I'm going to invite you to close your eyes,
Placing your hands over your heart,
Taking some nice,
Beautiful,
Deep breaths as we start to arrive here in our bodies.
Breathing into your heart.
Let me take a moment to open this space.
Divine Goddess,
Surround me in light strong and true,
A shield of power for all I do.
No harm shall pass,
No ill shall stay,
Only love and peace to light my way.
With every breath,
I stand secure,
Protected,
Grounded,
Calm and pure.
So might it be.
I invite you to breathe in that beautiful light from the universe,
That white light that connects us,
That energizes us,
That keeps us safe.
Just breathe it into your heart.
Feel it wrapping around you like a warm blanket.
Feeling that light protecting us,
Grounding us,
And connecting us here in this amazing space.
When you're ready,
I invite you to hold your cacao so that you feel the warmth in your hands,
Starting to smell that beautiful aroma.
Mama Cacao,
Your gift we receive with grace.
Thank you for supporting this sacred space.
We honor the ancestors,
The lands,
And the histories,
And we thank the farmers and families who protect your beautiful trees.
We accept this gift with gratitude,
Respect,
And deep care.
And we thank the earth,
The fire,
The water,
And the air.
Taking a moment to breathe in that beautiful aroma.
Perhaps even placing your cacao,
Placing it directly against your chest so that you feel the warmth in your heart.
Keeping your eyes closed throughout this ceremony,
Staying connected,
Coming back to your breath any time that your mind starts to wander.
Tonight's ceremony is named Return to Me.
Somewhere along the way,
Many of us learned it was safer to leave ourselves than to risk loss,
Rejection,
Or pain.
Tonight,
With this cup of cacao,
We gently find the path back home to ourselves.
So just taking a moment to breathe in that beautiful aroma of your cacao,
And then thinking about what self-abandonment means for you.
And I want you to gently breathe those words,
Return to Me,
Back into your cup.
So breathing in that aroma and breathing out the words,
Return to Me,
Sending those words back into your cup as your intention,
Connecting your breath,
Your cacao,
And your intention together,
Return to Me.
Without blame or guilt,
I invite you to remember a time when you abandoned yourself.
Not to relive the pain,
Just to witness it.
In the moments before this time,
Can you notice,
Without any judgement,
When you stopped speaking your truth?
When you stopped listening to your body?
When you shrank and chose others over yourself?
Just witness it.
With our first sip together,
We honour that version of ourselves,
Because they survived.
Breathe into that sip.
Breathe into your heart.
As you say to yourself,
I see you.
I did not leave you forever.
I see you.
I did not leave you forever.
As you feel that first sip moving down to your heart,
Breathing in its energy,
We're going to take our second sip together,
And as we do so,
Just imagine a golden thread connecting your current self to your abandoned self.
Breathe into the energy of that sip.
As you say to yourself,
I remember you.
I welcome you home.
I remember you.
I welcome you home.
As we breathe into our hearts,
Softening,
Opening,
Connecting,
We take our third sip together as we gently reclaim our power,
Calling our energy back.
As you breathe into the energy of that sip,
Keeping one hand on your cacao and one hand either on your heart or on your belly,
As you say to yourself,
I call my voice back.
I call my truth back.
I call myself back.
I call my voice back.
I call my truth back.
I call myself back.
Just continue to breathe into your heart as you finish sipping your cacao.
I stayed,
I shrank,
I survived.
Leaving my truest self behind.
I silenced my voice to keep the peace.
Laid down my truth.
My holy fading,
It took its toll.
As we breathe together,
Hold space together,
Cry together,
We support each other to recognise the signs and with tenderness and self-loyalty,
We learn to encourage ourselves to listen to our inner voice,
To honour our needs,
To choose our inner healing,
To not silence ourselves,
To stay with ourselves.
Breathing deep into your heart.
Remember,
You are not becoming someone new,
You are simply returning to who you have always been deep inside,
Before you abandoned yourself.
You no longer need to disappear to belong.
Tonight,
Here together in this space,
We're not here to fix.
We're here with compassion for ourselves to return.
I invite you to place one hand over your heart and as you breathe deep,
Repeat these words to yourself.
Perhaps even saying them out loud if you can.
I choose to hear myself,
Even in whispers.
My needs are not a burden,
They are guidance.
I trust the wisdom within me.
I do not abandon myself to keep the peace.
I stay gently with myself,
Especially in hard moments.
My body is my home,
I return.
I choose myself in quiet ways again and again.
By honouring our needs without guilt,
By rebuilding our own self-trust,
By reframing boundaries and returning to our bodies,
We not only return home,
We stay here.
Taking a moment to breathe deep into your heart,
To acknowledge any emotions that came up.
Just hold them.
Just witness them without judgement.
Paying some gratitude to Mama Cacao for supporting and guiding this journey tonight.
Gratitude to this community for coming together and gratitude to yourself for showing up.
Staying with yourself as long as you need,
Being soft and gentle,
Being compassionate and kind.
Breathing into your heart.
Thank you and blessed be.
