Ebene – A snuff prepared from the beans of an Amazonian tree of the nutmeg family (genus Virola), which is either snorted through tubes (sometimes bird bones) or blown into the nostrils, inducing purifying vomiting and dramatic, musical visions and altered styles of communication (especially through singing) between shamans and significant other-than-human persons, including animals, plants, and the earth. By this means, shamans learn and perform cosmological and healing songs and chants. Unlike some other plant derivatives with similar effects, ebene is also used recreationally by other people, as it can result in displays of affection and emotion that are normally socially constrained.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007
