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As a plant medicine, cacao can be a subtle teacher or a direct hit to the heart! From creative endeavours to ceremonial practices, dynamic dance to lucid dreaming - the experience you’ll have with our Ceremonial Cacao largely depends on the dosage you use.
But what’s the right amount, and how do you know what’s too much or too little?
If, like many of our cacao enthusiasts, you’re curious about the optimal dose of cacao for particular activities, then read our cacao dosage guide for our tried and tested recommendations.
If you’re just beginning your cacao journey, we recommend starting with a 20-25g (approximately 1 heaped tablespoon) test dose to assess your sensitivity and then gradually increase your dosage over time.
For more specialised uses, our approach is:
* High dosage levels only recommended to experienced cacao drinkers.
** While some people find the magnesium in cacao perfect for helping relax into a deep sleep, others report cacao is too stimulating before bed. We encourage you to try for yourself to find what works!
Please note, while we offer these as standard recommended dosages, it's important to remember we all have varying constitutions. So always be sure to check in with yourself as your greatest guide and follow what feels right and true for you.
This is your go-to for sparking inspiration, opening the heart gently while keeping the mind clear and focused. Perfect for writing, painting, journaling, or visioning your next steps. It’s a whisper from the spirit of cacao - soft, supportive, and subtly activating.
Just enough to get your body buzzing and your heart wide open. Ideal for embodied practices like yoga, dance, or movement meditation. This dose creates a warm current through your limbs, enhancing flow states and deepening the connection between body and breath.
This is the heart medicine dose - deep, expansive, and intentional. Best shared in sacred space or in solo ritual, it invites emotional release, inner guidance, and profound connection. Let yourself drop in. The Spirit of Cacao is supporting you. Not recommended for vigorous movement.
For experienced travellers only. This is a journey dose, opening the doors of perception and diving deep into the unseen realms. Approach with reverence and clear intention, as this amount may bring on big energy, deep ancestral healing, and altered states of awareness.
A small, grounding amount to ease anxiety and quiet the nervous system. Combine with warm milk/mylk and a hint of cinnamon for a sleep-supporting elixir. Remember, as mentioned above**, every body is different, so find your own sweet spot for dropping into restful, cacao-kissed sleep.
Take during the “wake-back-to-bed” (WBTB) window to support lucid dreaming and astral clarity. For example if you get up to pee during the night. (FYI research shows the optimal time for lucid dreaming is during the REM sleep period, after about 4.5–6 hours of sleep). Just a pinch or two is enough to gently activate the heart and pineal gland. Nibble it neat. Or prepare your drink before bedtime, having it ready at your bedside, so you can drink mindfully and slip back into sleep with intention. You might just wake up in your dream!
In our 12-plus years of working with cacao, we have noticed some collective evolutions in dosage.
The first time we experienced this phenomenon was back in the early years of our apprenticeship with Cacao starting in 2010. Originally, we adhered to the Chocolate Shaman, Keith’s recommended dosages (57g). However, once we returned to Australia and began introducing cacao ceremonies here, we soon found that same dosage felt like too much. Both personally and with hundreds of clients, we were experiencing the same heart-opening effect with less cacao.
We reduced the amount intuitively—and, amazingly, six months later discovered that Keith had also updated his recommended dose, lowering it to nearly the same level we’d been intuitively guided toward.
This was curious. We began to wonder if what we were witnessing wasn’t just individual sensitivity, but something broader—a collective shift in density. Keith himself hinted at this possibility.
There’s a concept spoken about in metaphysical circles: that humanity is evolving from a carbon-based structure to a more crystalline, silica-based state. While not quite literal, it points to a deep energetic transformation—one of greater lightness, sensitivity, and coherence. As we collectively shift into this higher vibrational bandwidth, our systems seem to need less of the same inputs to access expanded states. In other words, the medicine is working on finer and finer frequencies.
With the indisputable toll the pandemic took on the world, there was a significant shift in the collective field. We noticed that we personally consumed more cacao during covid - both increasing our dose and having cacao more often. This seemed to be reflected in our community, with cacao consumption going through the roof. Was the dosage shifting again with our increased collective density?
The density of fear, isolation, and uncertainty that saturated our global psyche seemed to call for more soul medicine—not less. People were naturally reaching for larger doses of cacao as a balm, with more regularity. Cacao emerged as a steadying force, a way to reconnect to heart and presence in the midst of so much fragmentation.
It makes so much sense- when everything else seems to be spinning out of control, having daily nourishing rituals can help us self regulate - especially rituals that support our mental health and well being.
But now, as the dust settles and the collective nervous system exhales, perhaps there’s a softening. With layers of density shedding, are we becoming more sensitised again? More attuned? And perhaps, it’s possible, the “right dosage” of cacao to receive the full-hearted magic, is evolving once again. Potentially decreasing slightly?
We are curious to hear if you have noticed anything similar?
Deciding on the right cacao dosage starts with intention, followed by experimentation and deep listening. Exploring different dosages for various activities begins with a clear intention - the why behind the dose – and then allowing yourself the space and time to attune and listen to your body’s wisdom and how the dose has affected you. Over time you’ll hone the dosage to suit your specific needs, intentions and constitution.
What are your experiences of playing with cacao dosage?
We’d love to hear about your explorations, so let us know in the comments!
What if cacao is actually a sacred plant teacher that’s been quietly waiting for us to remember? And does cacao hold power as an Entheogen – a plant capable of connecting us to the divine?
If, like many of our cacao enthusiasts, you’re curious about the optimal dose of cacao for particular activities, then read on for our tried and tested recommendations.
The Wheel of the Year consists of 8 Sabbats or festivals which occur at different pivotal times throughout the year, 4 greater Sabbats and 4 lesser.
The Winter Solstice, also known as Yule or Midwinter, is one of the 4 lesser Sabbats on the Wheel the Year and honours the longest night and shortest day.
