Welcome to day 2! 🎉

Today we’ll begin getting to know some of cacao’s rich mythology.

Cacao has been and continues to be profound important in Latin American culture. Orienting ourselves to some of the ancient mythos of cacao is crucial. Without this knowledge, we teeter on the edge of detracting from the ancestral divinity of the plant. We honor cacao by deepening our knowledge of the ancient cultures that revered cacao.

Two of the most sacred seeds in the Mesoamerican culture are corn and cacao.

In the creation myth of the Maya, it is said after the Maya people were made from corn, they were given the gift of cacao from the Mountain of Sustenance. This is why cacao is one of the most sacred plants of the Maya, as it comes directly from the sacred mountain from which all was created.

In Aztec lore, it is said that cacao was stolen from the gods and given to humans by the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl's motivation was his great love for humanity, and he felt that humans deserved this sacred seed.

For both of these ancient cultures, cacao is considered a gift for humanity. If you have heard these stories before or not, we invite you to pause, and consider how centrally important this makes cacao to the cultures of the Maya and the Aztec people.

If we had to summarize the ancient mythos of cacao in eight words, it would be an exuberant: "cacao is proof that the gods love us!"

Yes. Cacao is far more than a food, it represents divine power, fertility, and abundance. It is a medicine that guides humans to a deeper connection with life and nature, and that helps create harmony within and throughout communities.

Does the mythos of the Maya and the Aztec seem long distant past to you, or are you able to receive cacao as a gift from the Gods deeply?

If it does feel rather far away, you can also try connecting to the present moment gift of life on this planet, and all that the Earth provides (including cacao).

In fact, a way that we've found that we can find greater understanding and resonance with the ancient mythos is to change the summary slightly to: "cacao is proof that the Earth loves us!"

See where that lands in you. We hope it serves you in one form or another! Because regardless of how you relate to cacao as a gift of the Gods or the Earth, at its essence, cacao is a gift given with a whole lot of love!

Perhaps even a further distillation is useful - you can remove the agent and distill it down to: “cacao is proof of love.” When looked at this way, it suddenly makes sense how commercialized chocolate today is deeply entwined with romantic gift giving!

For today's prompt, we invite you to examine which of cacao's mythological properties you'd like to invite into your life. It could be divine assistance, fertility, or abundance. It could be greater connection to nature, or harmony in community.

For example, if you have a project you’d like to create, you could invoke the fertility that cacao represents, to activate the fertility within you and to see your seeds of creativity blossom and grow.

• Which properties of cacao would you like to invite into your life?
• Where would you like to request cacao's assistance? Or even more simply, in what areas of your life do you need help?