011: Eryn from Plant Witch Podcast

Eryn is a lifelong student of nature, starting her Druid path as a child peering into the Yucca flowers, climbing the mimosa and spruce trees, hiding within the viburnum with books about magic. She studied witchcraft most of her life, and found her way to Druidry as a formal path in 2021 when she joined the AODA and OBOD. Eryn is now an Apprentice in the AODA and a committed monk within the Gnostic Celtic Church. She operates the Sacred Grove Druid Home Study Circle at her family's home in South Central Pennsylvania and serves as a mentor to other Druids in the AODA. Eryn's work as an herbalist and spiritual director at The Rebel Herbalist and her podcast, The Plant Witch Podcast, are all deeply embedded in her devotion as a Druid-Witch and are central forms of expression of her monastic vocation. 

AODA Website:
https://aoda.org/

AODA Curriculum Overview:
http://aoda.org/aoda-membership/curriculum-requirements/

Gnostic Celtic Church:
https://aoda.org/aoda-structure/gnostic-celtic-church-gcc/

A Vision for AODA Druidry: Seven Core Principles of AODA:
https://aoda.org/vision/

AODA Discord Server:
https://discord.gg/y5CCaw7ctT

AODA Forums:
https://forum.aoda.org/

AODA Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AODADruidry

AODA You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-5YgIfi1jiC_EOtViS9Wg

Grand Arch Druid Dana O’Driscoll Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/druidsgardenart/?hl=en

Podcast Contact Email:
druidwisdompodcast@gmail.com

Podcast Instagram:
https://instagram.com/druidwisdompodcast?utm_medium=copy_link

Dave Ardrey 3rd Degree Studies:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PRlfWAP4WmqfrGtf1KMsZMuv3Olab-ywUucZleqDL5c/edit?usp=sharing

Claire’s blog living Low in the Lou:
http://livinglowinthelou.blogspot.com/

Jack Campbell:
www.confabulatorcafe.com/author/jcampbell
http://www.jackcampbelljr.com/
https://jack-campbell-jr.square.site/

Eryn Shrader website & Substack
https://therebelherbalist.com/
https://erynshrader.substack.com/

Transcript

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Dave 0:32

Welcome to Druid Wisdom, the podcast of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. I am Dave, a companion in the AODA. I have begun my third degree studies, and I will put a link to that in the show notes. In a nutshell, it involves exploration of the eighth celestial sphere using druid ritual magic techniques.

Keara 0:58

Hi, my name is Kira. I am an apprentice in the AODA, and we are back, baby. It's been a hiatus. I apologize. We've had lots of problems behind the scenes, but we are back, and I'm so excited to be with you guys.

Dave 1:17

And I'm so excited that we're back too.

Keara 1:21

The ancient order of druids in America, or AODA, is a modern druid order rooted in the Druid Revival. AODA understands druidry as a path of major spirituality and inner transformation founded on personal experience rather than dogmatic belief. AODA welcomes people of all national origins, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, races, genders, abilities, and affiliations with other druidic and spiritual traditions. Psychological awareness and commitment to an earth-honoring lifestyle, the celebration of the cycles of nature through seasonal ritual, and personal development through meditation and other spiritual exercises form the core of its work. And involvement in the arts, natural sciences, and traditional esoteric studies are among its applications and expressions. AODA places a special emphasis on wildcrafting druidry to be rooted in local ecosystems and developing rituals and symbolism that ties directly to where you live. In addition to AODA's flexible curriculum, which comprises of three degrees, members may also choose to join the Gnostic Celtic Church, which offers spiritual discernment, dedicated religious practice, and ordination of clergy. For more information about the AODA, visit www.aoda.org.

Dave 2:50

Erin is a lifelong student of nature, starting her druid path as a child, peering into the yucca flowers, climbing the mimosa and spruce trees, hiding within the Vibernon with books and magic. She studied witchcraft most of her life and found her way to Druidry as a formal path in 2021 when she joined the AODA and Obod. Aaron is now an apprentice in the AODA and a committed monk within the Gnostic Celtic Church. She operates the Sacred Grove Druid Home Study Circle at her family's home in South Central Pennsylvania and serves as a mentor to other druids in the AODA. Aaron's work as an herbalist and spiritual director at the Rebel Herbalist and her podcast, The Plant Witch Podcast, are all deeply embedded in her devotion as a druid witch and her central forms of expression and her monastic vocation. Hi, Erin. Thank you so much for joining us. We're so happy you're here.

Eryn 3:56

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. I've been looking forward to this. Me too.

Dave 4:04

We will light a candle and recite the following together.

Keara 4:09

We come together at the time and place, each of us with a different path and pace. We open our hearts and minds to explore, growing our knowledge more and more. We come together without judgment or malice. We encourage the growth of all those around us. All who join are part of the grove. May the knot of druid friendship be wove. Do you have a druid name?

Eryn 4:40

I do. Yes, my druid name is Eris Pierre Floris, which means flower of fire.

Dave 4:48

Oh, that's so pretty.

