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Ayahuasca and Tobacco - How Rapé Helps Unlock the Ayahuasca Experience

Ayahuasca and tobacco are frequently paired together during various spiritual ceremonies. Rapé is one of the most common forms of tobacco found in conjunction with ayahuasca ceremonies. Rapé (pronounced hapé) is ingested either before, after or during a ceremony. Although it mostly consists of tobacco, it’s also combined with other natural plants and is made into a powdery substance. It is applied by being blown up the nose with an applicator, not by snorting or inhaling it. Tobacco may be viewed as an evil and abused substance in the western world, but it is sacred to most native South American tribes. In its pure form, tobacco can a powerful medicinal tool. Most of the harmful side effects when it is used...

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What is Dragon’s Blood?

The name Dragon’s Blood comes from the Spanish phrase “Sangre de grado” meaning “blood of the dragon”. Dragon’s Blood is a bright red resin that comes from a variety of distinct plant genera: Pterocarpus, Dracaena, Croton, Daemonorops, Calamus and Rotang. This red resin has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years for a variety of applications including medicine, incense, and dye. The History of Dragon Blood References date back as early as the 1600s, when Spanish explorer P. Bernabe Cobo who found the sap used by local tribes across Ecuador and Peru. This resin and bark has been used as a traditional medicine through South America. The earliest studies involving these specific plants in this form date back to...

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Ayahuasca Ceremonies - How Do They Differ?

There are different ways of performing an ayahuasca ceremony. Some are more modern and others are steeped in ancient traditions. The traditional Peruvian ceremony is much less of a ritual than what is believed by the western world. Nowadays Peruvian ceremonies largely consist of placing ayahuasca in a glass and drinking it. They may place the ayahuasca in the bottle and verbalize their intentions before drinking, with little to no ritual beyond this. Some may blow tobacco smoke over the medicine, or on the participant themselves. Traditionally the curandero (the Shaman) will be the only one drinking the ayahuasca. Traditionally, the patient wouldn’t ingest the liquid. Nowadays, affected by the increasing interest from the west, people have started paying closer...

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Palo Santo

Palo Santo (Bursera graveolens) is a species of tree that is native to South America, and it is closely related to myrrh and copal. The meaning of the name in Spanish is “holy wood”. Palo Santo is known for its ability to cleanse rooms or people. It’s used by many prior to spiritual ceremony to remove and cleanse negative energy in people and spaces before and after ceremonies. The wood creates a light fresh smoke, with a sweet and pleasant smell. The smoke is also great at keeping mosquitos and other insects away. Palo santo is used in either its natural form or chopped into small pieces before being set alight for its smoke. It’s essence can also be used to...

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What is Hapé (Rapé)?

From the tribes of the Amazon jungle in Brazil, comes a very ancient and special medicine called Rapé (or Ha-pey.) The ingredients of each Hapé blend are different from tribe to tribe. Each tribe has their unique compound of tobacco and other medicinal plants, trees, seeds, leaves etc. which they grind and ash to a powder that is called Hapé. The ingredients are passed on from generation to generation. it is made only by the tribes, in a very strict and sacred handmade process. Rapé has been used by the tribes of the Amazon for ritual, medicinal and recreational purposes for thousands of years. Rapé is considered to be one of many sacred medicines from the Amazon that are used both to...

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