Rappé / Rapé.
The Mysterious Sacred Amazonian Snuff
What is it?
Rappé pronounced “Ha-Peh”, is the name given to a medicinal snuff, usually made from dried and powdered local indigenous tobacco called mapacho, and its use by local indigenous tribes has been found throughout the Amazon for millennia. It can be pronounced “rah-péh” in Spanish but more commonly “hah-péH” in Portuguese (the snuff is found in both Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries along the Amazonian basin, but it is most popular in Brazil.) It has many other names in other indigenous tongues from the Amazon region. The snuff is used in traditional Amazonian medicine and shamanism as a medicinal herb, and as a tool for shamanic journeying but is also common in social everyday use and is common for a hunter to take Rappé to get in touch with nature.
At Make It Sacred we have taken to the spelling Rappé with an extra “p” because some people misread / mispronounce the word rapé and associate negative thoughts with this beautiful medicine (traditionally, it is spelled with only one “p - rapé).
Although Rappé usually contains mapacho which is a native tobacco, as its base, it contains a number of different herbs and plants to alter the experience and alternate the benefits. In addition, the strength of the mapacho used can change depending on the blend. Some blends can contain more than 10 varieties of plants and herbs and these recipe’s are kept secret and passed down from one healer to the next very often only after completing lengthy and difficult initiations.
Depending on the cultural group, Rappé is used in different ways. It can be used socially as a stimulant, but is also used to enhance the power of other plant medicines, or on its own for its transformative power. It has a number of purported medicinal properties – it can have the capacity to provoke purging means it has a reputation as a cleanser of toxins from the body, and a booster of natural immunity.
Rappé is not snorted or inhaled.
Rather, it’s forcefully blown through the participants nose using a v-shaped bamboo or bone pipe. It’s easier to have an experienced person do it for you using a tepi pipe. Rappé is usually administered by a shaman, through a tepi. Small quantities of Rappé are blown up the nostrils, one after the other. The effects can be very powerful and immediate!
Experienced users may use a kuripe, which is a personal pipe with a sharper v-angle that allows you to blow the snuff into your own nose. You will lose out on the experience and knowledge of the shaman, who can impart energetic healing and guidance too, however through set and setting of a self curated ceremony an individual can still enjoy a deep experience with these wonderful and diverse medicines, creating an opportunity to sit in stillness.
Both nostrils must get Rappé to promote balance and should occur within a short period of one another. For details on a ceremonial setting and use please read “Working with Rappé”
As mapacho is common in Rappé - it does contain nicotine. Nicotine and tobacco may be a widely abused substance in our modern world and the modern day versions of tobacco under chemically intensive farming practices has resulted in numerous ailments, but for most indigenous cultures of the Americas, mapacho is a sacred plant known to cleanse both individuals and ceremonial spaces. This is the case for Rappé, a powerful, cleansing snuff used by shamans in Brazil and Peru as part of important medicinal rituals using locally grown organic mapacho.
As Rapé contains nicotine, its use increases blood flow to the brain and results in the release of several stimulatory neurotransmitter, such as epinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine (Wolk et al. 2005, Cryer 1976; Domino et al. 2000), as a result a user may experience heightened focus, stillness and presence, powerful intuition and opening of the body to higher communications bringing about a more holistic style thinking and understanding.
Rappé contains mapacho also known in the West as tobacco.
Tobacco is a very misunderstood and more so misused plant in our culture. It is a plant and it has the ability to change our consciousness. Most people associate it with addiction and sickness, and considering its relationship to modern day cigarettes, it is one of the leading causes of cancer in specific parts of the world, this is understandable. However for thousands of years, tribal societies have worked with tobacco as a medicine and consider it to be one of the earth’s first and if not one the most potent healing plants. There were and still today ‘tobacco shamans’ who would ingest huge amounts of the plant on a regular basis without getting sick, and using the tobacco these healers could cure illnesses of many different kinds.
There are no doubt many different reasons for these divergent perspectives on tobacco, however the main defining factors are intention and respect. Tobacco is considered an amplifier of intention, prayers and thoughts, so when you ask the plant for medicine and protection, that is what gets amplified. If you are smoking angrily and habitually to relieve frustration and desire, that amplifies something else. This being said, we want to suggest that anybody who feels called to work with tobacco be mindful of how they use it. It is a very powerful plant capable of great wonder and miracles, as well as great destruction. Intention and awareness, set and setting should always be considered.
What is in Rappé?
Rappé is a dried and powdered snuff which is usually blown into the nose through a blow pipe. You can use a special blowpipe for serving yourself called a kuripe, but most often a larger blowpipe called a tepi is used to serve a partner. The main ingredients of the snuff are usually mapacho and tree ash, but often times other seeds, leaves and plants may be added for additional properties or even just for aroma.
