The Power of Three: Guest Post from Magical Barista, Cynthia Cano
If you have ever delved into the spiritual and magical, you will have some idea about the power in trinities and threes. Charmed fans will remember that “the power of three will set [them] free,” and this power can be found in most cultures and religions in the all corners of the world. Is it really that difficult to imagine that the power of three can also be found in your local coffee shop?
What is the Power of Three?
The number three has been seen as spiritually important for millennia, representing:
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past-present-future
birth-life-death
beginning-middle-end
mind-body-spirit
the Triple Goddess
God-Jesus-Holy Spirit
and so on. Threes can be found pretty much anywhere. It can symbolise creation, manifestation, expression, cycles and working with others.
In a coffee-shop, we find the holy trinity in the form of Coffee, Tea and Chocolate.
Together they make up the Caffeine family, and caffeine is good for action. It is why, when people get together to chat, to work, to collaborate, to create, and to celebrate, they go to a café. It is why Coffee has been seen as the elixir of the enlightenment – and why it was banned by those who did not want Joe Public to rebel (though the bans were usually lifted by some “divine intervention”); why Chocolate was used as a sacred drink during initiations and journeys into other worlds; why Tea has always balanced and soothed, and been the drink of the Emperor and the Gods.
The caffeine in these drinks can act as an entheogen, meaning that they generate the divine within. But the levels of caffeine, and other vitamins and minerals these potions carry, can vary between drinks and you might find that your interactions with them are totally different to your friends’.
In a nutshell …
Coffee:
When it comes to coffee, we all know it to be the type of drink that wakes us up and keeps us focused.
It was the drink of rebellion and the enlightenment – you could probably make a case that coffee woke people out of the Dark Ages of drunken stupor into the knowledge and wisdom of the Renaissance, without which the The Age of Enlightenment and Reason could not have come about.
I find this fascinating because this awakening of the mind, of the strength of human thinking and potential, is exactly the essence of Coffee.
Coffee is the potion for the mind, for inspiration, for direct action, for clarity and clear thinking. It is linear and methodical, and resonates with a masculine energy at its core. It is focused, fast and deliberate. If you are a business owner, you could consciously work with coffee as a way of directing your creativity with intent and purpose, of delivering something that packs a punch, or getting to the crux of a situation.
For the magically minded, Coffee is like Clear Quartz – an amplifier. Do you need to do a speech and get the message across? Are you looking to make the best connections? Have you got research to do and don’t know where to start? Coffee can help.
Chocolate:
Every time I think of chocolate, I want to sexy-dance. There is something raw and primal about chocolate, and I believe this is why it seems sinful to eat it – the truth is that it’s not chocolate that packs on the pounds but the sugar and milk (solids) that add the fat.
Chocolate feels sinful because it awakens the earthy, tribal heartbeat within us and asks us to seduce our senses with the world around us.
It is wild, dirty, fun and flirty. It is feminine energy, and its action is receptive. It allows us to open ourselves up to experience life. If you are looking to entice, to dance, to earth and ground in reality, to excite, to tempt or to sensually affect anything, you are looking to chocolate. If you want to rekindle or grow friendships, or develop self love, Mama Cacao is your guru.
Interestingly though, the indigenous people of Central America revered a cacao God rather than Goddess, and mostly men were involved in the ceremonies. I do wonder if the energies have shapeshifted over time to suit our current age or if, maybe, cacao has always been feminine in essence and simply required a polar opposite to dance with and stimulate it.
For the magically minded, Chocolate is like Rose Quartz – its power is receptive, it is soft and yielding. It is love in both a physical and spiritual sense, and it broadens our awareness of how love interacts between us and the world. Where Coffee sends out, Chocolate awaits and beckons.
Tea:
Imagine sipping tea in the middle of a busy afternoon – it’s your break time and tea brings you to an awareness of the self in the situation.
It is the energy of gentle action.
I had a hard time figuring this one out because deep inside, I never understood the truth behind gentle action. Action needed to be fierce, direct, impulsive… tea is nothing like that.
A friend of mine is a tea addict. Her calm demeanor is usually mistaken for weakness. I personally would never want to cross with her. While she wouldn’t do anything hastily, she has the ability to choose the right words, the right time, and be in right relation with everything around her. If she has something to say, she will say it. If there is something to fix, it will be done.
There is a zen-like quality to the tea personality. It is perfect for dealing with meetings that require mediation and a calming influence while also doing what needs to be done.
Tea is not feminine or masculine in energy. It is fluid, like the womb cradling the Coffee and Chocolate twins. It can ground us in a way that Coffee and Chocolate can’t. If Chocolate brings us deep into the realm of self and physicality, and Coffee brings us into the upper realms of the mind, then Tea is of the middle world and of mindfulness, of being in the present moment.
Working with the Power of Three
You don’t need to create a huge ritual every day to connect to the three elixirs at your local coffee-shop (actually, probably best not to – unless you’re used to the looks that might come your way!!). In fact, you are already in ritual as soon as you go to your coffee-shop and place an order. You are in ritual when you take a few sips before engaging in work or conversation or meditation.
The difference is making the conscious decision to work with the spirit (or medicine) of each.
Let me explain: a couple of days ago, a colleague came to work looking grey. He told me he was feeling light-headed and didn’t really know why. I asked him if he’d eaten and what he’d had to drink that day – nothing out of the ordinary. Then he said it might be that he was feeling anxious. He had an audition this week and was scared about it.
I knew that Coffee would probably exacerbate how he was feeling, and Chocolate would only internalise the issue.
So I asked him if I could brew him a tea.
I centered myself as I put the teabag into the mug of hot water, and mentally asked Tea to help my colleague find his own center. When he finished drinking it, the colour came back to his face and he was able to do his entire shift without any incident.
Now, I’m not sure if that was because of the drink or because he had resigned himself to doing the shift – but he didn’t have any more light-headedness after the tea, and he was able to work the next day without any problems either.
So when you are next at a café, get a coffee and ask the coffee spirit to help you in whatever way you require. Same with your hot chocolate and your teas. Connect with them, ask them for their help in imbuing you with a certain energy or with their wisdom, and they will assist you in ways you never thought possible.
Cynthia Cano is a caffeine wrangler by day, but by night, she is a Magical Barista!
After years of working in two large coffee chains, she decided to break free from the mold.
She has always been impassioned by the magical and enchanted, and exotic flavours and delicious textures, so she did what any normal person would do and bridged to two: a sensuous way of bringing sacredness to the everyday.
Are you looking to get more out of your daily cuppa? Head on to www.themagicalbarista.com, and find out how spellbinding your daily grind can be.
