Thank you for coming tonight.
Let's get this ceremony started.
I'm going to invite you to hold your cacao gently against your heart.
Feeling its warmth resting against your chest Closing your eyes and taking a slow nourishing breath in.
And a long gentle breath out.
And again,
In.
And out.
Continue those nice beautiful breaths,
Allowing your breath to soften your shoulders releasing your jaw.
Arriving here in your body.
Call upon the goddesses,
Our angels,
Our guides and our loved ones in spirit.
Surround this space with pure love so that we may feel safe.
Surround each of us with your loving presence so that we may feel protected.
And guide us with your wisdom,
So that we may move through this experience in a way that serves our highest good.
May we be held.
May we be guided.
May we be open to receive.
Breathing in that beautiful energy.
Feeling that light.
Feeling that love all around us.
Breathing it into your heart.
Feeling that light wrapping around you like a warm blanket that light connecting us all here in this space together tonight.
Breathing it in.
Feeling that warmth of cacao against your heart starting to open to the magic in our cups.
With deep gratitude,
Thank you,
Mama Cacao,
For your sacred medicine that we will receive tonight.
Thank you for your grounding presence and your heart-opening magic.
We pay thanks to the wisdom keepers,
The ancestors and the traditional custodians of the lands where this cacao first grew.
And we thank the farmers and families whose hands lovingly planted,
Nurtured,
And continue to share this gift with the world.
May we receive this cacao with open hearts and deep respect as we gather together tonight to remember our strength in the face of fear.
Not to become fearless.
But to remember that you have faced fear before and survived.
You simply forgot how strong you already are.
Tonight.
We remember.
And with Mama Cacao as our guide.
We take our first three sips together.
Three intentional sips,
Three invitations to connect deeper within.
And with our first sip together.
We acknowledge the fear of failure.
We honor the parts of ourselves that have tried.
Stumbled.
Fallen.
And found the courage to rise again.
These parts have learned,
Adapted and discovered strength they didn't know they possessed.
And as we sip,
We remember that our mistakes do not define us.
They are not the measure of our worth.
As you feel the energy of that first sip entering your body.
Breathing into its energy.
Say to yourself,
If I stumble,
I can make it part of the dance.
If I stumble,
I can make it part of the dance.
Breathing into that energy.
Acknowledging the fear of failure.
And it's time to give yourself permission to try again.
To explore.
To get things wrong.
And to discover.
What you're capable of.
Because you are not defined by what goes wrong.
But by what you learn along the way.
And with our second sip together,
We acknowledge the fear of change.
We honour the parts of ourselves that have shifted course,
Taken a different road and found their way through unfamiliar territory.
Some changes were welcomed,
Others we resisted.
Some brought unexpected joy,
While others asked more of us than we ever imagined.
And as we sit.
We remember that familiar doesn't always mean right.
And uncomfortable doesn't always mean wrong.
And as you breathe into the energy of that sip.
Say to yourself.
If nothing changes.
Nothing changes.
If nothing changes.
Nothing changes.
Breathing into that energy,
Acknowledging the fear of change.
Knowing you can give yourself permission to change your mind.
To choose a different path when the one you are on no longer feels right.
Because each experience has brought you here.
Carrying knowledge,
Resilience,
And a deeper understanding of yourself.
With our third sip together,
We acknowledge the fear of the unknown.
We honour every moment we stood at the edge of something unfamiliar,
Wondering what lay ahead.
Times we took a step without knowing the outcome.
The times we trusted ourselves enough to begin.
Even when we couldn't see the whole path.
And as we sip.
Remember that we have already lived through countless unknowns.
We have met challenges,
Discovered possibilities,
And found our way through moments we could never have predicted.
Breathing into the energy of that sip.
Say to yourself.
.
.
I don't need to see the whole path to take the next step.
I don't need to see the whole path to take the next step.
Breathing into that energy,
Acknowledging the fear of the unknown.
And it's time to give yourself permission to be okay.
With not knowing all the answers before you begin.
You do not need guarantees before taking a chance.
You can meet the future one step at a time.
Carrying the wisdom of where you have been.
While remaining open to what you have yet to discover.
I'm going to invite you to continue sipping your cacao.
There's nothing you need to do.
Nothing you need to figure out.
Just sip,
Relax and allow the words and the music to wash over you.
Fear is a fickle friend.
Keeping us safe,
Keeping us stuck.
Making us forget what we've learned and how far we've come.
Now we remember.
To feel to explore.
To accept.
