Tobbaco, the Traditional Practice from Latin America, and "Why indigenous witches, and brujas are always smoking tobacco?"
Why indigenous witches and brujas are always smoking tobacco?
Days ago I made a post on Instagram (this one) in said post/reel (an extremely short video) I have tobacco in my hand, simple as that, nothing to write home about, my client present that day was the one who filmed the part of me as something funny While I was talking with him and doing the cleaning, my client's intention was to send the video to his girlfriend saying something funny like "here my fortune-teller says you are being unfaithful to me with the milkman" or something similar.
I took advantage of the video to write some ideas in the post, and obviously, it didn't take long for the DMs to arrive with questions, from the most random things like "do you smoke tobacco?" (which is clearly evident), to more important questions like "why do all witches smoke tobacco?" (which I personally think was a very wrong generalization).
So, it's not something new, in fact, I religiously smoke six of these every Monday in honor of the spirits and ghosts that are around, that's how they taught me and that's how I keep it, only one day of the week and it's the day of the spirits. The tobacco sessions are sessions of divination, purification, and cleansing, I grew up smoking tobacco by a river, so the fact that I don't put it in daily photos doesn't mean that I don't.
Regarding the question, it is important to remember that the esoteric branch culturally and linguistically defined as "Brujeria" (not Witchcraft), represents a Latin American practice, mostly hereditary, based on honoring and venerating our deceased, we drink aguardiente (white brandy) and smoke tobacco in honor to those who are no longer here, to celebrate and remember them, it is also a time where we allow fire and smoke to purify and do their cleaning work, which is reflected in tobacco and smoke.
The wrong practice
Uninitiated practitioners, mostly we could say, white Americans who do not understand our practices and traditions, who only see it from the outside, assume that it is simply buying tobacco in the botanica and smoking it around the customer once.
Not having been part of our traditions, they do not understand our prayers or our practices, or even their origin, such as why spiritualists smoke tobacco upside down and not straight? Why do they use tobacco and not cigarettes? why pray before and after each reading one by one? Or why is the position of the tobacco so important when they fall to the ground, they don't understand, and the truth is that I don't care, if you are not initiated in our practices and just you want to make use of these for some extra money, the truth is that your ignorance regarding the subject is a blessing for ours.
Spiritism and Tobacco
Tobacco leaves have different uses in native Latin American magic as a means of purification and spiritual cleansing, the leaves are burned in the corners of the house to dispel evil spirits, they are moistened with sunflower oil and hung from the windows for several days to attract abundance or get out of debt, they are loaded on a full moon in the wallet so that money is never lacking, and the names of the enemies are written on them and then they are chewed and spit outside the house to let the enemies stay away from us.
"If you want a secret to remain secret, the secret is written forwards and backward with ink on the tobacco leaves and they are burned at dawn so that spirits take charge of keeping this secret in the shade".
Elhoim Leafar, The Magical Art of Crafting Charm Bags.
Divination and Tobacco
Tobacco is smoked upside down for one reason and right side up for a completely different reason, it is a practice brought from native witches, if someone simply takes tobacco and smokes it as a means of "spiritual cleansing", you know they are doing it wrong and the person is simply taking a spiritual-religious practice that is over eighty years old and trying to make it his own.
Tobacco smoke should look as white as the clouds, if it looks dark it is because there is an evil aura around it, and if dark spots form in the smoke it is because there is a negative entity present in the place.
A session of divination and/or spiritual cleansing with tobacco is never done with only one tobacco, always use at least two, otherwise, it is simply wrong and the person doing it doesn't even know why!!
The ashes of tobacco have a meaning as important as sacred, they are the work of the spiritual ones from the other side making use of your conjured fire to mold the leaves as a work of art and through these give you a vision of the future.
Tobacco and Spiritual Cleansing
Tobacco leaves have the quality of cleaning and purifying places, people, and things. The cleanings are always done standing up, at least the client must remain standing, unless a greater reason prevents it (the person cannot physically stand), while the spiritualist can choose whether to remain standing or sitting.
The smoke must go through the entire body of the person, from the head (the crown of the spirit) to the feet (the roots that connect you to the earth). A Tobacco cleansing ceremony cannot be done with the client standing twenty feet away, if there is any reason for it, it is better to simply resort to another means of spiritual cleansing.
The prayers are made with the tobacco in hand and you are praying to the tobacco, as if you were telling it a secret, the tobacco is not prayed to look at the mirror while you check the cell phone.
Most spiritual courts attend and require tobacco ceremonies, but very few entities make use of cigarettes as an alternative option.
Latin America, Native witches, and Tobacco
According to Jordan Goodman in his book Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopedia; “Tobacco has long been used in the Americas, with some cultivation sites in Mexico dating back to 1400–1000 BC”. While Jack Jacob Gottsegen, in his book Tobacco: A Study of Its Consumption in the United States, says: “In some Native cultures, tobacco is seen as a gift from the Creator, with the ceremonial tobacco smoke carrying one's thoughts and prayers to the Creator”.
In countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru, Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela, it is common for tobacco to form an important part of local esoteric traditions, after all, tobacco plants (which include more than 60 species) were introduced to Europe by the Spanish after colonization, and not before, tobacco was discovered by the indigenous natives of South America around 12,000 years ago, and its consumption for religious reasons was later introduced to the native Mesoamericans between 200 to 400 years later, indifferently, both things happened before the Spanish arrived in America.
The natives of the Cree peoples (in North America) and the Ojibwe peoples (in Canada) also consider the use of tobacco as a sacred instrument that was given by the native gods to men. While in South America, tobacco is so sacred that it is indispensable in the initiation rites of at least 12 different esoteric traditions, including: "Espiritismo Tradicional Venezolano" (Traditional Spiritism of Venezuela), "Espiritismo Tradicional de Cali" (Traditional Spiritism of Colombia), "La Corte de Los Encantados" (The Enchanted Court), Guwaje tribe (In Colombia, too), La Corte Iniciatica Guajira (the initiation guajira court), just to mention a few.
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