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The Rainforest Shaman’s Cigar... is said to be his ‘eye’,
in which he sees... the mystical causes of illness: the rising
smoke is associated... with his travel to the Thunders... the
Sun and other inhabitants... of the upper cosmos.
Shamans, underwent a rigorous spiritual
training... to enable them
to undertake ‘vision quests’, in the course of which... they might
identify the cause of diseases and either eject the evil intruder,
or retrieve the wandering soul... and thus, restore the sufferer
to health.
Tobacco played a central role...
in the spiritual training... of
shamans.
 They believed that diseases... were caused by
supernatural
forces, in one of two manners: These were either: (1) intrusion
a form of possession, whereby an evil
spirit or object
had entered
the body of the sufferer,
making them ill; or (2) soul loss, whereby
'the sufferer's soul... was
believed to be drawn away, and or to
have
wandered off... into reaches of
the supernatural world, often
into the land of the dead’.
The special power of the Rainforest Shaman... is due to their
ability... to let the soul leave the body, and thus, cigar tobacco,
is associated with both... the independent existence of the soul
and the ‘direct line’ to the ancestral forces.
“Chaman” is “Shaman” in Spanish.
The spiritual journeys... undertaken by initiate
Shamans,
were perceived as real quests, during the
course of which...
the Shaman Priest... would encounter terrible
hazards. The priest Shaman for
example, endured a series of perils,
while in his trance... similar to those set out... in computer games.
After clearing an abyss... ‘filled
with hungry jaguars, snapping alligators and frenzied sharks, all eager to devour him’... the tobacco
intoxicated Shaman... had to pass places...
where
demons armed
with spears... are waiting to
kill him, where
slippery spots... threaten
to unbalance and
where giant raptors claw him.
Finally, he must pass
through a hole... in an enormous tree...
with rapidly opening and closing doors.
These simple gates,
are the actual threshold... between life and
death. Jumping
through the clashing doors... he beholds
the bones... of
those
who went before
him... but failed to clear the gateway.
Not finding his own bones among them... he returns from the
other-world... restored to new life.
A Tobacco Shaman... used the weed, in almost every aspect of
his art. Tobacco smoke was
employed... as a diagnostic tool...
to examine sick patients and formed a part of many ceremonies
over which these doctor -
priests officiated.
Ritual “smoke blowing”, by which a shaman might bestow a
blessing... or protection against enemies... both real and invisible,
was intended to symbolize a transformation...
in which the tobacco smoke... represented a guiding spirit.
Shamans therefore, were
early proponents of passive
smoking,
which they believed... to be a force for
“good”
for non-smokers.
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