HAPAY AND SACRED TOBACCO

Nicotine may be a widely abused substance in our modern world, but to many indigenous cultures of the Americas, tobacco is a sacred plant known to cleanse both individuals and ceremonial spaces. That’s the case for rapé (pronounced “ha-peh”), a powerful, cleansing snuff used by shamans in Brazil and Peru as part of important medicinal rituals.

Rapé is gaining more popularity outside of the Amazon for its medicinal properties, and for people interested to try it, it’s important to find a reputable source for the sacred tobacco. While you can administer rapé yourself or with a trusted friend, it’s also important to educate yourself on its proper usage.

BENEFITS OF USING HAPAY

Rapé can help you in the following ways:

• Helps focus and sharpen the mind.
• Clears a person or space of distracting, bad energies in preparation for intention setting.
• Detoxes both body and mind and clears your energetic field. Because of this, rapé is often used in conjunction with ayahuasca ceremonies.
• Clears sinuses of mucus and bacteria, thereby helping to combat colds and respiratory ailments.
• Provides a calming, grounding effect on the emotions that lasts much longer that the initial sensation.
• Can be used in conjunction with other treatments for addiction and mental illness.

WHAT IS HAPAY?

While rapé is often made of several Amazonian plants, the core of most rapé snuffs is the tobacco species Nicotiana rustica. This Amazonian tobacco, also known as mapacho, is used extensively in tribal rituals and is much stronger than N. tabacum, the type of tobacco found in cigarettes.

In addition to the tobacco, rapé usually includes the alkaline ashes of other plants such as cinnamon, tonka bean, clover, banana peel, or mint, but many shamans keep the exact ingredients of their particular rapé a secret.

THE EXPERIENCE OF USING HAPAY

The tobacco and other ingredients are ground into a fine powder, which is then blown or snorted high into each of the nostril cavities through a ceremonial pipe made of bone or bamboo. While it’s ideal to do this using a two-person pipe and an experienced shaman or practitioner administering the snuff, there are also pipes designed for use by one person.

Rapé is a cleansing medicine, so after taking it, you may experience side effects such as vomiting, sweating, and diarrhea.

Although this is an admittedly uncomfortable part of the experience, some people say the pain is an integral part of the spiritual and physical cleansing process—by purging deep-seated toxins, you come out the other side of the experience feeling calmer, more focused, and more in line with your true self.

CREATING A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR USE

The indigenous peoples who have long used rapé see the ceremonial use of rapé as a form of prayerthat “call[s] upon the forces of Nature, the blessing of the animals of the forest, and power of medicinal plants to heal us and give us strength.” It is, therefore, important that you use this substance in a respectful environment focused on healing.
Rapé can be used alone or in conjunction with ayahuasca or kambo, and like most psychedelics, the set and setting of using rapé is integral to its benefits. The main ingredient is nicotine, so there is a possibility of getting addicted. It’s ideal to use it with an experienced guide, but you can administer the snuff yourself. If you’re interested in experience the energetically cleansing effects of rapé, it’s important that you buy from a reputable source and to educate yourself before you do it. If you want to learn more about the proper set and setting for a personal rapé ceremony at home, we can help guide you through proper set and setting, intention, and integration. Contact us today to learn how you can maximize the benefits of your rapé ceremony.

THE CEREMONIAL USES OF TOBACCO

One of the most common uses of tobacco in a ceremonial setting is to cleanse a person’s energetic field, which is how we used it in my ceremony—to essentially clear the spiritual air so we could set intentions for the sweat lodge. We each snorted the tobacco juice with a powerful breath into each nostril. The left nostril went first, representing what we wanted to let go, and then the right nostril, representing what we wanted to let into our lives. For me, each snort came with an intense, immediate jolt to the nervous system, followed by a feeling I could only describe as sturdy but light.

As the medicine woman had explained, tobacco is both grounding and stimulating, which explained the balanced but energized feeling it leaves you with. This is why indigenous cultures of the Amazon have used the tobacco snuff rapé for generations as a precursor to ayahuasca ceremonies and as an initiatory spiritual cleansing to help a person mentally and emotionally prepare for their ayahuasca journey. For a similar reason, tobacco is also often used during an ayahuasca ceremony in the form of mapacho cigarettes. Burning the tobacco—turning it from earth into air—serves as a means of communication with the spiritual world and helps protect the ceremonial space from bad spirits.

MEDICINAL INGREDIENTS OF TOBACCO

Any discussion of the medicinal effects of tobacco must start with the disclaimer that nicotine isindeed a highly addictive substance and that tobacco use has been linked to varied health problems. While there is always the potential for abuse with plant medicines, this is particularly true for tobacco given the addictive properties of nicotine, and so its use should be treated with the utmost caution and respect. Its role as a sacred plant in the indigenous tribes of the Americas is a ceremonial and structured one, and anyone interested in using tobacco and medicine will only receive its benefits by adopting that same view of respect and caution.

HARMALA ALKALOIDS

The particularly potent variety of tobacco called Nicotiana rustica contains high amounts of beta-carbolines, including the harmala alkaloids harmane and norharmane. These alkaloids are also found in the Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi, one of the principal ingredients in ayahuasca. They are MAO-inhibitors that stimulate the body’s central nervous system by inhibiting hormones like serotonin and norepinephrine. The presence of these harmala alkaloids supports evidence that tobacco has antidepressant properties similar to those of ayahuasca and other psychedelics. These biochemical qualities would help explain the “grounding” feeling experienced by many people.

Interestingly, the harmala alkaloids have been dubbed by studies as having neuroprotective, anti-cancer properties, contradictory to many studies done on tobacco smoking. While there is no cut-and-dry explanation for these contradictory results, some say the negative effects of tobacco lie in its other ingredients, while others blamed industrialized agriculture of tobacco and widespread use of pesticides and chemicals in the manufacture of cigarettes.

NICOTINE

There’s no doubt that nicotine comes with a hefty reputation as a highly addictive substance, and any talk of the medicinal benefits of nicotine should be preempted with this disclaimer. However, studies show that nicotine has some effects that could be used for medicinal benefit, including increasing the flow of blood to the brain and activating the body’s central nervous system. One study showed that smoking nicotine had a positive effect on people’s attention and cognition, and this stimulating effect is what leaves a person feeling focused and alert.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF TOBACCO THROUGH RITUAL

While tobacco remains a controversial substance—and with good reason—the long-standing ceremonial use of this sacred plant suggests we take a closer look at how we can harness its power for good rather than abuse and self-harm. Between the anti-depressive properties of harmala alkaloids and the stimulating and focusing effects of nicotine, research shows that tobacco has some powerful ingredients in its healing arsenal. As for the claims that tobacco can be a tool for spiritual cleansing and setting intentions, the scientific evidence certainly lays a physiological foundation that leaves a person feeling mentally and emotionally grounded and revitalized.

But with power always comes risk, and it’s important to treat tobacco with caution. If you’re interested in exploring the medicinal uses of tobacco, doing it in a ceremonial setting with a shaman, healer, or other experienced practitioner is an ideal way to introduce yourself to its long-standing sacred use. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of sacred tobacco, we can answer your questions and help find the right medicine for your needs.