Tobacco and Tree Dietas

A diet (or dieta in Spanish)  is a term used to describe a process of learning from a plant.  Unlike reading a book to learn about a plant, a dieta is a direct, experiential practice to learn from the plant.  In this way it is said that the plants teach us.  We can learn and heal using the plant as a medium to open us to this space of light.  Different plants have different healing properties and can teach us different things.  Every plant can heal specific conditions and also has the ability to teach us about its own unique light.  Ultimately all plants are pointing us towards the same truth, that which we are.  These plants are teaching us about nature, natural law, ourselves, our place in this world, and opening us to worlds beyond.  Beyond all, they are teaching us to be in harmony, to be at peace, and to live in accordance with Truth, and with Knowledge, and not book knowledge, but experiential knowledge.

A dieta usually consists of going into isolation for a designated period of time; this could be anywhere from a few days to a few months.  The process in which we work is a series of seven day dietas, although the duration could be extended or shortened depending on the condition of the dieter. During this time the participant stays in her room, isolated from others.  He restricts his food to something very light, usually juice or soup, and only at breakfast and lunch.  The plant medicine is ingested every night and is drunk with the guidance of the curandero who accompanies the patient for the initial duration of the experience, which can be intense.  After drinking the plant and possibly purging, the dieter and the plant medicine will continue to work in her dreams. This medicine usually awakens strongly the dream world which usually brings information about the cleaning process that is being done. The curandero is available for questions and for guidance, but much of the process is spent in isolation with ones thoughts, mind, and being.  In this way repetitive thought patterns, beliefs, fears, and that which is holding us back can be brought to light and eventually released.

The specific plant that you will work with will depend on a diagnostic by the curandero.  The plants are given specifically for what is seen will be beneficial to the patient.  Most of the plants are trees, which traditionally are seen as the bridge between the earth and the heavens.  They are strong and old and wise and have the ability to help us learn.  On a physical level they tend to be very cleansing, cleaning our blood and stomach and intestines – areas which we carry much sickness.  On the level of the mind, they help to clear thought patterns, belief systems, and mental systems that have been holding us back.  On an energetic level they help to clear blockages, opening ourselves so that life energy can flow freely again.  This the same concept of meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurveda.

In general, the plants are administered with tobacco.  Tobacco is seen as the carrier plant, the plant which allows and regulates the other plants ability to work.  Tobacco is seen as the grandfather plant, the ancient energy that allows all other plants to exist.  Tobacco is a strong medicine, and a very powerful teacher on its own.  Often tobacco will be the first plant one works with, as it is a most powerful cleaner of the body on all levels: physical, mental, and energetic.

All of these plants are first working on cleansing the body.  As the body, mind, and energies are cleansed, then healing and teaching can begin to happen.  Often this process of cleansing can be challenging, as often a lot of purging can happen.  The action of tobacco in liquid form is mainly as a potent emetic and as a purge aimed at energy purification.  Purging can take the form of vomiting, diarrhea, crying, shaking, fits of heat and cold, etc.  It is important to mention that unlike what happens in our Western culture where the purge has an associated negative connotation, traditional medicines like in the Amazon and the Ayurvedic system for example, agree that it is extremely important to perform purges regularly in order to detoxify at the energetic, physical, emotional and spiritual levels, discharging and eliminating from the body/mind impurities and toxins, including negative emotions and thoughts.  Through purging the patient begins to notice changes within such as the liberation of stagnant energies and feeling a new sense of inner peace.

We begin to diet trees as trees are considered some of the Master Plants.  Trees symbolically connect us to heaven and earth.  Their roots go into the ground, connecting us with Mother Earth as well as the symbolic nature of the underworld, or in Andean philosophy, the Ukhu Pacha, and the realm of the emotions.  The trunk symbolizes our physical body and this world which we call reality, in Andean the Kay Pacha.  And the branches spread skyward to the heavens, representing our spiritual body, in Andean the Hanaq Pacha.  Through the dieta and fasting and isolation, these trees therefore have the ability to heal us on all three of those levels: the physical body, the mental/emotional body, and the spiritual body.  Each tree has its own personality, its own characteristics.  Each tree is good for treating certain physical conditions, it works on certain aspects of our mind and emotions, and it has its power and teaching in the spiritual or shamanic realm.  When we complete the dieta we have a connection with this tree.  It can be said that this tree is now our ally and we have a spiritual contract with it; a connection has been made.  This tree will continue to teach us as time goes on, much like how at first there is a seed and then with proper care the seed begins to grow and eventually becomes a strong tree which gives us its fruits, flowers, wood, shade, protection, strength, wisdom and medicine.

