Ka Ka Wa: Ancestral Cosmovision of Peruvian Cacao with modern scientific application

Long before cacao became chocolate, it was Ka Ka Wa — a living medicine, a portal, and what Andean and Amazonian lineages call the blood of the earth. In this immersive workshop, Dr Corin Storkey of Seleno Health traces ceremonial cacao back to its Peruvian origins: the temples, tribes, symbols and cosmologies that still shape how it is prepared, offered and integrated.

This workshop is a guided journey through the three realms of the Chakana — Ukhu Pacha, Kay Pacha and Hanan Pacha — using three unique and different cacaos. Each cacao has its own biochemistry and energetic properties, specifically chosen to help guide us through one of these worlds. We do not treat cacao as a single drink. We meet it as three distinct allies, each opening a different door in the ancestral map.

You will travel the ancestral cacao trail — from the spiral temple of Montegrande in Jaén (c. 5500 BC) and the Chinchipe people, through Chavín de Huántar, and into living practices held today by communities such as the Awajún and Shipibo. Along the way we meet Nugkui, Amaru, Uturunku, Shansho, the Andean trilogy of Ukhu Pacha, Kay Pacha and Hanan Pacha, and the four elemental elders — Tayta Nina, Allpa Mama, Yaku Mama and Tayta Wayra.

From this ancient wisdom you will fuse and integrate these learnings with modern neuroscience to understand the role of cacao in the gut and brain. From its biochemistry to how it interacts with receptors in the body, we will show how each of the three cacaos can be harnessed for health, mental wellbeing, and as a companion for altered-state and integrative work. You will learn how cacao can be used as a transformative tool to bring about life-enhancing change — and how matching the right cacao to the right realm changes the quality of that work.

This is not a cacao ceremony. This is not a performance. It is a grounded story of humility and respect to the elders who hold the wisdom. It is a teaching immersion into the why behind the ritual, the tools, the preparation and the consumption. Corin then bridges that ancestral map with modern neuroscience — showing how cacao’s bioactives support embodiment, neuroplasticity and the integration of altered-state experiences. Tradition is honoured first; science is used only to illuminate it.

You will leave with:

• A clear map of cacao’s Peruvian history, temples and tribal lineages

• The Andean/Amazonian cosmovision of Ka Ka Wa and the three worlds of the Chakana

• Experience of three distinct cacaos, each with unique biochemistry and energetics designed to guide one realm

• Meaning of the core symbols: spiral, snake, jaguar, Shansho, Chakana

• The four elemental tools and the energetics of traditional preparation

• Building a mesa and working with cacao with reverence and respect

• A grounded way to work with cacao from preparation through integration — including as a companion for altered-state work

• A clear understanding of what cacao is doing in your body, and how to tune into the specific effects of each cacao and each realm

About the presenter
Dr Corin Storkey is co-founder and co-director of Seleno Health, a NZ/Aus–Peru social enterprise that works with indigenous farming families to bring ancestral cacao and maca into the world with both cultural integrity and scientific rigour. He holds a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Melbourne and the Heart Research Institute, Sydney, with more than 20 years of academic research in antioxidant chemistry, cellular protection and stress-related illness. He is trained in the Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies (CPAT) with Mind Medicine Australia, and is co-supervisor of the Bean to Brain cacao research programme with the University of Otago — a project mapping cacao’s phytochemical diversity and tryptophan-mediated gut–brain and mood-enhancing effects.

Corin is also a co-retreat leader at thecacaoretreat.com and specialises in using cacao to prepare for, hold and integrate altered-state and transformative experiences. His teaching weaves Andean cosmovision with biochemistry so facilitators and seekers can work with cacao as more than a drink — as a lineage, a tool, and a bridge between worlds.