You don’t have to be a shaman, healer, or holy person to work with tobacco in a sacred way. You do not need to smoke tobacco to work with it, although this class will spend time teaching you the proper way to smoke. (By proper, I mean how I've learned from my South American  teachers. My work with tobacco comes from an Amazonian tradition. I don’t have knowledge as to how other cultures work with tobacco.)

This class will teach you how to use tobacco to clear bad energies from a person or a space, how to bless a space or a person, and how to make prayers and offerings with tobacco as support. You will learn prayer forms and songs (in Spanish) to use for blessing and healing. The in-person class on Saturday is aimed specifically at teaching about working with the pipe, using the smoke to detect energetic blocks and and using the smoke in clearing negative energies, bringing in power, and placing protection. We will record the in-person class on Zoom for those who are not in the Minneapolis area or cannot attend.  It will be a bumpy recording because we will be moving around.

There is a shamanic motto: the more powerful the ally, the more dangerous it is. This certainly applies to tobacco, and we can see the negative effects of much of the western world working with tobacco without being in a good relationship with the spirit of the plant. The foundation of this class is to build a respectful relationship with that spirit so that you can work with tobacco's positive powers. You can also apply these teachings to your work with any other plant helper.

My teachers in the Amazon jungle see tobacco as an incredibly powerful healing plant. There is rarely a personal healing or group ceremony conducted that doesn’t include tobacco. The first serious work I did in the jungle was a seven-day ceremony, called a dieta (Spanish for diet), where we fast from food and water much of the time, and drink ever-larger doses of tobacco juice each day. We spend the dieta in silent prayer, dreaming, praying and asking the spirit of tobacco to merge with us (often with great discomfort involved: vomiting, diarrhea, body pains, dizziness, on and on.) But I will say unequivocally, tobacco changed my teaching and healing work.

There are some supplies you’ll need to gather for this class, so it’s important to not wait until the last minute to sign up. The list is at the bottom of this page.

PLEASE READ:

I have a deep love and respect for tobacco, so there are some agreements I ask you to make:

You will do the ongoing personal practices I teach you to build a relationship with tobacco for two months minimum before you begin using tobacco in front of others.

You won’t teach any individuals how to work with tobacco for at least six months and won’t teach a tobacco workshop for at least a year.

You won’t conduct your own tobacco dieta (this can kill you).

You won’t call yourself a shaman or a tobacco healer in any of your social media or website world. Beyond lacking humility, there are some other nuanced reasons.

You won’t conduct extractions with tobacco with only this training.

Price: $325

You can pay in full now ($335 with PayPal Fees) or pay half now and half by August 16 ($168 with fees). You may use the PayPal buttons below, or you can pay through Venmo (@DrumSoul -- Be sure to add your email address in the note or I won't be able to contact you).

For this class you will need to gather a few supplies:

1)  Loose Tobacco

I work exclusively with Amazonian tobacco. The species is nicotiana rustica, also known as “mapacho.” This is the darkest tobacco, with the heaviest smoke. If you Google “mapacho” or nicotiana rustica, you’ll many sites offering it in loose form. I can recommend: https://www.grandfathersspirit.com/nicotiana_rustica.html. They are based in Minnesota, and I know poepl have been pleased with them.

A Small Pipe

There are an infinite variety of pipes if you Google “buy small tobacco pipe,” or “Peruvian tobacco pipe” or “Shipibo tobacco pipe” you may find some interesting ones. You do not want a “pipe” that is small, with two stems. This is for blowing tobacco into the nose, which is not what we will be teaching. I recommend that you don’t buy a giant pipe for this class. It can actually be quite small. Be aware that you will need to clean the pipe regularly, so a very long-stemmed pipe without a removable stem will cause you headache.  A small bunch of pipe cleaners will be helpful. Also be aware that if you order a pipe from Peru, it may take too long to arrive for this class. Don't be afraid to get a loca small pipe to use for learning with.

Some “incense” charcoals

These are small charcoals that you light and use to put loose tobacco on for burning. You can get packages of ten at new age stores. I suggest getting at least 20, and I prefer the smaller size: Get incense charcoals.

A smallish clay bowl filled with halfway with sand, gravel or clean dirt.

This is used to hold the very, very hot charcoal as you work with it.