Wayusa Tea and Tobacco Ceremony
Come experience the healing tobacco infusion & wild wayusa tea of hereditary Ki-Shuar gardener-child and ayahuasquero, Flavio Santi (Ayuy Yu), who has travelled from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Vancouver.
In a small group of 13 people or less, Flavio will share his sacred wayusa tea & lead a tobacco medicine ceremony for collective healing. We will discover the healing properties of the grandfather tobacco plant medicine direct from the Ecuadorian Jungle, spiritually cultivated by Flavio's family for generations. A few drops of the liquid tobacco infusion is taken through the nose and serves to clear negative energy, cleanse the sinuses, and open the third eye.
Suggested donation is $45-$65 per person, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Indigenous Ayuy Yu led efforts to protect their ancestral rainforests and headwaters in the Ecuadorian Amazon. For more details about Flavio and his mission visit: https://wayusaschool.com
When: Wednesday, June 19
6:30 pm - Wayusa tea and storytelling with Flavio
7:30 - 9:00 pm - Tobacco ceremony
Location: address will be sent upon registration
To REGISTER please submit the following form.
(13 spaces available only)
About the Wayusa Tea
Wayusa (ilex guayusa) is an emblematic dreaming tea of the Kichwa people and revered by many communities in the Amazon, and often it is prepared over a fire and consumed before sunrise to connect with their ancestors. Yachaks, or wise elders, have discovered that this medicinal plant can help them achieve clarity to interpret their dreams in order to protect their community and sacred homelands.
Primarily utilized for spiritual awareness in the dream state and for protection while traversing the jungle and/or adverse energies, wayusa possesses a plethora of physically and spiritually healing properties. It acts as a mild diuretic, and it cleanses the urinary tract, prostate, and blood, as well as improves digestion and elimination.
About the Amazonian Tobacco
Sacred Amazonian tobacco, grown naturally on the land, has been a powerful teacher to countless Indigenous communities for generations. The spirit of tobacco is vastly protective, deeply cleansing, grounding, and transformative. Yachaks (elder wisdom holders, teachers) use fresh or dried tobacco leaves, liquid tobacco infusions, and tobacco smoke (never inhaled) to connect with ancestral spirits, and to heal their patients with profound universal energies.
How is "tobacco wine" prepared and used as a healing infusion? The vino de tabaco or "tobacco wine" is made of dried tobacco leaves that have been naturally grown and prepared by families who pray and fast with the plants in the Ayuy Yu territory of the Ecuadorian Amazon. A small amount of dried tobacco leaves are heated over a fire then steeped in boiling wayusa tea or hot water until the liquid is sufficiently saturated to a dark brown colour. The two-part process of heating and boiling serves to purify the medicine for safe ingestion. The liquid infusion is then administered up the nose, with a few droplets inhaled through each nostril. This is followed by a quiet meditation facing the sun. The infusion is typically taken 1- 2 times in one ceremony. The immediate effects last about 5 - 10 minutes, and may include slight nausea, mild dizziness, quickened breathing, and a tingling or stinging in the throat and sinuses. In rare cases, the tobacco induces vomiting as it purges toxins from the body. This medicine is immensely cleansing to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies, and is highly revered for its powerful healing and grounding capacities. The tobacco ceremonies take place at dawn or dusk, to commune with the ancestors, to honour the earth, and to receive information through the vast and magnificent rays of the sun.