Eryn 4:50

Thank you. Thank you. I love it too. How did it come to you? I was doing a lot of work with the plants, and I was journaling one day, and I was doing sort of like automatic writing, and I started writing like through your work with the plants, you will receive a new name, and that name is Aeris Pier Floris. And then I did all this research, found out what the name meant. I didn't know at the time, but I mean you can kind of tell kind of what it might mean. But it was very exciting to find that it meant this burning radiant flower.

Keara 5:21

Yeah. There's like imagery when I hear it. You know, like I can see it.

Eryn 5:27

It's it feels very fiery. Yeah, yeah, it did to me too. And I learned I've been a devote, a devotee, I guess, of Hecate for a really long time. She's behind me as a statue in statue form. And one of the ways she's described in the Chaldean or Chaldean oracles is a flower of fire, which I didn't find out until much later. So that was really cool too.

Keara 5:49

That is so cool. Yeah, it feels very validating. Totally. Like there's no coincidences. Yeah.

Dave 5:57

If any of our listeners have never heard of her, she comes from the Greek pantheon. Yes.

Keara 6:03

Dave, have you done a podcast uh about her?

Dave 6:07

I have not, actually. I should though.

Keara 6:12

Yes.

unknown 6:13

I should.

Keara 6:15

Maybe there needs to be a collaboration among all the podcasts. Yes.

Eryn 6:23

Yeah, she's having a real resurgence right now. Is she? Oh, yeah. I mean, there are so many people devoted to her. She used to be the Greeks called her the Anima Mundi or the soul of the world. And a lot of the people who are following her now feel like she's sort of like coming forth, coming forward in a call to really attune ourselves to the soul of the world again and be connected to each other and to the land and and to embody some of the dark goddess qualities where we say, like, enough, no more, stand for justice, things like that. It's her whole message is really beautiful.

Keara 7:05

Wow. It sounds like uh a nice balance of boundaries, right? Yeah. She's very into boundaries, yes. And how did you discover Druidry?

Eryn 7:19

Well, it's sort of a winding path, but it was through Hecate, actually. I went to a tea for her. Oh my gosh, in 2019, I guess. When I was there, I was sitting next to this woman who was an also an herbalist, and we got to talking, and she invited me to like connect with her after the tea, and I did. And we spent a few years working together, and she was really deeply enveloped in and studying the Welsh pantheons and Welsh witchcraft and her Welsh Welsh ancestry and mythology. And as I started to study that along with her, and I learned of Caridwen and the story of Tabiessen, and as I studied those mythology threads, I was led to Druidry. I had no idea that Druidry was an active path in modern life. I had been studying witchcraft since I was 18, but at no point in that study did I ever come across Druidry that I remember anyway, as an active path. And I was so excited to find it.

Keara 8:27

Yeah. I feel very similar where when I started reading up on it, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm already there. You know, like it just everything really clicked that there was so much that I was already living and prioritizing and passionate about. And it put a label to it. And it felt so comforting that I had finally found other people like me.

Eryn 8:48

So yes, exactly like that. And when I started to tell people, I've decided to go into the druidry path. People said, I thought you were a druid already. I just thought you were a druid. So yeah, it was so funny. It's been so funny, but I really feel like I found my home. Yeah.

Keara 9:06

Yeah.

Eryn 9:07

Wow. That's so great. Yeah, thank you for you too.

Keara 9:11

Yeah.

Eryn 9:11

Yeah, I'm so happy for you. I know.

Keara 9:14

I joined shortly after. I started in 2020. So I still feel new, you know, even though it's been years at this point. But I feel like it's such a process. It's like the onion, you just peel back more and more layers into the journey.

Eryn 9:30

Absolutely.

Keara 9:31

That's a great metaphor for it.

Eryn 9:32

It's so layered.

Keara 9:33

Yeah.

Dave 9:34

Yeah. What is your definition of druidry?

Eryn 9:38

Hmm. That's such a good question. Druidry to me goes back to the old translations, the knowers of the oak or the keepers of the wisdom of the oak, the people who really look to the trees and the plants and nature as messengers and teachers and guides and like an embodiment of the divine. So you can love trees and not be a druid, and you can love the divine and love nature, but not be a druid. But there's this like really special relationship where we look at the green world and we know we are in relationship with something sentient and wise and who wants to teach us. And to me, that's what druidry is.

Dave 10:27

I love that answer.

Keara 10:29

Thank you.

Dave 10:30

Yeah.

Keara 10:31

Full disclosure, we are recording on Earth Day. So we don't normally like to give the dates because sometimes it takes a while for production. And I was volunteering in my son's class, and it was all about the Earth Day and celebrating the Earth and how to recycle and reduce and like all of the changes, you know, that we can make to be better citizens of the earth. And it was so exciting listening to her things that like we talk about on our forums and like things that we put in practice every single day. But there's for this one day, everyone appreciates it, right? And like this is our everyday mentality, but it feels special to share it with so many today because it's in the forefront. I feel super grateful that you know I'm already in this path and that I already have this mentality of appreciating the earth that we stand on and the elements, but I feel like today is very special in that way. Everyone gets to see it and appreciate it and buy plants at the garden. That's why I was late today. I was rushing and I'm in my closet because plant sales, so a very good reason. And the next question, which I already know because I listen to your podcast, but are you open about your druidry?

