What a journey it’s been. Short, but most definitely sweet. 

I was introduced to Cacao less than a year ago as a byproduct of embarking on my healing journey. At first, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was difficult to drink, as I’m not used to strong tastes, and I never got that ‘heart opening’ effect everyone spoke of. But I still felt called back to her time and again. 

As the intensity of my journey progressed and I was thrown into a full-blown overhaul of my life, my moments with Cacao became few and far between. It was only when I attended my first in person Cacao Ceremony, did I experience that heart opening moment. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. It was a moment where I was finally able to admit to myself what I was truly feeling within. And with that I discovered that I had closed my heart off to the world. 

Everything that had happened in the 2 years prior suddenly made sense. All the anger, rage and sadness I had experienced. Feeling like a shell of myself, losing friends, family members and core parts of myself. All because I locked my heart away after a devastating loss. 

But since that ceremony, Mama Cacao has rapidly begun to open me up again. I made space for her without expectation, and suddenly I was flooded with realisations, answers to questions I hadn’t even thought to ask, and a deep sense of compassion for myself. Which is something I struggled with all my life. 

Not long after this I was presented with the opportunity to train as a Cacao Facilitator. Although I didn’t have a lot of ‘experience’ sitting with Cacao, I felt a deep calling to apply. Having previously looked up Facilitator trainings and always found reasons not to go, with this one there were no reasons. All I thought was, I’ll figure it out. And I did.

As part of my training, I had a month long dieta with Mama Cacao, which allowed me to build a deep relationship with her. And even now, after the training has ended, I still sit with her almost every day.