Otherworld Well Hedge School

Otherworld Well Hedge School with Seán Pádraig O’Donoghue

What is the Otherworld Well Hedge School?

When my Irish ancestors were living under occupation, their language, their stories, and their history were outlawed. How did they keep their culture alive? The keepers of the seanchas, the old ways, gathered children under hedges and on the banks of streams to pass on the knowledge that had survived the destruction of the old Bardic colleges, fragments of an oral tradition reaching back to at least the Bronze Age. These gatherings were called Hedge Schools. (I first learned of the Hedge Schools from an essay Julie McIntyre wrote that Stephen Harrod Buhner included at the end of The Lost Language of Plants.) 

We, too, live in a time when the language that speaks most deeply to our souls is forbidden. The culture around us tells us that the wild and the dead have no voices and cannot speak to us. Our bodies know otherwise. They know that the rhythm of our ancestors’ heartbeats echoes in our own. They know that the wind in the Pines and the scent of Spruce on that wind carry messages that speak of our kinship with them.   

It is imperative that we remember the language, culture, etiquette, and stories of the wild.

This is the purpose of The Otherworld Well Hedge School -- to pass down some of what I have learned from plants, from ancestral traditions, from elders, about how to heal ourselves and each other and enter into deeper relationship with the living world.

John Moriarty wrote that:

"To learn to speak is to learn to say 'our river has its source in an Otherworld well,' and anything we say about the hills and anything we say about the stars is a way of saying 'A Hazel grows over the Otherworld well our river has its source in.'"

We must learn again to speak in such a way. And to listen to all that is speaking to us. The Otherworld Well Hedge School is my effort to aid in that restoration.

Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue


Live Online Classes with the Otherworld Well Hedge School

Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue is now offering weekly live online classes through the Otherworld Well Hedge School exploring the ways we can connect with wild plants, ancestral traditions, and the land to heal ourselves, our community, and our world.

Each week's class will be held on Sunday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern with access to a recording of the class offered for 30 days after the Sunday evening session. Classes will be infused with Seán’s unique blend of science, history, folklore, magic, spirit, and poetry. Each class lasts for 2 hours, including Q&A time with the teacher. The format is a webinar-style classroom, in which the students can see the teacher, but cannot see one another. Students can participate freely via chat and, on occasion, we may open up audio for a more interactive Q&A. 

At times during the year, Seán will occasionally offer bonus classes. Unless otherwise specified, these classes will take place at 7:00 PM Eastern on the day noted with access to a recording of the class offered for 30 days after the session. Register for these classes individually or access them as part of a monthly subscription.

Details about each webinar are on the registration page. Classes will be conducted via Zoom. Make a free Zoom account with the same email address used for class registration to attend the webinar. Look for webinar link emails from Zoom.us (check your Spam or Junk mail folder) which will also have more details and help. Webinar link emails will be sent 2 days, 1 day, and 1 hour prior to class. No passwords are required to join each webinar -- simply sign in using the same email and Zoom account password with which you registered.

Paying students can attend live webinars:

  • Single Class ($20) -- choose to attend one live webinar or view its recording for 30 days following that live webinar session. Registration details for each class will appear on this webpage and in Seán’s email newsletter.
  • Monthly Subscription ($55 per month) -- attend any live webinar classes within your billing cycle. Includes all Sunday evening classes. This is the best way to take part in every class! Click below to purchase a monthly subscription. Subscriptions may be canceled at any time.

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If you have questions or problems with registering for classes, please email:  support@otherworldwell.com


FREE Class - Wild Hope

Wild Hope

Check out this free class from Seán!

We are living in frightening and overwhelming times – but there is hope to be found in the wild world around us. 

"Wild hope" is the hope that emerges when we let go of our certainty about what comes next and trust the process of life unfolding, the inherent creativity of the living world.

We can connect with wild hope by connecting with our wild kin – the animals, plants, and fungi who are our ancestors and our relations. They live in this same world, their anatomies and chemistries are more like ours than we have been trained to believe, but they live outside the assumptions and conditioning of our culture. And our own bodies evolved to be in communication with theirs.

➡️ Watch the FREE Video


Upcoming Otherworld Well Hedge School Classes 

Herbal Allies for Navigating Grief
Sunday, September 24 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Holy BasilGrief weighs heavily in so many hearts right now – grief for the world, grief for the nation, grief for the dead, grief for the suffering of those we love. Our wild green kindred from the plant world can be profound allies in helping to move, and move with, grief. We will explore some of the plants that can be especially good companions as we navigate grief.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


Science Fictions: Critically Evaluating Herbal Science
Sunday, October 1 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Science Fictions - Critically Evaluating Herbal ScienceIn recent decades, many herbalists have looked to biomedical research about plant constituents to guide their practices. Like any model, the model that biomedical research uses in approaching herbs is useful, but flawed. The model assumes that plants have fixed levels of constituents, that each medicinal plant has one or two "active compounds," that these compounds act like "keys" in the "locks" that are our receptor sites, and that they will act in similar ways in most people's bodies. None of these assumptions is true – but they can provide a framework for generating useful information. Join us as we talk about how to critically evaluate biomedical research about herbs and human bodies.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


Elder Voices: Cannabis
Sunday, October 8 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Elder Voices - CannabisEach of the molecules we call "psychedelic" or "psychotropic" and each of the organisms that produce these molecules is a unique expression of the intelligence of life itself. Once a month, in a series we are calling "Elder Voices," explore one of these medicines and the ways it interacts with human minds. This month, in the fifth class of this series, we will explore the unique nature of Cannabis and its Cannabinoids.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


Chronic Illness and the Heart
Sunday, October 15 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Chronic Illness and the HeartPeople dealing with chronic infections like Lyme disease have been dealing with challenges to their cardiovascular health for years. Recently, research on Long COVID has brought medical science closer to understanding how chronic infections affect the heart and the blood vessels -- but conventional medicine has few solutions to offer to ameliorate people's symptoms and challenges. Fortunately, herbs can help. Join us as we explore the role herbs can play in helping to address the cardiovascular dimensions of these chronic infections.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


Plants and the Dead
Sunday, October 22 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Plants and the DeadAs Samhain approaches, the spirits of the dead are close at hand. Join us as we explore plants like Cannabis, Henbane, and Mugwort that can help us connect with the spirits of the dead, and plants and fungi like Wood Betony, St. John's Wort, and Diamond Willow Fungus that can help keep unwanted spirits at bay.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


Wedding the Land
Sunday, October 29 at 7:00 pm ET with 30-day recording available

Wedding the LandIn many parts of Ireland, Samhain was the time when the Rí, the "Sacral King," ritually wed the spirit of the land in the presence of his ancestors, his living kin, and his descendants. Join us as we explore what we know of this ancient tradition, and how animists can breathe life into it today in new ways.

 

Registering for this class means that you are enrolling in the live webinar, with access to this recording for 30 days following the live session.  

 

 

 

➡️ Register for this class     *Need financial assistance? Click here

➡️ Sign up for a monthly subscription (includes this class):


All information shared is for educational purposes only. Participants to these online classes are advised to know and comply with the laws of their jurisdiction.