Tobacco and Healing

Tobacco and Healing

When I describe the smoking of tobacco in pipe ceremony as prayerful and healing, some people are surprised. Some people wonder: Can the words “tobacco” and “healing” be used in the same sentence?

White society often vilifies tobacco. For some of us, tobacco is at best an unpleasant habit and at worst a killer. Yes, at a certain level, that’s true. But everything exists at many levels.

At another level, tobacco is prayer. The physical matter that comes from tobacco plants is the physical manifestation of prayer. It is as if, when we pray, the thoughts, feelings, and intention of the prayers condense into the physical form of tobacco. What we hold in our heart takes concrete, physical form - as tobacco. When the tobacco burns, the smoke carries our prayers straight to Creator. And Creator always listens to our prayers.

What is it that cigarette smokers hold in their hearts as they smoke? Think about it. Often people smoke when they are angry, sad, afraid, frustrated, bored, or tense. So when a cigarette smoker lights up, he or she is sending angry, sad, fearful, frustrating, bored, or tense prayers straight to Creator. And of course, Creator answers such prayers with illness and death.

In pipe ceremony, however, we come together in community in a focused mindset of love and blessings. It is not necessarily a somber experience (quite the contrary, Indian ceremonies are typically both sacred and playful). But it is definitely an experience of collective positive energy. And when that focused, collective, positive energy is sent to Creator in the form of tobacco smoke, the results are powerful, transformative, and healing.

The medicine path is about being in good relationship with all things, including tobacco. If you have issues with the ceremonial use of tobacco, then you are being invited to come into a different relationship with tobacco. And if you come into a different relationship with tobacco you may well find yourself coming into different relationships throughout your life. That’s what I call healing!

-John Wohn