Grief & Mourning Cacao Circle

Friday 3 October 2025
6:00 pm 8:00 pm

Vesna Vavladellis 437A Centre Road Bentleigh, VIC, 3204 Australia (map)

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Like love, grief is a natural part of our existence. In many indigenous cultures, it is believed that grief is a sacred state and those that are grieving are said to be the closest to the divine intelligence, spirit and the sacredness of all. Grief is seen to carry a vital role in our lives, as it has the potential to come with great clarity where wisdom and insight can emerge from profound vulnerability. Grief can help to relieve ourselves from the delusion of control and reminds us that death is never far away. As a collective we have lost the old ways of tending to our grief and mourning our losses, as we have been taught to repress our grief with the distractions of the modern world.

Join Vesna Vavladellis on a sacred ritual journey with grief as developed by One Who Catches Lightning & Keeper of the Thunderstone and supported by Cuatro Manos y Cinco Volcanes Hawaiian Ceremonial Cacao, as we learn to honour our grief and through this process open the gateway to love and life.

Hawaiian Ceremonial Cacao

Ceremonial Cacao has played a central role in the traditions and ritual practices of the Olmecs, Mayans and the Aztecs for well over 4000 years, with Hawaiian Cacao being one of the rarest and most expensive cacaos in the world.

Also known as “the food of the Gods”, in its purest form Cacao is an ancient medicine that offers access to the rich wisdom that resides within the uncharted landscape of our inner world. When we sit with the energy of cacao, we connect back into universal consciousness, unconditional love and allow ourselves to experience cohesiveness in mind-body-essence. Leading us on a journey of self-discovery, evolution and change, it acts as a gentle yet powerful catalyst for rewriting the narratives that have held us back from showing up as our true, authentic selves.

For this circle we will be drinking Puuwai Kaukolū (Triple Heart), a special heart opening blend of Hawaiian cacao combined with Rose & Hibiscus from Cuatro Manos y Cinco Volcanes farms. This is grandmother and mother medicine, an old recipe that has been handed down through Marita Esteva’s family for many generations. Rose and Hibiscus together with Cacao invites you to connect to your intimate heart, your inner circle as it relates to the rest of the world, initiating a journey of interconnectedness and wholeness of the mind the body, the spirit.

Cuatro Manos y Cinco Volcanes Cacao is grown and produced in the Hawaiian way of “E hele me ka pu’olo”, the way of abundant flow honouring creator and universe by always offering back – lovingly prepared from tree to disk through ceremony and prayer with zero slave or child labour, proceeds are donated back to support reparations of the land and community in Hawaii as well as the indigenous elders and wisdom carriers of this medicine.

Meet Vesna

Vesna is a mother, scientist, sound alchemist, teacher, Cuatro Manos y Cinco Volcanes Cacao facilitator and official student of Marita One Who Catches Lightning & Keeper of the Thunderstone at the Path of IX. She creates nurturing and supportive environments that allow us to meet ourselves wherever we are on our journey, and venture beyond the cognitive limitations of the mind supported by Hawaiian cacao, fern medicine, sound, somatic movement, dreaming and meditation to access inspired realms of purest clarity, connection and insight.

Vesna walks in deep relationship alongside her teachers, ancestors and the rich traditions of her lineage to inspire and empower others in recognising the innate wisdom they carry and realising their own true potential.