Forever the Forest

Why do rapéh blends feel so different? Explore how tobacco, plant ashes, pH, moisture, texture, origin and traditional craftsmanship shape each blend. Why Rapéh Blends Can Feel So Different Two rapéh blends can sit beside one another looking almost identical. Both may be finely ground. Both may contain tobacco. Both may have been prepared by […]

Climate change is usually described through instruments. Thermometers. Rain gauges. Satellites. Weather stations. River sensors. Computer models. Ice cores and atmospheric measurements. These tools have transformed our understanding of Earth’s climate, allowing scientists to detect changes across enormous distances and reconstruct patterns extending far into the past. But there is another form of environmental observation. […]

   A plant can be photographed. Its scientific name can be written in a database. Its leaves can be collected and its chemical compounds analyzed. But none of these things, by themselves, preserve the entire knowledge surrounding that plant. To understand traditional Amazonian medicine, we have to look beyond ingredients. Knowledge lives in people, conversations, […]

Some of the most important workers in a Brazilian forest are easy to overlook. They move quietly between flowers, fit inside spaces much smaller than familiar honeybees and maintain complex colonies within the landscape. These are Brazil’s native stingless bees. The story of stingless bees in Brazil is about far more than honey. It connects […]

   A forest has many ways of disappearing. Trees can be cut. Rivers can be polluted. Species can vanish from a territory. But a forest can also become quieter in another way: the words used to describe it can disappear. Across Amazonia, Indigenous languages hold far more than names for trees, vines, fruits and medicinal […]

The Amazon rainforest is often described through extraordinary numbers: millions of species, immense rivers, enormous stores of carbon and a forest stretching across several countries. But there is another way to understand the Amazon. It is a forest of knowledge. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples and other local communities have learned which trees provide […]

Indigenous medicine in Brazil has entered a significant new moment. In April 2026, the Brazilian Ministry of Health formally recognized specialists of Indigenous medicines within the country’s Indigenous healthcare policy and the Indigenous Health Care Subsystem of the Unified Health System. The measure explicitly recognizes pajés, shamans, Indigenous midwives, root specialists and other specialists known […]

What Is Mulateiro? The Amazonian Tree Known as the Tree of Youth What is mulateiro, and why has this remarkable Amazonian tree become known as the “Tree of Youth”? Recognized by its tall, straight trunk and smooth bark that continually changes appearance, mulateiro has long been valued in parts of the Amazon for practical, botanical […]

Rapé and Meditation: Understanding the Relationship Between Ritual, Breath and Presence Rapé and meditation are sometimes brought together in ceremonial, spiritual and contemplative settings. People who encounter this relationship may hear words such as grounding, intention, silence, prayer, cleansing and presence. Yet understanding the subject responsibly requires more than repeating modern wellness language. Rapé—also written […]