Chocolate as a Spirit Teacher
How Cacao and sitting in ceremony helped me open up to my depth of emotion
As I arrived at the ceremony my heart felt a little unstable. I felt a real excitement, and at the same time a slightly confronting nervousness, all brought together by an underlying sense of trust and comfort which made me stay with myself. I just observed, and did not feel the need to socialize. The group was simply waiting and some people talked or made jokes, but most of us just basked in the unknowing peace that we’re coming into ceremony, soon with a cup of hot Cacao in our hands, celebrating existence in all its ways. Many of us knew what it was about by now – or at least they had an idea – but not me. This was the first time I was here on the 'Cacao porch' in San Marcos la Laguna, Guatemala, and I silently sat in a corner of the porch full of expectation and generous surrender to what the afternoon might bring. It was about 12:30, and more people kept coming in, and somehow managed to find their spot on the now crowded and messy porch which was circled by small benches also full of people. We were about ready, as ready as we could be…
During the very entertaining intro we had already set intentions and started drinking chocolate, and the effect came on quick! For me anyway: after about ten minutes into the ceremony a deep hurt came to the light and I went into a soothing release of long-held sadness. Life was good. Letting sadness out can be such a journey, as together with the release of one feeling often come accompanied a whole array of undefineable and deeply unrecognized emotions. A true roller coaster of attunement to a more spacious and playful reality. As one feeling is experienced, more depth of emotion can be accessed and can be released, and everybody benefits. The group, the Earth, all of our relations. Emotion is power, raw strength that is often repressed in society, but allowing that pure essence to come through is an undefinable experience which happens in co-creation with everyone present in the space, as well as many relations outside of the direct environment. It opens space for reconnection with ancient knowledge which is so natural, but we chose to forget. And forgetting can be painful, so opening that space for reconnection is such a gift for all that we are. As we open doors for new energies to come in, we attune each other in mysterious ways. It is a true gift to go through these old layers of pain and forgetfulness.
Over the following months I went to numerous Cacao ceremonies and started to understand at a deeper level the power of emotion. Growing up in a very mentally-oriented society and not really having cultivated very much my creative aspects as a child, it was a true gift to be able to reconnect to an essential part of myself long forgotten and misunderstood, or maybe even neglected. Cacao is a true heart opener and it showed me the strength of love, a power very different from what I had previously believed love was. An effortless, infinite force which knows no enemy, because it is simply not physically possible for anything to work against something so heart-centered and powerful. A great deal of trying to understand went into one specific ceremony where my hands kept buzzing with radiant blessings, opening and closing as my breath went in and out. The moment I tried to understand it, the energy stopped and my hands would remain still. And every moment when I wanted, I could go back into surrender, meaning not understanding, and that love power would blow out of my hands and heart again.
Sometimes I would go through a number of different intense emotional releases in one ceremony, shifting through the whole array of feeling in order to reconnect to my inner strength, which gave me such an amount of insight into life's secrets and I did finally feel that all of existence is perfect and nothing else.
The insights and healing come when the time is there, and when the body and the awareness are ready to shift. There is no set time for this to happen, it does when it does. And ultimately we do it all together. All of us beings here on Earth are intimately connected in the powerful web of existence that is Oneness, and finding the time and space - and willingness - to go inside and be a tool of the divine is just an unbelievably beautiful and rewarding experience. Such a paradox: as we 'selfishly' create space to 'selflessly' process we can process feeling and create more love all around and inside.
We are all one, and every single one opening their heart for more goodness to come in (and yes, sometimes that means some rubbish has to go out) means more goodness can come in for everyone. That’s how beautiful it is: every one wins! And so we create a new reality which is more enjoyable and more together, as we were meant to experience here on Earth. And so we create, with or without Cacao.
Of course emotional release is just another stage in human and personal evolution, and an interesting one too. Once we become aware that there is a subconscious tendency for us to want to see our hurt for it to move out, we can choose to own our feelings and process them consciously. We then step out of blaming and we can go inside, where we learn to hold space for our own emotional release, or go to a held space like the Cacao ceremonies I am talking about. For me personally, the safety of a held space is very powerful because we evolve in a group, and it slowly taught me to hold space for myself when I needed to release something. Then, after releasing it, once the energy has moved, life force flows again and I can see life in a harmonious and pleasant way. Often, only after the emotional release the insight comes, or simultaneously. That’s why it’s so good to just go in to it, not knowing what is there to be felt or seen. It is the only way, really, and life will keep showing us the most direct route to reconnection to self. Surrender is the way to get there. Surrender as in: no clue whatsoever what is going to happen. Surrendering expecting something to happen does not do anything, because it’s not surrender. There’s still an expected outcome. It might not be an easy task, to surrender. I’d highly recommend not to give it too much thought… ;)
So far for a short introduction on how I experienced the Cacao medicine (which was intentionally selected, processed and prepared - so very different from regular eating chocolate) and the possibilities it carries for human evolution. We create access to an ancient knowing which has been inside of us since forever. The act of digging deep is powerful, and there is no right or wrong way, but for me the path of connecting with Cacao as a plant teacher has been very rewarding, and enjoyable.
Find out more about Cacao as a Spirit Teacher through Keith Wilson (a.k.a. the Cacao Shaman) and his partner Barbara's blog page https://ceremonialcacao.blogspot.com or through www.keithscacao.com
Do you have an interesting chocolate experience you wish to share??
Recent Blog Posts
Blog Archive





