Coming up in October in California:

Redwood and Oak Initiation

A Plant Diet Ceremony to initiate us into our own true power

with Carole, Friday Oct 3^rd – Sunday Oct 5^th 2025

Earth Matters Retreat Centre, Ben Lomond, California

Plus optional Redwood Pilgrimage Thursday October 2^nd

Redwoods - messengers for planet Earth

Oaks - Gateway Trees

As we stand at the end of one Great Cycle and the start of another, the plant world is assisting us in powerful and immeasurable ways. Quietly, and almost unnoticed, the plants are helping us remember the Light of who we really are and showing us how to live in alignment with our Truth. Plants are literally leading us back to Self.

At this transitional stage on Earth, it is time for humans to take an evolutionary leap and step into our own true and deep power, to be part of a united way forward for ourselves, our children and the Earth Herself. It is time for all the peoples of the World to come together in harmony, each with our own essential essence and understandings, to align with the Earth and reconnect with the Spirits of Nature.

With these sacred intentions, I am facilitating a unique Plant Initiation ceremony in California and you are warmly invited to join me.

For this ceremonial plant diet, Redwood and Oak have come forward as Way Showers to initiate us into a new beginning of harmony. Working together, they offer to show us how to stand steady and rooted during times of challenge, recognising trials and tests as opportunities for growth. We can come into full remembrance of Self, step into our true power and manifest a Dream of Beauty. Holding a vision of Peace on Earth, we weave a Rainbow Bridge that stretches across nations and continents, healing old wounds and bitterness as we join together in harmony.

During the 3 days of the diet we will ingest the elixirs of these two ancient wisdom keepers, activating our potential as sacred humans and co-creating a new global vision. Empowered by the courage, strength and heart of Oak, together with the vision, expansion and resilience of Redwood, we intend to heal ourselves and move to a new level of service to the Earth and all Her creatures.

This ceremony is an opportunity for exponential growth. Redwood and Oak are messengers for the planet, helping us to expand our consciousness and reminding us of our Earth and Star connections. By surrendering to the gifts of these magnificent trees we can remember who we are and open to a new and radical reality.

Are the trees calling you? Would you love to immerse yourself in their energies? Are you ready to surrender to an initiation by the trees? Do you feel something stirring within - a desire to remember something, to become new? Are you longing to invoke your full dimensional presence and awaken to your destiny? If so, join us in this grand adventure of joyful, sacred ceremony! Redwood and Oak are offering to activate us at a cellular level, calling us to step forward as human Way Showers for a new Cycle of peace and harmony on planet Earth.

This unique ceremony is an alchemical weaving of Redwood and Oak. During the 3 days of ceremony, we will ingest a specially prepared elixir, made in an honouring and sacred way to provide easy access to the potent medicine of these two trees. By regular ingestion of this sacrament, we receive and integrate the vibratory qualities of Redwood and Oak into our bodies. Receiving these gifts gives us an opportunity to heal any imbalances we may have created in the web of life, both individual and collective.

The days of ceremony will be spent in deep dreaming with Redwood and Oak, both inside the Healing Tree Yurt and out on the land at Earth Matters, having access to the many trees and beautiful facilities. While fasting, we will drink the specially prepared elixir, facilitating full communion with the trees. We will surrender to the Mystery and spend our time in practices such as journeying, meditation, art work, movement and the use of sound to deepen our initiatory experience. Our intention is to surrender and merge with our tree kin. We sleep and dream together in circle at Earth Matters or outside with the trees for those who are called. If a person is unable to fast for medical reasons, small amounts of suitable foods will be made available. The ceremony starts on Friday at 12pm and finishes on Sunday afternoon (by 5pm) after a shared feast.

Thursday is an additional (optional) day of preparation when we will make a Pilgrimage to old growth Redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains.

The Redwood Pilgrimage day offers us an opportunity to experience the majesty of old growth Redwoods and to deepen our preparations for the Initiation ceremony which begins on Friday. We will come together on pilgrimage to greet the Redwoods in thanksgiving and celebration, intending to align our energies with theirs and to drop into a deep place of communion with the trees. The day will bring opportunities to refine our intentions for the Initiation, and to listen for what Redwood may be asking of each of us. We will come together as a group to honour and commune with Redwood, as well as having plenty of time for individual exploration, meditation and reflection. Our pilgrimage takes us to the Henry Cowell State Park, beginning in the Redwood Loop Trail and continuing on to the Redwood Cathedral. As we walk, we offer our footsteps as blessings upon the Earth. On the way back, we have an opportunity to meet with the waters, dipping our toes and/ or immersing our whole bodies in the river. May we walk in Beauty.

In the 3 days leading up to ceremony, you will be asked to prepare yourself for the initiation by avoiding particular foods and refraining from certain activities. This helps you receive the most profound benefit from the ceremony. All dietary and other guidelines will be given nearer the time.

Redwood & Oak Initiation 2025

Places are limited and early booking is essential. 

Contact Shae sstafanson@gmail.com  to book a place or for further information

History of this Redwood-Oak collaboration by Carole

This Redwood-Oak collaboration is built on a foundation of sacred work with Redwood that I have been called to over the past eleven years. 

The first call came during a visit to the Sacred Forest of the Damanhur Community, Italy. With the help of my friend Kathren Murrell-Stevenson, this led to me facilitating a Redwood Initiation ceremony at Rivers Bend, California in 2015. At that event, I made a commitment to the Redwoods to help them further their mission. My contract with the trees involved doing ceremony with them for three consecutive years. In 2016 this took the form of a Redwood Pilgrimage and Initiation in Ireland, linking with groups doing simultaneous Redwood ceremonies in Northern California. In year three, I returned to California to hold a Redwood Initiation on the beautiful land at Earth Matters. Oak was increasingly present at each Redwood ceremony and it became clear that Redwood and Oak together are weaving a potent dream for Grandmother Earth.