Eryn 11:56

Yes, I am extremely open about my druidry. Yeah, I really live it as much as possible anyway.

Dave 12:04

I think we eventually get to a point on our path where we just kind of have to.

Eryn 12:11

Yeah. Yeah, it becomes so much a part of who we are that to try to hide it, it doesn't work anymore.

Dave 12:19

Yeah, yeah.

Keara 12:21

And since you talk so openly about your jewelry on your podcast, do you want to talk about your own podcast in that journey?

Eryn 12:28

Yeah, sure. I have a podcast called The Plant Witch Podcast. And I started it in 2021, I think. I was working for a nonprofit that wanted to start a podcast, and so I did all this research to help them launch their own podcast, and then they decided not to. And I had all this research and all this equipment, and so I decided just to start talking. And I just started, yeah, just sort of musing and reflecting and sharing from my heart. Yeah, here we are a couple years later, and it's been going really well. And I really been amazed at the global connections I've made through the podcast and how many people there are who have the same kind of longing and the same way of seeing the world as this amazing, alive, interwoven web of relationship. Every time I get feedback from a listener, I just feel less alone and more hopeful.

Keara 13:29

Such a great point of connection that we find in so many different ways. I know at the AODA, we have the forums and we have Discord, which is one way to connect. And we've definitely gotten so much feedback about this podcast too, and like people who have found the AODA this way. And now we've increased that with a YouTube channel for like visual rituals. And it's so great to be able to connect to the community in so many different ways. And it's uh it's so inspiring to know like the different reaches, right? I never thought about that. It was just me and Dave on a Discord channel talking about wanting to do a podcast, and then people are like listening to it, you know, like it's surreal sometimes. You're like, I check the downloads, and you're like, wow, people downloading it every single week. It's just so incredible to be able to connect to people that you're not gonna see, but they're we're in their ear. And then you realize like how big the movement really is. It's really incredible.

Eryn 14:29

Yeah, it really is. It and it is incredible. I remember um reading a book years ago called The Great Turning, and it was about how we're in this time. Gary Corton comes to mind. I think he was the author, but I can't remember for sure. But he says that we're in a time where basically humans are waking up to the needs of the earth, and and everyone who is who wants to live like Earth Days every day, are like the immune cells of the earth to protect her from overdevelopment and pollution and you know all the harm that humans bring to the planet. And then there was another book called Blessed Unrest. I think that's by Paul Hawkins, and he talks about how those same humans that are like the immune system of the earth are like imaginal cells in a butterfly when they're in the cocoon. So when a caterpillar liquefies itself in a cocoon, for a while it's just nothing. It's like cell soup. And then these imaginal cells start to organize into what the future butterfly will be like, and then they call the goo cells to them to start to create the form of the butterfly. And so he imagines people who are listening to the earth and caring for her as these imaginal cells. How can we in the future and in the present live in a way that's more in alignment with nature so that we are a blessing on the planet instead of a detriment? Yeah. And and doing stuff like we're doing with the podcast, it's like you draw those other imaginal cells to you and you get to hear all the ways that people are doing this work all over the place. And the love that people have for the planet and and each other is just really beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.

Keara 16:22

Listening to podcasts or jumping on a serve as such a great tool to have in my tool belt when I'm feeling because I'm a solo practitioner, like there's not a lot of people in my area. We don't have a grove yet. And it's so great to feel connected at my fingertips. I can pick it up at any time. I can jump on. There's always people on Discord. You can always be in my ear talking to the plants outside, and your crows crowing, and I love it all. So it's that instant connection that I didn't even imagine was possible and that I didn't even know I needed. It really is this magical effect. And I love the imagery about the butterfly and like the image directors in that gooey part, they're still prioritizing and they're still like nurturing happening. And I love the idea of that. So at my children's school, the garden guardians are the kids that take their lunchtime. And I always love that phrase too, because I feel like we all feel like guardians in its true sense of the word.

Dave 17:28

It is such a fine line between bringing awareness and prophetizing. And I'm so grateful we've been able to bring awareness as opposed to converting people to an earth-based spirituality. Because almost everybody I've ever talked to has said, wow, I've been looking for something like this my whole life. So true.

Keara 17:50

Yeah, you bring up a really good point of like there's no pushy salesman. We don't even need that. Like we're all such willing participants, and it's so comforting because it's not aggressive in any way. We don't, it's attraction rather than promotion, right? Like we don't need to promote anything, people just come. Yeah. So other than your podcast, have you modified your philosophy in druidry to embrace your modern life? Do you bring it in with all of your Welsh OG Welsh pantheon?

Eryn 18:25

Oh yeah. My whole life centers around my spirituality, especially since I took my vows as a committed monk in the Gnostic Celtic Church. Really, it's been longer than like a long time, but especially since then. You know, we're really and our family observes the wheel of the year, and I have altars everywhere in like every room of the house. And we have altars outside too, like little places in the gardens that are statues or where we put offerings for the land or whatever. So yeah, my whole life it hinges on the axis of this eco-spirituality that is so central to who I've always, always been, but now I just have like words for it. Um yeah, it's really like great, grounded, loving way to live. And I'm so glad to have Druidry.

