profound respect

Three years ago I had a profound vision in the jungle after partaking within ceremony the sacred sacrament Vilca. The conclusion of the visionary experience revealed that I had the ability to become a healer and that through sacred jungle tobacco, called mapacho, I would be able to heal. In that final week at SpiritQuest in June of 2016 I had grown fond of the tobacco and returned home with some in tow. I then started smoking mapacho on a regular basis, got a hold of some mapacho snuff, and then started observing its effects. At its best and if used respectfully, mapacho is an aid that helps quiet the mind after an initial arousal of the central nervous system and a focussing of the senses. When the effect comes on strong it will knock you off your feet. Then a change in consciousness takes place, if you let go. If you continue to engage the mind then it will accelerate that behaviour. Upon letting go, an inner feeling of peacefulness envelops you and the chattering in your head subsides. It is as close as I can get to the expression “rest in peace” without actually being in the grave. I have noted arousal, an increase in visual acuity, and an increased auditory depth where I could hear sounds from greater distances as well as being able to isolate the sound. Through this I was able to understand what it was like to be the nonplussed observer, not wanting to act upon or mentally spin what I was sensing. It is the ultimate meditation cheat code. I have also noticed the change in consciousness promotes more plentiful and free dreaming activity when you sleep.

I have witnessed shamans and healers using mapacho in everything they do, whether for ceremony, ritual, healing, blessing, and protection. At the beginning of ceremonies, soplando is performed, which is tobacco smoke blown over the patient/participant. It acts as a catalyst to open the senses, to provide energetic protection, and to bring a sense of calm to the person. The shamans envelop the ceremony space and the participants in this smoke as it acts as a fortress of protection and the shaman’s song or icaro that is sung while protecting the space, is called an arkana. To close the ceremony some shamans will seal you with another soplando called a sellado. I have witnessed shamans in the Amazon jungle using mapacho to heal, usually by literally sucking disease out of a patient with their mouths and then blowing smoke over the area which is called limpia. It is very curious to witness and being a western man with a western mind I didn't understand it and at best I considered it theatrics in a placebo kind of way.

Plant teachers and medicines let you believe whatever you want to believe. If you want to be humbled then go spend some time in the jungle. I have smoked pretty regularly for three years and have a good relationship with mapacho. I am very respectful and have felt no pangs of addiction, instead cherishing my time with the smoke and acting responsibly. My plant teachers taught me about the life force power within us all and there are three main uses of it within humans. We can use serpent power for healing, for spiritual growth, and for reproduction which we experience as sexual desire. I know how to channel it into these areas and the plant teachers challenged me on this repeatedly until I finally learned how to work with the power. It enabled my transformation intra-ceremony into a jaguar which completed a stage of my teaching as I finally let go of fear and became the feared.

I had a profound experience last weekend. Someone close to me had been suffering from mental anguish and anxiety since the beginning of the year and this was now manifesting into physical problems including dizziness and digestive problems. I was visiting for four days and within two days they started to feel better. On the third day they point blank asked me if I was responsible for the abatement of the maladies because the symptoms had gone away, they felt renewed, and they could walk normally. The first few days in their presence I felt tired, headachy, with an unquenchable thirst due to the negative energy I was absorbing. I started feeling better by the third day, which is about when I started realizing I was absorbing the energy through the activated mapacho within my system which was in turn healing them by removing it from their energy field. I put two and two together and remembered the shaman sucking the energy out of the patient and then blowing it away. As a healer you transfer the energy into your field and then disperse it.

I learned diseases that propagate through maladies of the mind have an energy that can be extracted and therefore the patient can be cured of the underlying problem. Through mapacho I can do this. Mapacho energetically draws these antagonistic patterns out, absorbs them, and then you can scatter them to the four winds. Phoooooooo.

I am but a speck of dust in the presence of a great teacher. I sit here humbled, in awe, with a deep and profound respect for my teacher. Never rushed, the plant teachers reveal their secrets to the initiate all in due time. I’m not the perfect student, I never will be, nor do I have to be. All that is asked is to have an open heart, an open mind, and respect.