Plant Medicine Journeys
I want to talk about plant medicine. Using plants as medicine is as old as our civilization. The earth is a wise, conscious force of growth and evolution. She has a uniquely designed all encompassing system of survival for those who inhabit her surface. When we learn to live in harmony, in honor and respect with the earth our planet will change. The chocolate shaman, Keith Wilson, says that cacao is the food for the shift. Based on my own personal experience, he couldn’t be more right! Regularly drinking cacao has supported my understanding of myself and my existence in some powerful and beautiful ways. And I’d like to share some of this magic with you.
I am a perpetual student of life. Through yoga, working with my vital force called prana, meditation, and ceremony, I have found many valuable insights and much support for what I set up for myself this lifetime. I have learned how to quiet my mind and use it as the tool it is intended to be. I also find astrology and working with crystals and sacred geometry very useful in working with energy and vibration and in becoming more aware of the subtle, unseen forces that support and teach us. As I more fully cultivated my connection with the earth and nature, my lifetimes as a shaman or healer became even more evident and naturally expanded my understanding of the elements and cycles of mother nature. It’s my intention to use these things to make a positive contribution in your day.
My first trip to Guatemala was unplanned until literally the day before I was to leave. A good friend at the time was going to a workshop there and her companion cancelled at the last moment and gifted me all the arrangements she had set up for herself to make up for not being able to go. When my friend, Chloe, asked me to join her I remember just asking Goddess, do you want me to be in Guatemala? She said yes and all other arrangements happened with incredible ease. Chloe had to really pull some strings to get me picked up in Guatemala City and brought to Lake Atitlan which is about a 4 hour drive. I arrived after dark and they close the gates to the town at dark. The roads are not good so it’s actually kind of dangerous to drive at night. Also I don’t really speak Spanish that well. There was a huge crowd at the airport and I had to look for someone with a sign with my name on it. Guatemala City can be a little dicey so I was nervous but the man that met me was nicely dressed and took me to a company van that was very comfortable and off we went. Since the roads were not that safe, we were going to a town across the lake from San Marcos where Chloe would meet me. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I got there but I trusted Goddess and Chloe. She is a master at figuring things like that out and even though boats don’t usually cross the lake after dark, she arranged for us to be taken across the lake to San Marcos La Laguna. The young men driving the boat whooped and hollered as we got off at the dock. She had paid what was for them, a big sum to take us across the lake. It was a little eerie given that the lake is considered to be the entrance to the underworld by the locals but exciting at the same time. There are 3 volcanoes across the lake and it is considered to be one of the 10 most beautiful places on the planet by National Geographic. But we couldn’t see any of that until the day since it was pitch black. No cars are allowed in the city so we walked along the cobblestone paths to our hotel called Lush. And boy was it!
The event we were attending was hosted by two teachers. One of them was an astrologer and kundalini yoga teacher we both love and follow. The topic was astrology and sexual shamanism. I was super excited. The venue had a spectacular view of the lake and the hostess was a fascinating woman and very well prepared. She did want to make sure I was committed to the work we would be doing since I arrived late and missed the first evening introductions. She initially said I couldn't join unless I got there on time but again Chloe, smoothed that out and we settled into our experience.
San Marcos is a quaint town in the land of eternal spring. The vegetation is glorious and lush and the temperature is just right. The food is fresh and simple. It is a third world country so the sanitation and trash systems still leave a lot to be desired by our standards but it wasn’t a big deal for me. I returned a few years later with my own group and continued my love affair with the area and people. They have vehicles called tuk tuks that you can hire if you don’t want to walk but we walked as much as possible.
We had some intense sessions getting current with our emotions as the hostess called it. We had conversations with people who weren’t there and played both rolls. We yelled and screamed at the tops of our lungs and beat up pillows and also had other engagements with the same pillows of a more intimate nature if you know what I mean. We explored the placement of the planet Pluto throughout the signs and discussed various other aspects in our birth charts that were relevant to the underworld, sex, survival, your shadow and more.