Dave 19:23

I love how you pointed out that you have words for it now to describe these things you've always felt. Yeah, it's so beautiful.

Eryn 19:32

It's really how it feels. Like it's always been there, but now there are words and community and other people, and very awesome.

Dave 19:40

I want to hear how you incorporate your witchcraft into your druidry.

Eryn 19:46

I see druidry as being this like really reverence interconnection to all of life. In my druidry, I feel like, especially in the AODA, I love the I'm I'm an Obod too, and I love Obod too, but the way the AODA does Druidry is so awesome because it's so rooted in the present moment and wherever you are. You know, we say we wildcraft our druidry through my druid practice, especially with the AODA, I feel totally tied to this land I live on, my ancestors, the turning of the wheel, and the plants that are here. And so it's like druidry feeds me almost. And my witchcraft practice is much more about my will exerting itself into that web. It feels like druidry weaves me tightly. And I, in fact, I just recently got a tattoo of the web of life or the web of the weird as they call it.

Keara 20:46

Web of the weird, I've never heard that before.

Eryn 20:49

Yeah, and the weird is spelled W-Y-R-D. It's an old Germanic way of imagining the whole of the universe is woven together by the threads of fate, and that's a bind druid that symbolizes it. But I feel like druidry weaves me into that web really well and tightly. And when I'm practicing as a witch, I'm coming from this really grounded place in the web and finding my alignment to what it is I want to bring into manifestation, and then I act, I put my will, my energy, and intention into that web. So that's how they kind of work together for me.

Dave 21:32

Yeah.

Eryn 21:33

Sounds very symbiotic. It is, it really is. Yeah. They're not really separate. I do both at the same time, but that's how they feel. I feel like I gain perspective, wisdom, grounding, clarity through my Druidry practice. Not that I don't feel those things in witchcraft too. I'm a dedicant in a tradition of witchcraft, and I do receive those things from that tradition too. But when Witchcraft is it's a craft, you know, you're learning how to impact events. It just feels more active in that way to me.

Dave 22:07

You're learning how to pull on the strings of the that holistic web, right?

Eryn 22:13

Exactly.

Dave 22:14

Yeah.

Eryn 22:15

Strengthen them, nourish them, nudge them. Yeah, exactly.

Dave 22:24

I like how that allows you to be an active participant in your present moment rather than just can approach it just like going with the flow or taking it as it comes. And I think that's really kind of what the underlying intent of magic is.

Eryn 22:41

Yes. So much. And I I love the druidry in the AODA that it has the connection to the old Western Hermetic, the golden dawn magic. That that really speaks to the witch in me, for sure. It that's been a really cool, you know. John Michael Greer, it he's so rooted in that hermetic magical tradition. Yeah, that's been really awesome.

Keara 23:12

So you mentioned Obad. You mentioned the monkhood, and then you're part of another tradition.

Eryn 23:20

It's a witchcraft tradition. It's called the Black Forest, and that it's named after the Black Forest region of Germany where you know a lot of our ancestors are from in this area, where the Pennsylvania Dutch and our ancestors came from the Rhinelands of Germany, and they brought their folk magic with them. So here in Pennsylvania, it's called Powwow because our ancestors blended Germanic folk magic with Native American traditions when they met here, and the resulting magical tradition was called powwow or broccoli is the other name for it. That's the German name. And so in the Black Forest tradition, we study our ancestral Germanic magic and other forms of sort of gardenarian, Wiccan, and very eclectic witchcraft. So that has been a wonderful way of reclaiming my roots as a Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania German descendant. And it's helped me figure out my own family because, you know, my grandmother she always had a needle hanging on a piece of thread, and she would put it over our hands to get answers about things. So she was doing pendulums on us, thus came out of her Pennsylvania Dutch magic. They were all well witchers or dowsers. They had these dowsing rods where they would go out and douse for water or for lost objects or lost animals. So learning about the Germanic magical tradition has helped me feel really connected to things my family did that I didn't understand when I was a kid. Yeah, so cool. And I grew up hearing my parents talk about going to powwow doctors, especially for burns. That was a big thing. You would they could blow the heat out of a burn with chance and their breath. And so the burn would start to heal after they did their magic over it. I mean, this was very real to this whole community here up until I was a kid.

Keara 25:18

That's incredible. Yeah, very helped me with my sunburn because that's yes, it would probably help with your sunburn. Serving lemonade in the garden with the garden guardians. It's so cool because it feels not only is it like the ancestors of blood, but it's also the ancestors of the land that you're connecting with in your community and the history in that region, which feels so all-encompassing because then you're deeply rooted in so many different ways, and then you get to bring in other things.

Eryn 25:50

Yeah. It's really helped me realize how much we've lost through not belonging to a place. I didn't know I needed it until I started to receive it. Knowing the old stories, how we got here, all of that. It has given me a sense of belonging and identity that has made me so much more confident as a woman, as an as an adult. And I'm really glad I get to pass it on to my kids and my nieces and nephews that now they have these stories and and ways of understanding our people that were lost for a few generations.

Keara 26:31

Yeah.

Eryn 26:32

Yeah.

Dave 26:33

What is your favorite way of expressing your creativity?

