response–and only one.

      Unfortunately, scientific consensus begs to differ with your views. The nice thing about beliefs is that you don’t have to prove them–that’s what faith is all about. Within the realm of science, however, objective measures of reality are important and allow us to validate how we understand the world. This same scientific method that evolutionary biologists, linguists, geologists, and the like use to examine evidence is the same method that discovers new stars and the same method that develops new cures for heart attacks and other diseases. There is no great conspiracy among scientists to discredit religious teachings. There is simply the scientific method, a rigorous peer review process, and a lot of people working to contribute to human understanding (I know this well, I am a learning researcher myself, and while I work within the realm of social science and educational research, the principles are the same). The fossil records, carbon dating, studies of the morphology of species, and much more all point to evolution as the most likely way in which human life developed.

      I would actually suggest that you take your own advice and investigate it for yourself. You might find David Sloan Wilson’s work particularly helpful and accessible.

  3. I would really like to include this in the Oct 1st Animist Blog Carnival, the theme is Death and the host is Moma Fauna at Pray to the Moon. Contributors just do this:
    ABC Contributor Guidelines
    1.Write an essay, poem, memoir, conduct an interview, etc about the month’s theme. Or film a song or photograph an image or art piece that is about the theme. You can contribute old writing/art.
    2. Post on your blog with a link to the month’s hosting blog and a link to the ABC HQ. http://lifthrasirsuccess.wordpress.com/animist-blog-carnival/
    3. Send link to your post to that month’s host by the last of the month. http://moma-fauna.blogspot.com/p/who.html

    For more info, http://lifthrasirsuccess.wordpress.com/animist-blog-carnival/

    I really like your blog and cannot believe I didn’t see it earlier!

    1. Sure! Do you want me to revise it for your blog? 🙂

      1. Great!!! If you could add a line at the end or beginning saying something like “This is part of the Animist Blog Carnival, hosted Oct 1st by Moma Fauna at Pray to the Moon, who picked the theme death.” and put links to the ABC page and Pray to the Moon,it would be great. Moma Fauna is hosting that month, so her blog will on Oct 1st have a list of posts about Death that are animist related with snippets of them so readers can visit the different blogs and their essays/poems/art/videos/photos. If you want to contribute to the ABC in the future Nov 1st theme is Human Mating and Dating (animist perspective) and Dec 1st is Animism & Other Religions, both hosted by me. January the blog naturebum is hosting the theme Trees. I’m always looking for contributors, so please tell anyone animystical (I just made that word up!) they are welcome to join in as well. Diversity is very important! WE are creating modern animism! Also people are always welcome to pick a month and theme to host on their blog and tell me, the organizer about it. Thanks!

  4. Hi! This will be in the Oct 1st ABC! Please have a link on this essay saying it is part of the animist blog carnival with the URL http://lifthrasirsuccess.wordpress.com/animist-blog-carnival/ It goes live the 1st at Eaarth Animist!

  5. Willowcrow, for my safety could you remove the mail address? Thanks! Great job on the ABC!

    1. Removed in your post above. And I posted the link here :). Thank you!

      1. THANK YOU – everyone loved your piece!Yay! More more more from you! 🙂 animistblogcarnival (at) gmail (dot) com for the future submissions I host. Email that address and I’ll put you on the mailing list!!! I am so happy to have found your blog!

  6. Not only is this a beautiful sentiment it has also been very enlightening and informative in many ways,thankyou so much for this beautiful humbling read.

    1. You are most welcome. Thank you so much for reading!

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