꩜ why cacao and branding are inseparable
- Saskia
- Jan 6
- 5 min read
For almost two years, ceremonial cacao was simply present in ceremonial spaces I participated in. I wasn’t seeking her out with intention or purpose. I was never planning to work with any plant medicine, nor did I feel ready to “teach” or share anything about her.
The more time I spent sitting with her in ceremony, the more clearly I felt her influence. So I began weaving her into my own spaces and creative processes. I felt more connected to the earth, more present with my emotions without being consumed by them. Creativity began to flow more effortlessly, and above all, I felt such a deep gratitude for life and the people around me (so strong it often moved me to tears).
But then after some time, I felt discomfort. An embodied knowing that asked for more integrity. Because integrity, for me, is never optional, as it is the foundation of how I live and how I work. It began to feel somewhat wrong to sit with this medicine without knowing her story. Her lands. Her people. Her lineage. My intended path with her. Especially in Western society, with its long history of exploiting indigenous wisdom and plant medicines for profit, stripping them from their origins and reinforcing cycles of poverty and violence – integrity and education is a non-negotiable for me.
Thankfully, a few months ago, I stumbled upon a 3-month extensive Cacao Expansion journey led by @brittawaechter. My body responded with a full-bodied yes. Even though I had just gone fully self-employed again, even though I had just moved into a more expensive apartment, I stepped into it anyway despite the uncertainty and "instability" (No risk no fun, hey?) This decision was not based on some logic, but from that need for integrity, and from the knowing that this journey wasn’t just for me, but for the service I am here to do.
Because cacao and branding, for me, are deeply intertwined.
I have never aligned with “the system” we are born into. There has always been a need for rebellion in me. The desire to do things differently, to change something at the root. I never imagined that this rebellion would express itself through branding.
I know what you might be thinking: Isn’t branding just design? Logos, colours, aesthetics?
If that’s what branding is to you, then yes, this might sound strange at first. But that is not how I work.
I don’t call myself a brand designer, but I call myself a brand doula. Because I don’t build brands, but I birth them. I walk with women as their visions move from the unseen into form. I help create brand worlds, containers, portals, spaces in which a woman feels held through all her seasons.
As women, we are not linear beings. We were never meant to fit into patriarchal systems that value constant output, productivity, and optimisation. We move in cycles. Ebbs and flows. Deaths and rebirths. And that is not a flaw, it is our greatest power.
Branding, as I see it, is a woman’s rite of passage.
There comes a moment in many women’s lives where something feels unbearably tight. Where the old structures no longer fit. Where there is frustration, longing, and a deep desire to build something of one’s own. A vision or a dream starts knocking. Very subtle at first, then growing stronger. This desire to birth something uniquely yours is natural. It is who we are. Creatrixes.
But birthing our ideas and visions into reality is never just easy.
Which is why I have dedicated myself to hold space for these women who move through the fear, doubt, grief, and excitement of this process all at once. Because this journey is never just about the outcome of having a visual brand, it is about unraveling identities, shedding old skins, leaving behind familiar versions of ourselves. Sometimes people. Sometimes places. Sometimes the illusion of safety and stability.
This work asks us to open our hearts and trust ourselves. And this is where mama cacao comes in.
She is a heart-opener. She invites honesty, with ourselves and with others. She softens the armour we’ve built to survive in a world driven by competition, greed, and disconnection. She reconnects us to the earth, to awe, to reverence. But she doesn’t only bring light and sweetness …
She also brings up what hides beneath the surface. The doubts. The fears. The grief. The questions we avoid asking. And in that way, cacao mirrors the branding process perfectly.
Because in the birthwork of our brand, there is always a moment after the initial excitement fades, where doubt and imposter-syndrome show up:
Am I capable?
Will this work?
Who am I to do this?
What will people think of me?
Why did I commit to something that suddenly feels so big?
These moments are not mistakes. They are part of the initiation you are journeying through.
We are cyclical beings. The contractions matter just as much as the butterflies. And with me as your brand doula, and cacao as an optional ally, we learn to stay present with both, without bypassing and without giving up.
As I have mentioned above, cacao has become a creative ally in my own process. I sit with her when I design sketches. When I listen. When I open a new branding container. I pray to her to support me in creating a safe, grounded, heart-led space for myself and for the woman who've entrusted me with their beautiful visions.
When it feels aligned, I invite my clients to sit with her too. So even across screens, we co-create intentionally. We meet in the heart. We listen more deeply. We remember that this work is alive.
This is why I now weaving branding packages infused with cacao (of course always optional, always consensual, always rooted in respect). Not to follow a westernised trend or scheme, but as an initiatory support for women who feel called to invite her into the space and journey as well.
For a long time, I was afraid that sharing this medicine would mean contributing to exploitation. But I now understand that passing on ancient wisdom with integrity, reverence, and education is part of my path too. Atleast for now. Cacao is the first and only plant medicine I am called to sit with and share.
Never before has ceremonial cacao been shared so widely across the globe. And while this comes with responsibility, it also carries immense potential for collective healing.
Amidst war, poverty, and collective sickness, there is also an awakening happening. A remembering. A bonding across generations, cultures, and lands. Plant medicines like cacao are part of that remembering. Still, discernment is ALWAYS essential.
Please research. Learn. Question. Be cautious. Honour the people and lineages this wisdom comes from, just as they honour life itself. Exploitation and colonisation are real, and our awareness matters.
Cacao teaches us to listen to the heart. Branding, at its essence, asks the same. And when both are approached as living, cyclical processes rather than tools to be used, they become pathways– not just to our business, but back to ourselves.
If something in this resonates, trust that it’s not by accident. We were never meant to birth our visions alone. For generations, women created, healed, and brought life into form held by sisters and guides, long before we were taught to carry everything by ourselves.
I’m not here to push or direct you, but to remind you of what you already carry, and to walk beside you as you listen, shed, and create. If your brand is slowly rising, if something in you knows it’s time, you’re welcome here.
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