Shining Hearts Cacao

Greetings and Welcome to the home of Shining Hearts Cacao!

I am Lauren Amy Hofmeyr, also known as Lah Hallah Medicine Muse. I am directress & co_creator at Shining Hearts Cacao. Myself and my team of unseen helpers work together in my kitchen in Hout Bay, South Africa with the highest quality raw organic ingredients to co-create with ixCacao in ceremony of the highest order!

Cacao Ceremony - groups, couples and one-on-one

Ceremonial Cacao Prayer Pebbles

Cacao!Cacao! Whole Tree Tincture

Embodiment Training Course with ixCacao

Retreats

I have been serving Ceremony in various forms - with blindfolded dance, Sacred Sound and Healing Voice, and undercover as a Troubadour, and now as Sangoma - Nature Ceremonies & Initiations since 1997. In 2004 before there was raw chocolate to be found in South Africa - I was making medicine chocolates to sell at festivals to support my young family when I heard the call of Cacao and realised to my surprise that Chocolate is a Sacred Teacher Plant! ‘When I get my chance to go to the jungle I’m going to find me a Cacao Shaman, I know they exist!’ I said to myself. My chance to go to the jungle has still to come, so in the meantime ixCacao came and found me... At the end of 2014 I was invited to an experimental Cacao Ceremony here, and in it I had a vision in which ixCacao walked up to me, full hips swaying and said: “You are Cacao Kuchina! Let me dance you!” I agreed as waves of bliss washed over me, and a few days later an invite to online training arrived in my world! My teacher was Annu Tara, she encouraged us to serve as soon as we felt ready, and as I was already very accustomed to facilitating groups in ceremony I began a couple of months later with 50 Women at the opening of the Women of the Earth Festival 2015. Since then I have developed many different ways to serve Cacao in Ceremony. ixCacao is magnificently flexible!

"Never will chocolate be the same again! Leah opened up a beautiful & safe space where ixCacao was able to take the driver's seat for an intense, yet smooth ride of healing and inner journeying. The frequencies of sacred sounds melded with ixCacao created an amazing alchemical experience!" - Matthew, CT

Cacao Ceremony in the Ancestral Village at Ubuntu Festival, 2018.

Petals Yoni Steam & Cacao Ceremony, 2018

Cacao Ceremony in Sudwala Caves, Mpumalanga. Winter Solstice 2018

*Cacao Ceremony and medicinal sound at yoga retreat, 2017*

Shortly after I began serving folk started asking me to make the Ceremonial Cacao in a way that they could take it home to give them a helping hand throughout the day - thus were born Prayer Pebbles!

*"... when my love and I each took a pebble of your making at the dance - we ended up in a most healing dance together after a week of really hard things in our relating. Since then both our hearts feel softer and more open to each other. Actually more than that - profound shifts. .. Thank you for your gift." - Lynne, Jhb*

I wanted to create chocolates that didn’t melt easily to allow folk to keep them in their handbags without the problem of melting - Ceremonial Cacao Prayer Pebbles are mixed to dough consistency with other Superfood allies: Maca, Mesquite, Lucuma and Baobab. So it is that the melting challenge was solved and a magical, and powerful team of Superfoods and Spices come together intuitively with song and prayer in my mixing bowl! Each bag of Ceremonial Cacao Prayer Pebbles is a full ceremonial dose of Cacao. Some folk use the Pebbles to drop into ceremony at home, some folk use them as an alternative to stimulants like coffee, others use one every now and then to assist them to drop out of the mind and into the embracing creativity of the heart.

Note: Ceremonial Cacao is not psychedelic! :)

I am now a graduated Sangoma/African Shaman - one who heals with singing, dancing, playing the drum. I have been walking this path for 21 years with my Voice being my most potent allie. I have always been good at ‘reading stuff’ - divination. Quite quickly I realised that the spices speak to me as I put them down when preparing Ceremonial Cacao Prayer Pebbles. Recently I started making monthly recordings of the ‘Story of the Spices’. They seem to be in alignment with many other channel and astrological sources. This is fascinating to me! You can find links on this page whenever I release a recording.

*Spices Speak with Lah Hallah*

I have also created ‘Cacao!Cacao! Whole Tree Tincture’. This combination of herbal and double-omnified homeopathic tincture was born following my second Cacao dieta. In this I dieted the root, bark, leaf and whole entire fruit of the Cacao Tree and made herbal tinctures out of each, 9 months later combining the 4 into 1 whole Tree tincture.

*“I felt a lasting inner comfort and a sense of being held. My emotions did not over run me and I remained centred. I really appreciate it. Thank you!” - Shereen, CT.*

Also in this diet ixCacao came up to me in a vision and gave me a big fat book - “Here, write my story!” she said. Then she proceeded to tell me to teach - “Teach others to prepare Ceremonial Cacao, also teach them Wheel and Labyrinth technologies, Vocal Alchemy and a variety of Field Maintenance techniques. The first 3 years of the course will be different, so keep flexible!” 2019 will be the 3rd year running of my course: Embodiment Training with ixCacao, and true to her word - the structure will be different once again! This has been a magical journey of co-creation, celebration and learning more about the mysteries of technology and the internet! Thank goodness for my teenage children who ‘know it all!’ :)

*"The course was a beautiful weaving of connecting our hearts with the magicks of ixCacao, and experiencing embodiment as my spirit deeply connected above and below, heart open. Through voice, prayer and movement we learned tools that are creating new waves in my daily rhythms. Loved the course! Leah/Gogo Maria is a full power woman! Yilililililili!" - Ruth, 2017 Trainee*

*Opening Lotus Embodiment Training Retreat, Hout Bay, CT, July 2018*

I also run Cacao Retreats annually:

Shining Hearts Cacao Dolphin Retreat in Mozambique in collaboration with Halo Gaia over the Winter Solstice. Her we relax, swim with dolphins, sing with the Ocean, and eat a lot of Ceremonial Cacao! This is a wonderful, healing immersion in the deep, salty waters of the Heart!

Embodiment Training Retreat locally in Cape Town - the course in a nutshell! 3 Nights and 3 Days of focused Cacao work which results in an attendance certificate.

Simply Being Retreat with ixCacao in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga - Silence and Cacao in Womb-space. A deep, soul nourishing breath out, untangling our hair from the year past and preparing for the year ahead. This is a deeply Feminine womb-space into which Men are invited too. This retreat includes Ceremony with the local Sacred Sites and an environment prepared for Creativity.

*"Not just a relaxing getaway for fellow seekers, but a deeply introspective weekend rich with higher teachings and deep learning. To Simply Be sounds so easy - but can prove to be quite challenging in the best kind of Soul-Learning-Heart-Growing way. A beautiful quiet setting, a safe and Sacred Space established, yummy nutritious food - this retreat is Good Medicine!" - Nena, Jhb*