Eryn 26:37

Through writing. I love to write. Yeah. It always I start to write something, and then I'm always surprised by what I say when I'm writing. And so it feels like a gift to me. I get to see something in a new way.

Keara 26:53

Do you just write for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Eryn 26:57

I share it. I have a blog and a Substack. And sometimes what I write ends up on my podcast. So yeah, I share it pretty often. What is Substack? It's like a social media platform for writers. There's there are other ones like the Medium is another one. So it's kind of like Patreon for writers, I'd say. Okay.

Keara 27:20

Oh I've never heard of this. I'm not a writer, so that would be why.

Dave 27:28

Yeah.

Eryn 27:30

It's a pretty yeah, it's geared just for writers and people who follow them. So yeah, it's very cool. Good to know. Yeah.

Dave 27:41

We would love to share the link for that in our show notes if that's okay with you.

Keara 27:46

Sure. Yeah, thank you. So going back to your bioregion, is there anything that you have uniquely discovered? Understanding more about your bioregion.

Dave 27:59

Yes.

Eryn 28:00

Our bioregion is part of the Appalachian or Appalachian mountain range. And through learning about this bioregion, I've learned that our watershed drains into the Susquehanna River, which is maybe the oldest river in the world, or arguably one of the four oldest rivers in the world. It formed on Pangea. These mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, are some of the oldest mountains in the world. So they formed with the collision of the continents to create Pangaea as well. So we live in this incredibly old landscape. Our mountains are now like a thousand feet high. So they're not even, they're like hills now, but they used to be the height of the Rockies or the Himalayans or the largest mountains in the world. They used to be so big, but they've eroded because they're so old. So now they're more like hills. I didn't even know that was possible. Yeah, it's so cool to learn about. And as they eroded, they deposited limestone in the soil, which made this area one of the most fertile soils anywhere. So we have a huge amount of agriculture here, especially orchards. We grow a lot of apples and peaches and pears and cherries. And I grew up in apple orchards as a kid. Our families were all farmers. We were farmers in Germany and we came here and farmed. And so when we first came here, I have a letter that my six times great-grandfather wrote back to his family in Switzerland, actually, about what it was like here when he came. It was huge old forests, animals everywhere of all kinds, wolves and mountain lions and elk, animals that aren't here anymore because we killed them all. Yeah, where you are too, huh?

Dave 30:01

Yeah. Oh, it's so sad.

Keara 30:03

Yeah.

Eryn 30:04

So I've gotten this snapshot of what, and he wrote in the letter, he had just arrived, and he was like, I already see my fellow man killing in excess. It will be no time before we spoil this land. So right away, he got here in 1708. He knew what we were going to do here, and we did. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. So we live on almost four acres of degraded forest here in the foothills of South Mountain, which is the largest mountain range in this area. And this forest is only 40 years old. It was a farm before that for a really long time. And then it was subdivided into lots. And because it's so new and only 40-year-old forest, it's full of invasive species. There's just not a lot of native, really anything here. So we've made it our mission to reintroduce a lot of native species, and it's a huge learning curve, but we're committed to learning.

Dave 31:09

Yeah.

Keara 31:11

One of the books I'm reading is basically the history of American trees. And it's pretty incredible. It's called The Trees Among Us. No, I'm sorry, Urban Forest. I'm reading like five books at a time. I'm I know I'm not alone. I know I'm not alone. And I didn't realize how many trees were invasive. There are not a lot of native trees, and it's pretty incredible. But California, I'm in the Bay Area, and we have a very similar history where animals were hunted and slaughtered, and they don't even exist hardly ever here. It's I don't have family letters explaining, but the first like settlers in California, especially like John Muir and the way that he describes California, is just I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and see it. It's just so awe-inspiring to see what that would be like. And then it just makes me sad because it's not like that anymore. So it never will be, but I'm glad that someone got to see it. It's at least passed down to us in some form of writing, and we get to kind of live vicariously and do the best we can to bring it back.

Dave 32:21

Yes.

Keara 32:22

Yeah. Absolutely. 40 years feels so young for a forest. I don't even know what that would look like.

Eryn 32:31

Yeah. I mean, the trees are pretty big. They're maples and oaks. So in 40 years, they're 30 feet tall, probably. But it's young for a forest.

Keara 32:40

They were their forests in Oklahoma.

Dave 32:43

Right outside where I live, there are large sections of the cross timbers that are still preserved from what they used to be way back when. And the cross timbers, it stretches down into Texas and I think all the way to the Ozarks. Oh wow. It is the thickest forest you'll ever see. There's writings about it where they were saying when they were trying to go through it, they would make about 20 feet of movement per day.

Eryn 33:17

Wow. Is it thick with how close the trees are together, or is there a lot of undergrowth or both?

Dave 33:26

Both. Wow. The majority of it is oaks. There's about 23 species of oaks that that go through it. And then there's also like walnut trees and hazel trees and things like that. But yeah, the blackjack oaks are probably the thickest. They'll grow just a few feet from each other. And then the undergrowth comes up and it's a lot of vines and it's a lot of thorns and a lot of thickets.

Eryn 33:58

That is hard as that sounds.

