Inner Shaman Adventures - Cacao Ceremony 22

St Ouen's beach - taken by me

I decided to journey with cacao alone to deepen my connection with her and continue the work.

I opened space, set up my altar and then cooked, sang, rattled, danced smudged, and called in the spirits - whilst allowing her to bubble and melt and become thick enough for drinking.

I sat in front of cacao, in front of the altar, and prayed my intentions to create space in me for my next steps, whatever they may be and I drank her deeply, breathing her in. I pulled the card, 'Courage.'

I laid down to the sound of drumming and instantly I was on St Ouen beach, in Jersey. I walked to the edge of the sea and found myself swimming in very dangerous rip tides, the waves huge and overwhelming as the surf crushed my body repeatedly. I became aware that my understanding of the sea is so very different when I am at the edge compared to being in its midst, but as I saw a dolphin nearby, I understood I would also never have the perspective of the sea the dolphin has. I rode the waves back to the shore and walked towards a tunnel and gate, which opened up to a jungle.

As soon as I was there a jaguar was beside me. As I walked deeper and deeper into the jungle she padded alongside. Soon I found the clearing and waited on my tree stump for Old Mother Cacao. The jaguar paced around me, unable to settle, until Old Mother Cacao entered.

The drumming took over and I wove in and out of consciousness, I felt the drum on my base, heart and throat chakra - every beat dug a deeper hole. Soon black sludge vomited out of me and with every drum beat a little more until black poured out at an alarming rate, my body too small to have physically kept all this in.

As soon as the black leaves, my body became clear and I started to shake violently on the floor. I shook until colour entered each chakra and I lay there, the brightest rainbow. Old Mother Cacao walked up to me and blew mapacho on to me and said, 'Very good.'

  'Allow yourself to shine, my darling. Do not be afraid of who you are. You need to take me further, take me to those who are suffering.'

  'You need to take the next steps in Shamanism, you need to find a Master.'

I agreed I would.

  'The jaguar is your spirit guide, she will protect you in the lower world.'

Glowing, I hugged Old Mother Cacao and she entered into my energetic body. The jaguar and I walked back to the gate and I told her that I would return.

Once I returned to St Ouen, I walked back to the edge of the sea and then swam in her magical waters. The sea was much calmer and I surfed the waves with ease, playing in the water.

Aho.

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Inner Shaman Adventures - Cacao Ceremony 21

I sent out a call to family and friends and they answered. On the due date of our second baby, my birthday, I chose to bring love in its physical form to my house, our home. My sister arrived on the Friday night and friends came the next day. We travelled and met in Bushy Park and started the process of returning to Old Mother Cacao.

Within the circle of trees, with a beautiful canopy to protect us, we created space, a circle representing the rhythms of life. As we smudged, hugged and spoke our intentions, we connected and communed, opening our hearts and lives to one another.

My intention was to create the space for fertility to blossom within me, naturally. Despite the myriad tests, vials of blood and urine, discussions with Doctors, there is a need to find a bloom within me that is beyond science.

As I lay down, I wondered how it had been so long for me to lie in nature again, to be with Old Mother, as she allowed me to listen to what my heart truly has to say. I saw the pattern of the leaves against the sky and soon closed my eyes as the warmth of cacao enveloped me.

She was there.

She came to me and looked me up and down.

  'What a mess, my darling. Look at you.'

She very carefully blew mapacho at my whole body. She then excavated each chakra and took out rotten cores - putrid, smelly, and scraped out what was no longer of use. Each area was cleared and cleaned and then the gaping holes were filled with mapacho and cacao. I stood in front of her allowing myself to be eviscerated and throughout she says to me, 'Where have you been? What have you been doing to yourself?'

I looked down at myself - my core now filled with cacao, splattered all over me, daubed brown, dripping, bitter tasting, I could feel the medicine at work, at play. The medicine carousing in my blood stream.

Humbled, I realised how far I had come from the natural world, how my journey had strayed from the Old Mother and her powerful teachings.

  'To be fertile means to be creative. You are restricting your creativity, if this cannot flow then fertile ground cannot remain.

  How often are you writing, my darling?'

I had picked up food instead of the pen and had been mashing, pulverising, blending, whisking, chopping and kneading on a regular basis - recipes that take hours to create and minutes to destroy.

  'It's not enough, you need your words. Your language is your most fundamental mode of creative expression but you do not take the time to sit and allow creative forces to arrive.'

I understood. Somehow, I had let writing and cacao take a back seat as other, more seemingly pressing areas seemed to take precedent. I knew I needed to allow creativity to flow back in my veins.'

She berated me, 'Darling, being in ceremony, being with me in this way, is a part of your journey so you can share the light with others and they can find their own truth. Share me, be a part of me, hold me in ceremony for others. Do not turn away from me, I'm also a part of your journey towards truth. Do you not remember what Aya said? You have been initiated. It is time. People will come.'

I nodded. I knew that I need to hold space for cacao to do her work for others, that the planet needed this more than ever as we face evermore destructive forces.

  'Try not to force life. Life will happen in the way that it is meant. If you have or do not have children, your creativeness is your fertility. Your round belly is a source of life, not just for children but for all birth.'

I picked the card, 'Intensity', 'You have not to be a follower, an imitator. You have to be an original individual; you have to find your innermost core on your own, with no guide, no guiding scriptures. It is a dark night but with the intense fire of inquiry you are bound to come to the sunrise.'

To do that I need to follow my heart, to allow my creative forces to arise from within and be allowed expression.

Aho.

You can find more adventures in Shamanism here: Inner Shaman Adventures

Cacao Ceremony facilitated by Carmen Saccone

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