Birgitte Rasine: The Cacao Muse | #PodSaveChocolate

If you liked "The Golden Compass" and "The Chronicles of Narnia," be prepared to fall in love with mythic fantasy all over again. "The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree" pulls you into a mesmerizing world that blurs the lines between science, mythology,and the hidden magic of nature most adults find all but impossible. One of the world's authorities on chocolate, the C-Spot, calls the book "a strong contender for the best [chocolate] title in the last 5 years."

Everything we do and the way we think is based on a linear conception of time. Our very ideas of life, success, and happiness are tied to a non-cyclical, non-organic paradigm that often works against our own nature and potential. The Maya live in a different world—close to nature, close to their children and their elders, and close to time: the sacred and the secular. It may seem we could not be further removed from the Mayan way of life, but there is a road built centuries ago we can still access. It’s called the Tzolk’in, the sacred ritual calendar the Maya have used since ancient times to guide their personal and spiritual paths.