How to guide a cacao ceremony - introduction

 

Do you want to try guiding a cacao ceremony, but are a bit unsure how best to start?

Perhaps you already know what's on the program for your event or ceremony, but need something to lean on?

Or do you simply want inspiration on how it can also be done?

No worries - I got you.

 

Be inspired or use the text as your own

Because in this blog post, I would love to share with you how you can introduce cacao to those who have come to you.

I've also made a great podcast episode on the topic which you can find just below, so you can choose whether to listen or read my words.

 

 

I myself have guided many cacao ceremonies over the years
This is my knowledge of ceremonial cacao and experience that I'm sharing with you here.

But I maintain a humility in that it does not mean that I have the right way of doing it. This feels true for me, if I were to share about ceremonial cacao to people who had little or no knowledge of her
(yes, I write her, as ceremonial cacao is considered a feminine spirit).

I am writing this to you because I want to empower you, that the most important element; is you.

As with all forms of guidance, it is my full conviction that the more at peace you are, the more you bring yourself into it and feel that these are your words - then the people around you feel it.

That is where the magic happens.

 

• Could it be reading my words several times and seeing what resonates and talking about her this way?
• Could it be an advantage to share about yourself: what have you experienced with her that makes you feel called to share her?
• Could it be great to discard the belief that my words are absolutely necessary to be able to guide?
• Or is it about writing down keywords from my words so you can speak freely from them?
  
  

It is the most important medicine for the soul, that you share it in your own way. Because there is a reason why you feel called to share ceremonial cacao with others. Allow her to support you in that, so others can benefit from it.

If reading aloud is what nourishes you most, because it gives you peace to be more present: do it!

It's all about empowerment, but you can follow this structure:

1. Brief history of ceremonial cacao
2. Properties: physical, emotional, spiritual
3. Where does Camille's Cacao Love come from?
4. Intentions from your side
5. Intentions for your participants: guidance
   
   

You can take my words as they are.

Below the section with the text for the introduction, I share my inputs.

1. Brief history of ceremonial cacao

Ceremonial cacao has been used as plant medicine among ancient peoples for thousands of years. The Olmecs, Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas have preserved this gift from Mother Earth - it even dates back to 2000 years before our era.

Ceremonial cacao has had different meanings for each civilization, such as for offerings, for pregnant and breastfeeding women, as a gift to the fire and Father Sky, and as accompaniment through rituals (especially for the Mayans).

But common to all of them is that she (ceremonial cacao) has been revered, respected, used for medicinal and spiritual purposes, because it is considered one of the greatest gifts humankind has received.

By the Mayans, she has been referred to as a female spirit, as she is called Ixcacao ("ish-ka-ka-uw"). She has thereby also become a symbol of fertility, embrace, and love.

When the Spaniards came to South and Central America in the 1600s, they became aware of their relationship with the sacred cacao bean. It fascinated them greatly. So much so that they took the cacao bean home, where it was also used as a form of plant medicine, prescribed by the doctors of the time to their patients.

It was only a few hundred years later that chocolate was developed from the cacao bean, which has seen exponential growth ever since.

It is said that she (Ixcacao, the spirit of cacao) calls to those who need an opening of their heart - to greater embrace, fertility, nourishment of their inner self, when they feel curiosity. She comes to them when they are ready for an opening of their energetic heart and to open themselves to love on a deeper level.

Perhaps that is why ceremonial cacao has experienced a great awareness among us in Europe - especially in the last 5 years.

 

2. Properties: physical, emotional, spiritual

The ancient peoples of South and Central America have long intuitively known that the cacao tree held a wealth of wisdom and wonderful properties for us humans.

Science has later been able to look more into what exactly applies to ceremonial cacao by examining its properties.

Ceremonial cacao is a beautiful energy companion that is psychoactive - not to be confused with psychedelic. This means that she does not take you on a journey, but rather gently accompanies you on the path you are walking here and now. And in life.

Physiologically, cacao beans (and therefore chocolate, but to a lesser extent) contain wonderful nutrients, most often magnesium, a good source of antioxidants that help with stress, calcium, zinc, copper, and selenium.

Additionally, blood flow to the heart and pelvis increases, so you might notice this.

Ceremonial cacao is most often referred to as the medicine of the heart (not to be confused with allopathic medicine, as we are talking here about energy from a spiritual approach), but it is just as much the medicine of the soul for several reasons.

 

Physiologically and thereby emotionally, drinking ceremonial cacao will increase the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are our feel-good neurotransmitters, increases concentration, promotes better sleep, reduces anxiety, and creates feelings of desire and euphoria. Therefore, it is also a good support for meditation, creative projects, or inner work.

Ceremonial cacao is one of the only foods in the world that increases the production of anandamide, which is referred to as our "bliss molecule". Therefore, you can experience the same feelings of love and uplifting energy as when you are in love or feel deeply connected sexually with another person.

 

The medicine of the soul is also what you can call ceremonial cacao, if you can accept that everything has a spirit. Everything around you is alive and is therefore spirits that you can include in your work with yourself, to be connected to something greater, as you often know from religion or other forms of spiritual practice.

She is said to be the goddess of fertility, loving embrace and will call to you when you are ready or need to embrace your heart. Embrace your heart to then allow your heart to embrace the world - for the joy and nourishment of the Earth.