|
The Peyote Religion Among the American Indians
by Patty Yuen
NOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
INTRODUCTION
The use of Peyote has long been referred to as a cult "...which
we found springing into existence when old ways of life (of the
American Indian) are being destroyed by a powerful and
technologically more advanced culture ..." thus also classifying it
as a revitalization movement.
Today, peyote use has become the most popular, and one of the
most durable of all the religious movements created by American
Indians as a result of the suffering as the effects of domination
by American society. Peyote use (in the United States) has thus
evolved into what is more accurately described as a religion: a
system of symbols which produces powerful, pervasive and long-
lasting moods and motivations by formulating conceptions of a
general order of existence.
The rite as it came to the United States was aboriginal in
character, and had no hint of influence of any other religion.
Today, the Peyote religion can be characterized as the combination
of beliefs tinged with Christianity and rituals which are
distinctly Indian. The peyote cactus is central to the religion for
its effects after ingestion and for its symbolism. For them, the
cactus is the basis for their communication with God, and their
cure for all bodily and spiritual ailments--a palladium, power and
panacea.
In spite of opposition from traditional and Christian Indians,
who oppose the cult fear and hate Peyote, and from the Indian
Service, doctors, missionaries, and traders, the religion has been
passed from the land of the ancient Aztec empire to the Mexican
Indians, and beginning in 1870's, spread to the United States,
especially in the Plains, where nearly all groups use it. It is
today one of the major religions of most Indians of the United
States between the rocky Mountains and the Mississippi, from the
territories spanning from Nevada to Wisconsin, and even up to
Southern Canada and parts of the Great Basin. The appeal of peyote
is based upon the visions it induces, and its "medicine power," and
its availability in doctoring is culturally based upon the
aboriginal vision quest of the American Indians and the ideological
premises of this quest.
PEYOTE
The Plant
Peyote, or Lophophora williamsii is a small, low-growing
spineless cactus, and ranges in shape from a turnip to
carrot-shape. It does not have branches or leaves, but has tufts of
hair or fuzz which are said to cause sore eyes or blindness. The
flesh and roots are eaten by peyotists. The rounded top surface,
which alone appears above the soil (and which cut off and dried,
popular method of preparation, becomes the peyote-button) makes it
difficult to find. It grows mainly in areas of Texas and Mexico,
and was first discovered in 1560. It contains nine narcotic
alkaloids, the most important of which is mescaline, which produces
profound sensory and psychic derangements, or hallucinations
lasting about twenty-four hours. It is this property of the peyote
which led the native American Indian to value and use it
religiously.
It is interesting to note that throughout the world, people use
many substances to create special psychological states such as the
opiates, marijuana, coca, alcohol, etc. These are often used in
magical contexts, for instance, for divination, to create a trance,
visions, or dreams. But peyote is the only substance known which is
used to create a special psychological state in service of
religious ends. Cult members face persecution and imprisonment in
order to use peyote for religious purposes. Another interesting
point is that given the wide range of the plant genera in Eastern
and Western worlds, why is it that in America, the American Indians
knew of some forty local species of hallucinogens, while the rest
of the world had scarcely half a dozen.
Physiology of Peyote Intoxication
Physiologically, the most noted characteristics of peyote is its
production of visual hallucinations or color visions, as well as
the derangements of olfactory, auditory, and touch senses.
Typically, the first stage in the reaction to the ingestion of
peyote is exhilaration (which may result in the allaying of hunger
and thirst on the long pilgrimage to peyote land in order to obtain
the drug, to give courage in war, and strength in dancing, and
racing, etc.) which is produced by the strychnine-like alkaloids,
followed by the second stage, characterized by profound depression,
nausea and wakefulness, mild analgesia, and a sensation of fullness
in the stomach or loss of appetite. If dosage continues, there may
be active nauseam and a feeling of tightness in the chest, some
muscular tetany (particularly evident in the jaw muscles), and
finally, under the influence of the morphine-like alkaloids,
heightened sensitivity to nuances of sound, color form and texture.
