Yesterday was National Grief Awareness day and we’ve found that cacao is a profound ally for moving through grief. With ceremonial cacao, we can create intentional space to access the depth of our felt experience and trust that we will be buoyed to come through the other side.
Although in our culture, grief is rarely acknowledged (though there are grief circles starting to pop up), it is a central part of the human experience - so we’re sharing a cacao ritual to support you in exploring unprocessed grief.
Grief takes many forms. It can come with the loss of someone we love, but it can also accompany the ending of a relationship, a changing season of life, an identity we’ve outgrown, a place we’ve left behind, or a future we once imagined for ourselves.
Keep reading for a cacao ritual to honor what you’re grieving, remembering, or ready to acknowledge.
Explore Ceremonial Cacao
Giving Grief Somewhere to Go
Grief isn’t something that follows a predictable timeline. Sometimes it arrives all at once. Other times it surfaces months or years later, or returns unexpectedly through a memory, a place, a song, or a change we didn’t realize carried so much meaning.
And grief isn’t only connected to death. We can grieve relationships, homes, communities, former versions of ourselves, unrealized dreams, changing bodies, or chapters of life that have come to an end.
As summer begins giving way to autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, we can see this process reflected around us. The days gradually shorten, plants begin completing their growing cycles, and the landscape prepares for another season. This natural transition can offer a meaningful backdrop for acknowledging what has changed in our own lives, what we want to honor, and what we may be ready to release.
Prepare Cacao for Your Ritual
A Cacao Ritual for Grief + Release
Set aside a period of time when you won’t need to rush. Prepare your cacao with care and gather a journal or sheet of paper and a pen.
Prepare your space.
Tidy the area around you, silence your phone, and create an environment where you feel comfortable being with whatever arises. You might light a candle, sit outside, or place something meaningful nearby that represents what you are honoring.
Begin with gratitude.
Hold your cacao in both hands and take a few slow breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Offer gratitude for the cacao, the land and people who brought it to you, and anything that has supported you through this season.
Start with an offering - this could be a prayer, a song, water offered to the Earth, or another simple act of reciprocity for all that you receive.
Name what is here.
There is no need to force an emotional release. Instead, begin by acknowledging what is present.
You can reflect or journal with these prompts:
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What am I grieving right now?
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What has changed that I haven’t fully acknowledged?
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What or who do I want to honor?
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Is there something I am ready to release, even if I am not ready to let go of everything connected to it?
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What kind of care do I need as I move through this transition?
Sip and listen.
Drink your cacao slowly and give yourself space between sips. Notice what arises in your body, memories, emotions, or thoughts without needing to interpret or change them.
Give yourself time to process and be present with what is arising. If emotion comes, allow it to have expression in whatever way feels natural. You might cry, breathe deeply, dance, move, write, sit in stillness, or simply hold your hands over your heart.
Close your ritual.
When you feel complete, bring your attention back to the room and to your body. If you wrote something you are ready to release, you can safely burn, bury, tear, or return the paper to the elements of the Earth. If what you wrote feels important to keep, place it somewhere meaningful.
Take a final moment to thank yourself for making space for what needed to be acknowledged, offer gratitude to cacao for accompanying you, and offer gratitude for the land where you live for holding you. You can close the space formally by blowing out the candle or stepping over a threshold that marks you exiting ritual space.
Grief does not need to be resolved by the end of the ritual. Sometimes the ritual is simply the choice to stop, listen, and allow yourself to be present with what is within you.
