According to some Native American traditions, at the time of creation each one of the plant people was given two gifts: the power of beauty and the power of healing. In the traditional way, there is no such thing as a weed, for all plants are beautiful and all plants are useful.
There are two aspects to the healing power of the plant people. First, and easiest for non-Indians to understand, specific plants can be made into medicines which promote healing. At the present time, pharmacists acknowledge that over 200 plants used for medicinal purposes by Indians have been incorporated into modern medicines.
The healing power of plants is, however, not limited to the physical use of the plant to promote healing. Plants are living things and were given the power of healing. This means that plants also have a non-material side with regard to healing. Indian people often tap into this spiritual power of plants in healing ceremonies. The use of sage and other plants, for example, as a smudge to help purify also makes a spiritual connection between people and plants.
According to some Native American traditions, the gift given to human beings at the time of creation was the power of the dream. It is through the dream that humans are able to communicate with all of the other parts of creation. Some plants, such as Grandfather Peyote, help us dream. Indian people have been using peyote in ceremonies for thousands of years. The European invaders, however, have taken a different view of peyote and consider it to be a “dangerous drug” and therefore an illegal substance.
Peyote is a small, spineless, turnip-shaped cactus (Lophophora williamsii) which grows in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. Peyote contains nine alkaloid substances, including mescaline, which are hallucinogenic, that is, they can induce dreams or visions. While peyote has often been confused with the mescal bean and with mescaline, it is the combination of alkaloids within peyote which contribute to the effects of eating it. In his book Southwestern Indian Ceremonials, Tom Bahti writes:
“Reactions to peyote seem to vary with the social situations under which it is used.”
Long before the European invasion of the Americas, American Indians living in what is now Mexico began using peyote ceremonially. It has been estimated that Native people have been using peyote ceremonially for at least 10,000 years. The tops of the cactus, called “buttons”, are extremely bitter in taste and often induce vomiting, but they do have psychedelic properties. With regard to the ancient use of peyote, Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin, in their book The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, report:
“It is likely that peyote was used then, as in more recent times, to heal, to pray, to prophesy, to locate lost articles and to seek spiritual aid.”
Tom Bahti writes:
“Its first usage was primarily medicinal in nature; in the visions induced by peyote the patient made contact with supernatural powers which restored his health. Vomiting caused by nausea got rid of the sickness and left one spiritually purified.”
It should also be noted that both visions and vomiting are incorporated into many traditional Native American ceremonies.
Many of the plants which were used for healing purposes by American Indians have been incorporated into modern medicines. Some researchers have noted increasing evidence that peyote has beneficial therapeutic uses in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, and anxiety. These conditions are often associated with altered or injured serotonin systems. Peyote appears to mimic serotonin and thus may help individuals who suffer from ailments where it is lacking or ineffectual.
The Native American Church
During the last few decades of the nineteenth century, Indian reservations were often run as concentration camps for the purpose of cultural genocide. The goal was the eradication of Indian cultures, particularly Native religious practices. Tom Bahti reports:
“The drastic and demoralizing changes caused by reservation life made the Indian people receptive to a new religious philosophy that gave them a sense of well being and pride and stressed the importance of the ‘Indian-ness’ of the participants. It was a religion of hope for a beaten people and its followers benefitted spiritually, physically and mentally.”
One of the enduring religions that emerged at this time was the Native American Church. Unlike many nineteenth-century cultural revitalization movements, the Native American Church was, and still is, a pan-Indian movement and is not culturally associated with any particular tribal tradition. As a religion, the Native American Church incorporated Christian concepts and used peyote as a sacrament. In his book Crying for a Dream, Richard Erdoes writes that the
“peyote religion was a blend of native and Christian beliefs.”
He goes on to point out that
“The missionaries did not take kindly to the new faith, calling peyote a barrier to civilization”.
According to anthropologist Edward H. Spicer, in his book A Short History of the Indians of the United States, the Native American Church
“was opposed vigorously by Whites, especially Protestant missionaries and ministers” and “it was regarded as dangerous by Christian missionaries who held that it made conversion to Christianity difficult or impossible.”
In his entry on the peyote religion in the Handbook of North American Indians, Omer Stewart describes it this way:
“It is a pan-Indian movement that helps the Indians keep a strong group identity while adjusting to the national culture of the United States.”
The first recorded use of peyote in the United States was among the Mescalero Apaches who introduced it to the Kiowas and Comanches. The Apaches probably acquired the peyote ceremony from the Carrizo, a Coahuiltecan-speaking group whose homelands were in the area where peyote grows. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“A 1649 account documented Carrizo peyotism, indicating that it included an all-night ceremony with drumming and singing.”