If dosage continues, brilliant color visions are produced with eyes
open or closed. There are no ill after-effects, and peyote is not
known to be habit-forming. It is in the latter stage where "running
amok," witchcraft-suspicion, psychic fear-states, euphoria and
feeling of brotherhood, partial anesthesia, the "suffering to learn
something" (characteristic of the Plains vision quest),
hallucinations which teaches the worshiper sacred songs of peyote,
and "learning" of painting and bead designs, symbolical birds and
feathers, etc.
Reasons for the Use of Peyote in Ritual Practice
"For American Indians from the most ancient times, this
experience (induced by peyote) of `medicine power' -- sought
...everywhere at least by shamans or medicine men..." -- motivated
American Indians to explore a plant that resulted in such
impressive experiences by the worshippers. The question arises, why
are these characteristics of peyote so important to a religion? The
visions are not critical to the peyotist, as one may have been led
to believe; in fact they are rare or absent in a large percentage
of cases, and even devalued by many peyotists, although welcomed by
many others.
What I found to believe that makes peyote so religiously
important is the feeling of personal significance of external and
internal stimuli that hallucinogenics, in particular peyote, create
because the physiological reactions occur in the person,
subjectively. Each person is experiencing his own similar, but
distinct reaction, and examining his own thoughts, which cannot be
exactly the same as the next person's. "Personal significance
heightens the religious experience in the peyote meeting because it
supplies evident proof that something is being done to and for the
human organism and it is felt as a power."
This feeling of personal significance asks, "What does this mean
for me?" For example, if the worshipper is ill, he will be able to
ask his own bodily sensations and the events of the meeting for an
understanding of why he is ill and whether he is likely to get
better. Or if he is anxious or depressed, or guilt-ridden, he can
examine these feelings and the reasons for them and seek in his
experience a clue as to whether he is forgiven, needs to worry, or
can ever be happy. These are generally referred to as revelations.
"Users may find personal significance in the events of the peyote
meeting, the physical surroundings, their fellow participants and
in their behavior and expressions, visions, nausea, indigestion,
headache or simply in their own ruminations."
Peyote is a religious adjunct-and aid to a special and personal
experience. Many other religions also have, for the same purposes,
such adjuncts such as fasting, repetitive prayer, trance,
self-torture, etc. These, like the peyote experience are
other-than-usual experiences which, in the context of religious
ritual, is usually identified as having to do with the
supernatural. The mind-moving effect of the plant was proof enough
to them that it has supernatural mana or "power."
THE RITUAL USE OF PEYOTE
Symbolism of the Ritual
To the users of peyote, the peyote is in itself, is a power that
works from the outside. It is a teacher who can show a man the
right way to live and answer his questions by giving him an
experience to live through.
Through the use of peyote in the ritual, one is able to
communicate with the Creator, or in more syncretized tribes, God.
The ritual is also regarded as a communion with one's fellow
worshippers. Prayer, song, drumming and the eating of peyote are
all regarded as forms of communication with God, and the reactions
brought on by the drug is regarded as communication from Him ---
through reflection, illumination, or visual or auditory
hallucinations. The communion with fellow peyotists is felt through
the joint eating of peyote, the singing, confessions, in the
drinking of water together at midnight and dawn and in the
ceremonial breakfast which closes the meeting.
Purpose
A peyote meeting is generally held for a purpose, one of the most
common reasons is for curing. Some other reasons for a meeting to
be called can range from averting evil, promoting future good, or
thanking God for past blessings to celebrating a child's birth, a
death, obtaining rain, to divine and combat sorcery, to locate an
enemy at war, finding lost objects, foretell the future, and to
"see the face of Jesus" or the faces of dead relatives. Some tribes
even hold meetings on New Years Eve, Christmas, and Easter.
Doctoring the sick is, however the commonest reason for calling a
meeting, but a quote from an old Indian states that, however, when
a man wishes to have a meeting, he ordinarily finds little
difficulty in discovering a reason for it, "In the early days they
just had a good time for one night. It was not used as a curing
ceremony then... at first they wanted to have good visions, that's
what they were after. But then, recently, they began to use it as
medicine for sick people."
The Peyote Rite
The ceremonial use of peyote varies greatly from tribe to tribe,
but a general, or "universal" outline of a peyote ritual will be
sufficient.
