A Heart-Opening Story From Cacao
A Heart-Opening Experience
Standing at the mountain base in Peru, I looked up, both excited and questioning “why I do these things to myself?’ Intent on climbing the mountain with my group, I reminded myself that I could move at my own pace no matter what! I may enjoy hiking, but I’m not the quickest, and I was learning the group I was with were overachievers as if getting to the top faster would make a difference in the outcome.
Beginning my ascent, there were moments when I stopped to look around, take in the view from my height, and bathe in the sun. There is something so rewarding for me when I hike, and I take a moment to stare at where I came from, where I am currently, and where I’m going. I’m also an herbalist, so this means I’m easily distracted by plants along the hike.
As I did the final climb to the peak, we watched the sunset, and then I saw the first stars in the sky. This was the first time I was ever more than 13,000ft above sea level, and my heart burst open!
Each star reminded me why I climb so high. The heart-opening experience of the beauty, my heart-rate working, and the knowledge that I made it here on my first international trip ever ripped me open.
Heart-opening is a deep radical state once you arrive. It can be through circumstances, herbs, plant medicine, love, recognition, and so much more.
Cacao: Heart-Opening Plant Medicine
I want to take this moment to share my herbal reflections and knowledge from this plant, how it led me on a journey, and how plant medicine can do that for you. Scientific and lengthy knowledge of this plant is accessible on the internet. You can read here and here. What you can’t find on the internet yet, is the magical journey of Cacao accessible to you and what Cacao asked me to share with you.
I remember the first time I began using Cacao. In 2011 during my second go-around of eating only raw food, my first time was in 2006 when I quit drinking for the first time. A journey that Cacao and Kava Kava are responsible for mending, but that’s a story for another time.
In 2011, I maintained raw foods for seven months until a major accident caused me to go back to eating cooked vegetarian foods. When I was raw, I began using Cacao powder in my food, desserts, and smoothies. I began to feel my heart-opening by improving my physical health, love for my partner, and love for the world.
See, I’ve struggled my whole life to share the bounty of love in my heart and soul out of fear, being shamed, hurt, and more. I didn’t know then that the powder in my food helped me be free with my heart until, in 2012, I was introduced to the drink through ceremony multiple times over the year. In those moments, I felt my heart expand and received a rooted experience into the plant. I learned that the plant was continuously calling me and developing my ability to focus, be social, and share who I was inside.
Like you, I had dreams and goals in life, and this plant brought them into focus. I found this plant was one of the first ones to show me the path of how herbs can work with you as an ally and friend; they will draw you into places, entice you to people, and share their wisdom with you quickly and slowly over time.
Benefits of Cacao
Reflecting on this time in my life, I realize that Cacao kept my heart open to the possibilities playing out in my soul. The desires that were aching to birth into existence. It wouldn’t allow me to forgo those dreams.
This is a plant I never had to work hard at finding. It found its way to me, introduced me to the other herbs, and found its way into many journeys that sacred plant medicine took me. I ended up in the Jungles of Central America in several ceremonies with Tato Pedro and the Cacao Shaman, a Mayan elder. I traveled to Belize and planted the trees in a food forest. Unbeknownst to me on how I ended up with Cacao with me all the time since 2012.
Over the years, Cacao has followed me through my life, bringing me infinite gifts. It brings me close friends who have also found this plant to be their ally; I’ve served it in ceremonies, attended countless Cacao ceremonies, and continue to make use of this herb as often as I feel called. Cacao has assisted with my sobriety. I’ve mixed it with sacred mushrooms, sacred cactus, and it continues to bring me into a place of pure gratitude.
I’ve formed more profound connections with my communities worldwide, especially in DC, through this plant. I’ve found an undying, undeniable, unconditional love with myself. I even had the plant guide me to true love.
While many discuss love, this month carries that love deeper than one day or be disgruntled about a day of celebration of love. Use this as an opportunity to expand your heart and consciousness, to bring your dreams to reality.
Interested in Purchasing Cacao
Interested in your own experience in Cacao, click the link below or purchase here for Sacred Cacao sourced directly from the Arhuacho tribe of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Colombia.
Discount Code: ANTLERALCHEMY