Keara 34:03

That sounds treacherous to walk through. Oh my god.

Dave 34:07

And you can see remnants of it even in our uh rural where all the creeks are.

Keara 34:28

That's incredible. We're gonna have to share some pictures on our Instagram. We can see it.

Dave 34:36

I'd love to see it. Oh, definitely. So yeah, the only way to really trek through it is along the deer trails. Because they cut little paths through it, you know. So but you always know if you follow them, you can find water because that's that's where they travel to.

Keara 34:54

So smart priorities for all animals, all mammals.

Dave 35:00

So, what advice would you give to a new candidate in our order?

Eryn 35:05

Well, I'm a mentor to new candidates. So I have like stock advice that I give them, which is get out your handbook, put a tab in the checklist so you always know where it is. Update your checklist as you go along, as you write, you know, write in your books as you read them. So I have very practical advice because I'm a mentor, but like more heartfelt advice would be to take your time, let the path be rambling and wild. Don't try to be like any other druid, let your druidry find you, whatever that looks like. It might be really magical druidry, like doing the SOP every day and really doing the rituals with the wheel of the year, or it might be like a really private inward kind of druidry, and that's just as good. Yeah, I would say let your druidry find you, and don't judge it by anybody else's expression of druidry.

Keara 36:08

I love that. There's so much permission in that that I think we can all apply to our druidry, whatever stage. Yeah.

Eryn 36:17

I think that's what I love the most about druidry, is it's so freeing. Like there's no dogma, there's no judgment, there's no, you know, timetables. For me, it feels like spiraling, like deepening and my understanding of things instead of like pressure, which I've felt in other spiritualities I've been part of.

Keara 36:40

Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to talk about the GCC and being a monk and what that journey has been like for you?

Eryn 36:49

Sure. Yeah.

Keara 36:51

Yeah.

Eryn 36:51

I was so excited to learn that the GCC existed. I have been enamored with Celtic everything since I was a kid. I have like a Celtic knot work tattoo on my back that I got the day I graduated high school.

Keara 37:08

So I might your first tattoo?

Eryn 37:11

That was my first tattoo the day I graduated high school.

Keara 37:13

Yeah. I love that. What a cool milestone.

Eryn 37:17

Yeah, it was a great like initiation moment. So to see that this religious arm of the AODA was based in and like rooted in Celtic worldview was just like amazing to me. And I loved it. I've loved every part of being in the GCC. I loved my journey to being a deacon. And then when I was in my sort of discernment period, I went on a pilgrimage to Ireland at the same time. And I saw, oh, it was amazing. I saw the beehive huts that the Irish monks lived in. And we went to old monastery sites throughout Ireland. And I really felt this overwhelming connection to the monastic life. It was like their prayers were still in the stones. You could still feel this like reverent silence. And I knew I wanted to go into the monastery after the pilgrimage. So when I came home, I asked to join the monastery. And that has been so transformative. Just being part of this group of people who we come together every Sunday. And we are all over the world. We have a brother in Holland, we have a sister in Poland, we have uh brothers and sisters all over the United States. And we come together in meditation, in healing prayer, in studying the Oum together. And you know, we do all these things together, and it feels like we're just anchoring this love of the earth in this little community that reflects like all over the world. It's so it's been so powerful for me.

Keara 39:14

It really echoes your podcast, right? Like that same effect of really the far-reaching, and yet we're all kind of in this together in this like very special place in our hearts and in with each other. So in this community, it's tight knit, but yet far reaching. That's really awesome.

Eryn 39:34

Oh my gosh, that's the perfect way to say it. Tight knit and far reaching. Exactly. Yes, beautiful.

Keara 39:42

I'm gonna write that down. Yeah, that's a good one. Um and then you you did mention on one of your podcast episodes a secondary religious are is that something you're still doing, or is the GCC monkhood is that your primary spiritual focus?

Eryn 40:05

Well, I the other focus I have is the witchcraft tradition that I'm in. Okay, got it. It is it is a seminary. So when I complete my time, if I stay on the path and complete it, which I think I will, then I'll have an ordination as a priestess within that tradition. And I'll have the monastic life and they really feed each other, they just feel so complementary. It's a beautiful pairing.

Keara 40:33

Yeah, yeah. It's nice to share your experience of it working and that it's not falling at itself, that it is enhancing each each other. A lot of people talk about the AODA and Obod in the same way, just like you mentioned earlier, that really everything just enhances everything else and everything can work in conjunction together. And it's really nice to see it, gives other people, I'm sure, permission to do the same, you know. We can there's enough space and time for everything.

Eryn 41:05

Yes. I got a really beautiful image about this when I was praying to Hecate one day. She's known as the torchbearer. That's her, and people who are her priestesses are known as torchbearers. And I got this image of these threads that I'm doing of study or volunteerism in the world or whatever, like weaving together a wick. So, like Obod and the Black Forest and AODA and all these different things I do, weaving this tight wick that draws up this oil that makes me a lamp for her in the world. So it's like nothing's competing with anything else, it's all just ways to be of service more deeply in the world. I love that. Yeah, I try to remember it because it felt really important to and to think of it that way, even with other people. Like we're not competing with each other. Yeah, we're weaving into this wick to bring a new kind of light into the world. Yeah. Yeah.

