Let’s Not Confuse Sacred Plant Medicine with Hypnosis Tactics(A loving call out to the spiritual copy paste crowd)

The reason I’m writing so deeply about this sacred plant medicine is because, over the years, I’ve watched its popularity grow and its sacredness diminish.

I love my relationship with cacao. It has guided me to open my heart in such a beautiful, tender, potent way. I’ll drink it when it’s offered in ceremony, or especially during those heart expanding weekends away with my sisters. Sometimes I sit with it in my rituals, but barely. And I definitely don’t drink it every day like a cup of tea or coffee.

When I do serve cacao especially when I’m holding space in the plant and elemental realm it’s with intention. I see how it anchors the heart to the earth. I witness the way it softens the nervous system and reminds people they belong in their body. But I’ve got too much respect for this plant to use it in willy nilly kind of a way. 

Which is exactly why I need to say this next part clearly. 

There’s a rising trend I see that needs some sacred fire under its ass:

“Cacao shuts off your brain so you can access your subconscious.”

“This medicine helps you bypass the mind and drop into reprogramming.”

“You’ll be in such a trance you won’t even notice the shift.”

I’ve seen these phrases used to describe cacao ceremonies, breath journeys, and plant medicine spaces and honestly? They make me cringe.

Because sacred plant medicine is not hypnosis. Let me say that louder for the people in the algorithmic back room: Cacao doesn’t override your mind. It opens your heart. 

So how did we get here? Why are people so quick to throw sacred earth medicine into the same pot as trance states and brain hacks?

Let’s break this down lovingly, but with no sugar on top. Cause you know how this girl rolls when she’s passionate about something. 

What Cacao Actually Does - Cacao, when used in its ceremonial form, isn’t a drug. It’s not a sedative. It’s not a mind control device.

It’s a gentle, heart-opening ally a sacred plant that’s been revered for thousands of years in Mesoamerican cultures not for what it takes away, but for what it awakens.

The compounds in cacao like theobromine, anandamide, and PEA work synergistically to create a soft, uplifted, connected state. One where your nervous system starts to feel safe. Your body literally exhales. Your beautiful heart softens. Those bloody loud noises in your head dim, not because it’s been shut off, but because something deeper starts to speak louder.

In that space, yes you may access the subconscious. But not because part of your brain’s been “turned off.” It’s because your awareness has expanded. You’re anchored into your body. You’re safe enough to feel.

Let’s get nerdy for a sec because I freaking love this stuff. 

When we talk or hear about “subconscious access,” what we’re really talking about is a shift in brainwave states from the beta frequency of focused, logical thinking into alpha or theta, the slower waves associated with calm, insight, imagination, memory, and yes subconscious processing. 

Cacao supports this indirectly by relaxing the nervous system and opening the heart.

It’s not all of a sudden flipping switch in your brain like some hypnotist’s swinging pendulum.

It’s more like turning that volume down on external chaos so you can finally hear what your own soul’s been whispering. Isn’t this mind blowing. 

If anything, cacao amplifies consciousness it doesn’t override it.

So Where Does the Hypnosis Language Come From? Here’s some of the spicy truths that I have seen and researched.

This kind of phrasing seems to come from a mix of:

   •           New Age echo chambers repeating catchy halftruths,

   •           Unskilled facilitators using NLP adjacent tactics without real understanding,

   •           And good ol’ capitalistic rebranding of ancient sacred medicine into a marketable “biohack.” So cringeworthy.

People want quick fixes. They want to say they had a “breakthrough” after one ceremony. And spiritual circles especially in the West have a tendency to reduce deep, sacred practices into simplified, saleable soundbites.

Calling cacao a “mind reprogramming substance” sounds edgy. It sounds powerful. It sells. But it’s not the truth and it doesn’t honour the spirit of the plant at all. So what is the point then ah? 

Using Language like that is Dangerous. Using hypnosis based language around cacao (or any sacred medicine) doesn’t just mislead it disempowers.

It implies the medicine is “doing something to you instead of opening space for you to meet yourself.”

Read that part again my plant lovers! 

It creates a bypass culture where consent becomes blurry. People surrender their sovereignty to the facilitator.  And the real work the slow, messy, heart-led inner listening gets skipped.

And do you know the worst of all? It erases the indigenous roots of cacao and replaces them with Westernized spiritual jargon that has nothing to do with the medicine’s true purpose. Yuck! This is the biggest red flag of them all.

So maybe we need to reevaluate and Reclaim the Sacred. 

Let’s stop parroting phrases that sound deep but are actually rooted in misunderstanding.

Let’s stop coopting the language of hypnosis and control when we’re talking about something as relational and reciprocal as plant medicine.

Let’s remember Cacao doesn’t take you over. It meets you where you are.

It doesn’t bypass your mind. It invites your heart to lead. It doesn’t shut anything off. It brings everything online your body, your breath, your soul.

So please, for the love of the earth and all her allies stop confusing sacred medicine with mind control. This isn’t hypnosis. 

It’s ceremony.

And if you got this far. Thanks for coming to my very passionate Ted talk-writing. Appreciate you.