Plant & Crystal Magic 24: Cacao & Mookaite Jasper

This month’s theme is rejuvenation on the psychic level, inviting radiance and energy to rise from within and light us up with renewal in all areas of life.  Rejuvenation practices are best done in an ongoing manner, to help us maintain clarity, hopeful enthusiasm, and vibrant energetic and physical health.  However, there are times in everyone’s lives when depletion and discouragement creep in and cloud the sight.  In these moments, a potent energetic ally is in order, one that can lovingly give us a push towards the renewal of our inner resources and outward sparkle.  Joy, inspiration, clarity, and physical vitality move together, and can feel elusive when our resources are exhausted, yet each can be courted and replenished.  Here are two beautiful allies for keeping the heart open and awake, while revitalizing our inner light, fortitude, and sense of wholeness.

Cacao

Have you noticed how profoundly the Sacred Cacao plant medicine has been emerging in the past few years?  It seems like Cacao Ceremonies are showing up in many places and being offered by a variety of devoted practitioners.  Ten years ago, I don’t recall being able to say the same thing, but as we stumble through the gateway of the large shift of epoch we are currently traversing, it seems like this powerful plant spirit has been gracefully stepping into the light of our conscious awareness, in order to help us along.  One thing I have noticed from listening to people talk about Cacao and from my own personal experience, is that this previously overlooked entheogen seems to be tapping people on the shoulder and teaching them by direct transmission about the importance of its medicine for our times.

About seven or eight years ago, I was in Oaxaca, Mexico, with my Curanderismo Maestra Estella Roman and her teacher, Doña Enriqetta Contreras.  It was one of several learning intensive trips where I was immersed in the principles, practices, and sacred land places that deeply inform the work of Curanderismo.  While in this beautiful learning time, I had many vivid dreams wherein the ancestors and spirits of land and cosmos taught me directly.  One of these dreams was especially curious to me, because it came unbidden by anything I was thinking or inquiring about, and was immediately recognizable as a medicine dream.  In the dream, my teacher Estella appeared to me at the edge of a jungle and a city.  She had an air of mischief and secrecy about her, and was very light in spirit, as she is in real life as well.  She called me to her with a gesture and said to me quietly, with a sly smile “I know a powerful plant medicine, an entheogen.  She beckoned me with a wave of her hand, to follow her into the jungle.  I recall being surprised, because Estella comes from a lineage that does not use plant spirits as a vehicle towards opening to the divine or the hidden layers of life, but rather favors energetic practices, and the discipline of intentional eating and living to maintain psychic awareness and connection to the spiritual.  I was curious and excited to have her show me something clearly powerful and kind of hidden in plain sight.  I followed her into the jungle and we walked for a ways until finding a clearing that was like a circle.  There she showed me something growing that looked like a large seed and she whispered in my ear “It’s Cacao.”  I suddenly felt so happy and giggly, a sense of elation and lightness, but also like I was witnessing something old and being given a forgotten gift.  I heard another voice say “I am a plant medicine too.”  That is all I remember of the dream.  When I told Estella, she smiled the same way she had in the dream.  She later taught me some things about Cacao in Mexican Indigenous culture.

I have always been taught that when you dream about a plant, it is an invitation to learn how to engage or perhaps carry its medicine.  I have had two dreams of Grandfather Peyote, or Mescalito, and both times the dream invited me to come to a traditional Native American Church meeting, and even told me in how much to take and in what manner.  With this guidance, my experiences were both potent and gentle, and I didn’t feel the impulse to go again without being called.  But with Cacao, it was different.  What I learned initially was not about leading or engaging in a Cacao ceremony exactly, but about making an everyday alliance with the plant medicine.  I learned from Estella that the Mexica (Aztecs) strongly believed that we become part of the vibration of what we eat, and for that reason found it important to only eat foods that contained a strong life force.  The did not favor eating meat, as this was an energy of death, but saved this for particular ceremonies or special occasions where it would be prepared with proper care and respect.  Instead, their diet was primarily plant based, and leaned towards things that were freshly harvested, also taking care to soak their foods in water to reinvigorate the life force within  They also had a deep and integrated understanding of herbal medicine and medicinal gardens were large and central to their capital city, Tenochtitlán.  It was not until colonization that the cultural food of Mexico became more heavy with things like lard, cheese, beans, and rice.  This style of eating was born of necessity and poverty, for workers facing long days, little pay, and hungry families.  Before this shift, the favored way of eating was more on the light side, so that the awareness was kept in the state of openness to dreaming states, and the body remained a healthy, strong vessel capable of being a container for spiritual warrior ship and the path of flowering.  This is also true of many other Indigenous tribes of Mexico who shared knowledge with the Mexica, and it’s one part of the cultural identity that was lost post colonization.  The Mexica absorbed and preserved many precolonial teachings and practices, and passed them down within the oral tradition.

