RAPÉ (Nünü)
GROUNDING | CENTERING
Rapé is medicine of the Amazon tribes that I mainly serve as a preparatory phase for Kambo, but also during the Kambo ceremony if needed.
This medicine consists of a combination of Nicotiana and other plants in the form of hashes, dried leaves, seeds, bark or roots, all reduced in an extremely fine dust of a few microns, mixed together and blown forcefully into the nasal passages. Matsés, Kaxinawá, Yanawana, Katukina and Huni Kuin tribes to name a few have been employed Rapé at least since the Mayan civilization for ritual, medicinal and recreational purposes. This practice was only introduced to Europe in the 16th century. The variety of tobacco used alter the experience and the additional ingredients are selected according to the subtle effects we want to achieve, on the understanding that root or bark have a different purpose and effect than leaves or seeds of a given plant.
Rapé is traditionally prepared by a medicine man in a non-ordinary state of consciousness, also respecting a strict diet during his work of pounding and mixing according to recipes kept confidential. In my ceremonies, I only use Rapé from the Matsés, also called Nü-nü. Unlike other “gray” Rapés, Nü-nü is a “living” Rapé made from sun-dried but unfermented Nicotiana rustica leaves, mixed only with ashes from Theobroma bicolor, a tree from the cacao family. Its immediate action is less potent and localized than with other Rapés – although we compensate by serving in much larger quantities – but richer and more subtle.
I offer this medicine preferably outdoors in an environment that fully honors the plants used for their intrinsic intelligence and personal healing capacity. As with any other medicine (as opposed to a “drug”), the quality of the recipient’s initial intention is paramount to activating and properly channeling the energy generated. Experience shows me that there is no better place than the great outdoors for this. This intention, which will be reaffirmed during the Kambo ceremony, may relate to a need for knowledge, a physiological or energetic healing, or any other current obstacle in life that would have motivated your therapeutic approach.
Rapé is administered in a very dynamic way using a Tepi, a long bamboo tube connecting my own breath to the nasal cavities of the recipient. One of the strengths of Rapé served by a Tepi (compared to self-administration with the help of a Kuripe) is that it gives me the ability to inject my own energy – called Soplada – into the service of the recipient, which I would have previously granted on its own intention. After a deep inspiration, the recipient holds his breath and receives the medicine first through the left nostril – symbolizing the end of a cycle – then through the right nostril – symbolizing rebirth – and thus harmonizing the physical energy delivered in the two hemispheres. There are many ways to blow Rapé symbolized by an emblematic animal – the deer, the eagle, the anaconda, etc. The most common is a deep inhalation followed by a long, increasingly strong exhalation to the climax, thus pushing the medicine to the furthest to promote maximum purification. Another is achieved by a breath as short as vigorous, generating a very intense energy that the recipient will be forced to manage effectively and channel. Another type still called the breath of the Beija Flor or hummingbird will illustrate the flapping flight of this bird by a specific tongue movement, felt to be very powerful by some people. Guided by medicine itself and my intuition, I practice one or the other according to the feeling and the feedback felt by the recipient. The same rule applies to the final quantity dispensed.
Rapé is an act of of transmission.
The first very intense effects only last a few minutes at most, ranging from mild discomfort to sometimes nausea. In extreme cases, a short blackout can occur when the body is too congested with various toxins. These effects vary greatly depending on the amount served, the technique used to blow the Rapé, the type of mixture chosen, the recipient’s experience with this medicine and his general condition. Applied in the rules of the art, Rapé frees the mind, calms inner chatter, sharpens thoughts, offers all your inner space to infuse your intention, opens the most subtle channels of your senses. It will be a powerful ally to help you feel grounded by gathering your energy very quickly to concentrate it in the umbilical region. This redistribution can be accompanied by a feeling of superficial cold, dizziness, slight involuntary spasms, but above all an increase in your attention, your presence, your intuitions, favoring an inclusive way of thinking. You become very receptive to all levels of communication. But for the magic to work, the challenge for the receiver is to accept not to resist these first intense effects. Capitulate! and you will discover how easy it is to let the medicine flow where it is needed, stimulating and rebalancing you with incredible grounding and refocusing. At the same time, Rapé will purify your airways, decongest your sinuses, support your digestion, relieve your headaches, reduce your blood pressure and offer you all its antibacterial properties. Through its stimulating effects, Rapé also acts as an antidepressant and seems to have the property of decalcifying the pineal gland – a promising field of research for certain related degenerative diseases.
The mucus that needs to be expelled will eventually find its way, first through the nose, then as phlegm through the mouth. This step of expulsion is important and represents a real physical and visual affirmation of the purging process associated with Rapé, returning to the Earth those things that we do not need.
Used during a Kambo ceremony, Rapé facilitates a purge that is sometimes difficult to expel.
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