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The Shamanic
Art
The most common form of tobacco consumption in
Central
America... was smoking, usually using cigars
or a simple
form of cigarette, consisting of cured strips of tobacco,
wrapped in musa leaves or corn husks. The act of smoking,
was not merely a method
of
tobacco
consumption, but an
integral part of culture an ritual.
Shamans used tobacco smoke for healing and blessing
and
also as a form of food, to nourish their guiding spirits.
Shamans believed that they
entered into a contract...
with
the spirit world...
upon initiation, whereby they undertook
to provide sustenance to the spirits... in the form of tobacco,
in return
for receiving healing
and other powers.
“The Rainforest Shaman is a healer, a knower of
medicine and ceremony, for the healing of the mind,
body and soul, through
his mystical teachings and his
connection with the Spirit and the Spirit Worlds. “
“A Rainforest Shaman is said to be
able to enter
the upper and lower spirit realms, to walk on the wind...
and between the worlds.
A Rainforest Shaman knows herbs and the uses
of them...
as medicine and in ceremony, dance,
vision quests and healings.
The preferred implement for
smoking tobacco
was the cigar,
which
could be of prodigious size,
especially those prepared by shamans, which
were a meter or more in length.
These were made from rolls of
cured tobacco,
often wrapped
around
a stick or the rib
of a banana leaf.
Some tribes
developed special cigar supports,
resembling giant tuning forks, which could be held
in the hand or whose sharp end, could be
stuck
in the ground, to support these monsters.
Shamans’ cigars occasionally were sprinkled
with "carana" granules, which affected the
vocal cords and masked the voice... of the
smoker, giving it a harsh, deep inflection,
which was considered appropriate for ritual
discourse, between mankind and the
spiritual powers.
Cigar Tobacco in the Costa
Rica Indian Tradition,
is used
for purification,
connection with the divine
and recreation. It plays
a major role in many
Shamanistic traditions and is an integral
part of their culture.
“Tobacco-producing plants are
exclusively of
the genus Nicotiana, and Nicotianas..
which belong to one of the largest genera
of the nightshade family, (Solanaceae).
Cigar tobacco, is used in a very
spiritual
sense, being considered food for the
soul, also a method to directly contact
the spirits.
“The foundation of Shamanism
which is, in effect, the power to
cross between cosmic layers”.
Village Shamans... were thought to
assume,
by night, the form of a powerful
animal,
such as a jaguar, a serpent,
or an eagle.
The Mystic Encounters
of the Chaman...
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