To reclaim.
Feel the fear Let it be There's more to you than what you see Question the story,
Look again Is this now or echoes of then?
Feel a cloud of you You make us doubt what we knew We've walked roads we couldn't see And found strength to simply be It's time to feel.
Is this real?
It's time to explore Have I conquered this before?
It's time to accept I don't have to be It's time to reclaim,
To stand tall No more shame I don't need to know it all I can rise each time I fall If I stumble,
Let me dance I can give myself a chance I have faced the fear before I will find my way once more I don't need to see it all I will rise each time It's time to feed Is this fear even real?
It's time to explore Have I conquered this before?
It's time to accept I won't always be correct It's time to reclaim my strength,
My name have walked through fear.
Have done this before.
I remember my strength.
I am so much more.
Explore.
Claim fear Explore.
Reclaim breathing into your heart.
With cacao running through you.
Opening your heart.
I invite you to settle into a comfortable position.
And join me on a journey.
Tonight we're focusing on the person.
The feelings.
Not the circumstances.
Not the situations,
Not the stories.
You don't need to revisit specific memories or find the perfect images.
You might see something,
Sense something,
Or simply know there is no right or wrong way to experience this.
So taking a nice deep breath.
I want you to take a moment.
To imagine a version of yourself.
That has experienced fear.
Uncertainty or self-doubt.
See them standing nearby.
Notice them.
Can you look at this version of yourself without judgment?
Can you recognise someone who was learning and doing the best they could with what they knew at the time?
Now invite another version of yourself in.
This time a version who tried.
Who adapted when things changed.
Who took a step without knowing exactly where it would lead.
Who discovered another way when the first way didn't work.
Notice them too.
What qualities do you recognise in this person?
Can you see their determination?
Their curiosity.
Their willingness to try.
Have bring to mind.
Your present self.
Person listening to these words.
The person who has lived through all of those chapters.
Gathered experiences,
Learned lessons and continued to grow.
Imagine all these versions standing alongside each other.
Not separate.
But different versions of the same person.
The person who was afraid.
The person who kept going.
The person who is here today.
All of them worthy of compassion.
All part of your story.
Notice them all.
Can you give yourself the same recognition you so readily give to others?
Can you stop measuring yourself by only what you haven't done and acknowledge what you have already navigated?
Now imagine all versions of yourself standing at the beginning of a new pathway.
You don't need to see where it leads.
You don't need to know what happens next.
You simply know that this is your life.
And there will always be new choices to make.
New experiences to have.
And new possibilities you haven't yet explored.
And as you walk.
Perhaps a familiar fear is there,
Lingering.
The fear of failure.
The fear of change,
The fear of the unknown.
At this time.
You know you don't have to approach it as someone who has never faced it before.
You can approach it as the person who has already lived.
Learned,
And grown.
How might you approach the path ahead if you remember what you've already learned?
Can you start to approach life differently?
When fear shows up.
Will you remember your strength?
What could it look like?
To acknowledge that fear without automatically allowing it to decide what happens next.
Sometimes strength is saying no.
Sometimes it's changing direction.
Sometimes it's asking for help.
Taking a break.
Or simply recognising that something isn't right for you.
And the bravest choice of all is to stop.
This life isn't about.
How to prove how much you can endure.
We can recognise that you have choices.
And you don't have to let old fears make them for you.
As we come towards the end of our journey together.
I'd like to leave you with a new way to think about the word fear.
What if the word fear could be a reminder of what you can do when it shows up?
Feel.
Acknowledge what you're experiencing.
You don't need to judge it or push it away.
Explore.
Get curious.
Question the story that fear is telling you.
Is this what's happening now or could it be an echo of something?
From the past.
Accept.
Allow yourself not to have all the answers.
You don't need certainty or perfection before you can make a choice.
And reclaim.
Remember who you are.
Remember what you've learned.
Remember the choices available to you.
Four simple words to help you reconnect with what you've learned so that you can choose how to move forward when fear appears.
Sometimes fear is pointing us towards something that needs our attention.
Sometimes it's an old story showing up in a new moment.
You don't have to get it right every time.
And you don't have to be fearless.
You can simply begin by remembering.
To feel.
Explore.
Accept.
Reclaim.
Four words,
A practice that you can return to one moment at a time.
My wish for you is to remember.
You have faced the unknown before.
You have stumbled before.
You have changed and adapted before.
And somewhere along the way you've forgotten just how much you've already overcome.
And it's time you remember your strength.
Thank you and blessed be.
