Mama Cacao — Lover, Teacher & Spirit
There is something I should confess right away:
Cacao is one of my lovers.
I live in a happy, monogamous marriage — but like ceremonial cacao itself, I do not live in a monoculture.
I have my plant lovers: the apple tree, our hawthorn bushes, Oak… and of course, Mama Cacao. 🤎
At MightyTree’s Plant Mystery School, we look deeply into all our relationships - to ourselves and our partners, to our ancestors, and to nature in all its forms.
Always with the loving understanding that everything is more than the sum of its parts — more than chemistry and mechanics.
For us, nature is filled with soul: with plants and animals, with bodies of water and earth, with living spirits.
And when we look closely enough —
behind the stars, beneath the oceans, beyond the mountains, and within the tiniest thing —
we may catch a glimpse of something greater.
Call it Spirit.
Call it God.
Call it the Universe.
Plants as Bridges
Plants are especially precious to us because they build bridges —
between body and soul,
between the human and the greater web of life.
Plants grow toward the light.
And in doing so, they teach us to do the same.
The Plant World as a Mythic Family
The plant world is full of characters you might recognize from fairy tales and old myths.
Some are like knights.
Some are tricksters.
Some are fierce mothers.
Some are healers.
Some will poison you if you don’t listen.
And a few — are true teachers.
Like Oak, Birch, Noya Rao, Bobinsana…
and yes — Cacao.
Cacao as Medicine
Ceremonial cacao* (Theobroma cacao — “Food of the Gods”) is not only rich in nutrients, flavanols, and minerals.
It also contains a rare combination of:
mild MAO inhibitors
mood enhancers
heart stimulants
From a Western perspective, Cacao is psychoactive and an entheogen** - a plant that gently influences the mind and heart without breaking reality open.
To make the boundaries clear: Cacao is not a psychedelic plant.
It does not cause hallucinations, nor does it dissolve the ego.
Even when people have strong experiences, Cacao doesn’t take us somewhere else.
It opens the doors so we can be more fully present with what is already here - our emotions, our perceptions, our heart.
Cacao can:
soften emotional defenses
increase sensitivity and empathy
heighten inner imagery and memory
deepen embodiment
Cacao won’t take you out of reality - It helps you feel it more deeply.
*Ceremonial-grade cacao: minimally processed cacao, usually from the Criollo variety. If you’d like to read more about the physical, nutritional, and biochemical aspects of cacao, you can find a detailed article here:👉 https://www.mightytree.dk/blog/about-cacao
**Entheogen: a plant used to facilitate spiritual or mystical experiences and connect to the divine or inner self)
The Body of the Plant Shows Its Spirit
Now that we’ve looked at cacao through chemistry, let’s look through the eyes of the old herbalists, who would say:
A plant grows the way it works.
Its body — its signature — reveals its spirit.
🌸Cacao is a small, delicate tree, originally growing in the understory of the Central American rainforest —
protected by taller brothers and sisters, nourished by humidity, sheltered from the strong equatorial sun.
—> It looks like Cacao does not want to live alone. It is a relational being — living in connection, not dominance.
Perhaps this is why it teaches us so much about empathy, belonging, and intimacy.
🌸Unlike most trees, which flower at the tips of their branches, cacao flowers directly from its trunk - tiny blossoms blooming from the heart of the tree. (as you can see in the picture above)
—> We could say that Cacao does not express itself at the edges - It blossoms from within.
What a medicine ❤️
🌸Its fruits hang from the trunk like heavy breasts — thick-skinned, womb-like pods filled with seeds held in sweet white pulp.
—> No question that Cacao is a plant that nourishes, protects, and carries life in sweetness.
🌸Raw cacao itself is edible, but very soft in it’s taste, bitter and doesn’t really taste of what we think of as chocolate or Cacao. Only through fermentation of the sweet pulp does it transform into chocolate.
—> Perhaps this is another of Cacao’s teachings: bitterness becomes medicine when we allow it to transform.
This may be why Cacao is so powerful in grief and trauma work.
🌸Cacao paste is dark, red-brown, thick, oily — like soil, almost blood-like.
—> An earthy, rich and grounding life force
Cacao does not lift us away from life. It brings us deeper into it.
The Spirit of Cacao — Venus & Moon
Another way of approaching a plant is the old alchemists’ way.
They spoke of three bodies:
Physical (chemistry)
Etheric (growth and vitality)
Astral (emotion and soul)
Having touched Cacao’s physical and etheric bodies, we now turn toward its astral body - the qualities it carries from the stars.
Here, Venus and the Moon reveal themselves as its guiding forces - it’s parents so to say
✨Venus plants grow in shade or half-shade, in moist, fertile soil, and bear sweet fruit.
They are associated with love, pleasure, warmth, and attraction - think about Rose, Strawberry, Jasmine, Vanilla, fig.
They do not fight for space.
They seduce the world and whisper:
“Come closer.”
🌙Moon plants need moisture and protection.
They grow in sheltered places and hold their seeds in thick-skinned, womb-like fruits.
They are plants of memory, nourishment, belonging, and emotional safety - like Willow, Lotus, Pumpkin, Cucumber.
They do not seek attention.
They say:
“You are safe here.”
Cacao holds both currents:
love and safety - desire and belonging.
Cacao in Ceremony
Knowing all this, it is no surprise that Cacao has been used ceremonially for over 5,000 years - from the Mayo-Chinchipe culture to the Maya and Aztec civilizations, and today in many sacred gatherings around the world.
From what we know of the ancestors, “Chocolatl” - the bitter water - was not drunk casually.
It was far too sacred.
In Quatemala we lived a week with an Mayan indigious man. He said that for his ancestors, in his region of the mountains, Cacao was far to precious to be drunken at all. They offered it to the spirits in fire ceremonies.
Cacao itself has never been the ceremony.
It’s nature is a door-opener — it works like it grows: calling for a wider frame to hold what wants to emerge.
That is why there might be no “the one and only original cacao ceremony”, but weddings, fire rituals, initiations, and communal ceremonies with Cacao.
And this is part of our mission:
to deepen and refine the relationship between facilitator and the spirit of Cacao.
So, who is she?
This great, dark mother with breast-like fruits around her chest?
This being of spiritual and physical nourishment?
This teacher of transformation — from bitterness into medicine?
This Venusian, lunar spirit inviting us to be held in her sweetness?
And perhaps the better question is this:
What do you feel when you meet her?
What do you remember?
What opens in you?