Jessica Lewis |
Tobacco is one of the most misunderstood and misused plant medicines in the world. Tobacco use has become so common in modern life; however, within sacred traditions and roots, it’s anything but ordinary.
Long before tobacco became known across the world, it was worked with in a very different way. For thousands of years, tobacco was not a habit, it was a master teacher plant and the grandfather of all the plant medicines. A lot of the tribes talk about how tobacco taught them about other medicines, such as ayahuasca. This article explores the gifts of tobacco, and the ways that people have traditionally worked with this plant.
Whilst tobacco has been widely worked with by Indigenous communities across the Americas for thousands of years, the oldest known evidence of human interaction with tobacco dates back approximately 12,300 years, to the end of the last Ice Age. This discovery was made in 2021 at the Wishbone Site in present-day Utah, USA, and published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Archaeologists discovered charred seeds at an ancient campsite, along with a fire pit, which were later radiocarbon dated, confirming the age of the site. The seeds were identified through archaeobotanical analysis, where their size, shape, and surface structure were compared with modern reference samples.
Tobacco seeds are extremely small, measuring around 0.5–1 mm, kidney-shaped, and have a very distinctive textured surface, allowing for easier identification. The seeds were found burned within a human-made fire pit, which rules out them being accidentally dropped and strongly suggests intentional human interaction.
This discovery pushed back the timeline of known tobacco use by over 7,000 years, as previous estimates placed its use at around 3,000–5,000 years ago. What this shows is that humans had already begun working with tobacco within possible ritual contexts. Long before it was commercialised and stripped of its sacredness, tobacco had been worked with as a powerful spiritual ally by tribes all over the Americas. To speak about tobacco only in modern terms is to miss its deeper role completely, because in many shamanic and ceremonial traditions, tobacco is not simply a plant, it’s so much more. Tobacco has a huge amount of uses, and it’s often regarded as one of the great master plants because it has so much to offer.
In many Indigenous traditions, it’s taught that tobacco is one of the first medicines offered in prayer. It’s offered to the elements, to the ancestors, spirits and to the unseen forces. Tobacco wasn’t seen as recreational, but as an offering through prayers, and because of this it’s something that absolutely should be respected.
Tobacco is a messenger that carries our thoughts and intentions, our blessings, gratitude and our devotional energy into the spiritual realms, and when our prayers are made with sincerity, tobacco helps to open communication between the visible and invisible worlds.
This is very different from habitual or unconscious use we see in our modern world today. All plants have their own gifts, things that they can help us with, heal us from and they are certainly all amazing in their own right. But there’s something very special about tobacco, which has gifts in abundance, and this is why it’s an excellent ally to have when it comes to healing work.
As I have mentioned, tobacco is a prayer carrying medicine, and so whenever we work with tobacco, we should approach it with respect and always with a prayer. This is important whether you are working with hapé, Mapacho, or loose leaf tobacco. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they are working with hapé is that there are no prayers involved in the process.
Tobacco needs direction, and without that, you won’t receive the full benefits. I see a lot of people selling and/or working with hapé without any mention of this key detail, and because of this, so many people buy hapé without realising what it actually is. This is why receiving training and an initiation is essential. Tobacco is a great teacher for showing us how to connect with prayer making, and it helps us to learn how to make powerful prayers.
Tobacco is one of the strongest medicines for spiritual protection because of its ability to remove and repel unwanted energies. Tobacco is such a powerful spirit that anything that is not of the light won’t want to be around it. Tobacco helps to create energetic boundaries and it also strengthens our energy field, helping to block anything from attaching to us. When it comes to healing work, tobacco really is the ideal ally, and it can be used to bring in strength, particularly if there has been fragmentation in a person’s energy field.
Tobacco is amazing for protecting space before ceremony, clearing dense or intrusive energies from the space, whilst reinforcing the connection with benevolent helping spirits, as well as holding the energetic boundaries of the space.
Tobacco is a medicine of mental and spiritual clarity, and is excellent at cutting through any confusion, spiritual noise and chatter from the mind. This does not necessarily mean it provides all the answers, but it can help to show us what is true, and shift what isn’t. Tobacco shows us what needs attention in our life right now and it can help to release the things that are not worth worrying about. With this energy clear from our field, tobacco can help us to connect deeper to ourselves.
Tobacco can be helpful for grounding after deep spiritual work and ceremonies, particularly at the end when someone might need to be brought into a more grounded state, bringing them back to the space and also helping them to anchor in their experience. Tobacco in its very nature is a grounding plant, and this is why some people get tempted to use it when they feel stressed, but this can cause dependency. It’s better to learn techniques for grounding when we feel stressed, and not rely on tobacco or other plants.
In many traditions, tobacco is used to open and strengthen communication lines with our ancestors, plant spirits, the land and plant allies. The Shipibo work with Mapacho in their dietas because of this, as it creates the ideal conditions for a connection with the other realms to be established, making clean and protected lines of communication for work to be done, or guidance to be heard.
I remember the first time I was taught this, I was shocked at everything I was hearing. I mean everything we know about tobacco use is tied to life-threatening illnesses. However, the tobacco plant carries the ability to help us to detox, and this is why when we work with hapé, if we have a large enough amount, it can make us sweat. The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it’s one of the main ways for the body to release toxins.
When we work with tobacco in a drink form, this helps to cleanse the liver. Please don’t do that at home, this must be done with guidance from a Tabacquero.
It is important to understand the difference between sacred and ceremonial tobacco and commercial tobacco products. Ceremonial tobacco is wild grown and commercial tobacco is farmed, laden with toxic and dangerous chemicals, and is completely disconnected from any ceremonial or sacred relationship whatsoever. Its use is often habitual and addiction based.
However, just because sacred tobacco is a wild grown plant does not erase health risks associated with tobacco and nicotine use; even if it’s ceremonial tobacco or hapé. This is exactly why we don’t overuse it or work with tobacco too often, even as hapé. This is where training helps.
Sacred use is very different than everyday use and respecting the plant also means being honest about this, tobacco is not supposed to be used recreationally, and it’s not something you use in an unconscious way either. The relationship with tobacco is always about prayer, respect and responsibility, but it takes time to develop a relationship, as with any connection. Once you make that connection, tobacco becomes a very powerful ally for your healing work.
If this article resonated with you, you may also wish to explore other traditional Amazonian plant medicines and educational resources. See below.
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