Plant ceremonies and your safety in the midst of a global crisis

A person wrote on one of Facebook groups: “I was at an Ayahuasca retreat last weekend here in (country removed) and they were using the same two rapé pipes (that went up everybody’s nose) and between everyone in the room. They were using the same Ayahuasca glass between everyone and the same water drinking glass between everyone. There were people there from all over (country) and (another countries). There were 17 participants and more coming the following night. I made a presumption that they (hosts) would be taking some precautions and would at least have separate glasses. They didn’t. I decided to leave the retreat the next day. What are everyone’s thoughts on this?” Here are my thoughts.

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.

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.

Know Your Tools

This recently published article on NewRepublic got me really reflecting on the subject of spiritual tools, magical gadgets and all sort of shamanistic accessories. I suggest reading the main article first before continuing with my entry.

Can “healing crystals” really heal anyone, if they are soaked with the energy of corruption and exploitation, sourced from the poor countries where economic and physical exploitation of whole families of miners, often children as young as six or seven years old, and environmental corruption is often squared by the lack of humane labour regulations? What energy will such crystal bring to your powerful shamanistic “altar “?

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.

Just a Family Meeting

¿Que hora es? – asks our Maestra Juana, as the day slowly changes into the night.

– Son las ocho. – somebody replies and, as with the touch of a magic wand, the rainforest starts its cacophonic concert of buzzes, pings, and rustles of hundreds of insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals. The jungle never sleeps.

Nature opens its portal. Permission to enter is given.
The night is about to unfold.

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.