For those tribes who live beyond the habitat of peyote, they may
have to make pilgrimages in order to obtain peyote. For many
Mexican journeys, it is very ritualized, for example, they must
walk, some tribes require fasting even if the journey may last for
a month. But for the majority, this journey is not ritualized,
although there is a modest ceremony at the site. For example, on
finding the first plant, a Kiowa pilgrim sits west of it, rolls a
cornshuck cigarette and prays, "I have found you, now open up, show
me where the rest of you are; I want to use you to pray for the
health of my people." He sings and eats green plants while
harvesting them; only the tops are taken, so that the roots may
regenerate buds for the next pilgrimage. In Mexican tribes, the
first button they find is saved as a "father peyote" for meetings
later, in the plains, it is the largest one.
In preparation, many tribes commonly take a sweatbath, while some
require a washing of the hair in yucca suds. Fasting, perfuming of
the body with mint, sage, or other scented plants are also common
preparations in order to cleanse the body for the meeting. An
universal peyotist restriction is that salt may not be eaten on the
day that peyote is eaten. It is also considered hygienically if not
ethically unwise to use peyote in alcoholic drinks; indeed, many
become peyotists in order to cure their alcoholic addictions.
The sponsor selects the leader, or himself acts as one. If a tipi
is used, the sponsor's womenfolk erect the tipi, or enclosure,
prepare and bring the food and water the next morning. The sponsor
stands the cost of the meeting, or others may help in funding the
peyote if it has to be purchased. Communicants may bring their own
supply of buttons.
The leader also supplies the paraphernalia: typical requirements
are a staff, gourd rattle or rasp, eagle-bone whistle, and his
personal "feathers" for doctoring. Each item has specific symbolic
meaning in representing the idealogy of their creation.
The road chief is the most important individual in a meeting.
"The leader of each ceremony is the sole director of it. He may
base his ceremony partly on visions during previous ceremonies. In
other cases, he follows ceremonies that he has participated in,
changing or adding details to suit his personal ideas. No two
ceremonies conducted by different individuals are therefore exactly
alike; but the general course of all is similar." -- This variation
in leadership is also seen as a function of leadership -- he has
full authority to change the ceremony in any way he wishes, and his
permission must be asked and secured even in such little matters as
leaving the meeting temporarily; even the fireman, his chief
assistant must obtain his permission, and constantly consults with
him throughout the ceremony for directions. -- In fact, peyote
leadership is a matter of prestige in a tribe, and a major means of
advancement among the fellow tribe, since each tribe has a limited
number of recognized peyote leaders. For example, the Pawnee tribe
has only eight recognized leaders in a population of eight hundred.
Participants gather at sundown and enter the enclosure anytime
after nightfall, in a clockwise manner. Entrance is generally
informal. The road chief, who conducts the meeting may say a brief
prayer: "I am going into my place of worship. Be with us
tonight."-- The road chief sits west of the fire, which has been
started by the fire chief who sits north of the door. Two other
officials are required: a drummer chief, who does most of the
drumming; he sits south of the road chief, and the cedar chief, who
sprinkles dried cedar incense on the fire at several points of the
ceremony is seated to his right. Almost any one can learn these
roles after a little observation. A road chief is trained more
elaborately by another road chief. In front of them is a raised
crescent moon of earth, and the altar, where the father peyote is
placed. Father peyote should be the focus of concentration in
praying, singing, drumming, and smoking ritual cigarettes as it
serves as a center for communication with God.
Some individuals cherish and prize their father peyotes. Some
even become heirlooms. If one gives his away, or loses it, he may
be subject to misfortunes.
A prayer, and smoking together is the first ceremony which
announces the purpose of the meeting. The papers to roll the
tobacco is usually made of corn husks. All pray privately, and then
the incense ceremony follows. The cedar man will sprinkle cedar on
the fire. The scent will protect them from feeling weak or dizzy.
Peyote is then passed around and eaten. Peyote is generally eaten
in the raw dried state as "buttons" but, when obtainable, in the
green form also, which is said to be more potent. Peyote "tea," a
dark-brown infusion of soaked and boiled buttons may also be
provided. This method is commonly used to administer peyote to the
old and sick, who may be unable to chew the buttons, and are unable
to pick the fuzz off, which is believed to cause blindness.