Sometimes Rappé can be made without the mapacho and tree ash, but this is uncommon – generally the first ingredient is always the cured organic jungle mapacho -typically moi or corda varieties. This species of native tobacco – is often 8-20 times stronger than those found in cigarettes, and is processed with zero additives and with lots of prayer and intention.
Ashes from sacred trees are also added to the snuff as an alkaliser which balances the mapacho, and then in personal recipes people may add whatever plants they want to get specific desired effects.
Seeds like Yopo or Wilka may be added to increase the visionary properties of the snuff, or flowers might be added to in-still a more feminine and nurturing energy. The snuff is made during a lengthy and intensive ritual process to invoke the maker’s medicine and the spirits of the plants used.
All of our Rappé is sourced direct from the individual tribes and we further sieve all product through a 120 micron high grade stainless steel sieve. This is incredibly labour intensive but ensures an excellent high quality fine powder that is clean and consistent.
The Experience of Using Rappé
When Rappé enters your nose, it immediately permeates through your mucous membranes into your bloodstream. The constituents attach to nicotine receptors, resulting in increased production of dopamine, acetylcholine, and epinephrine.
These chemical processes cause the person to feel relaxed and calm, yet aware and alert. It happens quickly and often feels like a jolt, yet it typically doesn’t cause anxiety or fear. It can feel very intense however.
You should close your eyes, breathe slowly through your mouth, and focus on your intention when the effects quickly start to set in. Most people experience watery eyes due to the sensitivity of the nose, and also due to the fact that Rappé is a purgative for many. So it will help release stored emotions.
That said, sometimes people experience deep stillness, inner peace and serenity other may experience crying, extra salivation, sneezing, vomiting, or the need to have a bowel movement. This is all normal and part of the process, as one of the purposes of Rappé is to cleanse and purify the mind and body.
The experience is also subject to the overall set & setting, the type of Rappé used, the dose and the emotional, physical and spiritual state of the individual.
Although, admittedly the experience can be uncomfortable, the initial shock is an integral part of the spiritual and physical cleansing process—by purging deep-seated toxins, you come out the other side of the experience feeling calmer, more focused, and more in line with your true self.
Rappé is a cleansing medicine, so after taking it, you may experience these effects which can include in some circumstances deep connection to the spirit of nature. Intention and ceremony are always helpful allies when using Rappé. These feeling can be felt over a period of days. Initially, a typical response is mucus releasing and finding its way out through the nose, later as phlegm through the throat from the chest. It is very important to allow the outward flow, as the mucous and fluids will carry your physical and etheric waste with it, so one gets rid of it. Do not force it up, and do not swallow it. Simply just breathe only through the mouth after first application. After a period of gentle mouth breathing, mucus will start dripping and the nose can be cleaned - try to avoid blowing your nose if you can early in the process and only when you have returned to stillness. Ideally, this is done by holding one nostril closed with a finger, and emptying the other nostril forcefully, with a strong blow of air exhaled through the nose. When this is done with both nostrils, often several times, one can immediately feel a new and open access fresh air, and breathing through the nose is greatly enhanced. After a while, the remains may drop back into the throat. It is important to bring this phlegm up into the mouth again and spit it out. This may need some coughing, but it is very necessary and rewarding. To be able to freely experience the cleaning process, it is best to be outside, where the phlegm can be spit onto the ground or have a container with water and salt to spit into. This last process of spitting the phlegm, is a great final affirmation of the expelled negativity that physically and visually leaves the body and is given back to mother earth.
If you continue to feel dizzy and unwell after using Rappé and if purging, it is recommended to drink some water, herbal tea, or a little fruit juice and stay with your eyes closed, either lying or sitting. The water will hydrate your body and help remove all toxins that are still being excreted, and the natural sugars will support grounding.
The indigenous peoples who have long used Rappé as a form of prayer that “calls upon the forces of Nature, the blessing of the animals of the forest, and power of medicinal plants to heal us and give us strength.” It is, therefore, important that you use this substance in a respectful environment focused on healing. Rappé can be used alone or in conjunction with plant medicines or kambo, and like most psychedelics, the set and setting when using Rappé is integral to its benefits.
The main ingredient is nicotine, so there is a possibility of getting addicted. It’s ideal to use it with an experienced guide, but you can administer the snuff yourself. If you’re interested in experience the energetically cleansing effects of Rappé, it’s important to educate yourself before you do it. PLEASE don’s use if you have existing health conditions like heart disease or when pregnant.
Importantly, create a safe setting and have a clear intention. This is not a recreational product and it helps to be respectful and humble with it.
