Connecting With Cacao
“Many people talk about the medicine of cacao, but few listen to it.” - Nana Ixquick Zavala, Maya Kiche spiritual leader, midwife and curandera.
Having a connection and knowing story is important in all things we do. Understanding leads to belief which leads to deeper respect and reverence. This is of particular importance when working with ancient traditional medicines.
Many people in the western world are hearing a calling to connect with cacao. There is a gentle whisper happening within many of our hearts; calling us to connect more to ourselves and mother earth and we are searching for ways to do so.
The Cacao plant, believed to have evolved in the Northern Amazon regions (Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia) around 10 million years ago, is now spreading to the modern world for this reason. My teacher, Nana Ixquick, says that messages through The Sacred Fire are explaining that Cacao wants to be known right now to help people connect back to their heart and to mother earth.
Cacao is deeply different from chocolate in that it is a sacred plant spirit and an intelligence that can not be understood with the mind but only felt through the heart. “The connection to heart is what we call the pure and clear path … and sometimes something has to move to find this and people are calling on cacao to support them”, she says.
In the Mayan cosmovision, everything has its purpose and everything is connected. All living beings and plants are here to support and live in harmony, peace and balance with us. The principles of this cosmology remind us of this and guide us on how to live in connection with the natural world.
According to this world-view, the cacao tree was one of the first plants to grace the Earth. It has long been respected as a gift from the Gods and viewed as Master Plant which supports the body, mind and spirit and helps us live through the heart.
On a physiological level, its active ingredient theobromine widens the blood vessels and stimulates the heart. On a spiritual level, the cacao is here to help us stay open and centred in this place. “Cacao is the energy that makes us feel strength, helps us leave things behind and supports us to open the doorway of the heart more”- Nana Ixquick.
It is incredibly important that we learn about plants and how they support us because then we begin to respect them. When we respect them, we are more receptive to receiving their medicine and they are able to help us more. When we are being helped by them, we naturally want to do everything we can to protect them. It is a deeply reciprocal relationship that blossoms from here.
I write this with the deepest respect and gratitude for all indigenous wisdom keepers of the world; both human and plant. To my teacher, Nana Ixquick Zavala and her family - for sharing their ancestral wisdom with me so that I was able to return home to share it. And to Wild Craft for welcoming me to work with them and this so sacred medicine, now back home on my own birth lands - This deeply special little island at the bottom of the world - Lutruwita / Tasmania x x
