Peyote
Peyote is a small, spineless cactus, whose tops (or “buttons”) contain mescaline. You can chew the peyote buttons and get high for a night. The Native American Church is a peyotist organization that syncretizes some elements of indigenous spirituality with various elements of the Christian religion. They view the peyote as a sacrament, by which one can commune with God. The best peyote quote is from Quanah Parker:
“The white man goes into his church house to talk about Jesus, but the Indian goes into his tipi and talks to Jesus.”
I recently wrote a research paper on peyotism. Timothy Miller’s summary of the Native American Church is as much as you’d like to know. He read all the same books I did, but does a better job of summarizing them. Of course, he did not have to follow the same course requirements as me.
The one thing I did find that adds to Miller’s account is an understanding of Native American cosmology. Obviously, it is inadequate to lump all Native American belief systems into one generalization. But there are commonalities, especially among peyotists, and the following was genuinely helpful to me.
The most pertinent element of indigenous spirituality to the study of peyotism is cosmology. Native American cosmologies are behavioral systems, not ontological hierarchies as in western thought. That is to say that Indians do not think in terms of natural and supernatural. Rather, they see all things that act in a certain way as purposing to act in that way. In indigenous worldviews, animals, plants, and natural forces (like the sun) are experienced as persons. Native American spirituality even assumes that language is generative, not representative. Speech embodies the speaker’s intentionality to shape a reality present in the field of interpersonal dialogue. This personification of speech carries into concepts of prayer. Native Americans speak of what prayers do, and as such, the prayers are viewed as personal agents.
The behavioral nature of the Indian worldview must be remembered, along with the modern peyotist movement as a cultural rebellion against white ways, when considering the properties ascribed to peyote. The plant is said to act and discern on its own. While this sounds fanciful to the western ear, it is fully coherent in the indigenous worldview that peyotists seek to recover and protect.
For more information on Peyotism and the Native American Church click on the links to books.
