Experienced Short-, Mid-, and Long-Term Effects
The healer states that the felt effect of tobacco heavily depends on the specific mode of preparation. He goes on to describe the sequence of effects typically experienced in the context of the “strong” tobacco preparation used in the ceremonial or dietary context: The first effects may set in quite immediately or after a few minutes, the onset being experienced either abruptly (“an internal blow”), or more gradually as an intensifying malaise. The patient may experience an inner tension with typical bodily sensations (dizziness, nausea, weakness) and cognitive/affective unease, a process which then culminates in vomiting. This tobacco-induced emesis gives way to a next effect phase, in which an inner sense of relaxation, coupled with introspective mental activity, tends to be experienced. The healer describes: “About 30 minutes after having ingested the tobacco, after having vomited,
there is an opening of the psychic-mental. The person starts to reflect and there are like stories surfacing, possibly from childhood. This is because the psychic-mental has opened—a bit like a memory chip of a cell phone where there is information. And there the person will see or feel a lot of bad things, and a lot of good things. These things are not perceptions of something external, but they are emerging from their own mind, it is their mind that is releasing or liberating things. These are the effects. And later on, if the body and the tobacco have aligned, the person feels a sort of inner peace. It has this effect.” He describes that memories, emotions, and thoughts are surfacing in this phase and “if someone knows a bit of concentration, there may also be visions.” This progression of effects may take approximately 2 h, he explains, after which the intense effect wanes but remains in a mild form. Vivid dreams are common in the sleep thereafter, the healer explains, often with personally meaningful contents.
He describes that in the days or week that follow, one typically discovers a more positive outlook on life, a more joyful general attitude. Prior negative tendencies of the mind have greatly lessened and “a positive mind-state gets strengthened.” On an emotional level, the healer describes that “if for instance someone has been very hard in their heart, he/she will have feelings come up. The person may experience more love, love towards nature, animals, or people. It opens a state of feeling which may be new to that person; they may be happy, or cry for example.”
The nature of long-term therapeutic benefits of tobacco-based remedies generally depends on the specific illness targeted (see the following 3 sections), but if administered for cleansing purposes, an occasional repetition is necessary, to prevent new accumulations of toxins in the body-mind system, so to speak: “So, since the contemporary world is quite contaminated, in different ways, it is necessary to continually liberate and clean these energies. [… ] Like a machine that needs regular maintenance, something like that.”
Applications in Amazonian Epistemic Health Domains and the Tobacco's Spiritual-Energetic Properties
The healer explains that viewed from the Amazonian medical understanding, tobacco medicine, in addition to the plant’s biochemical action, exerts its therapeutic effects
via the energetic and spiritual domains. These domains or aspects of the human body are significant for pathogenesis “
because illnesses first arise in the spirit-body, then in the energy-body, and only then manifest in the physical body,” he explains. Aiming to further elucidate the energy aspect of the body, he describes that like nerves, the body is permeated by energy channels, which are in direct relationship with the structures of body and mind. In his point of view, the key power of the tobacco plant, thus, lies in its extraordinary capacity to tackle the spiritual-energetic dimension: “There are many excellent medicines, but for energetic problems, tobacco is number one.” He describes that it removes energetic pollutants from the system, thereby increasing the flow of energy in the body, which in turn improves health of body and mind. Furthermore, according to Amazonian epistemologies, there are illnesses that are expressly related to spirits (noncorporeal living beings, which can be health- or sickness-promoting). The tobacco is said to be effective for such illnesses because the plant itself is associated with a powerfully healing spirit, which antagonizes malevolent entities: “
With tobacco [these kinds of illnesses] get cured in one go, because demons cannot live where there is tobacco.”
The healer illustrates the interplay between physical, psychological, energetic, and spirit-related factors in the description of the immediate effect of tobacco: “Upon ingestion the tobacco connects to the stomach and, together with its energetic power, connects to the intestines. From the intestines it connects to the brain and nervous system and mobilizes the energy system of the overall body. In the course of this process, vomiting is triggered. [… ] So the person tends to vomit, but in these bouts of vomiting, it is not just vomiting: the patient frees himself from physical ills, but also—for those that are able to understand this—from a lot of bad spirits, and is also cleaning his energetic field. This is what this kind of tobacco that makes one vomit is aimed for. [… ] Once the person has vomited, they have freed their mind, heart, intestines, and overall body. There is an energetic change, the person feels lighter, more joyful, more calm, with a more loving connection towards nature, things like that.”
Consequently, the healer reports the utility of tobacco for a series of health problems which according to Amazonian epistemics are energetic or spiritual in essence and etiology: for instance
brujerías,
daños, mal del aire, or
saladera, which are different classes of illness that have an accumulation of energetic pollutants and/or spirit-related problems in common, and can be treated effectively with tobacco. The person suffering from these conditions may exhibit a specific symptom pattern (e.g., insomnia, diarrhea, paranoia, loss of weight, etc.), but once the tobacco treatment has expelled the unhealthy spirits and energetic toxicities from the person’s body, the symptoms disappear, explains the healer.
Lastly, in the context of the tobacco plant’s spiritual effects, the healer describes a phenomenon he calls “awakening the spirit-body” of a person. He explains that aside from the physical and energy body, every person possesses a spiritual body, which is a natural aspect of the overall human. Most people are however unaware of having this part because it is asleep or sick, he explains. The correct application of tobacco may help this aspect to awaken or recover, he explains, and that “if it has awakened, it functions in one’s dreams; the spirit-body starts to do its work.” The healer strongly emphasizes the personal and interpersonal significance of awakening one’s spirit-body, as it brings about more understanding and care of others, more compassionate and conscious living.
Tobacco in Relation to Other Amazonian Medicinal Plants
Tobacco has a unique place in Amazonian medicine, explains the healer, in that it is the one plant used to direct or potentiate the others: “All plant remedies have to be blown with tobacco smoke” before giving them to the patient, says the healer. Because of its healing scope and due to its spiritual-energetic force, he considers tobacco as a sort of royal herb among medicinal plants: “
The tobacco’s healing power in the energetic realm is outstanding; I have worked with many other power plants, very good ones, but none of them compared to tobacco in this context.” He also describes that tobacco is closely connected to the “tree medicines” used in the Amazonian tradition, which are also fundamental, he explains, by giving strength and stability to a patient. When asked about the difference between tobacco and ayahuasca (given that the latter is very popular in the world currently), he said that “tobacco centers your mind while ayahuasca produces visions and fantasies.” He considers that without adequate preparation, it is very difficult for most people to differentiate between the reality and the fantasies of their own mind, which is a problem or risk in ayahuasca. He points out that if given to the right patient by an adequately trained healer, both medicines are very valuable. However, he considers that most people using ayahuasca currently are ill-prepared for working with this plant, as this requires an extensive preparation period, which they have not undertaken. “Ayahuasca is very good, but it has to be given by healers who know, who have trees in their body, and have prepared themselves and can direct the work. Not by just anyone. Because today the world is full, there are many who have taken ayahuasca 10 times and are already shamans, and serving ayahuasca—it does not work like that.” He therefore considers there to exist a lot of misguided practice and misunderstandings around this plant at present.
IntroductionHarmful usage of tobacco is a public health problem of global concern and, in many countries, the main risk factor for non-communicable diseases....
www.frontiersin.org