As with all strong plant medicines, a true desire must be present to work with these plants.  The experience is not always easy, rarely so in fact, but the rewards can be great if the person has the willingness and courage to undertake the journey.

The Role of the Curandero

The word curandero is a Spanish word that can roughly be translated as “one who cures” or “healer” or “doctor.”  There are different types of curanderos.  There are vegetalistas – doctors who work with plants, much like herbalists.  There are curanderos – healers who have access to other states of consciousness and have the ability to guide and to heal in those spaces.  And there are, in some traditions like the Shipibo, moraya – mythical curanderos who have reached a level of mastery of the world.  Within the world of curanderos there are different specialities.  Some may be an ayahuasquero – a curandero who specializes in working with the master plant ayahuasca.  There are sanangueros – a curandero who specializes in working with the master plant chiric sanango.  There are tabaqueros – a curandero who specializes in working with the master plant tobacco.  And certain curanderos may further specialize in areas such as women’s health issues, bone setting, attraction, etc.

The easiest way to view a curandero is perhaps to think of them as a doctor.  They are someone who the patient comes to when the patient is sick and needs help.  The patient may have a physical ailment, or as is becoming more present in our times, psychological ailments such as depression, anxiety, lack to joy, loss of purpose of life, trauma, chronic pain and the like.  The curandero may use specific plants to help treat the physical symptoms of the patient, but he potentially must also seek to find the root of the problem.  And the root must often be pulled up and out from one’s psyche.  This is where the knowledge of master plants such as tobacco, ayahuasca, and innumerable trees and plants come into play.  The curandero gives the patient specific plants that will begin to try to affect the root of their ailment.  This may happen in a ceremonial setting such as working with ayahuasca.  Or it may be through a process of offering a dieta, where the patient goes into isolation, restricts their diet, and drinks their plant every night to experientially heal and learn from it.  Some diets are administered to specifically heal certain conditions, and some diets are offered in order to learn from, to “dominate,” or to acquire the plant as an ally that aids us throughout our lives.

The disciple becomes a curandero through a very intensive process of working with plants.  This process of doing plant dietas usually involves a prolonged period of isolation working with different plants.  The disciple works with a curandero who becomes his maestro, or teacher.  The curandero helps to guide the disciple in his process of learning.  The process can be very arduous.  The act of being in isolation for such prolonged periods of time can be very challenging for the mind.  It forces the disciple to go into her mind and to begin to learn about the nature of the mind.  Eating little to no food for prolonged periods weakens the body.  It is said that when the body is weak, the spirit is high.  And this allows the medicine to penetrate deeply into each disciple.  But the challenges of forgoing food for such times also can cause great distress.  And the process of ingesting master plants on a regular basis can be the most challenging aspect of it all.  It brings up her suffering, doubts, fears, separation, and all of the blocks and traumas and belief systems that we have been holding onto.  And though the process of constant working with plants, the disciple begins to slowly see into the nature of herself.  She begins to learn about reality, about the human condition, about nature and natural law, and about how the plants have the ability to open us and to help us to heal.

At a certain point, after potentially years of training, the disciple slowly begins to work.  This may initially take the form of apprenticing his teacher, and then beginning to administer plants himself, and eventually going out on his own and working as his own curandero.  Each curandero’s process is different and unique to them.  Good curanderos have undergone a rigorous training, a deep process of self reflection, and have acquired an experiential knowledge of working continuously with plants.  And when the teacher feels her student is ready, she sends them out to begin working on their own.

The curandero, through his own process, learns a great deal.  He begins his process of self mastery and acquisition of his own power.  He sees and trusts the healing power of the plants, which are a gateway to an even greater power – that of the Universe, of Creation, of God.  He knows that ultimately it is not him who is curing.  He is a guide who is creating a space, through his own hard work and dedication, that allows his patients to experience the healing power of that higher force.  He has the ability to guide the medicine, to heighten or lower its affects, to know the dosages, and to guide the patient through the most challenging and beautiful of experiences.  It is not a role to be taken lightly, as that space, if not held, can open the patient to potential harm and suffering.  It is much like an open-heart surgeon.  If we are having our hearts operated on, we want to make sure that the surgeon has done their training!  The curandero has worked on herself, gone deep into herself, so that she can work on and help others go deep into theirselves.