Singing and drumming begin, continuing until midnight. There are
four "peyote songs" which must be sung throughout the course of the
night, usually by the road chief: Hayatinayo (Opening Song),
Yahiyano (Midnight Song), Wakaho (Daylight Song), and Gayatina
(Closing Song). During this time, the paraphernalia, staff, drum,
tobacco, peyote, etc., are passed around to the left, in a
clockwise circuit, for all participants to handle.
At about midnight, when the midnight song is sung, a bucket of
water is brought in by a female, usually the wife of the road
chief, who is usually referred to as Peyote Woman, who, according
to some tribe's legends discovered peyote. In the early days, women
were prohibited to attend in meetings, and only old men used
peyote, but forty or fifty years ago, women started coming in to be
doctored and gradually came in for other reasons, though they could
not use the ritual paraphernalia; under no circumstances may a
menstruant woman enter.-- The restriction against women appears to
apply only to groups who early had peyote, when it still had a
flavor of a warriors' society about it. It is in the mexican
practices where women are able to fully participate, and in a few
cases where a woman acts as road chief.
The water is passed around after prayers by various officiants.
After midnight water, singing and drumming recommence, and peyote
is again passed around. Public confessions are common, lengthy
prayers for the purpose the meeting is held begin and continue
until dawn, where a morning water ceremony, like the midnight
ceremony, is held, after the four songs are completed. Again, it is
brought in by a woman, whether she has participated in the meeting
or not, and is followed by more singing and drumming, and prayers
for the purpose and for the worshippers themselves. This ceremony
is the morning "baptism" or "curing" rite. Singing and drumming
again, and then the meeting closes with a ceremonial breakfast of
parched corn, boneless meat, fruit, and water. A lot of joking, and
discussion of the night's events and experiences occur. And at
sometime between ten in the morning and one in the afternoon, a
large meal is served.
Beliefs and Values of the Power of Peyote
Peyotists believe in the existence of power, spirits, and
incarnations of power. "...[Power] is an immaterial and invisible
supernatural force..." which man needs in order to be successful
and healthy; without it he becomes unsuccessful and ill...God, who
is equated with the Great Spirit, or the Creator, is the ultimate
source of power. This power is personified as the Peyote spirit.
Peyote "was given to the Indians by God because he took pity on
them for being a subject people --- poor, weak, helpless and
ignorant...God made the Peyote cactus..., and put some of his power
into it," in order to help the Indians. Therefore when one eats
peyote, he absorbs the power inherent in it, which he can then
utilize to cure and to understand the world and one's place in it.
The amount of peyote eaten usually is minimally, four buttons.
Some have eaten 75 to 100 or more, but the average is a third or a
fourth of this. The reason for such large quantities being that
there is a certain prestige in eating and retaining large amounts
of peyote. --- But peyote is not as predictable as one may think.
An overdose may cause one to vomit, and this is regarded as a
punishment of one's sins, but it cleanses the body of its
impurities in the process and purifies the blood. The belief in
peyote as a protection against witchcraft is widespread. Vomiting
of the peyote is attributed to witchcraft forced upon by a powerful
shaman, for in Mexico and the Southwest, war and witching are often
done while under the influence of peyote. "A favorite device of
witches to weaken the leader was to make his assistants vomit the
peyote."
Non-Ritual Uses of Peyote
In many instances, peyote is used to prophecize and to divine.
Peyote is also carried in pouches as amulets as charms against all
injuries and illnesses, and is also a powerful protection against
witchcraft in foot races, which are common in Mexican tribes, held
usually at night before a meeting. Rivals are liable to throw bones
and obstructions on the track and cause the Tarahumari runner to be
bewitched and lose the race.
Peyote is also used to topically cure wounds. A salve is made out
of peyote and fat, and is put on to snakebites, arrow wounds,
bruises, etc. Therapeutic uses of peyote also vary from relieving
cramps, fainting spells, painful joints, rheumatism, head-aches,
fever, and colds. In the Plains, a Wichita case of blindness of 15
years was cured by the sole application of peyote infusion. One of
the most remarkable instances is the curing of a Cheyenne woman of
liver cancer, which had been declared hopeless at a white hospital,
although a meeting was called for this purpose.
Peyote is also used in war for courage, in order to not feel
fatigue in long journeys, etc. Peyote in fact gave power to perform
shamanistic tricks in the old days.
