Green Tarot Retreat 2026 (Scottish Borders)

Join us on the May Bank Holiday weekend for Green Tarot Retreat 2026 – a three-night wild camping experience in the beautiful Scottish Borders.

Green Tarot Retreat is an immersive opportunity to find our wildness whilst exploring the connections between Tarot and Nature. As an intimate group living beneath the trees, we will explore the archetypes of the Tarot, how they relate to our lives, and how they interact with the elements of Nature. We will work with synchronicity whilst offering ourselves some much needed relaxation, tending to our wellbeing and resourcing ourselves around an open camp fire. We will work creatively in groups, embodying the characters and energies of the Tarot, whilst getting our hands dirty in the soil. We will use the cards as prompts for writing, journaling or art, all beneath the trees …

This retreat weekend will also offer you some quiet solo time, as well as group activities. During this time, you can get to know the beautiful deciduous trees in Abbey Wood – Tariki Trust’s private Buddhist woodland – which is used solely for nature-connection activities.

Over the last three years, the Green Tarot project has burst into life as a yearly online group and a blog which explores the many connections between Tarot and Nature. Eco-therapist, Tarot Therapist and Writer Stephen McCabe (the founder of the project) is teaming up with the wonderful Ecotherapist, Soul Midwife and Tarot enthusiast Sally Ryan to hold this unique space for you. We invite anyone with a creative, intuitive mind, a love of Nature, and a curiosity about the Tarot to join us on this immersive, back-to-basics, wild retreat. You don’t need to ‘know’ anything about Nature or Tarot to benefit from this weekend – just a willingness to connect with ‘the other’ and to embrace the unique teachings that Tarot and Nature alike can offer us (if we are willing to listen).

You can bring your own tarot cards to the retreat or borrow a deck from our woodland library.

Please note that there are only 11 places available on this retreat, so booking early is advised.

Please note that this is a purely recreational/wellbeing-based retreat and it is not part of our Ten Directions ecotherapy training programme (although, of course, Ten Directions students are very welcome to attend).

Location: Abbey Wood, Earlston, Scottish Borders. (Exact location given after booking). Earlston is in the heart of the Scottish Borders: a rural, sparsely populated area that is rich with gorgeous rivers, rolling green hills and enchanting folklore.

Important Accessibility Information. An average level of fitness is required as there will be some uphill and downhill walking required (often on stony, uneven ground). Unfortunately, Abbey Wood and the surrounding area is not accessible for wheelchair users or those with other physical disabilities where walking uphill is not possible, as the woods is up a steep stony track and the camping area is wild. However, if you have another condition or illness and you are not sure if it will affect your ability to engage with the retreat, please email Stephen to discuss this and we will do everything we can to accommodate (within the obvious limitations of the spaces we are using). Email stephen@tarikitrust.org

Times: Arrival is between 3pm - 5pm on Friday 22nd May or by arrangement. The retreat ends at 11am on Monday 25th May with a closing ritual. We ask people to come and stay for the entire retreat, from Friday evening to Monday morning, in order to get the most out of the group experience.

Facilitators: Stephen McCabe and Sally Ryan. This event is organised by Buddhist charity Tariki Trust in partnership with Green Temple Therapy.

Getting to Earlston: We encourage the use of public transport where possible. The small town of Earlston can be reached by taking the 51 bus from Edinburgh, and we are offering free pick ups from the town centre. The bus takes around 90 minutes and you can find the timetable here. (We provide more details after booking.)

Food: Breakfast, lunch and dinner (all vegan) will be provided as part of your fee. If you have any food allergies, you can let us know after booking and we will do our best to accommodate this. We will work together a team; there is a rota for preparing meals which everyone is asked to contribute to.

Camping: This retreat comprises three nights of wild camping in a small woodland. There are activities planned from morning until evening, with plenty of time between activities for some silent, solo reflection time of your own. Abbey Wood is a small woodlands of between 2-3 acres and you will need to bring your own (1-person) tent. This is a truly wild camping experience with no electricity or running water. We have a composting toilet, rainwater for basic washing, and obviously there is plenty of drinking water being brought in from outside in jerry cans, but luxuries don’t extend much further beyond this, so please be prepared for no showers etc. We will send you information before the retreat starts detailing everything that you need to bring with you.

Refunds are possible up until 14 days before the event. Regrettably, for organisational reasons we are usually not able to provide refunds within 14 days before the event begins, as we need to know exact numbers to make appropriate plans. (For example, buying the right amount of food, and making schedule plans that fit the right number of people coming along).