Plant allies

Why we work with plants

In Onizal, we believe plants can help us arrive more fully in the dance. Cacao can bring warmth and a little energy. Blue Lotus invites a softer, more inward beginning. Some people explore small amounts of cannabis or mushrooms, where legally permitted, to meet music and movement with a different quality of attention.

What interests me is the relationship between the plant and the experience. We take time to receive something, listen, and notice ourselves before the room opens into movement. The plant has a place within the ceremony. It does not lead the whole evening.

A shared cup also gives us something simple to do together. We sit in a circle, feel the warmth in our hands, taste, and breathe while music runs quietly underneath. That can be a short opening or a fuller ceremony. Give it the space that serves the people gathered.

Ordinary tea belongs here too. Someone can take tea, receive a plant, or pass. We begin together, with each person choosing how they want to enter.

Cacao: warmth, energy, and connection

Cacao brings a rich taste, a warm cup, and a shared gesture. It contains caffeine and theobromine; people may feel more alert or gently stimulated. The amount of cacao, its preparation, and someone’s sensitivity all affect how it lands.

In Onizal, we work with cacao as a heart-opening ally. By that I mean an invitation to tenderness, generosity, and feeling connected to the people around us. The warmth of the cup, the music, and the way we sit together are part of that opening. Let people discover their own response rather than telling them what they should feel.

Know where your cacao comes from. Its place in Mesoamerican life, including Maya food, drink, and ceremony, deserves acknowledgement. Name the producers and origin you can trace. Choose suppliers whose work and relationships you understand.

Keep the preparation clear. Tell people about spices, sweeteners, and milk or plant milk as well as the cacao itself. Make ordinary tea easy to choose, especially for someone who wants a gentler or caffeine-free cup.

Blue Lotus: a softer beginning

We bring Blue Lotus into the opening for its association with relaxation, a dreamlike quality, and a softer relationship with thought. People may describe mild euphoria or a more inward feeling. In Onizal, the invitation is to loosen the need to analyse everything and listen more closely to the senses.

Let that quality shape the ceremony. Keep the music spacious, the voice calm, and the guidance close to what people can notice: the cup, their breath, the sound, and the people beside them. Give the room time to settle instead of filling every pause with words.

Product and preparation matter. Blue Lotus products can produce drowsiness or changes in perception, so choose an identified botanical source and avoid unknown concentrates or vaguely labelled blends. Make the offering explicit before the event. Give someone an ordinary tea alternative and enough information to decide whether this is a plant they want to receive.

Cannabis: meeting sound and sensation differently

Some people use a small amount of cannabis to relax or experience a change in mood, time, and sensory attention. Others become anxious, distracted, or less coordinated. THC is intoxicating, and a small amount can still have a noticeable effect.

Where legally permitted and properly prepared, Onizal’s interest is in whether a small amount helps a person listen to music, feel the body, and move with attention. We value that possibility without making it the way everyone should dance. The aim is to stay available to yourself and the room.

Treat cannabis as a separately planned choice, not an ingredient to casually add to the opening cup. Effects from edibles can arrive late; do not turn the waiting period into an invitation to take more. Keep sober support available and give someone who feels unsteady a place to rest away from partner work.

Mushroom microdosing: curiosity and emotional openness

People approach mushroom microdosing looking for qualities such as curiosity, emotional openness, or a less habitual way of seeing things. Those are qualities we value in Onizal too. We are interested in the possibility of meeting a familiar dance with fresh attention, feeling what is present, and allowing a different movement to emerge.

Microdosing describes an intention to use a small amount. It does not tell you exactly what a person will feel. A noticeable change in perception or emotion can still happen, and the room, the person’s experience, and the product all matter.

Any mushroom offering belongs in a specifically prepared, legally permitted setting with appropriate support. Check relevant health and medication questions beforehand, including a history of psychosis or severe bipolar disorder. Refer those questions to a qualified health professional before deciding to offer it. Arrange help and transport before anyone needs them. A facilitator should know how to support someone whose experience becomes stronger or more difficult than expected.

Tea is a complete offering

A carefully chosen tea can carry the whole shared-cup opening. Choose it for its taste, warmth, scent, and place in the ceremony. Explain the ingredients just as clearly as you would with cacao or Blue Lotus. Herbal does not mean suitable for every person.

Offer the tea with the same care, the same music, and the same invitation. Nobody needs a psychoactive effect to enter the experience. Keep plain water available for hydration throughout the event; the ceremonial cup can be tea.

Let the music hold the circle

Use instrumental music without lyrics, low enough that every word is easy to hear. Start it as people arrive and keep it underneath Lineage, the agreements, the shared cup, and Intention. Avoid sudden drops, demanding percussion, or vocal phrases that compete with the welcome.

Lineage may take only a few words. A shared cup may need longer. Watch whether people are still receiving the offering, whether the room has settled, and how much time the event gives you. You do not need to fit this opening into one song or rush it because another acknowledgement was brief.

When the circle is ready, let Intention lead into movement. Clear the cups and change the musical quality gradually. The same attention we brought to receiving the plant can now become dance.