Working with Rappé and Ceremony
There are many reasons one might wish to work with Rappè and there are many ways of working with it as well. Because so many different cultures in the Amazon region use Rappé, a number of different traditions and practices have revolved around its use. The benefits of Rappé use range from physical and psychological to energetic and spiritual. Rappé clears and focuses the mind and thoughts, center’s and grounds your energy, opens up your physical and spiritual senses and awareness, cleanses and purifies your body and energetic fields, connects you to your spirit allies and other medicines. It can be used in most circumstances where a ceremony is being conducted, and can function or pair well with many other rituals or natural medicines.
Traditionally it is used either as its own ceremony or within other ceremonies (such as Ayahuasca or Kambo ceremonies.) It is also used for hunting, before warfare, and even for recreation. Sometimes you mostly feel energetic and physical sensations from the Rappé, but other times it can produce visionary experiences despite not being a classically visionary medicine. It is also possible to do different styles of journey work using the Rappé as an aid to facilitate communication with your spirit guides and allies for healing or guidance.
Although not strictly necessary, we highly recommend following a basic dieta (diet) either on the day or leading up to the day you wish to use Rappé. The guidelines would be to avoid processed foods, salt, sugar, alcohol, meat and fasting at least 2 to 4 hours prior (or longer if you can) etc. This allows you to enter into a cleansed space with a healthy body. It also strengthens your intention.
PLEASE DO NOT USE with alcohol or other drugs. These are guidelines but they go along way to creating a healing experience.
You will need a blowpipe (Tepi or Kuripe) for serving the Rappé. While the medicine can be snuffed directly off of your hand, a seashell or a small scooping device, the pipes really add a nice dimension to the ceremony and also get the snuff further into your nose where it is better absorbed.
You can get a more profound effect from the Rappé by using it in an intentional and ceremonial manner on an empty stomach. There are many ways to do this, as each culture using the medicine has developed its own rituals. I will share one my methods for working with Rappé and the symbolism behind it.
Application: A Ceremony Between the Giver and the Receiver or Self Administering
Rappé can be experienced by two different approaches. The first way is to receive requiring the presence of another person, who will blow the snuff powerfully into each nostril of the partner who is going to receive the Rappé through a special applicator called a “Tepi”. The other method is to self administer through a self-applicator or “Kuripe”. The connection between mouth and nose is easily established through the V-shape of the pipe.
Blowing the Tepi involves an intimate connection between the Rappé giver and receiver. Both are closely connected by mouth, nose and by breath (Life force), and both need to open and allow the other spirit and intention to enter, permitting the healing to take place. Often the person blowing needs to be an experienced user, as he or she sends his intention and spirit to the person inhaling, which affords a strong mind and clear focus. Hence, the essence of this blowing ritual does not depend on the strength of your blowing, but whether you can share yourself while doing it and thereby empowering the receiver. These ‘blowing rituals’ are of great importance in the shamanic tradition, which perceives the healing energy of breath (also known as ‘Soplada’ - which means blowing healing energy) as a major tool for healing (Fotiou 2012; Jauregui et al. 2011).
If you are an inexperienced Rappé user, it is easier to receive your first experience with the use of the Tepi, and an experienced user as the giver. The first blow should quickly be followed by the second blow in the other nostril. This can be challenging for an unexperienced user, given that the first blow can be overwhelming. Still, if you are using the Kuripe, it is important to continue with the second blow as soon as possible, to harmonise the energies of both nostrils and hemispheres.
Often before blowing, the Tepi or Kuripe if held close to the body at heart, mind and crown region in reverence to the soul, the forest and “Great Spirit”. Appreciation and prayer may be given to the ancestors as well.
When blowing, take a deep inhalation that is followed by a long blow that is increasing in strength towards the end of the breath - try not to force it to the extent you spit into the applicator. With this increase at the end of the breath, Rappé gets pushed further up and achieves the best cleansing for the receiver. The giver needs to inhale deeply, enabling a deep powerful blow from the stomach that is carried outwards with good intentions
Self-administration is simple, the physicality of it only involves placing an amount of powder into the top of the applicator (nasal end). Then you connect your mouth to the other end and you start blowing. You can experiment between shorter sharper blows to longer more gentle attempts. Of course it needs to be applied to both nostrils.
It is worth centring yourself prior to using Rappé and make sure you are in a calm environment, the use of breath-work and meditation is highly recommended. You can use the Rappé as a tool to transform intentions and it also cuts through whatever mental or emotional field you are in. The initial experience and the strong sensation lasts for a few minutes, while the newly gained state remains for a very long time.
Dose
Generally, it is recommended to start off with a dosage not bigger than a pea per portion per a nostril. It can be smaller but what is very important to blow the Rappé into both nostrils, and each nostril should receive a similar dose.
“….in the West you take agua dentè (fire water - alcohol), it first makes you feel good then you feel awful and get sick. In the Amazon, our medicine first makes you feel terrible, then you get well and feel wonderful”
— paraphrased from a conversation between famous ethnobotanist Richard Schultes and an Amazonian Shaman