Cacao Ceremony

Gavin Kendrick is a writer from Liverpool. He founded the Cacao Love project and has shared cacao produced by Asháninka growers with thousands of people around the world. He publishes weekly essays that illuminate the connections between ceremonial practice, neuroscience, and practical wisdom for daily life. Gavin is a lifelong student of the forest mysteries, and has apprenticed in traditions from the Peruvian Amazon, Central African rainforest, and Druid revival. He is a ceremonial musician who plays the eight-string harp, log drum, and mouth bow. He teaches syntropic agroforestry, and lives with his wife Diane, growing a two acre food forest on the coast of East Africa.Diane Ghogomu is a ceremonialist, educator, and musician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose Cameroonian heritage, South American sojourns, and Kenyan home have shaped her into a bridge between worlds. Drawing from her initiations in Central and East African spiritualities and healing music traditions, she cultivates joy-centered ritual spaces. As founder of Afrocosmic and co-director of Cacao Love, she dedicates herself to supporting African and Indigenous wisdom keepers to cultivate ecological, economic, cultural, and spiritual sovereignty. Diane is a Harvard-educated Fulbright recipient, published scholar, and filmmaker, and weaves rigorous scholarship with sacred practice. She lives on the Kenyan coast with her husband Gavin and their Great Dane, Navéla.

• Part I: Entering the cacao orchard A modern cacao ceremonyWhat this book is and what it isn’tWhat is cacao?Who is this book for?Our brothers and sisters, the treesHow is Cacao Made?The Transformational Power of Ceremony Part II: Meeting Cacao: An Ancient and Modern HistoryA Short Stroll through the Cacao GroveThe Journey of Cacao to the Modern WorldWhat does ceremonial grade mean?Cacao cosmovisionsA medicine of the heartOur first ceremony togetherPart II: Cacao and HealthThe Chemistry of CacaoUnderstanding Cacao ContraindicationsDosagesCreating Irresistible ElixirsPart III: Cultivating PracticeThe Foundation of the PathA Daily PracticeAltar buildingElemental alchemyAwakening the SensesFree WritingBreath PrayerPelvic RockingPart IV: Holding Space For OthersWhat Is Holding Space?What kind of something is that something?Supporting people to navigate their experiencesPart V: Sharing CeremonyThe Inspiration to ShareChoosing a venueDesigning a structureCreating an invitationPreparing The MedicineCreating Sacred SpaceOpening the SpaceClosing The CeremonyPart VI: Rituals to ShareAn introduction to Somatic ExperiencesSomatic Experience #1: Herbal Foot SoakSomatic Experience #2: Chair YogaSomatic Experience #3: BreathworkPart VII: A Closing PrayerPasonki