The Therapeutic Use of Wild Tobacco in the Amazon Rainforest

Known by many names around the world, in the Peruvian jungle commonly called mapacho or sacred tobacco, bot. Nicotiana rustica is a very potent species of tobacco that holds a special place in the hearts of the Amazon people. Westerners may find the concept of tobacco being a medicine extremely difficult to grasp, but for the South American traditional healers called tabaqueros N.rustica is not only a valid and culturally approved natural remedy, but often the only plant they would agree to use in their medicinal practice. To understand their unbiased relationship with tobacco, we need to take a look at a much bigger picture – from indigenous, intimate and intentional use of tobacco to the catastrophic misuse of its energy that resulted in a mass addiction on a global scale. Let’s talk about the spirit of tobacco.

Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend

No, I am not afraid to delve into the void. I accept the gnarled shapes and twisted forms of all my shadows. I truly appreciate my darkness. It has every right to exist. The most important lesson the realm of the medicine delivered to me was never to ignore the so-called “low-vibrational” field as it may create an emotional dissonance, making suppressed, unwanted and often misunderstood, yet extremely powerful emotions, like fear, sadness or grief, difficult or even impossible to tame. As a result, a division between the inner light and the inner shadow may intensify leading to possible imbalance and even mental and physical symptoms such as bipolarity, depression, psychosis or anhedonia, to name just a few.

The Motherland of The Mother

I am often being asked about the difference between experiencing medicine at the source in the jungle and doing samas with native tribes (dieta with plants) versus the experience of the medicine around the world, usually served in a quick weekend or week-long retreats. A complex question, but just take a look at that video, tap into it, and you might just sense the difference right away.

Kené – The Visual Language of Nature

Shipibo designs and art, known as Kené, express an energy matrix woven through all of creation. Inspired by nature and observation of the environment it not only is rooted in the shamanistic visions but, more importantly, in the profound connection with the ecosystem the Shipibo-Conibo tribes are settled in. As such, Kené is not just an art style but it does belong to the ecosystem and is present, in the first place, in plants and animals throughout the Amazon basin.

Plant-based Medicine Documentaries

From documentaries to full feature movies, here is Pangean’s selection of inspirational videos that touch the subject of plant-based medicinal work and can contribute to the understanding of the complex phenomena the jungle shamanism is.

Pangean on Goadupa Festival

Pangean is coming to Goadupa Festival 2018, Bieszczady Mountains, Poland with both inspirational, indigenous culture-oriented lectures and workshops.

The Spirit of Mapacho

Sacred Tobacco (bot. Nicotiana Rustica), wild tobacco, known as Mapacho is one of the most important plants in the indigenous shamanistic practices. Shamans from the jungle consider it a Master Plant and the main tool in every shamanistic ritual.

Yachay and Mariri

Indigenous shamanism is full of intriguing beliefs and fascinating stories. Those of you who have had worked with indigenous healers can probably see them spitting, clearing their throats or coughing a lot throughout various ceremonies. As much as it may just look as just a simple physical reaction there is a deeper and more metaphysical meaning to this.

Samá – The Soul Diet

Samá in Shipibo language or ‘dieta’ is a therapeutic and spiritual practice of isolation and working and integrating with plant medicine. A huge part of this deep traditional experience is to create a direct interaction with plant spirits and their energy and ignite a deep, conscious and complex healing process. It can be seen as a traditional support foundation upon which the structure of deeper and extended, time-wise, work with plant medicine is built.

Noya Rao – The Path of Truth

Noya Rao is almost a mythical tree that grows in the Amazonian forest. Little to no information is to be found on this majestic tree, and it’s all for a very valid reason, that needs to be underlined in the first paragraph – to protect it. Within the Shipibo-Conibo tribe’s traditions, who are widely considered to have the most symbiotic and very conscious approach to plant-based medicine, Noya Rao is generally seen as the great-great-grand Mother of all the other plants. Little information is to be found about this sacred plant online, so here is what I have learnt from the local communities, my Maestra and from my own research, narrowing it down to only what is allowed to be shared by its guardians.