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.

Next Plant Diet at Derrynagittah: FULLY BOOKED

Blackthorn Initiation   26^th – 27^th October 2024

A ceremonial Plant Diet for Samhain

As we enter the darkest time of the year, you are invited to join us for a diet with the sacred Blackthorn, a plant ruled by Saturn with Mars and able to move deep energy blockages within.

Celebrating with sacred fire and labyrinth ceremony we will travel with Blackthorn as she leads the way to Samhain and a pathway to death and rebirth at the Celtic New Year. Blackthorn calls us to embrace the transformative power of darkness. This is a time of going within and releasing the old, of surrendering to the process of change and entering the deep dreaming of the soul. We ask ourselves ‘What is ready to be transformed?’ and ‘What new beginning does my soul long for?’.

We call on the profound strength and protection of Blackthorn to help us face our inner realities, the unfinished business we have tried to bury, old outworn beliefs and painful emotions, opening ourselves to transform deep karmic issues for ourselves and for the collective.

Blackthorn’s tangled branches and strong, sharp thorns hold portals in the landscape, secret entry points into the hollow hills of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the infinity of the Otherworld. Through Blackthorn you can meet with the Cailleach, the ancient veiled one who instigates the darkness and destruction of Winter. She comes from a place of Oneness beyond duality, offering to lead you from death to rebirth and the brightness of a new beginning, more whole and more completely yourself.

This is a time when the veils between the worlds are thin, we honour the ancestors and remember the dead. You are invited to bring photos and mementos of loved ones who have passed, and place these on the altar. 

The ceremony begins on Saturday morning at 10am and finishes on Sunday afternoon around 4.30pm after our shared feast. During the weekend we will drink the sacred elixir, travelling deeply with Blackthorn and dreaming with her overnight in the Temple.

Sorry! The Blackthorn diet is full!

Join our mailing list to be informed of future events. Contact Marion info@derrynagittah.ie 

Recent Plant Diets: