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Ceremonial Cacao is a mystical, mysterious concept to many. After all, what does ceremonial even mean? Trying to demystify Ceremonial Cacao can feel like the impossible task of holding the night sky in our hands. But we think we’ve nailed it.
It breaks our hearts to see commercialised products labelled as “ceremonial” when we can see they don’t meet the standard. Anyone can slap the word on their packaging without the product integrity to back it up. There’s no regulation body to stop this from happening, or to define what makes a product ceremonial.
Someone called us recently, trying to sell us their source of “Ceremonial Cacao.” When we asked what made their cacao ceremonial-grade, they named three factors: their product came from Peru, it was in the form of cacao paste, and it was made from the criollo bean.
Sure, these features could apply to Ceremonial Cacao. On the surface, it may sound legit. But it was clear to us this product was missing critical elements that make Ceremonial Cacao so special.
Over more than a decade of asking the Ceremonial Cacao question ourselves, we’ve made it our mission to discover, define and refine our understanding of what differentiates Ceremonial Cacao from the standard stuff. It’s like a recipe. If you leave out any of the ingredients, it doesn’t have the same result.
Through countless ceremonies with the Cacao Deva, extensive research, and years of testing we are now crystal clear on our take of what makes Ceremonial Cacao, and why we know ours is the best.
To help you distinguish the real deal from the rest, we’re offering our definition of the conditions (or ingredients) required to produce high-grade Ceremonial Cacao.
Yes, it’s chocolate, but it’s far more than that!
First, it’s important to understand the sacredness of cacao. Plants have always been a source of medicine for humans. The world of herbs, for example, is a deep dive into the vast healing potential offered to us by mother nature. Then there are specific plants known for their sacred ability to assist us to connect spiritually. These are called entheogens (this is where the ceremonial part comes in).
Cacao is a very special entheogen known for its “heart-opening” medicine. It is both gentle and powerful. For the spiritual (ceremonial) aspects of the cacao to be active it takes a combination of carefully upheld conditions. Without these you may have some yummy chocolate but with them, you will also have a profound and sacred tool to connect with the cacao spirit and experience a next level heart-awakening.
Here’s what goes into making this truly sacred offering:
As with coffee, not all cacao beans are equal. The Chuncho bean we source makes up less than 10% of the cacao available on the market today. Many bean varieties have been genetically modified to increase yield but (along with other negative impacts) this messes with the bean’s entheogen properties.
The Chuncho bean we use is a rare, heirloom bean, from a pure genetic line. It’s not genetically modified. It holds a beautiful, clear frequency of the Cacao Deva, which means its entheogen (ceremonial) properties are particularly strong. It’s also highly prized for its deliciousness.
The terroir (growing environment) also impacts bean quality. Our cacao comes from a thriving, sub-tropical micro-climate, in a region known for its medicinal cacao. Our award-winning farm is nestled in the rainforest understorey at the foothills of the Peruvian Andes, where premium cacao has been cultivated since the Incan Empire.
It all starts with the bean!
Once you have the bean, the methods for growing, harvesting, processing, and packaging the cacao all matter too. We think of our famers as Cacao Whisperers. They live with, listen to, and care for the cacao with great reverence.
Our farmers personally pick through the cacao to select the highest quality fruit. They care for the soil and trees with biodynamic and organic farming wisdom. They save seeds and reproduce trees from an heirloom line. They also oversee every step of production with a purpose-built plant on site. This ensures the highest quality is upheld, best practice is always followed, and the entire production process is ethical.
To cultivate Ceremonial Cacao every farming choice must carefully be considered with respect for the medicine of the cacao. It really makes a difference.
Ceremonial Cacao is made from the complete cacao bean, only the outer husks are removed. Regular chocolate and standard cacao products use extracts from cacao but not the whole bean. Some cacao pastes labelled as “ceremonial” are even defatted by removing some of the natural cacao butter. Standard chocolates also contain additives.
But with Ceremonial Cacao, when nothing is added and nothing is removed, the cacao retains the integrity of all its parts. And with no additives it is also free from interfering substances. The integrity of the cacao’s medicine is kept intact, and the spiritual and mystical properties are amplified. The whole food aspect of Ceremonial Cacao is essential for that clear, powerful connection to the Cacao Deva.
It makes a HUGE difference when cacao is treated with love and reverence by every human involved in the making process. Dr. Masaru Emoto’s research with water crystals in The hidden Messages in Water, shows that water molecules respond positively when exposed to loving thoughts and words.
Recent research also shows the same effects occur in the molecular structures of all things, including cacao. Everything is energy after all. It makes sense that sending love into the cacao activates its molecules and awakens its ceremonial qualities.
The Cacao Deva responds to all the love our team infuses into our cacao, from the visioning and gratitude ceremonies we hold as we make business decisions, to the loving handling of our cacao-whispering team.
This love overflows to you. The Cacao Deva is always ready with infinite love to share. By opening your heart, connecting with our cacao, you become open and receptive to the Cacao Deva’s gifts.
Not all cacao feels magical. If the above ingredients haven’t been tended to, there will be something missing. But in our opinion, this is the most important part – the magic. This magic happens when Ceremonial Cacao offers you a direct connection to the Cacao Deva. Through her, you open into heartful living and experiences of mysticism.
Have you experienced a Ceremonial Cacao dance party where a tangible sense of something exquisitely alive and interconnected pulses and vibrates through everybody in the room? Or have you sat solo with cacao in quiet contemplation and felt the connection to all of life through your heart? These experiences, by their very ecstatic and divine nature, are difficult to condense into words but they are the stuff of the magic of Ceremonial Cacao. They are accessible when the entheogen properties are alive and activated.
Ultimately, Ceremonial Cacao is all about opening the heart. If you’re not experiencing a heart opening – a sign that you’re being touched by the magic of the Cacao Deva – with your current Ceremonial Cacao, it’s probably not ceremonial!
Our reverently cultivated cacao is alive with the Deva’s spirit. The magic is in full force. Our business is founded on the desire to help you connect to the Cacao Deva and the gifts she offers. By listening to her guidance, we’ve cultivated a product that allows the Deva to share her full radiance with you. She even guided us to put her image on our packaging. She wants you to know her and connect with her.
When we tried to sum up this full list of ingredients that makes up the fabric of what is Ceremonial Cacao, we came up with the idea of wholisticism. It’s a mix of mysticism and wholistic product making: from the use of the whole bean; to the overall ethics of production; to the knowledge of the bean variety’s lineage; to the way the trees are respected; to the love infused in every block. The making of Ceremonial Cacao requires a big picture, reverent, wholistic approach that is guided by a mystic connection to the Cacao Deva herself.
Sharing this heart medicine with you is a dream job and a dedicated practice. We always follow the Cacao Deva’s guidance on how to maintain the sacredness of her medicine. This is what Ceremonial Cacao is about, offering a sacred, heart-opening experience to you.
You will know the level of integrity of our Ceremonial Cacao when you hold it in your hands and sit with the medicine. You feel the difference. It’s radical.
Let this piece of writing inspire you to connect to what is sacred, to honour the medicines of nature, and to search for those offerings that are lit up with integrity and pure love. We hope we’ve offered you some greater clarity on what’s so special about Ceremonial Cacao and why ours is so full of vibrant, effervescent, sacred heart medicine.
We invite you to experience it for yourself.
