Welcome
Join our 6-week Community Study.
Tuesdays 11 am CT & Sundays 10 am CT
Step into a profound 6-week journey where Corn and Cacao become your teachers.
Deepen your understanding of these master plants through history, ritual, and direct wisdom transference from their guardians. This is not just knowledge—it is an initiation into an ancestral way of relating to the land and to yourself.
Within the Cemanahuac, we see how Sacred Corn and Cacao are woven into the foundation of life for the people of Mesoamerica to this day. Their cultivation is a sacred act, and their presence in ceremony is a direct offering to life itself.
Contribution: 555 USD
Led by: Mariana Bandera
Mariana, the Creative and Cultural director at Cacao Source, weaves her heart project, PASSAGES, in an educational setting to deepen one's connection with cacao and corn, two fundamental elements in the legacy of MesoAmerica. With a background as both an anthropologist and archaeologist, she has dedicated herself to safeguarding the sacred lands that have been cherished and protected by indigenous peoples for millennia. She created a unique container with a blend of anthropological, oral wisdom, and archaeological foundations, interwoven with spiritual and healing modalities.
Learning by the sides of Mariana is an opportunity to dive deep in the world of cacao, ancestral remembrance, and heart-led self-discovery spaces. She bridges her work in collaboration with guides, guest speakers, and mentors.
This online community study is a one-of-a-kind offering that can reach a community across borders.
This is more than a course, it is an immersion into the relational teachings of these two sacred plants and their guardians.
What is Included
6 weeks journey
14 Live Calls
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Special Guest Speakers and Wisdom Keepers
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Live call recordings.
Heart Discovery
Self-Reflective questions
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Somatic Practices
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Guided Meditations
Community
Learning Community
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Community Group Chat
Wisdom Transferences
Tata Walter Quacain, Aj'quij from the Kaq'chiquel tradtion
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Nana Mimi, Aj'quij from the Tz'utujil tradtion
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Jordan, Co-Founder of Cacao Source
Guide Book
transcription and slideshow materials included for your review
Class Portal
Class recordings
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our Resource Vault
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over 50 publications,
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Symposiums, videos etc..
Our Weekly Gatherings
2 Live Calls per Week:
Tuesdays 11 am CT & Sundays 10 am CT
May 11th- June 22nd
Our calls are structured to offer both knowledge and integration
Tuesdays
Informative and material overview. Some classes will include guest speakers.
Sundays
Integration & meditation and opening up space to share our process with the week's topic. One meeting will have a cacao circle.
Concept of our container
Deep History
Connection to the seeds and Plant Ancestry. The mapping of Corn and Cacao.
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Recognizing + honoring Indigenous Knowledge in the Right Relationships
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Earth-based relationship to life and the soil + Earth
Sacred Legends
Our Sacred relationship informed by the creation stories of Corn and Cacao.
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The ancient legends of how Corn and Cacao come to be on this earth.
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Defining what is Sacred
The Soil in our Hands
Deep dive into Corn: Mapping ceremonies to today's relationship with the soil, our hands, and life.
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Recipes and the uses of these plants as Medicine
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The Ancient Relationship of Cultivation and "Domestication"
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Integration call: Guided tortilla Making Session + Thanksgiving Ceremony
The teachings as Master Plants
Deep dive into Cacao: the pillar of consciousness, transmutation, and legacy within the blood.
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Cacao as the Central Metaphor for Classic Maya Life, Death, and Afterlife
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The relationship with Corn + Cacao to the axis Mundi (the tree of life)
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Integration call: Learn 3 Cacao recipes!
The Wisdom in Flowers
Guest Speaker: Tata Walter Quincan + Nana Mimi
The Mayan Cosmovision:
Learn from Mayan Wisdom Keepers about the ancestral relationship between Corn and Cacao.
- We will have two back-to-back wisdom transferences from the Kaq'chiquel and Tz'utijil Tradition.
Seeds as Warriors
Guest Speaker: Jojo, Co-founder of Cacao Source
Mapping the medicine to the global repercussions and food sovereignty efforts.
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Mapping the relationship to the present day
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Mapping the relationship to the present day
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The stories of the Guardians of Cacao
Starts In...
"This has forever deepened my relationship with Corn and Cacao. Marianas work extends beyond the boundaries of traditional anthropology and archaeology. Her wisdom seeps into her transmission and into the relational awareness I have now with the plants."
- Participant
Meet your Guide, Guest Speakers and Mentors
Mariana Bandera
Cacao Source / Passages.earth
Mariana's work extends beyond the boundaries of traditional anthropology and archaeology. She has taken on the role of a death doula, focusing on the legacy of our ancestors and how their wisdom can illuminate our own paths to a more fulfilled life. Her primary focus lies in lineage healing, and she's a dedicated student of Mayan healing modalities, which emphasize connecting with our ancestors and healing generational wounds.
Walking the path of curanderismo, Mariana immerses herself in the study of traditional healing practices rooted in Mexican and Guatemalan traditions. She delves into the intricate world of ethnobotany, exploring the role of ancestral plants in traditional ceremonies around the world and linking these teachings to various spiritual practices.
Nana Mimi
Mayan Aj'qij - Counter of time and guardian of Cacao
Walter Quacain
Mayan Aj'qij - Counter of time and guardian of Cacao
Jordan de Bellescize
Co- Founder of Cacao Source
Nana Ixqick
Mayan Aj'qij - Counter of time and guardian of Cacao
Tata Izaias
Mayan Aj'qij - Counter of time and guardian of Cacao
Jefe Andres
Maracame- Spiritual leader of the Wixarika community of Taimarita
This Journey is for you...
If you are ready to relate to Corn and Cacao as Master Plants.
If you are curious to understand the deep time of the relationship between Corn + Cacao in Mesoamerica
If you are intrested in learning from the Guardians of these two plants within their ancestral cosmovison.
If you yearn to cultivate a sacred and right relationship to Corn + Cacao
Join this unique online cacao cohort
With the intention to deep study and reverence to cacao and corn as mater plant teachers.
Contribution: $ 555 USD
When: May 18th - June 29th, 2025
*Payment Plan & Support Available
* Scholarship Available for residents of Mexico, South and Central America.
-> Your participation extends beyond this course. A percentage of your tuition goes straight to the community of Taimarita. During the month of May, the community has a ceremony where they prepare the soil to sow the seeds of their sacred Corn. Your tuition directly supports the ceremony on May 18th.