I practice this, with Nicotiana rustica. It is very powerful and can be done alone, not just in connection with another ceremony.

Singado, interesting word, I have never heard this word before but clearly it is a hybrid Quechua-Spanish word from the Quechua "sinka," nose, and the Spanish past participle ending.

Hello to all:

My name is Luis Jara and I live in Santiago de Chile (Sorry for my Language) I found this site looking for Icaros, and I´m very happy. I hope to tell you more about my knowledge of the Tobacco and other things. I share my spiritual interest with the Familiy of Santa Sofia de lo Cañas, of the Red Path of Itzachilatlan. Going to the point, the chingado we use them to open the chakra of the head (corona) and open the connection with the spirits, is usefull to prepare the body for other medicines, like the Grandfather San Pedro or Grandmother Ayahuasca. First we take it for the left hole of the nose and then for the right. If we feel that is not open the connection we take another round. We take it using a syringe or a shell or with the hand. Is very usefull for clean the body (limpia). The idea is that the juice enter to your stomage. And obviously is used in ceremonies to rise pray to the Grand Spirit, God. There is a Ceremony called of the "Four Tobaccoes". First the Taita present the general purpouse of the ceremony (For the happiness, health, Florecimiento, etc), and pray and ask to the spirits, then each one prepare his Tobacco, and present his personal purpose to the seven direction and spirits. Then we take medicine and sing Icaros, to the end of the songs the Man of Fire (The guardian) prepare a Tobacco and raise a Pray to the Water (and speech about the Water and ours waters), and at last, when the sun rise for the Mountains (The hour of power) the Taita prepare a Tobacco and the Woman of the Alivios bless the Food. There is other way called Rapé and is powder of tobacco. I´ll hope answer his questions.

All we are a only one Familiy!!

Saludos,

Luis J.A.

Re this topic, the Singado is a part of the shamanic tradition of northern Peru (La Mesa Norteña).
I'm posting an extract from an interview with a San Pedro Maestro Juan Navarro, in which the subject of the Singado is discussed. And by the way it can taste awful particulary when the macerated tobacco juice is swallowed!

Best wishes.................Howard

Article extract as follows;
talking with Juan Navarro

What is the relationship of the maestro with San Pedro?

In the north of Peru the power of San Pedro works in combination with tobacco. Also the sacred lakes Las Huaringas are very important. This is where we go to find the most powerful healing herbs which we use to energize our people. For example we use dominio [linking one's intent with the spirit power of the plants] to give strength and protection from supernatural forces such as sorcery and negative thoughts. It is also put into the seguros - amulet bottles filled with perfume, plants and seeds gathered from Las Huaringas. You keep them in your home for protection and to make your life go well. These plants do not have any secondary effects on the nervous system, nor do they provoke hallucinations. San Pedro has strength and is mildly hallucinatory, but you cannot become addicted. It doesn't do any harm to your body, rather it helps the maestro to see what the problem is with his patient. Of course some people have this gift born in them - as our ancestors used to say, it is in the blood of a shaman.

Is San Pedro a 'teacher plant'?

Of course, but it has a certain mystery.You have to be compatible with it because it doesn't work for everybody.The shaman has a special relationship with it. It circulates in the body of the patient and where it finds abnormality it enables the shaman to detect it. It lets him know the pain they feel and whereabouts it is. So it is the link between patient and maestro. It also purifies the blood of the person who drinks it. It balances the nervous system so people lose their fears, frights and traumas, and it charges people with positive energy. Everyone must drink so that the maestro can connect with them. Only the dose may vary from person to person because not everyone is as strong.

What about the singado? (inhalation of tobacco juice through the nostrils)
The tobacco leaf is left for two to three months in contact with honey, and when required for the singado it is macerated with aguardiente, or alcohol. How it functions depends on which nostril is used; when taken in by the left side it is for liberating us of negative energy, including psychosomatic ills, pains in the body, bad influences of other people - or 'envy' as we call it here. As you take it in you must concentrate on the situation which is going badly, or the person which is giving out a negative energy.

When taken through the right nostril it is for rehabilitating and energizing, so that your projects go well. It's not for getting high on. Afterwards you can spit the tobacco out or swallow it, it doesn t matter. It has an interrelation with the san pedro in the body, and intensifies the visionary effects.

Tobacco is an important plant in the ceremonies - can you smoke in the session? No, no, no. It may be the same plant but here another element comes into play, which is fire. As the session is carried out in darkness, the fire in the darkness can perturb, create a negative reflection or vision. It can cause trauma.

You use a chungana (rattle) during the san pedro sessions and I 'see' the sound as a beam of a light penetrating the darkness.

Yes, sound and light are interrelated. Chunganas are used to invoke the spirits of the dead, whether of family or of great healers, so that they may feel comfortable with us. the chunganas are to give us 'enchantment' (protection and positive energy) and it has a relaxing effect when taking san pedro.

What is the power of the artes - the objects on the mesa?

They come from Las Huaringas, where a special energy is bestowed on everything, including the healing herbs which grow there and nowhere else. If you bathe in the lakes it takes away all your ills. You bathe with the intention of leaving everything negative behind. People go there to leave their enemies behind, so they can't do them any harm. After bathing, the maestro cleanses you with these artes, swords, bars, chontas (bamboo staffs), saints, and even huacos (the powers from ancient sacred sites). They 'flourish' you - spraying you with agua florida (perfume) and herb macerations, and giving you sweet things like limes and honey, so your life flourishes.

We maestros also need to go to Las Huaringas regularly because we make enemies from healing people, so we need to protect ourselves. The reason for this is that two forces exist: the good and the bad. The bad forces are from the pacts which the brujos (sorcerors with negative intentions) make with the devil. The brujo is the rival of the curandero or healer. So when the curandero heals, he makes an enemy of the brujo. It's not so much because he sends the bad magic back, as because he does the opposite thing to him, and they want supremacy in the battle. Not far from Las Huaringas is a place called Sondor, which has its own lakes. This is where evil magic is practiced and where they do harm in a variety of ways. I know because as a curandero I must know how sorcery is practiced, in order to defend myself and my patients.