PEYOTISM AS A NATIVISTIC MOVEMENT
Revitalization movement: "a deliberate, organized, conscious
effort by members of society to construct a more satisfying
culture" as a result of real or imagined conditions that create a
demand for change. A nativistic movement, such as peyotism, is a
form of a revitalization movement that is defined by Linton as,
"Any conscious, organized attempt on the part of a society's
members to revive or perpetuate selected aspects of its culture."
Further evidence that the peyote religion is revitalitic mis that
several types of deprivation that are prevalent in the Indians'
situation is noted to be the causal link in which leads individuals
to join such a religion, the cause of the rapid spread of Peyotism.
These are:
(1) - economic deprivation. In the American Indian's case, the
lost of their possessions, such as livestock and land.
(2) - organismic deprivation. This applies to the feeling of the
reduction of one's worth among his fellows. If "...one's membership
category is seen as distinctly below standard, (The American Indian
is stills regarded with prejudice) this represents behavioral
(organismic) deprivation" (Aberle).
(3) - ethical deprivation is the result of the loss of hierarchy
which used to be regarded with reverence amongst the tribes. With
the introduction of reservations and with Indians, involvement in
white man's world, these traditions become less adhered to.
(4) - psychic deprivation, which results in the search for new
meaning and values, and
(5) - social deprivation, which refers to the loss of power felt
as an American Indian. For instance, he is unable to control events
on/ of the reservations as a result of white man's laws, and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
CONCLUSION
Peyotism seeks a more satisfying way of life for Indian
individuals in this world, in spite of the difficulties that
confront Indians. Peyotism's only organized efforts at
institutional change are those aimed at altering the legal status
of the practice itself. Peyotism does not believe in changes of
individual habit alone, but sees changes in belief, custom,
behavior, and style of life as proceeding from a change of inner
state. This is the stated goal of the Native American Church. In a
sense, peyotism turns its face from the white world, but it has an
ethic that is adaptive for the American Indian in his situation in
America. Its stress on abstinence from alcohol, on hard work,
self-support, sexual morality and responsibility for one's family
is adaptive for those groups partially integrated in our
industrialized society.
***
December 4, 1989
WORKS CITED
Aberle, David F. The Peyote Religion. Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Artaud, Antonin. The Peyote Dance. New York: Farrar, Strauss and
Giroux, Inc., 1976.
Benitez, Fernando. In The Magic Land of Peyote. Austin and
London: University of Texas Press, 1911.
LaBarre, Weston. The Peyote Cult. Connecticut: The Shoe String
Press, 1975.
Lehmann, Arthur C. and Meyers, James E. Magic, Witchcraft, and
Religion. California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1989.
Siskin, Edgar E. Washo Shamans and Peyotists. Utah: University of
Utah Press, 1983.
NOTES
1 Lehman, Arthur C, and Meyers, James E. Magic, Witchcraft, and
Religion (California: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1989) p.126.
2 Aberle, David F. The Peyote Religion.(Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press, 1982).
3 Aberle, p.34.
4 Aberle.
5 LaBarre, Weston. The Peyote Cult.(Connecticut: The Shoestring
Press, 1975) p.xv.
6 LaBarre, p.xv.
7 LaBarre, p.xv.
8 Aberle, p.8.
9 Aberle
10 Aberle, p.10.
11 LaBarre, p.xv.
12 Lehmann, p.126.
13 Aberle, p.59.
14 LaBarre, p.58.
15 LaBarre, p.8.
16 Siskin, Edgar E. Washo Shamans and Peyotists.(Utah: University
of Utah Press, 1983).
17 LaBarre, p.43.
18 Benitez, Fernando. In The Magic Land of Peyote. (Austin and
London: University of Texas Press, 1911).
19 LaBarre, p.63.
20 Artaud, Antonin. The Peyote Dance. (New York: Farrar, Strauss
and Giroux, Inc., 1976).
21 Artaud.
22 Benitez.
23 LaBarre, p.60.
24 LaBarre, p.26.
25 LaBarre, p.65.
26 LaBarre, p.42.
27 Artaud.
28 LaBarre, p.87.
29 LaBarre, p.29.
30 Aberle, p.338.
31 Aberle, p.338.
32 Aberle, p.334.
33 Aberle, p.335.
|
|