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Cacao and Cleansing - Spring Renewal

by The Sacred Earth Medicine Team on September 15, 2025
image credit: Anastasiia Tarasova

Spring is a season of rebirth, possibility, and growth; an invitation to cleanse both your inner and outer worlds. Just as nature awakens after winter, our bodies also long to repair, restore, and thrive. This is the time to clear away the clutter, shake off stagnation, and rebirth yourself from winter hibernation, feeling fresh and revitalised.

Like our homes, our bodies benefit from seasonal cleansing, but it doesn’t need to be extreme. Instead, Spring offers us a chance to reset gently. It's a time to re-establish nourishing habits, set our intentions, create space for clarity and energy, and to align with the vitality of the season.

Typically we may associate a spring cleanse with cleansing the body of toxins accumulated during winter, through dietary changes, fasting and herbal remedies - a path well explored. But a true spring cleanse is more than just the body. It’s also about creating spaciousness in your energy, emotions, and daily life, so new life can take root within. And here, cacao may play a supportive role…

A Brief History of Spring Cleansing

Spring cleansing isn’t a modern idea but a deeply rooted practice across many cultures and philosophies. From Ancient Greece to the East and within Christian traditions, people have long recognised the value of shedding the old and embracing new beginnings; physically, mentally, and spiritually after the dormant winter months. Across traditions, Spring was celebrated not just as a change of weather, but as a sacred reset for body and soul.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Spring is tied to the Wood element and the liver, emphasising detox, light eating, and fresh starts. The liver and gall bladder are active in Spring. They are associated with decision-making, vision and the release of anger, making this a great time for cleansing.

In Ayurveda, Spring balances winter’s heavy Kapha energy through lighter seasonal foods, movement and breathwork. Holi, the Hindu Festival of Colours, is celebrated at this time, symbolising new life, positivity, and the letting go of negativity.

In Greek and Roman traditions, the myth of Persephone symbolises the return of fertility and abundance. While in Christianity, Lent and Easter mark spiritual rebirth and renewal.

At the heart of all, is the idea that Spring isn’t just a shift in season, it is an opportunity for renewal. Physical and spiritual, it's a time to refresh body, mind, spirit and soul.

Reframing “Detox”

Detoxing is often seen as harsh deprivation. But what if cleansing were instead an act of nourishment and renewal? By focusing on what we’re adding; like hydration, nutrient-rich foods, rest, and mindful movement; detoxing becomes less about restriction and more about supporting the body’s natural balance.

Reframing detox also shifts it from a struggle of willpower to an embodiment of self-care. A practice in listening to and honouring the body. Normal detox symptoms become signs of release, inviting compassion, patience, and connection to the body’s resilience and wisdom.

Cacao’s Role in Gentle Cleansing

Cacao that is free from heavy metals, like the pristine quality of Sacred Earth Medicine’s Ceremonial Cacao, is ideal for supporting gentle Spring cleansing. It nourishes the body and encourages natural detoxification. Grounding and calming magnesium relaxes the nervous system and aids digestion. While antioxidants help neutralise toxins, reduce inflammation and strengthen the body’s natural detoxification pathways.

Theobromine stimulates circulation, while the natural bitterness of cacao also stimulates liver function, supporting the body’s cleansing processes. At the same time, mood-lifting compounds like theobromine and anandamide promote emotional release and renewal, encouraging forgiveness and a gentle letting go of grief.

This is where Ceremonial Cacao shines. A true ceremonial cacao will invite softness, warmth and open the heart. While opening pathways for gentle release on physical, emotional, and energetic levels. It clears the way through love, not force. It invites in some spaciousness to listen deeply to what the body and heart truly need. As the season shifts, this potent plant medicine can help clear away heaviness from winter while grounding you in presence and gratitude.

Based on our observations, cacao can be mildly purgative. But its real strength is that it’s a supportive plant ally for the body, heart, and spirit. Meaning that true cleansing is integrated at all levels, not just a focus on the body.