Keara 42:10

Yeah. There's a joke in our house of like be the light, right? Like be the beacon of light, because sometimes it's really hard to do that. But I find that oftentimes a lot of people are drawn to it. And there's so much hope and being drawn to other flames. There is so much about fire and rebirth and heat and passion. You know, all of those things go into it. It's really incredible to be able to garner everything together in what you are experiencing and putting forth and being of service in so many different ways. It's really very exciting to see it and to hear it because of your own podcast. So you're sharing your journey and so inspiring. So thank you.

Eryn 42:58

I think that's so helpful to me. I just feel that weaving again, like we just weave together your podcast, all of our voices, just creating something like it's like art, some kind of beautiful art we create together.

Dave 43:13

Yeah.

Keara 43:16

Is there anything else you want to promote? We've talked so much about your podcast. You're gonna send us links to all of your writings. Is there anything that you want to mention?

Eryn 43:26

Between the podcast and my writing, that's pretty much what I offer out there. I do see clients as a spiritual director on Fridays, and that has been and an herbalist. I do herbalism consults too, and that's been really beautiful and feels also just so connected to my druid path. Yeah, and I loved watching my clients become. I have a client who's been in spiritual direction with me for a long time, and now she's becoming a spiritual director. I have a client who's been coming to me for herbalists, and now she's becoming an herbalist. I just love watching people step into their brilliance. And I feel like I'm seeing that so much right now. And it's something to celebrate.

Keara 44:10

Definitely. To be surrounded by people who are echoing what you're doing, it's pretty incredible.

Eryn 44:16

Yeah. Yeah. It's really humbling and and I feel so much a part of a community, which is something I've always been sort of bullied and outcast. And you know, so being at this point in my life where I feel really a part of a community of people that are so like-minded, that is thanks to druidry.

Dave 44:40

Yeah, awesome. This conversation has been such a blessing for me. Thank you.

Eryn 44:46

Thank you. It's been really wonderful for me too. I'm so grateful for what you are both doing for the Druid community through this podcast.

Keara 44:56

Thank you. Thank you for joining us. It's nice to finally see a face to a podcast I've been listening to for years. So it's so nice to be able to connect and share what you're up to and what you continue to do in the community that we have together. So thank you. Yeah, thank you. I felt a little fangirly watching um Erin on a Zoom screen tonight because I've listened to her podcast for quite a while, and it was so cool to actually have conversation with her and like to see her and not just hear her in my ears. So yeah, and she hit the ground running from the moment we started. We really got into so many great things tonight.

Dave 45:44

Oh, we did. She definitely knew what she was doing. It's so great because I've been a long time listener to her podcast as well. And it's it's so good to put a a face with a voice.

Keara 45:57

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah, she gave me so much great imagery when she was describing things. And it's really inspiring to see how she weaves this amazing web or width from her all of her experiences into this really amazing journey that she shares not only with us tonight, but also on her podcast and then in her writing, which I get to deep dive into because I haven't even touched that part of what she offers. So I'm excited to get to know even more about her experiences.

Dave 46:33

Oh, yeah. Her her insights into hik hikate were very cathartic. Maybe that's not the right word, but we'll go with it. They were philosophical and like kind of all-encompassing of so many things. Maybe I need to dig a little more into hikate.

Keara 46:54

There is a revival going on, she said. So maybe we all need to jump on the bandwagon.

Dave 47:01

I know that Jason Miller offers like a heikate course, but that's more along the lines of ceremonial magic and things.

Keara 47:10

There's something about just being the moth to the flame, you know, like being attracted to like-minded people, and for her to be kind of shining out a light of like a beacon of hope community in everything she does. It's very, very inspiring to be a part of a community with Erin.

Dave 47:32

It really is. I know we were talking a lot about the web and things, and I mean her awe when really vibrates along those strands and touches so many. Yeah.

Keara 47:47

Yeah. And I feel like we peeled back some of the layer of the GCC that we haven't touched on and like the international vibe of the members, which I think is really cool. That adds to the community that they have as well.

Dave 48:02

Mm-hmm. It really does. And I remember reading somewhere, and don't quote me on this because I don't even know if it's fact, it could just be one of those things people spread, but okay.

unknown 48:15

Let's not rumors get started.

Dave 48:17

That the mountains in Scotland are the same as the mountains in Appalachia. Oh, wow. Like they're either connected through the ocean, or maybe they were all part of the same range when the world was one continent.

Keara 48:33

Wow. Anything is possible. I will say that it is true. I'll take your work for it.

Dave 48:41

Yeah. It sounded good to me.

Keara 48:44

It's it sounds great and totally plausible. Just like the Easter Island heads on one hand and the Stonehenge toes on the other side of the earth. So I'm in, I'm in for it all.

Dave 48:56

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's all connected. It's just how it is.

Keara 49:01

Yeah.

Dave 49:02

And I mean, even if it's only like like it a symbolic connection to the Celtic Isles, because I do know from my study of that area that a lot of uh immigrants from the British Isles did move into the area of Appalachia before it was even states because they preferred the land because it was so much like their homeland.

