Amazonian Plant Medicines · Guide Index

Amazonian Plant Medicines: The Complete Guide

The traditional plant — and one animal — medicines of the Amazon, each with its own lineage and use. Choose a medicine below to open its full guide, or head straight to the shop.

An Indigenous Amazonian family making rapé — grinding and sifting the fine powdered snuff medicine by hand through cloth sieves on a wooden porch
Rapé made by hand — an Amazonian family grinding and sifting the fresh snuff to the right fine consistency.
In short

"Amazonian shamanic medicines" is a family of traditional preparations — snuffs, eye drops, resins, barks and one frog secretion — used by Amazonian peoples in ceremony and daily life for grounding, presence and connection. They are cultural and spiritual traditions, not approved medical treatments. This page is your index to each one.

The directory

The Medicines of the Amazon, Plant by Plant

Each of these has its own dedicated, honestly-written guide — covering what it is, how the tribes traditionally work with it, what the evidence does and doesn't show, and how to use it with care. Pick one to go deeper, or visit its collection in the shop.

Rapé (Hapé) A fine ceremonial snuff of jungle tobacco and alkaline tree ash, blown into the nostrils through a kuripe or tepi for grounding and presence.
Sananga Golden eye drops from the root bark of Tabernaemontana sananho, used traditionally to sharpen perception and clear panema.
Bobinsana A flowering riverbank tree (Calliandra angustifolia) taken as tea, tincture or rapé; a gentle "plant teacher" of the heart in Amazonian tradition.
Kambô A secretion of the giant monkey tree frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor), used in a traditional Amazonian cleansing rite sometimes called "warrior medicine."
Dragon's Blood The deep-red sap of Croton lechleri (sangre de grado), used traditionally on the skin and as an Amazonian folk remedy.
Copaiba A resin-oil tapped from Copaifera trees, long valued in Amazonian tradition and widely used today in balms and cosmetics.
Mulungu The bark of the coral tree (Erythrina mulungu), used in Brazilian folk tradition as a calming botanical for unwinding and settling into restful sleep.
Palo Santo "Holy wood" (Bursera graveolens), burned as a fragrant cleansing smoke across South America.

Guides in Progress

We're still writing full guides for a few more traditional medicines — Yopo (the visionary