Why Cacao Is Your Real Valentine

Valentine’s Day is only 17 days away. And that means...it’s time for cacao!

Did you know a recent survey showed that 94% of all Americans said they hope to receive chocolate for Valentine’s Day? 

Before we look to the future, let’s take a peek into the past and answer these questions:

• How did cacao first become associated with love?
• In what ways does cacao unconditionally love our bodies and create radiant experiences of life?
• Which two cacaos are especially recommended for an intimate Valentine’s Day? Spoiler alert: Glowing Guatemala & Tantric Rose Blossom!

Also, stay tuned next week, as we will offer special Valentine’s Day rituals for you, and your friends and loved ones!

Part 1: Cacao & Love, Since Always

Since the time of the Aztecs, chocolate has been considered an aphrodisiac food, which means it “stimulates sexual desire or excitement”. Sixteenth-century ruler Montezuma II allegedly consumed chocolate in vast quantities in order to stoke his libido. Assuredly, he was not eating a colonized candy bar loaded with sugar, preservatives, and fillers. The libido boost he gained came only from the purest and most potent of ceremonial cacaos, such as Glowing Guatemala. However, we'd like to think that if he could have gotten his hands on our Tantric Rose Blossom Enhanced Cacao, he surely would have chosen that for its extra-aphrodisiac boosting qualities.

The Maya people also created strong connections between cacao and love. They enjoyed and offered cacao in religious ceremonies and during celebratory feasts. However, the biggest foreshadowing of cacao as a universal expression of love may have come from wedding ceremonies, during which the bride and groom would exchange sips of sacred cacao. When we visited our farming partners in Guatemala they mentioned that, to this day, cacao is commonly shared at wedding ceremonies and childbirth, among other meaningful rituals for love and protection. 

Additionally, part of being loved as a human being is feeling honored, respected, revered, and sacred. Cacao derives from the ‘Theobroma cacao’ tree. Theobroma literally translates in Greek as “food the gods”, and these ancient cultures believed cacao was indeed a food of gods. This is evident as they exchanged cacao beans as currency and enjoyed cacao as a drink among the privileged, as Montezuma did.

With cacao's divine meaning tucked in your heart, now imagine receiving cacao, or food of the gods, as a gift. Would you feel honored, loved, worthy, and as if you were royalty? We would too 😉

Part 2: Cacao, Sensuality, & Vitality

Delicious. Decadent. Warming. Smooth. Nourishing. Gratifying. That how love should be, right? And that’s exactly how many people describe their experience when drinking ceremonial cacao. Drinking cacao is a sensory celebration that reminds us of the sweetness of life. At once, it stokes our gratitude for life and our longing for more of it.

Drinking cacao is also a powerful celebration of life itself. We often experience love when we drink cacao because cacao is genuinely loving our bodies. 

With each sip, it elevates moods and cognitive capacities with neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, such as serotonin and dopamine, gifting us with a natural sort of high. Cacao also contains tryptophan and phenylethylamine, two chemicals associated with feelings of love and desire. 

Meanwhile, theobromine gently stimulates our hearts and opens our blood vessels for improved circulation and cardiovascular health, reducing the long-term risk of stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

Cacao also has the ability to stop free-radical-mediated oxidation, thereby boosting the immune system and directly helping prevent chronic degenerative diseases. But cacao doesn’t stop loving us there!

As theobromine relaxes our tissues, we become receptive to the life-sustaining minerals carried in the vehicle of cacao butter. Among many key benefits, magnesium promotes muscle relaxation and improves bone health, iron increases our red blood cell production, and zinc steps in to support cell renewal. In addition, cacao works as a neuro-protective shield that guards critical cells against damage.

Plus, these benefits even extend even beyond the heart and mind, and down into your gut. Researchers discovered that certain gut bacteria break down and ferment the components in cacao, turning them into absorbable anti-inflammatory compounds that benefit your health. 

Think about these benefits. Feel them. Imagine them. Relate to them. Receive them.

Does any other food or drink love you so unconditionally? Cacao is a vital loving companion in life and every day is Valentine’s Day when our cups, hearts, and bellies are full.

Part 3: Cacao Recommendations for Valentine's Day

Even though cacao on its own is very heart opening, we’ve always noticed an extra effect from one of our special enhanced cacaos: Tantric Rose Blossom.

We highly recommend this cacao for Valentine’s Day gifts and rituals. Often, we feel our hearts skip a beat in excitement when it is time to make a cup of Tantric Rose.

This potent, sensual, heart-opening cacao includes:

• Aromatic rose petals from Morocco, which act in high-frequency synergy with our pure Tanzanian cacao
• Damiana, another aphrodisiac & known to boost sexual potency
• Licorice root is a powerful antiviral, anti-inflammatory & immunomodulating herb commonly found in herbal medicine cabinets around the world, and 
• Orange peel powder, as the citrus helps elevate the floral notes

This cacao is far greater than its delicious “flavor notes” of Rosé, Lavender, and Bergamot. It's an entirely unique experience of the loving spirit of cacao.

Now, let’s connect this spirit with a scientific fact. The bio-electrical frequency of plant compounds can be measured, and rose is by far the highest, at 320MHz. Therefore, it’s ingesting these high-frequency plant compounds raises the overall frequency of the body.

This further boosts the benefits of cacao and our access to spirit while creating more resilience against diseases, stressors, cancers, as mentioned above. We trust that this cacao will provide the emotional support and intimacy to say “YES” to loving life.

Our second recommendation is Glowing Guatemala Pure 100% Cacao.

Our beloved customer Tanya D. Described her experience with this cacao as “⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Lovingly smooth…pleasurable and lifted my heart to a place of lightness and love!”

Alexandra left a five-star review too, “⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Heart Healing & Meditative. This cacao really does what it says! It opened me to receive messages from spirit, while feeling grounded, centered & deeply meditative. Guatemalan ceremonial cacao is incredible! ❤️ ”

This pure Guatemalan cacao feels Mothering, Loving, and Wise. If you are looking for deeper insight and doing the inner work to keep your heart open, this cacao can graciously support you. 

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, your friends, and your loved ones!

Stay tuned next week for special cacao rituals to do before or on Valentine’s Day with your partner.

Most importantly, we hope that this newsletter has helped you grow your relationship to cacao, so that you may receive its love and express it forward any time of year. 

You are worthy. You are honored. You are revered. You are life. You are loved.

Other Cacao Favorites During Winter 

• Oaxacan Spice: Warming, circulating, and pulsating
• Vibrant Vitality: Strengthening, stamina-boosting, invigorating
• Medicinal Mushrooms: Immune-boosting, healing, supportive 

How can we support you in your cacao ritual? We'd love to hear from you and serve you! Reply to this email, reach out on social media, or click on the bottom-right-hand corner of our website for help.

With Love, Gratitude, & Cacao,

Jonas & The Firefly Family

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