The time has ripened for me to share about tobacco. It’s a bit ironic, that I’m sharing this info, because I’m not a big tobacco user. But maybe there is no need to use something to befriend it. So if I make any mistakes in this text, I am open to discussion. There is a good chance that I might misunderstand or misrepresent certain aspects, as I do not use this plant myself.
I respect this plant spirit. I resonate with its ceremonial use as an offering to fire or earth. For prayer. I can also observe its use in ceremonial settings to assist in people’s processes, because it is deeply grounding spirit that can bring people back from faraway astral places or deep inner worlds back into the physical reality. And sometimes it can be very helpful.
Tobacco is considered sacred by many different cultures: most ancient traditions believe that this plant helps to open spirit worlds and use it to strengthen their intentions, communicate with other dimensions and for ritual smudging with deep respect. In many rituals tobacco is not burned at all, but put on the ground or in water as an offering together with a prayer and gratitude. When tobacco is smokes ceremonially (in cultures such as Native American Indians or Peruvian Shipibo tradition), it is not inhaled into the lungs. It is used to blow the smoke on the person, altar or other objects that one is praying for or cleansing. In different South American cultures tobacco is also used through the nose: as a tea that is inhaled or powder that is blown in. In this way, tobacco helps calm the mind, ground, cleanse and release, what is not serving the person anymore. The liquid tobacco is also used as medicine to cleanse sinuses.
What worries me is that all these ceremonial ways are being abused to fulfill addictions. In my experience, tobacco is quite a firm spirit and it always brings consequences if abused. I won’t bore you with all those things that you can see on the packs of cigarettes. You all know the potential consequences. What I would like to share is more subtle experiences.
I have personally taken part in Peruvian Shipibo ceremonies, where only the healer has the pipe and uses it rarely in situations, when he really does need the help of this plant. With respect and intention. And I have been in ceremonies, where each person gets 5 mapacho tobacco “cigarettes” and everybody is playing “shamans” smoking without pause for the whole ceremony and being active and passive smokers. Because everybody, even those that don‘t smoke, will inhale the smoke into their lungs if they are in an enclosed space full of tobacco smoke.
One person once shared, why tobacco isn‘t inhaled into lungs in the shamanic practices of the Americas. „Tobacco is a free spirit and it does not like being enclosed into lungs, so if it gets there, it wreaks havoc.“. If used very sparingly as a tool in certain specific situations it can be a good assistant, however, in my experience, it is a rare shaman (not even talking about other people) that does not develop an addiction and does not use it daily, without intentions – just because of addiction. It is also interesting, that in those Peruvian Shipibo ceremonies, that are full of tobacco, I can not actually feel the effects of the other power plants anymore. Even if the plants start opening inner worlds for me, as soon as the space fills with tobacco, I am immediately grounded, the visions fade and I am left with only the scent of tobacco. And I don‘t even smoke.
Linas shared Santo Daime music with one healer in the Peruvian jungle. He listened and said: „Yes, I understand, they work only in the 3rd level. We believe there are 3 levels: first one is our physical world, the second one is the astral world, where we normally work with the plant spirits so we can help the participants heal, learn and cleanse from heavy energies and there is a third level – the level of the divine energy. There are situations, when it because too difficult to work in the second level. Then we use special icaros (prayer songs) to invite the assistance from the divine energies. However, we try to use this as rarely as possible, because when we do, we cannot use tobacco in such ceremonies anymore (3rd level beings don’t like it) and also we have to fast the next day.”
This information explained a lot. It makes sense, that tobacco, which is grounding, does not work very harmoniously with cosmic divine energy. I also then understood why the tobacco used by other people turned off my visions – in my path I work more with the 3rd level energies. In Brazil, in Santo Daime ceremonies, tobacco isn’t used and it is forbidden in the ceremonial space – it makes sense, because they always work with prayer and divine energies. I have taken part in a Santo Daime inspired ceremony not too long ago, where a few people did actually use tobacco. And I could really deeply explore how tobacco energy works with the 3rd level energy. When I work in ceremony with 3rd level energy, I experience an inner cosmic journey, it feels as if I am flying with a spaceship through my inner cosmos. And when tobacco enters this space, it feels, like a meteor shower just starts raining all around my ship, it becomes much tougher to navigate.
And once I felt the tobacco, I did ground quite quickly. I remembered an experience from my childhood, when my parents divorced and my mom started smoking. If I wanted to visit her, I would have to spend all my time in the stench of tobacco. And I would have a headache for a few days afterward. I know that I have some trauma in regards to tobacco, and this can affect my relationship with it. But I do try to notice it and remain as objective as possible in my exploration of this topic.
