My journey with cacao goes way back—to when I was a little girl who lovvvvved chocolate.
Easter was my favourite time of year, and how fitting that we celebrated life and death through the ritual of chocolate!
I recently found an old schoolbook from Year One, and guess what I wrote on nearly every page? I LOVE CHOCOLATE!
As I grew older, I learned that cacao trees grew in the tropics of Far North Queensland. I still remember the first time I met a cacao tree — harvesting a pod, cutting it open, and tasting the fruit. I took those seeds home and, as a teenager, began sprouting them. I was mesmerised by the way they emerged from the soil, how they pushed through the seed and dropped their shell. From then on, I dreamed of one day owning land to grow chocolate trees.
In 2013, I visited Peru for the first time — touring cacao plantations, learning about its history, and attending chocolatier workshops where I crafted some of the most delicious chocolate I had ever tasted.
In 2015, I experienced my first cacao ceremony back in Australia. It was there that I was guided inward to explore my calling. I broke through and sang — one of my favourite songs — in front of a group of women, elevated and dancing until the early morning. Never before had I felt that kind of connection through chocolate. It touched something deep inside me, connecting me not only to myself but to everyone around me.
“If you want to be spiritual, here’s what you have to do: Have more fun. More light. More love. Stop hating things. Start loving everything.”
— Keith, The Cacao Shaman
In reverence of his work — sharing ceremonial cacao with the world to deepen our connection through playfulness, ceremony, and love.
In my own devotion, I carry this sacred plant in service to the greater good — for what cannot be explained by science, but can be felt by the heart.
The following year, I returned to Peru to study with a Shipibo lineage of curanderos (healers). In isolation and ceremony, I began to learn how to cultivate spiritual relationships with plants — and cacao began to reveal herself in profound ways.
Later, I travelled to Guatemala and visited Lake Atitlán. A woman I was travelling with told me about a cacao ceremony I couldn’t miss — held by a man known as Keith, the Cacao Shaman.
I ran to his house, squeezing into the last available space on his porch. As he began to speak, he shared stories, esoteric wisdom, and his journey of connecting with cacao as a spirit.
I remember one woman standing to receive a healing. He gently tapped her on the head, and she fell back safely into the arms of the group, waking as if into a newly upgraded version of herself. That day shifted something deep within me — I understood, not with my mind, but with my spirit.
A month later, I returned to the Amazon to continue my studies with the Shipibo-Conibo tradition. The experience with Keith and cacao merged into my visionary states and dreams, guiding my inner work and cleansing over the months to come. It became clear: Cacao had chosen me.
Since then, cacao has become my steady, sacred companion — a spirit that gently guides me, keeps me grounded in my heart, and draws me into deeper connection with community..
She is a plant teacher that wants us to heal, to strengthen and to remember who we truly are.
As a guide, I now hold sacred space for people to come together in ceremony — for growth, authentic connection, play, love and truth
My deepest desire is to empower you back into your wholeness… so that you remember just how magical you are and your healer within.
I aknowledge the traditional ceremonialists and peoples of the south american and meso american cultures whom have been working with cacao in ritual, ceremony and as an ally for thousands of years.
May all who come into the precense of this sacred plant be touched in the heart and remember what it means to be in sacred reciprocity with earth. May all who step into plant ceremony remember- it is a sacred place to honour the self as a part of the earth. That we have all been blessed with an honour to tend this planet and cosmos that we are intrinsically connected too.
With Love, Leilana Grace x