"Sacred Tobacco"

[maat]

This might be the wrong area to post this, didn't know where else to.

I've been looking for an answer to this for a while, but can't turn anything up on google. What is tobacco used for traditionally in Native American cultures? I see all the time that it is listed as one of the "four sacred medicines", along with cedar, sage, and sweetgrass, and it always has "power" attributed to it. But nothing beyond that. What the heck was it used for?

 

[Foreigner]

It depends on which native nation you are talking about, because there are many traditions and cultures. In Canada there are 52.

The ones I am aware of say that tobacco is a spirit medicine that connects the smoker with the Creator. It is also shared in the Peace Pipe tradition, where the elders pass around a pipe containing tobacco in sacred ceremony, to share with all those present. It unites everyone who smokes it and creates a tie of kinship between them. At the conclusion of conflicts great or small, a Peace Pipe is often shared among those who were involved to officially end it. Most elders will never show you their pipe, it is sacred to them; so if it is ever revealed to share with tobacco, it's a great honour.

Tobacco is also used in offering ceremonies. Many believe that the spirit of tobacco represents light, because the tobacco plant loves sunlight. So when it is offered to nature, to animals who have been killed to feed the community, or in other ceremonies, it is considered a light offering. At least, this is how it was explained to me.

Cedar, sage, sweetgrass an tobacco are all considered spirit medicines. You can work with them for guidance. Working with the plant while it's alive assures a greater connection when you use its medicine later.

 

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

My understanding of Native American cultures that used tobacco for mystical purposes (not all did, as not all ceremonial use is mystical) is that the shamans of would use it in large amounts on rare occasions to induce altered states of consciousness that were not at all fun, but apparently of some spiritual value. I can't speak for the indigenous peoples of anywhere farther south, but it never ceases to amaze me how boldly and resolutely many of the native peoples of North America embrace, even sometimes revel in, the pain of life in the rituals and routines of their lives. I see this even when it comes to spiritual matters and altered states of consciousness, in striking contrast to the way some (not nearly all) Westerners think that these things ought to be pleasant or gentle or fun.

 

[phosphene_glow]

Native Americans use Nicotiana rustica not Nicotiana virginius. It's a good bit stronger. It has alot of purposes in insect control in farming and some medical qualities. In the sweat lodge it can be very powerful - one puff relaxes a person and is calming so that one can open up their emotions with the sweat and clear out. In a sweat the pipe is passed only four times - one for each direction.

 

[thisdudeshadenough]

read somewhere they would use it as tincture placed on the skin, have read reports of people doing this while they sleep to bring about dreams that are much more 'real', as in you can feel rain falling on your skin, might want to look it up before you try it though.

edit: also wanted to add abit of modern science...tobacco seems to be beneficial to the mind...it causes upregulation of receptors..true mind expansion if you will...guess this was why holmes was so much smarter than watson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine#Dependence_and_withdrawal
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627305003107

 

[Foreigner]

edit: also wanted to add abit of modern science...tobacco seems to be beneficial to the mind...it causes upregulation of receptors..true mind expansion if you will...guess this was why holmes was so much smarter than watson

I've never heard this but would love to read more if you wouldn't mind quoting a study?

 

[phosphene_glow]

I think you can find links and stuff on Wiki. I read also once about the qualities of nicotine on the brain and how addiction is developed because nicotine acts as a reuptake inhibitor for the monoamines as well as facilitating acetylcholine and other brain chems. Not just because of the narcotic properties. Based on that, one sees why the ciggy after sex is such a standard, and why? Because by inhibiting monoamine reuptake the sense of pleasure is elongated. None of this should detract from the usual cardio and respitory cautions.