As we approach a season of festivity here during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, we felt to share a bit about different ideas for rituals with cacao for any occasion.

There are many ways ceremonial cacao can be woven into a daily practice or special ritual. If we practice tending to each moment with intention, love, and gratitude we can live our lives as a massive ceremony.

What is most important to remember is that there are many ways a ceremony can show up. It’s the same when it comes to ceremonial cacao, there are many ways to sit with this medicine. Each setting invites a new thread of experience to emerge, helping to formulate a larger vision of what ‘ceremonial cacao’ is.

It’s like the Buddhist story of the elephant and the blind men:

Each of the blind men that touched the elephant described it in different terms than the previous one. They disagreed and argued that the others were wrong and that they were right. Finally, a seeing man came along and the blind men asked who was right. The seeing man said that each detail the men described what correct.

Like this story, we may experience a cacao ritual one way and practice it so regularly or have a profound experience that we believe is how cacao rituals are.

However, when we open to try a variety of cacao rituals, we allow ourselves to connect more deeply with the cacao spirit and all of her iterations:

Solo Practice:

Most often, this is the most accessible cacao ritual because you only need yourself and cacao. While you sit in solitude with cacao, incorporate breathwork, yoga, or your favorite embodiment practice to help anchor into the somatic experience of ceremonial cacao. Grounding in with these practices and then sipping your cup of cacao in silence can open your awareness to receive any messages the medicine has for you on a given day. Taking as much time to be slow, still, and gentle with yourself is key, as life often requires us to manage many worlds at once. 

Partner Practice:

 With your beloved or a dear friend, take time to savor the intimate magic of a cacao ceremony and combine it with another passion you collectively share, like playing musical instruments, dancing, or sensual connection. Allow the cacao to open your hearts even more to the Divine flow as you become channels for music, sound, and pleasure. Remember not to get too caught up with sounding ‘good’ or playing ‘well’ and have fun with what you are creating together. Try creating something spontaneous together, and let it go with the wind - no need to grasp, just be together.

Family Practice:

Ram Dass said, “If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your parents.” One of our favorite ways to bridge the powerful heart healing that cacao provides with the parts of ourselves that need healing is to have a family ceremony. Whether it’s with your family of origin or your partner and children a family cacao ritual has the potential to bring everyone closer. If you have young children you can include them too with a little cup of about ¼ to ½ cup worth. No matter the constellation, you can sit together to share prayers and intentions for your life or day and quietly sip together.

Community Practice:

Similar to a family practice, a community cacao ritual is a time to come together to re-member the whole and our place in the whole. Whether it is with your mama’s group, close friends, an athletic group, or other community groups you are a part of, gathering in a communal cacao ritual breaks down illusions of separation to re-member and reconnect with our collective heart. Similar to the partner ritual, find a communal practice like dance or song to explore and play with as a group.

Practicing Integrity in Ritual

While cacao wants to be shared amongst her children, considering the privilege we have in the western world to easily access ceremonial cacao, it is important to acknowledge our role, responsibility, and power when we engage with it.

When we purchase and share cacao with others, we are acting as medicine carriers. How we engage with it creates a big impact on those witnessing and, perhaps, trying cacao for the first time. As we dismantle the colonial paradigm of corruption, exploitation, greed, and competition, how we engage with this plant ally not only becomes a practice of integrity but of plant activism as well.

As written in the film Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Do you know what responsibility you carry as a medicine carrier?

Let us know below what you’ve learned!