WHAT HAPPENS IN A TRAUMA-INFORMED CACAO CEREMONY?

In private ceremony, we go exactly where you need to go, and at your pace, in your language, following your soul's lead. 

Private cacao ceremonies are fully personalized to your healing journey.

Unlike group ceremonies, where the container holds collective energy, private ceremony allows us to go exactly where YOU need to go. At your pace, in your language, following your soul's lead. We'll work with YOUR specific issues,  creative blocks,  emotions, needs and intentions. 

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What Makes Private Ceremonies Different:

• Personalized guided meditations using your imagery, story,  and your nervous system's pacing. They are made specifically for you.

• Flexible modalities, If shamanic work is needed, I journey for you.  If somatic release arises, we work with it.  I hold the container so you can co-regulate with my grounded system and witness your emotions if they arise. If ancestors show up, we listen  to their wisdom.

• Privacy for what can't be shared in group. Rage, shame, private losses, everything is welcome and you don't have to feel shy to express or explain.

• Deeper processing. There are no time constraints from group dynamics; we follow what emerges and can go deep with each discovery as it is unearthed

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Group cacao ceremonies create collective healing and amplified transformation.

There's a unique power in sitting in circle with others, drinking medicine together, witnessing each other's journeys, and being held by something larger than yourself.

What Makes Group Ceremonies Powerful:​

• The medicine moves stronger when shared in collective energy; what one person releases can unlock something in another

• You're held by the circle, not just by Cacao and the facilitator. There's a container of witnesses, each holding space for your unfolding

• You realize you're not alone when others' share their grief, rage, or joy because it's reflected back and shows you that your pain isn't shameful or isolated

• Shared ritual creates belonging. In a world that fragments us, ceremony reconnects us to the village we've lost

• Permission to be witnessed. Sometimes healing happens not in solitude, but in being seen by others who understand

• A felt experience of being part of something sacred, held, and communal.

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Before the Ceremony:

I'll prepare the cacao with prayer, intention, and reverence. .For Private Ceremonies we'll discuss together what theme: pattern, emotion, intentions you wish to have Cacao help you with.  In group Ceremonies, Intention work is done collectively at the beginning of the ceremony. It could be:

• Grief that needs witnessing

• Ancestral connection or guidance

• Creative unblocking

• Life transition ritual

• Heart opening after years of shutdown

• Shadow work or emotional release

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During the Ceremony:

We'll open sacred space and  together, we will open a deep and loving connection with Cacao, then consume the cacao slowly, mindfully. It's bitter, rich, grounding. As we drink, we're inviting the medicine into our bodies.

Depending on your intention, your ceremony might include:

• Guided meditation to meet ancestors, guides, or soul parts

• Emotional release work allowing grief, rage, or joy to move through your body

• Creative visioning accessing intuition for art, writing, or life direction

• Somatic integration breathwork, movement, shaking, or sounding

• Silence and stillness sometimes the medicine works without words

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The medicine works through you. I'm not "doing" the healing. With Cacao, I'm helping create the container for your system to do what it needs. I hold space, witness, guide, and if called, perform energy or shamanic work with you if it is in alignment with your intentions and the ceremony design.

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What You Might Experience:

Physically:

• Warmth in your chest from heart opening

• Increased heart rate that is gentle, not anxiety-inducing

• Heightened sensory awareness as colors, sounds, sensations feel more vivid

• Tingling, expansion, or softness in your body

• Mild euphoria or deep calm

Emotionally:

• Tears as grief that's been stuck moves

• Laughter or joy you haven't accessed in years

• Anger or rage that needs expression

• A sense of being held by something larger than yourself

• Connection to ancestors, guides, or your own soul

Spiritually:

• Messages, visions, or insights

• A felt sense of guidance or clarity

• Connection to lineage or the unseen world

• A softening of the armor you've been wearing

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After the Ceremony:

I'll lead you through integration and grounding exercises to bring you back from the experience. We will share insights and process what emerged. We'll close sacred space with gratitude, grounding, and a final intention for how you'll carry this medicine forward. For private ceremonies and multi-ceremony / session programs, I create a plan for integrating this experience into your daily life and share it with you on an integration call.

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What You'll Leave With

Many who drink ceremonial cacao describe feeling more grounded, connected to their intuition, and attuned to the energy around them.  You may feel:

• A felt shift, not just intellectual understanding

• Clarity on next steps in your healing, your life, your path

• Emotional release or access you didn't have before

• A sense of being witnessed and held

• Softer the armor has dissolved, at least temporarily

• Emotionally raw but relieved like you've finally cried the tears you needed to

• Creatively unblocked ideas, words, visions flowing again

• Connected to guidance from ancestors, your soul, or something larger

• Tired emotional release is energy-intensive, taking rest is medicine

• Hopeful a sense that healing is possible, that you're not alone

Some people feel immediate shifts. Others notice changes unfold over the next few days or weeks. Trust the timing.

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*NOTE: Cacao can have important contraindications. If you're unsure, always consult your healthcare provider first if you: are on SSRI antidepressants, have heart conditions or high blood pressure, or are pregnant 

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