Maroon Magazine 2018_266

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June 2018 Charles Town Maroon International Conference Magazine ritual. Personally, I’ve come to understand ritual as carrying out a routine with utmost respect for all relations. I’d like to start the exploration of sacred herbs for ritual with Tobacco. PRAYING WITH TOBACCO : TALKING TO THE STARS What do you know about tobacco? This question is often asked because many people do not understand the sacred teachings around this herb, Greed has depleted the sacredness from many medicines that our ancestors used for a variety of purposes. The most tangible one being tobacco since it has become a commodity on the open market. In this new era of travel, internet and hunger for knowledge many earth teachings are exoticized, categorized and dressed in bells and whistles. While, some people might feel called to this exotic approach for various reasons, I am honored to have encountered teachers, keepers of knowledge, that walk a humble walk, sometimes so simple that if not attuned to it, you miss the teaching entirely. The wheel can take on the shape of a negative feedback loop, where disconnection to tradition leads to misinformation, misuse, abuse and hurt. As we learn about the sacred medicines stories and uses, we hold the responsibility to use these medicines in a good way, to mend the sacred hoop in order to integrate all beings back into the medicine wheel and restore the harmony in our personal and collective environment. Tobacco is the original instruction, the way of communication between this realm with the realms beyond, It is how we honor all directions at the beginning and end of all ceremonies. Tobacco smoke mixes our breath with the breath of the universe to carry our prayers to the stars. It is through tobacco that a person can learn from a teacher, therefore tobacco itself is the vehicle of knowledge. Tobacco is humble and powerful; it allows all other teachings to flow, protects and cleanses the spirit while carrying our prayers. 51
Charles Town Maroon International Conference Magazine June 2018 Tobacco is a primordial plant for natives in the Americas. The Yawanawa in Brazil as well as some tribes in Colombia are known for their Rapé / Hapé air medicine. They grind the tobacco leaves, ash from particular trees and sometimes other medicines, herbs in order to commune with themselves and higher realms in a meditative state. The Lakota people (US) and Wixarika people (Mexico) use tobacco at the beginning of ceremonies, offering prayer to the fire with tobacco wrapped in corn husks. Tobacco and corn are complementary; together they represent breath, memory and life. Tobacco is food for the soul and corn is food for the body. PRAYING WITH TOBACCO Tobacco is an ally of many gifts. In my experience, teachings show up in formal and informal settings. It has been those that are the most simple, that have had a profound effect on my relationship with the medicine road. OMETEOTL: In the Nahuatl language of central Mexico, OME means two, balance , reality, reflection, movement; TEOTL means creative energy, spirit. The medicine of tobacco helps us integrate aspects of ourselves that are disconnected by choice or by a lack of awareness. Praying with tobacco consciously can help bring forward the light and shadow aspects of ourselves in order to work with them. Ometeotl can be analysed as present in the tobacco medicine/ vice paradox. It is represented in the commercial duality vs. the spiritual reality of the plant as medicine. In this, the following questions are relevant and it is important to consider: How do I use tobacco in my life?/ What is my relationship with the plant?/ That is, is my use of tobacco habitual or ceremonial? Thinking about appropriate behavior around Tobacco There are those who encounter the “Red road” who will sadly misuse tobacco in a habitual manner and justify their addiction by saying that they are praying. In modern times, a person might benefit from the centering and grounding tobacco offers by rolling a tobacco without much preamble, this tobacco is not to be used all the time, but rather kept away and used non-habitually. However, there are misguided individuals who believe they are on the right path by practicing the following: • Singing a tobacco song learnt in ceremony (or most likely YouTube) in order to smoke your cigarette with your coffee - this is not praying!; • Lighting up a cigarette or using rapé in your car on your way to work each morning is not praying. No matter how many gratitude prayers you attach to it; • Praying earnestly with a commercial cigarette is considered disrespectful; • Offering commercial packs of cigarettes as gifts to honor people is also not appropriate; • Providing baskets of cigarettes to guests of a modern ceremony to smoke after – not appropriate; • Using tobacco habitually and believing that praying with it will exempt you from health problems is not going to bring the desired results; • Using pre-rolled tobacco with filters is not appropriate for ceremony; • Holding the tobacco away from the body is not appropriate; • Putting out tobacco with one’s foot is disrespectful. A good way! • A pinch of tobacco in a medicine bag carried as protection; • A pouch or a bundle to honor / greet guests; • To pray with tobacco for both gratitude and need and offer our hearts to great spirit; • To smoke tobacco in order to bless an agreement between people; • To smoke tobacco when discussing important matters. HOW TO BE PRESENT WITH YOUR PRAYER • Begin by taking a couple of deep breaths with your eyes open, if you are able, turn clockwise to face each direction and whether you know more or not, simply invoke the spirits of each direction to come and be present in this time. Thank tobacco for this 52
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Maroon Magazine 2018_266

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