Dearest ChocoLovers,
Just as a prism reveals the rainbow hidden within white light, we invite your devotion to the full spectrum (or palate, if you will) of Love. When Valentine’s Day is deeply considered, it becomes less a narrow celebration of romance and more an invitation to honor these infinite shades of loving, and the many ways they are felt, expressed, and transformed. So vast, so varied, and so universal - it has compelled every culture to name, ritualize, and attempt to understand its many forms.
Among those inspired were the ancient Greeks, who recognized love as a constellation of forces moving through us. They spoke of Agápē, expansive and unconditional, the selfless. Philía, the cameraderie of friendship and chosen kin. Storgē, rooted and ancestral, the bond that binds generations. Érōs, passionate and alive with firey desire. And Póthos, the bittersweet ache of longing, the at times painful and sharp love that reaches toward what is absent, remembered, or not yet fully formed. Importantly, Philautía, the often-overlooked love of self, tender and restorative, holds its rightful place in our imagined Flavors of Love circle.
As always at Gnosis, we turn to Mother Nature for counsel, and she does not fail us. She guides us to one of her most magical creations: the cacao bean. Like you, it contains multitudes, echoing the moment of creation itself. From this humble, bitter little seed emerges all forms of chocolate, and is capable of carrying depth and lift, fire and calm, sweet and bitter, and everything in between.
In our diagram, cacao is the language of the heart vocalized through seeds and saps, roots and resins, botanicals, bitters, berries, and blossoms. Through our process of botanical alchemy, the resulting creations speak of rooted, ancestral love. Of patience and devotion. Of friendship, joy, passion, desire… and of that delicate space - the pauses we take - to enjoy the moment with a peace of chocolate. Each element is intentional. Each bite an expression. Each piece a love letter written not in ink, but in flavor.
Where does one find a catalog of love, expressed in exquisite chocolate?
Chez Gnosis, where the loving hands and thoughtful hearts of a mother-daughter team of two work to express though chocolate what words can only attempt.