Sacred Ceremonies and Living Traditions

Ceremonies and sacred meditations have been part of the human experience for tens of thousands of years. They are no less powerful today than they were when performed by our ancient ancestors beneath the stars. Across cultures and epochs, rites of passage and holy rituals satisfy our longing for spiritual communion, personal & collective healing, and a reverent, intimate understanding of our place within the primordial universe. 

To participate in such a ceremony is to step into a lineage of remembrance—to dedicate oneself to the ongoing, mysterious adventure of awakening.

Over the course of my life, I have worked with a range of entheogens, including ayahuasca, wachuma, peyote, hapé, psilocybin, chiric sanango, and iboga. When approached with integrity and proper guidance, these plant medicines can help you connect to your intuition, heal from past sufferings, refine your perception, dissolve egoic patterns, open your heart, and experience the interconnected nature of reality. After a hapé ceremony, specifically, many people report feeling lighter inside—or they describe a grounded, steady clarity that supports more embodied presence in their lives.

What is Hapé?

Hapé—also known as rapé or hapeh—is a legal mixture of dried Amazonian plants, typically sacred tobacco (mapacho) combined with ashes from specific trees, vines, or flowers. Most of the hapé I offer are made with ashes from the bark of the medicinal Tsunu tree, known for its stabilizing and protective properties.

This medicine is traditionally used by Indigenous peoples across South America to clear their energy, reconnect with the Earth, and reorient their spirits. It is sometimes described as a masculine, benevolent, and wise teacher. Unlike the more fantastical, vision-producing plant medicines, hapé is not a psychedelic. 

Being served hapé is a deeply embodied experience; you are unlikely to journey to alternate dimensions, dissolve into non-form, or experience wild visions. Of course, if you have a proclivity toward rich visions and out-of-body experiences naturally, those experiences can still arise. But hapé is oriented toward grounding awareness in the physical body, in a very Earthly, present state of being. There is no risk of misinterpreting a spectacle of imagery because there is no overwhelming, psychedelic, visionary intensity during a hapé meditation. 

That said, hapé can work with surprising force. The Yawanawá of Amazonian Brazil regard hapé as a master plant—just as powerful as ayahuasca, though in a different way. They use hapé during ayahuasca ceremonies to restore balance and grounding, and to help participants avoid getting lost internally. They also frequently use hapé on its own.

Hapé is an incredible plant medicine to help you release. During a ceremony, it is common to experience sweating, tears, or purging. All of this is normal. The medicine is energetically & physically clearing your system as part of the healing.  You may even be aware of what, exactly, is being released when you purge: anxiety, doubt, self-hate, old attachments, or trauma.

On some occasions, a person may not feel much at all. I've witnessed people sleep through through entire ayahuasca ceremonies (while others around them were hanging on for their dear lives.) The same is true with hapé. As a curandero once told me: the medicine always gives you exactly what you need.