"If Ayahuasca gets caught in the dark with a relatively passive attitude, receptivity, with the acceptance to be guided, Tobacco, on the other hand, requires a more active positioning. Tobacco refers to male psychic functions that are of particular interest to us, in psychotherapy or work on oneself, to discover or bring out in us these male characteristics or functions that are terribly lacking at the moment. Western society is very marked by a relatively destructive New Age atmosphere that gives too much space to women's functions. These are in no way negative, quite the contrary, but their excess induces a harmful imbalance between the masculine and the feminine. By this "male" virtue, the strength of Tobacco assumes a structuring role.
The first thing that will be offered to Christopher Columbus by the Arawak Indians upon his arrival in the New World is Tobacco. This means the importance it had for them, it was their gold, it was the most precious thing they had, it was what allowed them to come into contact with the gods, it was their sacrament.
Tobacco, therefore, universal in its uses, is also universal in its geographical distribution, because it is used all over the world. I have had the opportunity to travel to all continents and meet healers and, in any place, when offering Tobacco, it facilitates conversation: all healers immediately recognize and highly appreciate the power of Tobacco. It's the best gift we can give them, even in regions where it is not widely distributed, such as Mongolia where I went with my "mapachos", pure tobacco cigarettes (Nicotiana rustica).
Tobacco is essential in shamanic practices thanks to its particular power, to the point that, in some societies, the shaman or healer is "the one who consumes Tobacco". Among the Ashaninka, the healer or "sheripiari" is the one who "eats" Tobacco. He absorbs the chewing juice or swallows his smoke in order to "feed", to nourish his energies. In other ethnic groups, the shaman is called "the one who blows Tobacco", the one who is able and authorizes to blow Tobacco smoke on his patients. Certainly, blowing tobacco smoke, anyone can do it, but the shaman has the training and empowerment to blow tobacco smoke in an operative and effective way to balance the energy body. He must acquire a sufficient degree of control of the powers of Tobacco and his own energy body to be able to manage this operation. This earned Tobacco the qualification of "flesh or food of the Gods"3.
Tobacco is for some healers their essential plant and will then be referred to as "tabaquero". However, it is rarely an isolated use. Around the use of Tobacco, many other ritual or care practices can be articulated (baths, massages, etc.) and the spirit of Tobacco can be associated with the spirits of water, earth, air and fire.
Tobacco is the most powerful plant used in the Amazon, more important for example than Ayahuasca. Managing Tobacco requires great psychic, physical and spiritual mastery. If this management of Tobacco is badly done, the spirit of Tobacco, desecrated, escapes the control of the human being and will invest it, dominate it, even to the point of possibly possessing it. For the Indians it is equivalent to becoming a sorcerer. This "possession" is called smoking in the West."