Cacao

A few months ago a friend invited me to join him for a cacao ceremony. The nature of the cacao was interesting enough that I have decided to adopt it into the world of Chinese herbal medicine. If you know me, then you will have noticed that I am passionate about ancient Chinese thought and therefore I consider myself a protector of the way we practice herbal medicine. I believe that All herbs or herbal formulas must be described according to the dialectal models used to describe how the Dao manifest in our world.

This concept of mine is not new, in fact I borrowed if from the Yellow Emperor’s Classic chapter five.  When I started learning the pulse system of Tian Heming, I had a problem, I had no herbal medicine training, and this pulse system was based in classical herbal formulas. I guessed that I would learn what I needed during the Tian Heming pulse course.

I looked up all the herbals formula from the Shang Han Za Bing Lun and then researched what the formula were used for clinically. And to my amazement this was very difficult. The reason is that Chinese herbal medicine is very old, and there is no standard way of describing formulas and herbs. There are different formula names for the same formula. Formulas with the same name may have different herbs. All very confusing. The worst was that some sources described herbal formulas according to the signs and symptoms that they treated.

I was casually reading the Yellow Emperor’s Classic and came across a text that convinced me that I needed a standard way of describing herbal formulas that was a part of Chinese medicine.

Huang Di, As for yin and yang, they are,

The Dao of heaven and earth,

The fundamental principles governing the myriad beings,

Father and mother to all changes and transformation,

The basis and beginning of generating life and killing,

The palace of spirit brilliance.

To treat diseases, one must search for the basic.

The Dao of Heaven manifests as Yin and Yang. This is the source of all things, including herbal formulas. To treat disease we must look for it in the basic. The basic is referring to the Taiji, Supreme Ultimate. The Taiji is the source of change and transformation.

In chapter three of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic it states that Yin and Yang transform into the Five Agents of Transformation and the three Yin and three Yang, which are known as the Six Climatic Influences or Six Conformations.

The universal yin and yang transform into the five earthly transformative energies, also known as the five elemental phases that consist of wood, fire, earth, metal and water.

These five elemental phases also correspond to the three yin and three yang of the universe. These are the six atmospheric influences that govern the weather patterns that reflect in changes in our planetary ecology.

In order for something to belong to Chinese medicine it must be described according to how the Dao manifests through the forces of Yin and Yang.

Back to cacao. I drink cacao in place of coffee. By describing cacao according to the forces of Yin and Yang I am adopting it into the world of Chinese medicine.  

Theobroma cacao

Cacao powder is derived form the seeds of the cacao fruit Theobroma cacao, which is fermented, dried, and then cold-pressed or roasted at low temperature.

Cacao is a Yang herb in that it warms.

Cacao is a Yin herb in that it nourishes.

Cacao is a Tai yang herb in that it warms the interior. It is not externally warming. It warms the Tai yin, Yang ming, and Jue yin.

Cacao is a Yang ming herb in that it moistens dryness which allows Yang ming to transport along the way. It restores the balance between dryness and dampness, allowing movement of the stool.

Cacao is a Tai yin herb in that it warms and promotes transformation and growth. It nourishes the body by adding material to nourish Jing Essence. It raises the Clear qi up to the 100 vessels to be distributed to the rest of the body. This is experienced as an alert and calm Heart Shen/mind.

Cacao is an Earth herb in that it tonifies and nourishes the axis around which the other Elements revolve. In this way it promotes transformation and is harmonizing.

Modifying cacao

Use with hot peppers shu jiao to increase the Yang circulation outward.

Use with fresh ginger sheng jiang to increase the Yang dispersing outward.

Use with licorice zhi gan cao to increase the Earth harmonizing nature.

Conclusion

I can highly recommend placing a favorite herb into the world of Chinese medicine by describing it according to the way that the Dao manifests.