We had hoped to be able to share some #cacaoceremonies on our drive back up the West Coast of the United States, however, it wasn’t until we returned to Canada that we hosted our first #ceremony outside of Mexico. A wonderful friend of ours who has a yurt invited us to host a ceremony on his property, which seemed like a sweet spot to host our first Canadian gathering.
We invited some friends and family members, and in the end there were 7 of us who shared that first #ceremony. Kristin and I learned a lot about ourselves in that first #Canadian #cacaoceremony and how important is is to be properly prepared, with more than enough time, and also what it means to be a solid facilitator. Some of the most challenging experiences we’ve had as facilitators has made us that much stronger and more resilient as we continue to walk this path into the unknown.
We had been approached by a good friend of ours to participate in a full-day event that was being held in a beautiful community near us that is right on the ocean's edge. We weren’t sure what it would be like, but it sounded exciting, so we agreed to host a #cacaoceremony for a large group there that day. We had never met the owners of the home that the event was being hosted in, however we had heard lovely things about them and the types of events they had hosted in the past.
When we arrived in the morning to get prepared we were told that there would be 38 guests for the #cacaoceremony! Wow! This was more than double the size of the largest group we’d ever facilitated for. Luckily for us we had the help of one of our biggest supporters and mentors, my mom, Cori. We had heard that the couple who was hosting the event loved #cacao and were huge advocates for its use as an addition to a vibrant lifestyle. We certainly knew some of the nutritional benefits of using #cacao as an everyday super-food dietary supplement, so it was exciting to meet other people who had similar knowledge.
I had ground 4 pounds of #keithscacao for the #ceremony that day and thankfully we had mom’s help with getting things prepared in the kitchen. The hosts were almost overly helpful in the kitchen arena. We later reflected on this situation with the understanding that she didn’t have a clue who we were or what we knew about #cacao or ceremonies, so they were committed to seeing that the #cacaoceremony would be loved and appreciated by all who attended.
The #cacaoceremony was a huge hit with the guests and afterword we had #Keithscacao for sale from the 150 pounds we had brought back with us in the trunk of our car from Guatemala. We must’ve sold 30 or 40 pounds that day and when all of the guests who were interested had bought some, the hosts told us that they would buy whatever we had left over!! Wow, this was beyond what we had imagined and truly blew our minds wide open to the possibility of these events being a integral part of our lives.
We made so many wonderful new friends that day and we still continue to meet people who attended that #cacaoceremony that we never met who’ve thanked us for doing it. We recently hosted a small and very intimate full day gathering at this same lovely home in Sooke, BC. The couple had decided to sell their beautiful home and we thought it would be nice to have one last gathering there to share a #cacaoceremony as well as to say our goodbyes to this most wonderful gathering space. A short time after we hosted the #cacaoceremony at their house this summer, the woman of the house passed on from this life. What an honor to have known her and to have been invited to share our #medicine in her home.
Kristin and I had agreed to take another road trip, this being late summer of 2015. After we came back to Canada for just 6 short weeks, we hit the open road, headed for Houston, Texas to spend some time with one of Kristin’s oldest friends who was expecting her first child. We put our suitcase back into the trunk of our trusty VW Jetta and headed back to the United States, not really fully understanding of the magnitude of the next leg of the journey we were embarking on.
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