Initiation By Elder
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29th October – 1st November
With Emma Fitchett
Course Structure & Fees
A residential ceremonial retreat in Devon
Dates: 29th October – 1st November 2026
- Arrival: 6pm
- Departure: 4pm
Structure
Registration for this three day retreat requires a pre-diet plan, sent before arrival.
Location
Canonteign Manor, Devon
Canonteign Manor, Christow, Exeter, Devon, EX6 7NS
Food
This event includes the invitation to fast. Dinner will be provided on arrival and breakfast will be provided on the first morning. A final lunch feast will be provided before we leave. There will be snacks and herbal teas available throughout.
Catering is provided by Michelin trained chef and nutritionist Sarmado Sibley. Meals are plant-based and nutritionally balanced for preparing the body for fasting and breaking the fast.
Fees
£525
These fees include food, accommodation, teaching & ceremony. Spaces are limited so please book swiftly if you would like to come.
We have a very limited number of bursary places allocated for those, who are not able to cover this fee. To apply for a bursary please fill in the application form
An Invitation
To Journey With The Elder Tree
We invite you into initiation with the Elder tree.
Initiation is an ancient form of ceremony that brings maturity, transformation into a new phase of life and assists in taking up our place within the collective. There are many forms of initiation and in traditional society it was often, and in many places still is, a coming of age where the young person becomes an adult stepping into their role within the tribe. The elders of the community perform these initiations, guiding the next generation into finding their purpose.
In many places now, the processes and the powers of initiation have been forgotten, the elders have almost gone or are having to relearn what ancient rites mean in contemporary times. There are those who believe it is through listening to the land, plants and trees, by coming into deep relationship and conversation with the ‘more than human’ world, that we can once again recover these methods and be initiated into what it means to be truly human.
This is an opportunity to spend intimate time with the Elder tree, to receive personal healing and insight and to establish lifelong kinship.
At the turning of the Celtic year and beneath the Samhain moon we will gather in ceremony and sacred space with the Elder tree, Sambucas nigra, to fast and drink her elixir of flower and berry, of shadow and light. As a tree of rebirth she will take us each on a personal initiatory journey to release misperceptions and reclaim personal potency for the descent into the darkness of winter.
The potent regenerative power of this tree is transferred to us as restorative medicine bringing psychological and spiritual change which resonates through the generations.
Stories of the Elder
As the penultimate tree in the Druidic Ogham, Ruis stands as the tree of metaphorical death offering ancestral healing and wisdom from the high witch of the British Isles. The spirit of this tree has been revered by many cultures through time to the present day.
This is the Caileach aspect of the goddess, the protectoress of the mysteries, midwife, healer and mother of the Elves. In the fearful past, witches were said to transform themselves into Elder trees yet it also held the reputation of bestowing magical abilities and opening the gateway to sacred ancestral realms.
Funerary arrowheads shaped like Elder leaves found within Neolithic barrows attest to this and folkloric stories still hold her timeless prestige.
What to expect
During this three day initiation, we will be in ceremony the entire time, which requires that you stay the full length of time at Canonteign Manor. We will be ingesting an ‘elixir of elder’ that has been prepared ceremonially to enhance the consciousness expanding qualities of the tree. We suggest fasting while we ingest the elixir at various times throughout the three days. If for some reason you are unable to fast then specific foods will be available for you.
We will deepen our experience with the plant in many ways including dreaming, journeying, and experiencing the tree through imaginative processes, direct communication and breath work. We will also be undertaking the elemental initiation of the firewalk.
All sessions are voluntary as we embark on both a collective and individual path of transformation.
You will be asked to prepare yourself ahead of time by eating certain foods and refraining from certain activities. Entering this ceremony with a clear body, mind and spirit is a way of honouring the Elder Tree and facilitating a deeper experience.
What people say
“The experience was nourishing, healing, connecting, full of wisdom and learning, beautifully held, full of new experiences, opened my perceptions to other energies and spirits” – Jimmy, Initiation By Oak
“I found the experience profound and deeply moving. I loved the variation of experience, from visualisation to creating amulets to stillness to dance to counsel round the fire – a wonderful nourishment for so many of the senses and the soul, through so many vehicles!” – Polly, Initiation By Oak
Your Guides
The lead guides for this ceremony is Emma Fitchett with space holding by Rachel Fleming.
Emma Fitchett
Emma is a plant spirit healer, shamanic teacher, herbalist and author. Her life long pursuit of self-mastery and inner transformation is fuelled by a fascination with the nature of reality and consciousness and has led her to studying a Master’s Degree in ‘The Preservation & Development Of Wisdom Culture & The Art Of Liberation’ in the Tibetan Buddhist Mahayana Tradition, writing her thesis on ‘Understanding The Nature Of The Self Through Lucid Dreaming’. She has also been initiated into and trained in indigenous healing and magical lineages of the British Isles and the Ecuadorian Amazon, is a Yew Mysteries initiate and holds the lineage of the White Serpent. She is a Pranic Healer & Psychic Surgeon as well as a certified firewalk instructor. Emma has been undertaking plant initiations for 13 years, has developed the Plant Consciousness Apothecary, a Remote Healing Practice and is the author of Journeys with Plant Spirits published by Bear & Co.