Oh my I just discovered I’ve never written a blog about bubbles….many social media posts but never a blog. So here we go.. Bubbles…if you’ve ever spent time with me professionally or personally it will come as no surprise to you that I have a love for Bubbles in my cacao. I also receive a lot of joy in simply saying the word Bubbles. I also talk about bubbles in every cacao ceremony I run. And now the bubbles have snuck their way into almost every women’s circle too.
Why bubbles…well come join me for a little journey into Lani Land and I’ll tell you a tale. My mind is a wonderful playground and it weaves the most fantastical stories – so this is my story of Bubbles and how I’ve concluded she is akin to the feminine essence.
Oh and PS this is one of the traits of being a highly sensitive person – one of my gifts, that I adore and appreciate and feel so blessed to have. The gift of taking something so so so so so simple and seemingly little and thinking deeply on it until it becomes a fantastical story that comes alive in my body and breathes me back to life again and again and again and again. And maybe in yours too?
They say a belief is just a thought you repeat often enough. Well I believe bubbles are magical and worth talking about….how about you?
If I say the word Bubbles enough can you feel it already? Bubbles 🙂 Bubbles…..bubbbbbbbles 😂
So back to Bubbles…way way way back in 2015 when I returned home to Australia I met bubbles for the first time when I had access to a real kitchen again – you know one with a fridge and all the other modern appliances – like a blender. Did you know when you live in countries like Guatemala, Mexico and India you get very very creative about how you cook. I came home the one pot wonder queen…and no longer needed a potato peeler or garlic crusher, and OK I might have caved and bought a potato peeler but still not a garlic crusher in sight 😀
I digress again….Bubbles back to you.
I’d heard about Bubbles when I was in Guatemala, actually everyone talked about Bubbles, Keith (the cacao shaman and founder of Keith’s cacao) even had a little home made device that they used to help put some bubbles in the big pots of cacao they would make for us when we came to sit on their porch week after week. And there was a cool traditional way similar to how chai is poured in India, from great height, to create bubbles.
But the truth is I never reaaaallly met Bubbles until I had access to appliances again. But from our very first liaison it was love at first sight. A joyful magical romance filled with passion and colour and admiration. And I’ve never stopped loving her. OK maybe for one moment there I might have had a moment of doubt – when I thought using an electrical appliance to zhuzh up my sacred plant medicine might make it less sacred. Thankfully I only had that thought for a moment and it never got to become a belief…because my cacao still felt every bit as sacred. And actually the sacredness was magnified for me when she had all that bubbley goodness.
I began to notice the incredible rainbow bubbles that would form on the top of the cacao, especially brilliant if I zhuzhed it and then put it back into the big pot ready for our big group ceremonies…and somehow cacao became even more beautiful and wonder filled than she already was.
With bubbles all the cells of the cacao butter (totally not the right science term but in case you haven’t noticed yet I have no care for rules, or science or correct use of brackets, full stops, commas in this post, it’s just a story about Bubbles and I) get to merge into each other and dance their little dance together. And somehow through the magic of aerodynamics the process of blending and the making of a mass amount of bubbles, rainbow and just plain old chocolatey goodness – the most amazing moussey goodness forms on top.
And on another side tangent (yes this is how my brain works when I let her run free!!) someone who studies the magic of bubbles is called a Bubbleologist…why don’t they tell us about these career possibilities in high school?!
But here’s the bit where I share with you that Bubbles and I both like to break the rules..she likes to live a little, on the edge you might call it, and it seems so do I. So most blenders and nutri bullets recommend not placing hot liquids in them….and they have a really lovely conservative little line somewhere that says don’t fill beyond that point.
Well I take those guidelines as suggestions…and I sometimes push them a little. And what I’ve discovered is that if I use warm water (not hot!) and find exactly the right point of fullness of the blender, not too high that the whole thing explodes…the bubbles are out of this world mousseeeey and delicious.
Why am I telling you in such detail about the bubbles in the cacao and the exact right point between too muchness and not enoughness. Well because I think the bubbles are a beautiful metaphor for the feminine radiance, vitality, life force, Shakti that exists within each of us. The cacao is delicious without bubbles and as a plant medicine her potency is still there with or without bubbles…but for me her potential to bring joy is magnified with bubbles.
And I see this in the feminine presence. The feminine is beautiful and worthy ALWAYS (read that line again if you need to be reminded), even when tired, drained, depleted, depressed, scared or overwhelmed. But when she is alive, activated, turned on, juicy and filled with bubbles – she is almost other worldly, magnetic, hypnotic, mesmerising, medicine for all she comes in contact with, she is like a breath of fresh air on a hot night, the sweet smell of incense in a temple space, a warm bath on a cold night and the electricity between new lovers touching for the first time.
She is that something extra that makes this life come alive.
Not enough of her and we can start to feel a little numb, dull, cut off, hopeless, fixated or frozen…and too much of her and we can feel a little high, woozy, overwhelmed or just plain old drunk and disorderly.
A little bit of pressure (but not too much) helps the bubbles to grow. A little bit of technology (but not too much that we lose our connection to the earth). And somehow the contrasts and challenges in life help to bring the bubbles back, they may at times bring us to our knees, but in the falling we’re asked to drop whatever was heavy, whatever is no longer in alignment, and we come through the other side with a lightness and a new way of life.
So my cacao preparation has showed me there’s a beauty in finding that balance between not enough pressure and too much pressure – and a sweet sweet dance in being wiling to melt in and out of those edges until we find the sweet spot. Again and again and again.
And that’s it, that’s my story with Bubbles. I might write another more serious blog at some point to put this into science words, but for now I leave you with my nonsensical bubbley wishes!
May you have the most deliciously bubble filled day. May bubbles be a reminder to smile today and may you share the magic of bubbles with everyone you come in contact with.
With gratitude and bubbles.