Cacao was both sacred and practical in Mexica culture.  As many know, it was engaged as an elixir for energy and health, often mixed with chiles, making it a potent drink to increase the inner fires and even sexual potency.  This is still the style of drinking chocolate in Mexico, though I imagine modern times call for more sweetening than the original version.  But chocolate has more of a role in lifting and cleansing the heart than may be obvious to those who don’t know it in a ceremonial context.  In Mexico, this is still interwoven with important cultural events like weddings, during which chocolate is traditionally served so that the hearts of all will be lightened and filled with love, regardless of what their personal circumstances may be.  At a wedding, it’s important that everyone feel happy and that love be an energy all can share in and bless.  Similarly, at large holidays, like Christmas, when whole families gather, chocolate tamales are served to increase the love and harmony amongst the group.  These forms of energy medicine have a strong effect on us, even when we perform the customs without remembering why.  That is part of the power of tradition.

When we engage Cacao in ceremony, of course, we are able to meet the plant spirit in its most direct and powerful form.  A ceremonial dose is much stronger than when we use chocolate in cooking, and the quality of the Cacao is higher as well.  If you have not experienced Cacao in this way, it is a beautiful experience worth seeking out and repeating often.  Life asks a lot of us, and our hearts need renewal and remembrance of what is truly sacred within us and within our world.  As an entheogen, Cacao is unique.  It will not take you on a plant medicine journey like Peyote or Ayahuasca, or blast open the veil between this reality and those that exist just beyond its boundaries.  Its effects are more subtle.  What it cracks open is your heart, and what it breaks through is the barrier to your most authentic sense of soul, which can get forgotten in the pressures and wounds of everyday life.  It helps to awaken the sense of ecstasis that is core to the experience of wild magic and deep mysticism.  And yet, it acts in a gentle and nurturing manner, leading a healing journey of renewal into the self, while refreshing the capacity for happiness and self knowledge.  It reminds me of the soul retrieval portion of a limpia ritual, a sweet and joyful remembering of what is real, allowing for healing and integration through love.  Perhaps this is the medicine for our times.

This alchemy is the work of the plant spirit in partnership with its main chemical components.  Theobromine blocks adenosine receptors, which can keep you from getting tired and uplifts the energy.  This action is similar to caffeine, but feels more gentle at the onset and lasts longer.  Cacao also contains phenylethylamine, which is known as a love drug.  It increases dopamine levels, which elevates moods and gives that feeling of elation and motivation.  At the same time, it acts as as a vasodilator, increasing blood flow and widening arteries, which leads to an overall feeling of warmth and well being in the body.  It stimulates the physical heart, improves concentration, and acts as an aphrodisiac.  The body uses another major component of Cacao, tryptophan, to produce serotonin, also known as the happiness hormone. Somehow the insulin released in response to the sugar in chocolate can help move tryptophan to the brain, where it creates a feeling of happiness and well being.  A sense of euphoria and a more positive outlook are the gifts of the endorphin production that Cacao stimulates as well.  All of this is just a brief look into the science of Cacao, but even more important, and certainly more mysterious, is making relationship with its spirit.  Where do you need emotional and psychic renewal?  In what ways do you need to return to yourself, and your most present and sacred relationship to the mystery of your journey here on this Earth?  Perhaps bringing these kinds of questions to your next Cacao ceremony, into your dreaming, or into the creation of your own practice of drinking ceremonial grade Cacao on a regular basis at home, will create the heart opening that is key to the deepest levels of rejuvenation.  And, maybe at the next gathering of your given or chosen family, you can bring in the subtle magic of serving chocolate to awaken and lighten the hearts of those you care for.  It certainly seems that this generous plant spirit wants us to remember and make use of its medicine.  In the midst of intense and challenging times, it is critically important to our sense of sanity to slow down, to wake up to our inner reality, to feel, and to restore what is essential within us.

Suggestions for working with Cacao:

All plant medicines need to be approached with respect and care.  Be sure to engage the spirit of Cacao with a prayer and an offering.  Your breath with intention, a song, or some of the chocolate poured on the ground will all be good offering options.

There are some counter indications to consider because of the chemical components within Cacao.  For example, Cacao contains tryptophan and MAO inhibitors that may cause issues when combined with antidepressants. You should check in with your doctor first in this situation, or similarly if you take hypertension medication or have a heart condition.  Pregnancy is also a time when it may be best to check with your doctor or midwife, or use a lesser amount (perhaps half the ceremonial dose), although women drank Cacao specifically during pregnancy in the Aztec culture.  There are certainly varying cultural ideas.

The ceremonial dose is around 40 or 42 grams, though some of the physical, spiritual, and emotional effects can be felt at 25 grams.  Going higher than this can result in nausea, headaches, sweating, and heart palpitations, similar to the over consumption of coffee.  Cacao is best taken with plant based milks, because animal milk can interrupt some of the benefits.  Oat milk or freshly blended cashews can be very rich and creamy, and make good options.  The highest nutritional benefit will be found in the powder form, but as a paste the powder is combined with the fat of the Cacao butter, which helps the body to absorb the medicine and allows for it to last longer in the system.  The paste is what is used within Cacao ceremonies.  The paste and powder forms are not sweetened usually, so you may want to add honey, maple syrup, or sugar to your taste.

