Every ceremony I hold with Mama Cacao is different — different in tone, different in what rises, different in who arrives. But this one is particularly special to me, because it is a direct meeting. Not a journey to the lower realm or the upper realm, but a simple and profound invitation: come to the forest where cacao grows wild, sit down, and let her introduce herself.
The first time I met Mama Cacao in this way — in ceremony, in that forest space — she appeared to me as a wisp of purple smoke, and within that smoke a goddess. I still hold that image as one of the most beautiful of my spiritual life. She is endlessly generous, endlessly patient, and she meets each of us in exactly the form we need.
Who Is Mama Cacao?
In shamanic and Mayan traditions, every plant has a spirit — a conscious intelligence that exists within and beyond its physical form. Cacao's spirit is Mama Cacao: the wise, warm, heart-opening presence that has guided healers, teachers, and communities for thousands of years across the forests of Central and South America.
She is, above all, a practical teacher. She does not tend toward the abstract or the overwhelming. When she speaks, her guidance is often direct, loving, and immediately applicable to your life. She is particularly gifted at helping us see with our 'heart's eyes' — that quality of perception that cuts through confusion and sees what truly matters.
On a physical level, drinking ceremonial cacao fills the body with magnesium — deeply relaxing, like a warm bath from the inside. She brings a rush of serotonin and dopamine, and floods the system with oxytocin, the chemical of love. As she opens the heart chakra, other emotions may also rise to move through. If you feel tearful, trust it — she's simply making space for more love.
The Cacao Seed Blessing
In this ceremony, I also work with a Guatemalan practice I was taught by the grace of the grandmothers there — the use of three cacao beans as seed intentions. I always buy organic beans, working in symbiosis with Mother Nature at every point in the ceremony. These three beans represent your intentions — the seeds you're sowing in your reality right now, the things you want to grow and blossom.
After the ceremony, I take these seeds and bury them in my garden beside a tree. That tree carries the energy of your intentions deep down into the Earth through its roots, so Mother Earth can receive your prayers — and carries them back up through the trunk, out onto the four winds, so that all directions receive what you're asking for, and the universe can begin weaving it into being.
The Ceremony: Flying to the Forest
This journey stays in this reality — not the lower realm, not the upper realm — because today we're simply travelling across the physical Earth to a place where cacao still grows in its original, wild, sacred form.
After cleansing our energy field and calling in the seven directions, I guide your consciousness out through your crown chakra — a tiny white light, carried by a golden mist — and we fly together across the landscape towards the Mayan forests of Central and South America. We descend through the forest canopy, landing among the leaf litter of a shaded grove, in the company of the other trees cacao loves to grow alongside — mango, avocado, the great sheltering rainforest canopy.
Then we call for her, three times: Mama Cacao, Mama Cacao, Mama Cacao — please come to us, please show yourself today. And she comes. How she appears to you will be entirely your own — perhaps as a tree whose presence suddenly speaks to you, a goddess, a colour, a warmth in the chest, a knowing. She dresses herself differently for each of us.
I leave you to journey with her in the company of the gongs and other shamanic instruments, until rain begins to fall in the forest, gently cleansing you and calling you home. Before you leave, you're invited to ask if there's anything you can offer Mama Cacao in return — the best relationships are always reciprocal.
About Ceremonial Cacao
Ceremonial cacao is optional in this journey — it works beautifully on intention and gong sound alone. If you do choose to drink her, use proper ceremonial-grade cacao rather than cocoa powder or commercial chocolate.
Set your intention before drinking. Think of it like going to the shops with a list — without one, you may forget what you truly came for. Your intention can be as simple as wanting to meet Mama Cacao, or as specific as a question about your path. She's ready for whatever you bring.
How to Prepare for the Ceremony
Prepare your ceremonial cacao before the ceremony begins, if you're using it, so you're ready to drink as we call in the directions
Set a clear intention — a question, a request for healing, or simply an open heart
Create a comfortable, supported space — cushions or lying down, with a blanket nearby as body temperature can drop
Use good headphones or speakers to receive the full range of the seven symphonic gongs
Have a journal and pen to hand — write or draw immediately after the journey, while it's still fresh
Allow quiet time afterwards to integrate — if emotions arise, trust them, that's the medicine working
Continue Your Journey with Plant Spirit Medicine
We can heal our world, one heart at a time. Let us begin with our own.
