AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM ANCESTRAL ORIGINS
Dear friend, customer, or potential customer,
Thank you for your interest in this sacred medicine. Please be aware that all forms of tobacco come with the great potential for addiction, abuse - not only of the medicine, but most importantly - of the self, and a relation that is disrespectful and counterproductive. Whilst we honour this medicine, we also recognise that for many, rapay use can become more frequent and less in the spirit of genuine healing and cross into different terrain, the darker terrain of abuse, addiction and commodification.
We do not wish to support any addiction, a life free of addictions is a free life.
Please take the time to establish yourself in right relation with the medicine and employ the valuable tools of discernment and radical self-honesty. This is your space of responsibility. For instance, if you know or feel that your body or mind is having cravings, or you are filling some void, then back away with respect from the medicine until you have found within yourself and your prayers a way to come back into healthy, respectful relationship. This may take some time, but in your sincerity, your prayers will be heard.
This is not a medicine to be played with, it is a great teacher and friend - or can be - when held in the correct way. These words are written from personal experience. A rapay addiction can be as hard, if not harder to break than a smoking addiction. Exercise caution and ask, “For what reason am I using this medicine right now? “
The medicine that we carry, we do our very best to source in the most integral and respectful way, and the prayer that we carry this medicine with is that it is seen, and treated as medicine. We pray that this is received and held by you with all the love, honesty and humility that you can manage, and that you take time to build this relationship on solid foundations, even if that means excavating the foundations and rebuilding them once again.
Please take time to pray with your medicine before you use it, or when you receive it, to set an overall intention. Include in this the intention for correct, responsible use. Likewise, please only use when you have the time to deeply sit and connect with the medicine, this is not something to “do” casually in public spaces, in the middle of conversation, or at social gatherings. Find a way to create a safe space and setting for your meditation. Personally, I prefer to receive my medicine in private, with time and space for the process.
Likewise, you may feel after some time that you may wish to share the medicine with someone else. Please, again, make sure you are ready for this and you have the correct relationship, as the blow to another is not something to take lightly. Many people are not aware of this, and pass medicine while they themselves are in a space of obscurity - how can this lead to clarity for anyone involved? There are procedures passed within the tradition for both before and after the blow, and for the prayer before the blow is given. Be aware of this, and if you do not know the procedures, then try to find out what they are from someone who has learned the way of the medicine from a genuine source.
That said, we, me, the maker of this medicine, and those involved in the shipping department hope and pray that you find this medicine to be good medicine for you, a valuable and precious tool - and a good friend.
With love and respect,
Gareth