Ancient Medicine to bring balance to body, mind, and spirit
Rapé/Hapé is a traditional powder from the Amazon, primarily composed of tobacco and other sacred plants, that serves as both a physical and spiritual medicine. The medicine of Rapé is known to clear the pineal gland, which can become calcified due to everyday substances like fluoride and mental blockages. This decalcification promotes overall physical and spiritual health.
Rapé is a special blend of various powerful plants and minerals, with tobacco often applied as ashes or toasted on embers. The exact recipes of each medicine are kept secret by the Shaman who make them. Indigenous Tribes for thousands of years have worked with medicine this way, Rapé originated in Brazil.
Different regions, mainly Brazil and Colombia, produce unique varieties of Rapé, sometimes named after the Tribes that create them, such as the Katukina, Nukini, and Yawanawa. Tribe members, in close communion with nature, often fast and consume only specific plants to energetically cleanse themselves and deepen their connection with the spirits of the plants and the Earth and they tell them how to make the medicine. The above process of connecting with one or a few plants this way is called a Master Plant Dieta.
Rapé can be administered alone with a Kuripe or during a guided ritual led by an experienced practitioner of the medicine with a Tepi. In ceremonial use, higher doses promote powerful transformations, deep self-reflection, and healing, establishing a vital connection between the Medicine Carrier and the recipient. This bond enhances the healing intention behind the Rapé application, therefore it is important to only work in high doses with experienced practitioners that you trust, as their energy goes into the medicine as well.
Medicine carriers facilitate healing through Icaros (channeled songs from the plants and ancestors), energetic clearing, and dialogue to help the receiver feel comfortable and courageous in their journey through their inner world, facing their fears and wounds. If you would like to plan a Rapé ceremony led by Zella Taj, use the contact form to reach out.
While Rapé is typically used in ceremonies with a practitioner, it can also be consumed at home using a "v-shaped" Kuripe, which allows for direct inhalation. This practice is traditionally noted for enhancing mental and spiritual clarity, relieving certain physical imbalances, and inducing a meditative state.
Millie and Erik Barboza are our medicine keepers and trusted partners in the Peruvian Amazon. Based in Iquitos, Peru, they have spent more than eight years traveling throughout the Amazon and learning alongside the Kuntanawá, Yawanawá, Huni Kuin, Kaxinawá, Katukina, Matzes, and other tribes. Through years of ceremony and study with their teachers, they have deepened their relationship with ancestral Amazonian medicines and their traditional preparation and use. The medicines they carry are shared with their teachers’ blessing. Millie and Erik provide the hapé offered through Neteru Apothecary, and each purchase helps support their work and continued stewardship of these traditions.