Finally, in this sharing we come to rape. This is the name for a powder that is used by some South American tribes (mostly in Brazil). Traditionally this powder is made from dried tobacco and some tree/plant ashes. As one of our friends vividly explained: in this mixture there is grounding, cleansing tobacco and the ashes, that connect us with the divine spirit energy, because ashes is the last moment of a plant being physical – after this it becomes ethereal spirit. This mixture can help people that get stuck in mind loops, or go too far and want to return to their bodies. Also for people that work energetically with others and want to cleanse themselves after such work. A big benefit as compared to the smoke is that there is much less effect on the people around you – there is almost no passive inhalation as there would be with tobacco pipe.
I do not believe, that one would get addicted if they only used rapé as a spiritual tool in ceremonies. The addiction comes, when the person starts using rapé in their daily life and then no more intention of healing, prayer or respect is left. All that remains is a search for a certain sensation, a hormonal pleasure.
This is how rapé addiction is born. I have quite a few friends that use it every day. It is obvious that in such use there is nothing useful left, it is an addiction. The intention with which someone blows rapé is incredibly important. I had an experience, when I was offered rapé by someone who was kind of annoyed by me. It was a truly traumatic experience. So imagine what happens, when you do not have any intention and you self-administer out of the addiction energy. It’s obvious that this just creates bigger addiction. A very simple physical consequence of such abuse is blocked sinuses. Rapé is a powder. And our noses are moist for a good reason. If someone uses rapé daily, they will surely dry out their mucous membranes and that will open up a pathway for viruses and bacteria and make breathing more difficult. My husband says that when he blows rapé to someone who is addicted, the feeling is as if you are blowing to a closed pipe – the sinuses are completely closed. If it so happened that you are addicted and use this powder daily, I would recommend to wash your nose with saltwater daily and to consider moving over to using Mapacho tea – a liquid form of administering tobacco nasaly.
Let’s come back to all the things that are printed on cigarette packs. Many people assume, that if they use pure tobacco, or if they use it through the nose, they are not at risk. This is false assumptions. Even completely pure tobacco has a lot of carcinogens. Even if you don’t inhale tobacco into your lungs (as in smoking a pipe or cigars), a good amount of nicotine and other substances that are released in burning will enter your blood and affect some of your cells negatively. So the potential risks are identical to what we see on the cigarette packs. And if we look at rapé, it is blown into the nose precisely because it is a direct avenue to reach our nervous system. Maybe we don’t often discuss the function of our sinuses, but a really important function is cleansing toxins out of the brain. If we blow toxic substances, that also block the sinuses and the cleansing of other substances, into this area, it is easy to see that it will not make our brains healthier.
There are documented cases where people have experienced seizures, as well as serious problems with their waste removal organs (kidneys, liver) because of rapé (ab)use. As I was contemplating writing this article, I was contacted by one lady and her sharing was like a sign from the universe. She shared her own experience: her husband uses rapé more than 10 times/day and he became aggressive. If you use this very rarely, you shouldn’t experience this, however, abusing rapé (or any form of tobacco) can and will affect the hormonal balance and health including the potential for emotional issues.
If you are having a relationship with this medicine, ask yourself if rapé “ceremonies” have not become a daily occurrence. Is your nose still moist and breathing unlabored.
I have found interesting scientific information, that people, who are more susceptible to be addicted to nicotine and caffeine, actually have a Magnesium deficiency. So to fix this issue, I highly recommend to start using Epsom salt baths and good quality ceremonial cacao.
I will end this sharing with an urge to remain conscious. Even water if you drink like 5 litres in an hour can be deadly. Alcohol can be used in tinctures and be a part of a cure, but if abused is one of the greatest poisons of most societies. If you use tobacco, be honest with yourself: is this relationship still respectful, healthy and conscious.
Some useful links: Addictiveness scale, Is rapeh safe?, More rapeh stories
I personally don’t use rapé with tobacco and ashes. If I need to, I use Awiri rapé. It is quite different from others in that it does not contain tobacco nor ashes, just ground up dried leaves of a particular plant. Because it does not contain tobacco, the potential for addiction is much lower. And from personal and my friends’ experience, it is less blocking for the nose. However, it is still a powder, so if overused it does have potential to block the nose and sinuses. The effects are also somewhat different. It is not grounding, more meditative, connecting with nature, cleansing. If you are looking for an alternative for tobacco rapé, I advise to look into it :)
8/25/2023