Connecting with our Ether Element: A Cacao & Gong Journey

31 Mar

This is the fifth and final ceremony in the five-element series. If you haven’t yet journeyed with Earth, Air, Fire or Water, each ceremony stands alone, and you are welcome to begin anywhere. But there is something beautiful about arriving here at Ether, having already met the other four — because Ether is what holds them all.

I will be honest with you: when I first prepared to journey to meet the spirit of Ether, I was nervous. I had encountered Ether before through plant spirit work with Salvia divinorum — a deeply powerful medicine I would not recommend working with without experienced shamanic support and a trusted sitter beside you. That experience of dissolving into pure space, of feeling the boundaries of self become thin and then disappear, had been quite frightening.

But when I journeyed to Ether in a cacao ceremony, something entirely different happened. I was blissed out. Held. Completely safe. Cacao keeps you grounded and connected to this reality even as it opens the deeper channels of perception, and so meeting Ether through her medicine was like stepping into the same vast space, but this time wrapped in warmth rather than dissolved by it. It felt like connecting with the womb of all creation.

What Is the Ether Element?

Ether is the most subtle of all the five elements. It is the space in which the other four — Earth, Air, Fire, and Water — exist and move. Without Ether, there would be nowhere for anything to manifest. It is the container of all containers.

In Ayurveda, Ether is associated with the fifth chakra — the throat chakra — and governs our ability to speak, to sound, and to hear. When our Ether element is depleted or blocked, we may struggle to find our voice, to express what is true for us, or to truly listen and receive. Conversely, when Ether is in balance, our communication flows freely. We speak with authenticity, and we have the inner space to hear what is really being said.

Ether is defined by its qualities of emptiness: cold (because it lacks fire), light (because it lacks the heaviness of earth), and still (because it lacks the movement of air and water). It is omnipresent — everywhere, in everything, without form, without boundaries, without limits.

We Are Mostly Empty Space

Here is something that stops me in my tracks every time I think about it: according to quantum physics, matter is almost empty space. As Joe Dispenza and others have explored, we are something like 99.9999% empty at the atomic level. The distance between the nucleus of an atom and its electrons is proportionally as vast as the distance between the sun and the planets. What we experience as solid, as physical, as real, is mostly space.

We cannot feel this emptiness directly because our conscious awareness is wired to sense matter. But when we turn our attention toward the space — in meditation, in ceremony, in the stillness between thoughts — something profound becomes available to us. We touch the Ether. And in that touching, our capacity to manifest changes.

Ether taught me, when I journeyed with it, that the emptiness is not something to fear. It is the yin to the yang. We need that space to hold the manifestations we wish to bring into being. When we tune into the space within us, we become more conscious creators.

Ether In Balance and Out of Balance

The mind is composed of Ether — formless and impossible to contain. When we are in balance with this element, we have the capacity to experience mental spaciousness. Meditation becomes easier. Creative ideas flow more freely. We can hold multiple perspectives without being overwhelmed. We feel the limitlessness of possibility.

A disturbed mind often contains an excess of other elements pressing into the Ether space: too much Air (the quality of restless, looping thought), or too much Water (emotional waves that refuse to settle), or too much Earth (a rigidity and stubbornness that cannot shift). Bringing Ether back into balance creates the spaciousness in which these energies can finally move.

Interestingly, Ether can also be excessive. Too much space in the physical body can be as problematic as too little — in medical terms, the erosion of cells, the loss of structure that keeps us functional. This is one of the reasons why working with Ether in ceremony, rather than through extreme practices that dissolve all boundaries, is so valuable: we meet it in a safe, grounded, supported way.

Ether, Cacao, and the Age We Are In

Consuming bitter foods — and ceremonial cacao, which is one of the most beautifully bitter medicines I know — is said in Ayurveda to increase the Ether element in the body-mind. This is why cacao is such a natural companion to this journey: it increases our creative capacity, helps us to feel the limitless possibilities available to us, and opens the heart, which is itself a doorway into the Ether.

In the Mayan tradition, the new age that began in 2012 is considered the Age of Ether — a time when humanity is being invited to become more aware that we live in a world of energy, and to remember the sacredness of life. The great teachers of the Mayan traditions offer this guidance for navigating this time: “Find your heart, and you will find your way.” Cacao ceremony is one of the most accessible and profound ways I know to open the heart and deepen our awareness of the Ether that surrounds and permeates everything.

The Ceremony: Meeting the Ether Elemental

In this ceremony, I use eight gongs — a rich ensemble of sound that creates a particularly expansive and immersive sonic environment. This breadth of frequency is well matched to Ether, which is itself everywhere and without limit.

After cleansing our energy field and calling in the seven directions, I guide you into the lower realm through your chosen place in nature. We descend through a portal — a rabbit hole, a doorway in a tree, a cave entrance — and land in a lower world cave where the five Elementals are sitting together around a fire. Today, Ether steps forward.

You and Ether move away from the group to commune privately. You may have intentions you wish to bring — a dream you have been trying to manifest, a question about your path, a request for healing or creative inspiration. Or you may simply come open, ready to experience this vast, subtle element in whatever way it chooses to present itself.

As with all journeys in this series, you do not need to be a visual person to receive the gifts of this experience. Some people see clearly; others sense, feel, or simply know. Trust whatever way the information comes through for you. And at the end of the journey, as with any good friendship, we ask Ether what it needs from us too.

How to Prepare for the Ceremony

A few preparations will help you arrive in the best possible state:

Prepare your ceremonial cacao before we begin. If cacao is not right for you, a cup of tea or simply your intention is equally welcome
Choose your place in nature beforehand — a real, familiar place that feels safe and quiet
Create a comfortable, supported space — lying down or seated with cushions, with a blanket nearby
Dim the lights or use a blindfold — reducing visual stimulation helps us tune more deeply into inner Consciousness
Use good headphones or speakers to receive the full range of the eight gongs’ frequencies
Have a journal and pen to hand — write or draw immediately after the journey while the experience is still vivid
Come with an intention if you have one — something you would like to manifest, a question, a request for healing. Or simply come open

If you feel any nervousness about meeting Ether — the vast, boundaryless space of all creation — let Mama Cacao hold you. She will keep you grounded and safe. There is nothing to fear here. Ether is the womb you came from, and the home you will one day return to. You are already held within it.