Cacao Cleansing Practices

Paired with mindful rituals, Ceremonial Cacao becomes a loving helper for aligning with Spring’s fresh, vibrant energy. Some simple yet potent cleansing practices to pair with Cacao are:
 

  • Breathwork - to clear stagnancy and activate the inner fire for detoxification
  • Meditation - weaving in mindfulness and the release of a busy mind and/or non-serving narratives
  • Yoga or shaking - move stagnant winter energy out of your body.
  • Lymphatic dry brushing – removes dead skin cells and stimulates lymphatic drainage
  • Journaling, art, dreamwork & visioning – using creative expression to vision the new

Cacao and Cleansing - a spring cleanse with cacao

Emotional and Energetic Cleansing Tips

Emotional Decluttering: sometimes emotions get stuck when they don’t have a safe space for expression. Writing unsent letters to people or situations that weigh on you can be helpful. Other embodied outlets like crying, shaking, or dancing can also help to process and let go.

Media fast or Digital Detox with Cacao: time online and an endless stream of information not only clogs the mind but can play havoc on an already overstimulated nervous system. Create some sacred boundaries around your screen use, like a day, a weekend or even just evenings offline and pair this time with a warming and nourishing cacao ritual. Breathe, slow down and let the voice of your inner wisdom be heard.

Reconnect with Nature: spend time outdoors with some cacao where you can feel the wind moving around you and imagine the breeze carrying away what no longer serves you, helping your energy move outward and freeing space for renewal.

Sunrise Cacao Ritual for Renewal

The night before:

  • Prepare a sacred space where you won’t be disturbed. Using fresh flowers, seeds, feathers and greenery create an altar that embodies Spring energy. You could include citrus and cleansing herbs like rosemary or sage.
  • Prepare your ceremonial cacao mindfully with love, adding spices like cinnamon, ginger, or cardamom for warmth and circulation. Or potentially herbs like nettle, dandelion root, or mint for extra cleansing. You may want to try making this new Spring Cacao Recipe: our Liver-loving Cacao Elixir.
  • As you go to sleep, seed your dreams with a line in your diary or some whispered words of your intention. All these preparations will make getting out of bed much easier for those not used to early rising.

Upon rising: 

  • Reheat and serve your cacao. Bring it to the altar and settle.
  • As the sun rises, hold your cacao to your heart and drop into the stillness of the moment, breathing in gratitude for a new season.
  • Sip the cacao slowly and with intention while journaling: What am I ready to release from winter? What am I letting go of? What am I opening up to?
  • Following this weave in some embodiment to really release all that is being shed, giving space for the new. It could include shaking, organic movement, dance and/or some sounding like humming or toning.
  • To close the space, give thanks for all the blessings this time of rebirth offers.

Alternative to a unique ritual, consider weaving some of these gentle cleaning practices into your daily rhythm, perhaps a different one each day, with cacao at the heart of each. By doing so, cleaning becomes not just a seasonal reset but an ongoing way of living. Over time the benefits deepen, helping you feel lighter, clearer and more connected and resilient throughout the year.

Just as the earth awakens and blossoms in Spring, so too do we begin to come alive at this time. The practice of gentle cacao based cleansing becomes an act of Earth honouring self-love, as like the nature surrounding us, we move into this fresh season feeling lighter, renewed and more connected to our hearts’ wisdom.

May the spirit of cacao continue to walk beside you, guiding your heart with gentleness and truth and supporting the shedding of all that is ready to be released.

Blessed Be your Spring Refresh!

If you want to learn more about the turning of the great wheel and some simple ways to honour this time of the year, check our What is Ostara journal. For a more specific and beautiful ritual, head over to our Cleansing Cacao and Water Ritual or listen to our Resurrection Breath practice.

Have you used Ceremonial Cacao as part of a gentle detox and cleanse? Let us know your experience in the comments!

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