Sacred Hapé Ceremony: Clearing the Mind, Honoring the Spirit

Hapé—pronounced ha-PAY—is one of the oldest and most sacred spiritual tools used by indigenous tribes across the Amazon. It’s not a psychedelic. It doesn’t send you into visions. Instead, it’s a grounding, clearing, and centering medicine. It brings you back to the breath. To the earth. To your truth.

Hapé is a fine powder made from tobacco and a blend of other healing herbs. Each tribe has its own recipe, its own prayers, its own spirit woven into the mix. This powder is administered through a pipe—either self-applied (kuripe) or by another person using a tepi. The medicine is blown forcefully into each nostril.

The moment it enters, the experience is intense. Your eyes may water, your body may resist, your mind may try to run. But then… the shift. The stillness. The clarity. The breath.

The tobacco in Hapé is sacred—not the same as commercial nicotine. It’s treated as a master plant. The intention behind it is everything. Hapé is used to cleanse the mind, clear stuck energies, balance the left and right sides of the body, and open the energy channels. It’s also used for protection—energetic shielding before and after other sacred ceremonies like Ayahuasca or Kambo.

You don’t “do Hapé” for a high. You receive it as a blessing. You welcome it as a mirror, to face yourself with presence and courage. And in that space, something old can leave—and something wiser can return.

At Sacred Plants Putumayo, we treat Hapé with deep respect. We sit in silence. We breathe. We let the medicine guide. You’ll find our ceremonies woven with prayer, grounding songs, and reverence for the Earth.

Feeling called to cleanse and reset your inner compass? Explore our Sacred Plants Putumayo retreats. Subscribe for more stories of ancestral healing, and drop a comment—what would you clear out with the breath of the forest?