As we move toward the holidays, the pace around us naturally picks up - plans, conversations, responsibilities, and expectations all begin to expand. With both Mercury and Jupiter in retrograde, the collective energy is inviting something different: a slower rhythm, more reflection, and a moment to steady ourselves before the season accelerates.
This is a powerful time to reconnect with your inner rhythm, listen to what your body needs, and create small moments of grounding that support clarity and calm.
Keep reading to explore how this retrograde season encourages deeper grounding and discover a cacao ritual to support you.
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Understanding the Retrograde Season
Retrogrades can sound wild, but at their core, theyāre simply just deeply reflective periods. A retrograde occurs when a planet appears to move backward from our perspective on Earth. While the planet isnāt actually reversing, this optical shift has long been associated with turning inward, slowing down, and reviewing the areas that planet represents.
Mercury retrograde highlights communication, clarity, planning, and the details of daily life. When Mercury pauses in this way, it encourages us to rethink how weāre communicating, revisit unfinished conversations, and move at a pace that feels intentional rather than reactive.
Jupiter retrograde is more expansive. Jupiter rules growth, meaning, vision, and wisdom. When Jupiter retrogrades, it redirects that growth inward. Instead of stretching ourselves outward, weāre asked to reconnect with whether our actions still align with our truth, our values, and what actually nourishes us.
Together, these retrogrades encourage a quieter kind of expansion - one that happens inside the body before it expresses outward. Itās why grounding practices, like preparing cacao with intention, feel especially supportive right now. They bring us back to ourselves so the holiday season feels steady instead of overwhelming.
Ā
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Your Cacao Ritual for Calm and Grounding During Retrograde Season
A grounding ritual to steady your energy and help you move through the week with clarity and calm.
1. Prepare Your Space
Find a comfortable spot, light a candle, close your eyes and allow yourself a moment to arrive. Let the warmth of the flame be the first signal that youāre shifting into a different pace.
2. Craft Your Cacao With Intention
Prepare your cacao slowly, no phones or distractions, just breathing with each movement, letting the preparation itself become grounding. Notice the aroma rising, the warmth in your hands, the quiet settling around you.
3. Anchor Into the Flame
Sit with your cacao and soften your gaze on the candle. Find your gratitude for the element of fire, for the warmth of the sun that enables life, for the transformation that fire creates. Watch how the flame moves - always changing, yet steady at its base. Before taking your first sip, find your gratitude for the medicine of cacao, for the rainforests it grew in, the people that tend the trees and harvest the pods, and the gift of having cacao in your hands. Take a sip and let that steadiness of the base of the flame mirror inside you.
4. Reflect On The Following Prompts For This Retrograde Season
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What themes are resurfacing from the past that are asking to be re-understood?
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In what area of life am I being invited to slow down?
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What parts of my life feel ābigā on the outside but ask for deeper integrity underneath?
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What am I craving more space for, and how can I create it without force?
Sip slowly as the answers surface. Let cacao open the heart enough to listen.
5. Close With Gratitude
Bring one hand to your heart and one to your belly. Feel the warmth of cacao still moving through you. Whisper a simple thank you for your body, your breath, and the clarity this moment offered. Blow out the candle when you feel complete.
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