The Sacred Wellness of Cacao

The Benefits of Ancient Cacao

Steeped in ritual cultural tradition, the ancient South American Indians have been enjoying the many wellness benefits of Ceremonial Cacao for thousands of years.

Ceremonial Cacao is an ancient plant medicine, a heart opener, a wisdom keeper, a consciousness facilitator, a teacher and a creative partner. As an entheogen it can alter your perception of a problem, elevate your mood, consciousness, cognition, or behaviour, in order to support your spiritual development.

In ancient cultures, cacao was reserved for the royal families and spiritual elite who would use it in ceremony as a gentle multi-dimensional partner to aid travel between the worlds, beyond the veil. It was used as currency and valued more highly than gold. Criollo cacao was traditionally used by the priests, shamans and spiritual elite in the ancient Mayan, Aztec and Olmec cultures as a spiritual partner. We are told that the shamans of these ancient cultures infused their prized cacao beans with spirit, to give it a dimension not found in other cacao varieties. Ceremonial grade cacao is now making a comeback as a spiritual facilitator and creative partner because of its accessibility and great taste. Hey, it is chocolate after all!

What is Ceremonial Cacao?

In order to qualify for ceremonial use, the Cacao can only come from the finest, organic Criollo bean, originally from Guatemala but now most often imported from Peru. What cacao producers throw away becomes the chocolate we find on the supermarket shelves! Many factors go into creating a ceremonial grade of cacao, such as the energy of the land, the microclimate, the farming techniques and production methods are also essential elements. Then there's the energy, wisdom, intention and love of the farmers and obvious pride they have in their product. 

Ceremonial Cacao must be the whole heirloom native criollo bean ground, nothing added, nothing taken away. In this instance, it is 100% pure criollo nativo bean (cacao chuncho) bio-dynamically grown on mature trees in the understory rainforest. When the cacao beans are ground, they form into paste, hence the name ‘Cacao paste’. Also known as ‘Cacao Liquor’, the paste is simply poured into moulds, which solidify into cacao bars.

Benefits of Cacao:

• Opens your Heart Chakra to help you release emotional blocks and impediments; to enable you align with your true nature, so you may embody more compassion and empathy for yourself and others.
• Sustained energy for 4 to 5 hours.
• Ability to hold yourself in alignment while the world carries on around you.
• Strengthening and deepening of spiritual and creative practices, such as mediation, yoga, shamanic journeying, writing, dance, music, energy healing etc.
• Mood balancer - releases feel good brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, dopamine and the 'love chemical', phenylethylamine.
• It bestows a strong sense of peace, calm and groundedness to help keep you in alignment throughout the day.
• Many wellness, organ and digestive benefits.
• Packed with flavonoids which are a group of plant metabolites thought to provide wellness benefits through cell signalling pathways and antioxidant effects.
• Curbs hunger cravings.

 Uses:

• Use every day for its calming, soothing benefits.
• Use as part of your wellness regime. 
• Use before meditation or kundalini yoga for a deeper connection and mind purification.
• Use for inspiration when working on a creative project.
• Use for clarity when considering a change in life direction.
• Use before a women's circle, energy healing or as part of a sacred cacao ceremony.

Used for a wide variety of benefits, the effect of the cacao will depend on the strength of the drink:

Doses:

8-10g Dreaming Dose - Perfect for lucid dreaming. Take when waking in the middle of the night, particularly between 3am and 4am.

25g Creative Dose - Perfect for inspirational creative work for writing, dance, music or artwork.

35g Yoga Dose - Perect for yoga, meditation and greater energy during light exercise.

45g Ceremonial Dose - Perfect for Cacao Ceremonies, Energy Healing and Meditation.

57g Full Shamanic Dose - Amazing for shamanic journeying and deep meditation.

Recipe:

Weigh desired dose of cacao and cut it, grate it or melt it in a pan over a medium heat with a little bit of water, almond, soy or rice milk. Stir into a paste. Using 100ml of liquid to every 25g of cacao, gradually add to the paste, stirring contiuously. 

Add spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clove and chilli to taste. Some nut milks are quite sweet but add honey, maple syrup or coconut nectar if required. Heat gently, stirring continuously. Remove before boiling.

Alternatively, you can boil water, let it cool slightly and make it in a cup as you would a cup of tea. Create the paste with a little water first and then continue to add gradually.

Purists just use water and no sugar, but half almond milk and half water is quite nice, providing a natural sweet taste. Adding flavouring also brings to the body the benefits of those spices added. Avoid dairy and processed sugars. 

Other Uses: Throw into a smoothie, put in raw cakes, make a chocolate mousse, raw chocolates or simply enjoy straight from the block. Ceremonial Cacao has citrus and fruity overtones that negate almost all of the bitterness, so it can be enjoyed on its own.

We suggest starting off with a 20g for your first few tastes and take three to four times before advancing to the ceremonial amount. Because of the stimulating and vasodilating effects of Ceremonial Cacao, if you have a condition or are on antidepressants, we recommend seeking advice before drinking cacao.  Check your medications with your doctor or chemist before taking Ceremonial Cacao. 

Ceremonial Cacao is ethically and sustainably sourced from a family run farm located in a powerful valley microclimate nestled between the Andes and the Amazon basin in Peru. The network of family run farms keeps production at sustainable levels whilst ensuring superior quality. With farming and production techniques fine-tuned over generations, Ceremonial Cacao is produced with great love and care to ensure that it maintains all its medicinal and spiritual properties.