Mookaite Jasper

Known as “The Mother Earth Stone” to the Aboriginal people of Australia, Mookaite Jasper holds potent healing energies and a very interesting origin story.  It is only found in Western Australia, from a region which gave it its name.  It seems to have formed from the fossilized remains of many microscopic aquatic creatures called Radiolarians, who lived and died over a hundred million years ago during the Lower Cretaceous Period.  The shells and skeletons of these tiny creatures, after sinking to the bottom of a sea bed, were joined by other fossils, minerals, and silica rich ground water, forming a sediment that over time took on the varying colors, patterns, and unique energetic composition that we call Mookaite Jasper.  These gradually developed layers are responsible for the lovely variation of colors and patterns visible, and perhaps are the reason for its intergenerational healing properties and restorative influence on the progression of time.

Mookaite Jasper has a strong relationship with the stories and patterns we carry in our genetic lineage, and within our thoughts, conscious and unconscious.  It can help us to uproot and identify the well worn tracks we unconsciously follow, giving us the opportunity to interrupt unhealthy cycles and bring healing to generational traumas and limiting mindsets, even when they are buried beneath our conscious awareness.  When we do this work, we not only free ourselves from difficult patterns, but we release future generations from carrying the burden of repeating and resolving these problems and limitations as well.  When we want to do things differently from our ancestors, it is important to notice what themes repeat within the family, and within our own lives, and find a practice that reaches the most unconscious levels when clearing them, so that we aren’t driven to recreate the constraints and hardships of the past.  If we can do this kind of healing, it won’t be necessary to play out the scenarios again and again in our lives and relationships.  In addition, it can support us in making deeper relationship with our ancestors, where many gifts and teachings can also be retrieved.

A powerful tool for rejuvenation, Mookaite Jasper can shed its light on our emotions, beliefs, and unhealthy patterns around aging and degeneration, so that they too can be changed.  It can be a strong ally for cultivating the positive thinking, and higher vibration of body and mind that allows one to resist the impulse to slow down and comply with aging.  Our resilience increases when we retain a fluid mind and a youthful heart, open to the changes life brings, and unfettered by consistently counting the wounds of the past.  Call on Mookaite Jasper for support in this work.  It takes energy and vigilance to interrupt personal and cultural programming around aging, and the boundless, ever changing, and renewing energy of the earth is our best teacher in this art. 

Mookaite Jasper has a relationship with the electromagnetic energies that flow like currents within the earth.  Connecting with this stone in meditation can help to cultivate the ability to perceive and direct these energies in order to increase intuition, instinct, and will.  It is a grounding stone, but one that grounds and connects us to the earth’s deep energetic resources.  The deepest Earth energies can clear, ground, and empower, and Mookaite Jasper does so in the manner of a mother, with a sense of nurturing and the message that we are not alone, even when we feel lonely.  We are bound by the cycles of time and by the law of movement, which always must bring change, but like this stone, time can recreate us in a beautiful way as well, imbuing us with nuance and power.  We can change with grace, allowing our layers to coalesce into something beautiful and new, when we work to rejuvenate from the inside out.  When we allow our old notions and heavy feelings to be broken down, returned to the Earth, and infused with her precious essence, we can shine with the rich colors of our experience and yet find that we are renewed.  Maybe this is what it means to become ageless, even as time carries us around the wheel of life.           

Suggestions for working with Cacao and Mookaite Jasper together:

Because Cacao is stimulating, it is a beautiful addition to a morning practice.  Mookaite works well as an aid for rejuvenation while sleeping and dreaming, the place where our unconscious mind becomes prominent and both reveals and creates elements of our life from the hidden territories of psyche.  Choose a day to dedicate to rejuvenation, perhaps the next new moon.  Begin the day with your own Cacao ceremony, or with a strong cup of drinking chocolate.  Watch the sunrise, or enjoy the energy of morning and ask your heart to open and renew itself, with the help of your allies.  Follow your instincts for self nurturing throughout the day.  Find time to meditate with your Mookaite and ask what beliefs and ancestral patterns need to be released or transformed.  End the day with a bath or ritual cleansing.  Mookaite can enter water as well, so you can infuse your bath.  Place the stone under your pillow to allow it to help you renew while you sleep.  Dream well and notice how you feel the next day.  Can you hold this openness of mind and heart?  Can that simple intention be your act of loving warrior ship, as life continues around you in its usual manner?  Sometimes changing our reality is changing ourselves.

May you renew and rejuvenate yourself on the levels of heart, mind, soul, and body, always and with ease.

Ometeotl.

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez, originally for publication with the eleventh house