Keara 49:26

Yeah. Yeah, we're always looking for similarities, right? So it makes sense to find somewhere where you're comfortable. Just like Druids in the AODA. Coming to a place we're comfortable.

Dave 49:42

Exactly. Yeah. That moth drawn to the flame.

Keara 49:48

Yeah. What a great episode to be back with. That's so exciting. Um, I'm just excited to hear your voice, Dave, too.

unknown 49:57

So me too.

Keara 50:01

It's been too long.

Dave 50:03

It has. The way she described her pilgrimage and hearing the resonance encapsulated in the stones, pursuing her to the monastic path. That was powerful.

Keara 50:18

Yeah. I think we were supposed to record with her and schedule with her before her pilgrimage. And I'm kind of glad that we didn't, and that we've gotten to have our first conversation all-encompassing with so much of what she's experienced in the last few years. So that's pretty incredible. Like just all that she's experienced in her past.

Dave 50:44

It really is.

Keara 50:46

And you too. You got big things going on. Notes in the links in the show notes. Very exciting.

Dave 50:54

One portion of the third degree studies has to be open to the public. And I decided to just let it all be open to the public. But there are a few things I'm just reserving for myself.

Keara 51:09

Okay.

Dave 51:11

Particularly when it gets into the initiations and the path workings and things, because that kind of symbolism you find is really only valid to you.

Keara 51:24

Right. It's so personal.

Dave 51:26

Yeah, and I don't want to inform onto another.

Keara 51:31

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm excited. I'm excited to see how this all unfolds for you. You've put so much time and effort into it, and it's just kind of the beginning. So I'm really excited for you.

Dave 51:45

And I'm really excited how your apprentice studies are coming along.

Keara 51:50

All my books. Oh my gosh. Just carry them around with me on reading all my books. It's pretty awesome.

Dave 51:58

Yeah, it's a lot at that level. But I think it's pretty cool how it's a list that everybody reads. Yeah. Save for a couple we pick.

Keara 52:08

Yeah. I know. And there's so much information. It's so incredible. There's like never a dull moment in any of our studies, right?

Dave 52:17

Like never a dull moment.

unknown 52:24

Definitely.

Dave 52:26

I know through my apprentice studies, I definitely got into some rabbit holes. Like where I was like, oh my goodness, I need to go so much deeper into this topic. Or I need to go so much deeper into like um oh like some of the things they were saying in because I read like basic ecology, but it was written in like the I think it was published in the 1950s. And I was like, oh, I need to just go so far into this to get more of a modern perspective on it. But I was like, no, no, that has to wait. This will take years.

Keara 53:04

Yes. I know. I know. The rabbit holes are definitely real, and that's what I appreciate. And it echoes also what Erin talked about in her advice to her mentees, you know, about just taking it where it leads you, meandering water, going with the flow. So I really appreciated that reminder because I do get stuck in little rabbit holes of, you know, all of my studies. I'm not touching on each one of them every single week and feeling like I'm neglecting some things, but that it's okay. So giving myself permission to drop the ball and go down a rabbit hole, and it's okay.

Dave 53:56

Well, sure, and I guess on that topic, like when I was doing those studies, the Cavallian led me to look more into Hermeticism. And it was in Hermeticism I saw the seven spheres that that are surrounded by the eighth sphere, or just surrounded by the ninth, and got me into where I'm pursuing that kind of stuff for my third degree studies.

Keara 54:20

Yeah, that spark you found. Yeah, that's really cool. Yep, you never know where it might take us.

Dave 54:28

Yeah, because I do a little bit about astrology, but not a not a whole lot.

Keara 54:35

And now look at you.

Dave 54:37

Yeah.

Keara 54:38

Projects and websites and Google Docs. So exciting.

Dave 54:43

The AODA has a website, which is aoda.org. We also have a public Discord server, a public forum, and a Facebook group. AODA also has an Instagram. And we have a new YouTube channel, which is named Ancient Order of Druids in America. If you're a member of AODA and would like to be a guest on our podcast, or contribute music, poetry, stories, philosophy, or other art, please reach out to us at druidwisdompodcast at gmail.com. The artwork for our logo was provided by the grand archdruid of our order, Dana O'Driscoll. You can find more of her beautiful and inspiring artwork on Instagram at DruidsGardenArt. The music was provided by me. Our podcast Instagram is DruidWisdomPodcast. All these links will be in the show notes. Please consider leaving us a rating and review on iTunes or Pod Chaser. Thank you so much for joining us. We will now depart with a prayer provided by Aaron.

Eryn 55:46

This is a version of the invocation of Excalibur that we use in our Druid Circle here. We call our place here the Sacred Grove, and we have a Druid Study Circle that meets here every month. And this is the version we use here. By the rising sun, three rays of light, by the living earth, three stones of witness, by the eye and the mind, and the hand of wisdom, three ruined staves of all knowledge. By the fire of the sun, the forge, by the bones of the earth, the steel, by the hand of the wise, the making. With these Excalibur, we invoke the sword of swords as a symbol and witness of our devotion to the living earth, our mother, and all goodness. May all beings rest in perfect love and perfect trust that is born of deep peace and rooted in loving justice.