Peyote

What is Peyote and its effects?-sometimes called Mescal Button or the Divine Cactus-The cactus flowers occur sporadically, producing small

pink fruit, which can be delectable and bitter-sweet-tasting when eaten. The seeds are small and black, requiring hot and humid conditions to germinate. Indigenous to Mexico and Southwestern United States

- principal active ingredient is the hallucinogen mescaline. Proven to be 1000-3000 times less potent than LSD

- The buttons of the cactus are either dried and eaten or used in tea. It is reported to trigger states of deep introspection and insight that have been described as being of a metaphysical or spiritual nature. Hallucinations are envisioned with rich visual or auditory effects.

Religious Purposes

• "Peyote is a spiritual medicine. It can bring us in touch with the God within us, our Heavenly Father and our Earthly Mother. Peyote puts us in balance again with the Earth underneath our feet... Peyote is a plant sacrament. It is a plant teacher. It is a way of life. Our time in these bodies is brief. When we eat the Peyote we experience time and eternity, and it is from that vantage that, the next day, we can live our life in a very positive and non- trivial way, realizing that this day could be the last and everyone around us is our brother and sister and we need each other." -Rabbi Matthew S. Kent

The Native American Church

• Some times derogatorily called the Peyote Cult, it is a pan-Indian movement

• Members seek visions by eating the cactus as a sacrament during church meetings.

• Meetings are held in a tipi and involves rattles, bone whistles from dusk to dawn.

• Church Doctrine is a mixture of Christianity and traditional belief

The Peyote Way Church

• Another church that believes in the sacrament of the peyote

• Beliefs:1. Peyote is a sacrament for all the children of the Earth. No one church and no one race can own it.2. Remember the sacred nature of birth and death and show reverence in all your celebrations.3. God is neither male nor female. It is the essence of both, and the source of all things visible and invisible.4. As long as Peyote is an endangered species, it is more blessed to grow the Holy Sacrament than to consume it.5. The holy plant sacraments are given by mother Earth for all people. They are to be shared with those who have been prepared and not sold.6. Humble obedience is good, but awareness is better.

Yatzie Dee-Silver Eagle,Shape Shifter

• Daily use of a substance including alcohol is considered a drug. However, using a substance through a spiritual way (reflecting on own life) makes the substance not a drug.

• Daily Reflection with the usage of drugs- “When you finally hear that CRACK, its you pulling your head out of your ass”

Native Americans and Peyote• Navajo believes that ingesting peyote is one of the rite of passage for a boy to become a man.

Peyote influenced the moral custom, socio-economic welfare, mental health and inner peace of Native American Culture.

Peyote heightens introspection and sensitizes the conscience. The worshipper examines his life meticulously to see where he has strayed from the Peyote Road because of evil thoughts and deeds. He then confesses his sins, and promises to repent and discipline himself.

Native Americans use peyote in their religious practices because of its psychoactive properties, and is usually eaten as mescal buttons, the dried, brown pieces of the above part of the cactus

'Supernatural' took pity on those persecuted and communicated spiritually to the Native Americans through the journey experienced while under the chemical effects of peyote

Road Chief is responsible for governing the main elements of peyote ritual as well as leading the participants down "The Peyote Road" or the way of learning to live life well.

 

Cont.• There are other positions in the ceremony such as Cedar Man, Fire Man, Drum Man, and Earth

Mother.

The Native American Church was introduced to the Navajos in the 1930s by the Plains Indian tribe

"Now I'm worried that the white man is going to go for it That's what they usually do. That's what we don't want to happen. I don't think it's of all white people. This natural herb peyote is used by Native Americans with more sincerity. Indian people are more serious in their mind, in their heart,

in the way they worship. Just let the Indians have it, let the Indians use, it in the way they want it, just natural. Our Identity is there."

The culture of the white man began to corrupt the Osage tribe, however with the practice of peyote religion the tribe was able to reorganize and focus inwardly with regards to their own ethical mantra. The very thing that saved the tribe is the very thing that the white man wants to abolish, again reemphasizing the notion that a non-native man has no place regarding the dealing of those who are truly native to the land they inhabit.

History of Peyote• Peyote was known to the Chichimeca and Toltec at least 1890

years before the arrival of the Europeans.

• Archaeological discoveries in dry caves and rock shelters in Texas have yielded specimens of Peyote. These specimens, found in a context suggesting ceremonial use, indicate that its use is more

than three thousand years old. • It is not known whether or not the Chichimeca were the first

Indians to discover the psychoactive properties of Peyote. Some students believe that the Tarahumara Indians, living where Peyote abounded, were the first to discover its use and that it spread from them to the Cora, the Huichol, and other tribes. Since the plant grows in many scattered localities in Mexico, it seems probable that its intoxicating properties were independently discovered by a number of tribes.

Legality

• In the United States, the use of Peyote is illegal other than those individuals who are part of the Native American Church.

• The majority of Indians in America are not in the Native American Church; thus, cannot use Peyote.

• How did Peyote use become legal for the Native American Church?

• Employment Division vs Smith (1990)

Employment Division vs Smith (1990)

• Alfred Smith, an American Indian, and Galen White, a white man, were both regular members of the Native American Church.

• They were fired after failing drug tests that tested positive for peyote indigestion. Under Oregon Law, peyote possession was illegal.

• Both filed for unemployment compensations and were denied.

• Major case that held laws prohibiting the use of peyote that do not specifically exempt religious use nevertheless do not violate the free religion clause of the First Ammendment.

Opinions in general about Peyote.

Bibliography• "Employment Division V. Smith." Erowid Courts Vault.

<http://www.erowid.org/freedom/courts/state/state_supreme_or_case1.shtml>.

• "Erowid Mescaline Vault." <http://www.erowid.org/plants/peyote/peyote_faq.shtml>.

• Evans, Richard. "A Brief History of Peyote." Healing Arts Press (Vermont) 1992. <http://www.peyote.org/>.

• "Native American Church." <http://users.lycaeum.org/~iamklaus/native.htm>.

• "Religious Use of Peyote Not Harmful to Native American." SantefeNewMexican.Com. <http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/34655.html>.

• "Welcome to Peyote Way." A Multicultural Religion Neutral Peyotist Organization. <http://www.peyoteway.org/>.

• Zimmerman, Larry J., and Brian L. Molyneaux. Native North America. New York: Macmillian, 1996. 1-180.