We had a holotropic breath session that was just incredible. I loved it but it was super intense. There was a traditional fire sauna that we could get in if we wanted to and a fire pit. This place had everything.
The last day of the workshop, a cacao ceremony was scheduled with the so-called chocolate shaman. We walked to a nondescript enclosed property with a small sign on the door that said mayan cacao, the food of the gods and the food for the shift. Chloe and I were among the first people to arrive and we were taken back to the porch where we took a seat front and center. Might as well jump right in! I had no idea what a cacao ceremony was but after all the new things we had done in the workshop I couldn’t imagine it would top that. But it did!
When the shaman Keith came out he looked like Merlin the wizard. He looked at Chloe and I and smiled and I felt like he knew a lot about me from that one look and was planning to really take us on a ride. The porch filled with other people who had attended the workshop and a few others. Then Keith’s sweetheart, Barbara passed out cups of cacao. There was a basket with some herbs from their garden, the local sugar called panella and cayenne which was used as an activator. We had been told to eat light at least two hours prior to the ceremony, which we had done. It was very bitter but not unpleasant if that makes sense. I just drank it down. Other people sipped. You could tell how much keith loved what he was doing. He had been contacted by the cacao spirit and told what to do after he moved to Guatemala. He sources his own cacao and then uses a traditional method to process it into bars or nibs. He provides local folks with a nice income and they honor and revere the cacao and roast it in their homes over open fires in the traditional way. This is not an ordinary cacao! It is by far one of the most conscious products I’ve ever consumed. Every bar is prayed over. Believe me when I tell you this is not like any other cacao you may have tried.
Next Keith led us in his go to glow meditation. Basically you find the smile in your heart. Isn’t that awesome? Just the idea of that makes you smile. By that time I was in an elevated, feel good place of openness and curiosity. Then he led us in jumping to alternate realities. This was a first for me but I absolutely loved it and am still doing it. I’ll talk about that in another blog so stay tuned.
We did what he called a crash course for all the empaths on the porch. He told Chloe and I that we had been running energy for the whole group at the event we were attending. He said that I ran the energies down and she ran them up. We both looked at each other. There were a couple of times when someone was having a strong emotional response to something that I consciously ran the energy just to clear it out of our shared space. I’m very sensitive to energy and it was easy to do so I just did it. The shaman told Chloe and I we were quite a team and were supposed to be working together so we needed to figure out how. We had already been working on some business ideas so we took that as confirmation that we were on the right track.
The empath training continued. He explained that if we “ate” other people’s shitty energy that we then had to process it. That didn’t sound like something I wanted to do. He worked with a number of people individually on how and when they had learned to do that and why. For some it was deeply emotional and one person did leave when it got a little sticky but I thought he was gentle but direct and compassionate. I was thoroughly impressed. He had me bring my entire family to sit in front of me and then had me clear them. I had never really used that terminology before but I knew what he wanted me to do. He told me to send them on their way nice and clean. I did. He told me they would fill back up and need me to do the same thing tomorrow. He explained that if I always ate their shitty energy so everyone could just feel normal and they never had to learn to process their own crap that that would be my job forever. It didn’t sound like any kind of job I wanted. Of course that spun me off into thinking about who else I was doing that for. His empath training course is on Youtube if you wanna check it out. Just type in empath training Keith and it will come up. Many of us are empaths and knowing how to use that makes it a superpower. This is a very misunderstood topic that we will also talk more about. We were among the last people to leave the porch. I’m sure he didn’t know what he was going to have to do to get rid of us! We were in love! And what’s funny is that one of the active ingredients in cacao is known as the love drug. You know when you fall in love and feel all giddy and goofy, yeah that's in cacao! Ready for a cup?
I think you get the idea that it was not only an uplifting experience but an expansive one. And I’m still regularly drinking cacao and using it in my sessions supporting others. There’s a link on my site in the menu under cacao to purchase this amazing substance. You’ll hear more about cacao so please stay tuned.