Back home in Ireland, I am lucky enough to have both Oak and Redwood growing on the land where I live. I am committed to assisting their collaboration in whatever ways I am called and able. It is a beautiful co-creation that includes helping to strengthen the Rainbow Bridge between nations and continents across the world.

To this end, a Redwood-Oak diet was originally scheduled to take place at Earth Matters in 2020. This was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions and I thought my journeys to North America were done. However, this Winter it became clear that the west coast Redwoods were calling again. We have entered a new phase globally, and the plants are telling me that it is time to expand our vision and open ourselves to a new reality. They want to help us come to a place of full remembrance of Self so that we can fulfil our true destiny. Redwood and Oak are calling to awaken human Way Showers. I pray that this ceremony will help us all awaken and assist the Earth and all Her realms at this time of massive growth and change.

As part of the weaving of the Rainbow Bridge, our ceremonial elixir will contain components from both US and Ireland, and I am excited that participants will join us from around the world.

I am grateful to all the beings who have been involved in this work so far, and delighted to welcome the presence of all whose hearts are called to join me at Earth Matters this year. Together may we co-create a World of Beauty, for ourselves, the generations to come and all the worlds of Grandmother Earth.

Blessed Be

Are you hearing the mythic call of Redwood and Oak?

Are you willing to step into the Mystery and change your life for the better?

Join us in weaving a web of Beauty across the planet.

Be prepared for powerful transformation as initiation strips away your familiar beliefs and opens you to a new story.

Places are limited and early booking is essential. 

Contact Shae sstafanson@gmail.com  

Join our mailing list to be informed of future events

Email Marion info@derrynagittah.ie

*****Past Plant Diets*****

Plantain, Beech & Anemone Plant Diet

A Plant Initiation at Derrynagittah for building the life of your Dreams and to help manifest the Dream of the Earth

Aligning with Venus, Saturn and the North Node

18^th-20^th April 2025

In April this year Venus, Saturn and the North Node will be conjunct in Pisces April 15^th -30^th. This is a powerful astrological transit for our planet, exact on April 22^nd 2025.  It portends a time to build the life of our dreams with ease, grace, love and a solid foundation. The energies of this Gateway help us to remember our personal Sacred Dream and assist us in taking a powerful leap forward to embody that Dream in a way of Beauty. At the same time, we will align with the Dream of Grandmother Earth with the intention of helping to manifest Her Sacred Dream.

A remarkable team of plants has come forward eager to help! Anemone, the incubator of Dreams, is holding the energy of the North Node, shining a Light on the future we are moving towards. Plantain has volunteered to open us to the love and beauty of Venus and connect us with our ancestors. Beech, the Lady of the Forest, brings the energies of Saturn, helping us to put our Dreams into form and structure. Together, these three plants will hold the energy of the triple Goddess in a single elixir.

This will be an extraordinary plant initiation, and I am excited at the opportunities offered by the plants at this potent time. It is also the Easter Gateway which will further amplify the spiritual energies. The Derrynagittah labyrinth will be strongly activated.

We start at 7.30pm on Friday, finishing by 5pm on Sunday 20^th after our shared feast. This will be a small, intimate group and early booking is recommended. We will sleep and dream together in Circle in the Temple at Derrynagittah.

What is a 'Plant Diet'?

A ‘Plant Diet' is a traditional way of working with plants in order to get to know them better and receive their gifts, especially for guidance and healing. Dieting with plants in ceremony is a way to honour the plants & their Dream, to develop a deep relationship with a plant and to have a direct experience of plant consciousness. 

During the plant diet ceremony we ingest an elixir that has been pre-prepared in a sacred manner. By drinking this regularly, we receive the plant’s vibration both physically and spiritually. This vibration accumulates in our body over time, and the more we surrender, the more the Spirit of the Plant can enter our being. We bond, blend and ultimately merge. Our body charges itself like a battery from the energies of the plant and eventually the plant may transform into being part of our cells, filling us with energy that can help us as well as others. Our identity expands beyond our individuality and we experience ourself in unity with the eternal Spirit at the source of life.

Healing takes place at all levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, and is intended for both the individual and the collective. The ceremony provides an opportunity to heal any imbalance we may have created in the web of life. We receive an initiation from the plant and the chance to move to a new level in our lives. The Spirit of the Plant and the intent and readiness of the dieter are paramount. 

At this time on Planet Earth, the plant world is bringing important messages to assist our awakening and evolution. At a plant diet, the plants offer to initiate us to new levels of awareness, helping us to remember how to live as Sacred Humans. They open Gateways to Higher Consciousness and can give us a direct experience of other realms and higher dimensions.

Physical ingestion helps integrate and ground these new levels of consciousness into the physical body, as well as bringing the medicinal actions of the plant. During a diet, we spend our time dreaming with the plant, using methods such as journeying, meditation, time in nature, breathwork, dance, creative art or whatever is appropriate.

At Derrynagittah, Carole has pioneered plant diet ceremonies with native Irish plants (as described in her book 'Sacred Plant Initiations'). These are frequently timed to coincide with the Celtic Fire Festivals. We honour the turning of the Wheel of the Year and seek to align ourselves with the natural cycles of Nature. Participants gain particular benefit by either fasting completely or eating a restircted diet during the ceremony. We close with a shared feast.