The story of the Goddess of Chocolate has seen many adaptations as it has flowed past the lips of many generations. In the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica she has been known by many different names and is worshipped as a fertility goddess. Though no matter the version told, her story is one of the coming together with nurturing, healing, fertile love for all.
The story that we share with you today is they one where she goes by the Mayan name of IxCacao. The ‘Ix’ simply represents her divine feminine energy. It literally means “little one”, which was an endearing term used for a female in these ancient times. Hence, her name translates into English as “Cocoa Woman”.
IxCacao featured in the creation myths of the Mayans, as she introduced agriculture to the people and helped bring in the birth of the Sacred Twins. In the beginning of her time, she was an earth goddess in a matriarchal society where tending the crops was woman’s work. She felt it was her divine responsibility to ensure her people were provided for with an abundance of food so that no one went hungry. See also held a deep sense of responsibility to keep her people safe and and secure as she embraced them with her mother energy.
Although IxCacao only made a small appearance in the mythology of the Mayan’s, the Goddess of Chocolate captured the hearts of many and was loved by the common folk as a compassionate goddess of abundance.
However, in these ancient times a societal shift saw the patriarchy energy begin to take hold. At first it was a golden age where Kings and dynasties began, and a ruling class was born. The wonders of Astronomy were introduced and flourished, as did the arts. History was beginning to be recorded as glyphs (an ancient form of writing), began to appear on the elaborate and magnificent statues, monuments, palaces, and temples all created in honour of the Kings and their many noble men. The formation of cities established a large coming together of the people and especially the wealthily.
Serving the patriarchy became the new order of life. The King took notice of IxCacao. He saw her ability to provide abundance and this very much appeased his greed. He requested that the Goddess of Chocolate was to serve him and his men taking her away in to his kingdom and away from the people and her fields.
The King demanded her hand in marriage be given to the God of Commerce. This then led to the sacred cacao bean becoming a valuable form of currency and is to this day know as one of the oldest known forms of currency.
However, what really upset the goddess is that the King declared chocolate as the ‘food of the gods’, and made it only available only to the rulers and the warriors in their service.
IxCacao’s heart was finally broken when she got word that outside of the kingdom there was now widespread starvation. She hadn’t been tending her dearly missed fields and her people were suffering. Furthermore, this began the time of human sacrifice and the horrendous practice of taking children from the fields and used as a sacrifice to appease the thirst of the Sun so as to prevent catastrophic drought.
When the Goddess saw these children being led up the stairs toward their executioner, she began to climb the steps beside them. Offering them goblets of cacao and comforting them as they climbed to their death . These actions of her became an important part of the ceremonial rite with each years offerings.
The separation between the rich and the poor was becoming more obvious to IxCacao, as she saw the human suffering being caused by the greedy lifestyles of wealthy aristocrats.
It was then that the Goddess of Love saw that the people were no longer laughing, singing and dancing. They no longer had any energy for love. So the Goddess of Love joined with the Goddess of Chocolate and they conspired to bring back abundance and love to all.
They taught the greedy kings’ cooks how to ferment the wine, making it even more intoxicating and then began to spread the word of cacao’s aphrodisiac properties. This led to a period of even more greed between the rulers as they over induldged in wine and cacao. This greed saw wars break out between the states.
It was reported that one Emperor, The Emperor Montezuma, was drinking 40-50 goblets of cacao per day as a potent aphrodisiac to sustain his energy for his frequent visits to his harem.
This time of great greed and warfare meant that the workers of the lands were either off to war or their lands were being used as battlefields. The people were not being looked after. There was no food and great starvation spread. As a result the kingdoms fell.
Ixcacao took the opportunity to reminded the people that there was more to life than this working for the King or their masters and this made the Goddess of Love very happy. The Goddess of Love then adored Ixcacao from head to foot with flower blossoms and gentle winds. The beautiful Ixcacao was allowed to return to her people. Return to her role as the fertility goddess. Return to her fields of corn and ensured her people were fed. But she also now returned as the goddess of love and pleasure.
The Goddess of Chocolate vowed to bring back balance to all. She is informed her people that there will be no more work without rest. There will be no more work without time for family and friends. There will be no more work without time for music and dane. And most importantly, there will be no more work without love.
The story of Ixcacao and the wisdom it holds, is a timely reminder to us all. It is is an important reminder that the modern day production driven, hustle and bustle that feeds commercialism and our ‘want’ over ‘need’ mentality and greed based buying and selling habits are not in alignment with with the progression of our society as a whole.
The beautiful and humble Goddess of Chocolate is here to remind us that abundance exists all around us. It is before each and every one of us. If only we take the time to be still, to connect in deeply all that we have and to celebrate all that gives us pleasure. It is then that true luxury is waiting for us all.