During the 1880s, the ceremonial use of peyote spread through the Indian reservations in Oklahoma.During this time a number of significant leaders, called roadmen, emerged including Quanah Parker (Comanche), and John Wilson (Caddo). Quanah Parker introduced the Half-Moon ceremony (also called the Tipi Way) which is characterized by the crescent-shaped altar on which the Chief Peyote rests, and John Wilson introduced the Big Moon ceremony (also called Moonhead and Cross Fire) which is characterized by a large, horseshoe-shaped altar and the incorporation of Christian influences. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“The adherents of both ceremonies included preaching, prophecy, baptism and other similarities and limited or prohibited tobacco use. Other shared features of the Big Moon and Cross Fire were more elaborate altars, ashes formed into ceremonial designs, the construction of permanent churches and altars and, in some areas, peyote cemeteries.”
By the 1890s, the new religion was spreading to reservations outside of Oklahoma. In 1895, for example, William Shakespeare brought the peyote ceremony to the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming after a visit to Oklahoma. In her book Arapahoe Politics 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority, anthropologist Loretta Fowler reports:
“The peyote religion gradually gained converts, mostly among youths, who found that in their peyote visions they could have spiritual experiences without apprenticing themselves to elders.”
With regard to the diffusion of peyote ceremonialism, Yvonne Wakim Dennis, Arlene Hirschfelder, and Shannon Rothenberger Flynn, in their reference book Native American Almanac: More than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples, write:
“As a religion, it spread through Oklahoma (formerly Indian Territory), the Great Plains, the Great Lakes area, and various parts of the Northwest during the same fifty years that Christianity was being advocated by paid, federally backed missionaries.”
In 1918, a bill was introduced in Congress which would outlaw the use of peyote by Indians. In anticipating the need to defend their religion, the Native American Church was formally incorporated in Oklahoma. In her entry on the Native American Church in the Encyclopedia of North American Indians, Carol Hampton writes:
“Intense antagonism to the peyote religion, and Indian religions in general, forced members to organize formally to protect themselves.”
The Ceremony
The actual Native American Church ceremony, usually called a meeting, is an all-night affair. In addition to the roadman, who leads the ceremony, there is a chief drummer who provides the drum (usually a water drum) accompaniment to the sacred songs,and the cedarman who places cedar in the fire to bless sacred objects. Chief Peyote—a large button of peyote—sits on the altar. The meeting involves singing, consuming peyote, and sometimes healing ceremonies. Carol Hampton writes:
“The rituals of the Native American Church allows believers to experience a revelation of mystical knowledge from the Creator.”
With regard to the role of peyote in the ceremony, Yvonne Wakim Dennis, Arlene Hirschfelder, and Shannon Rothenberger Flynn report:
“People eat the bitter, dried top, or ‘button,’ to induce heightened perceptions of sound and color. It enhances concentration and highlights spiritual truths with vivid imagery during ceremonies.”
Indian Opposition
As a pan-Indian religion, the Native American Church is not a part of the traditional culture of any particular Indian nation. As the movement spread out of Oklahoma, it met some opposition from tribal traditionalists who felt that it was incompatible with the traditional practices.
One example of Indian opposition was seen in New Mexico. In 1909, a group of twelve Taos Indians visited the Kiowa in Oklahoma where they encountered the Native American Church. They returned to Taos with some peyote buttons, songs, and some of the rituals. While some in the Pueblo embraced the new ceremony, many traditionals rejected it. In his book Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism, Frank Waters writes:
“The old men of the Council resented the intrusion of this alien cult. It had nothing to do with the ancestral ceremonies and kiva rituals of the religion they had fought for so long and indomitably against Anglo and Spanish encroachments.”
The Navajo Reservation is the largest Indian reservation in the United States. In 1940, the Navajo Tribal Council, under intense lobbying from non-Indian and Indian antipeyotists, passed an ordinance outlawing peyote. The ordinance was amended in 1967 to allow the use of peyote in connection with Native American Church ceremonies.
European and American Opposition
The initial opposition to Indian use of peyote was based on religion: Native ceremonies are pagan and are, therefore,considered Satanic and must be prohibited in order to force Indians to become Christian.In 1620, the Catholic Inquisition in New Spain declared that the use of peyote “is an act of superstition condemned as opposed to the purity and integrity of our Holy Catholic Faith.” Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“The inquisitors decreed that repercussions would result for anyone who disobeyed the decree just as they would for those suspected of heresy toward the Catholic Church. Hearings involving court cases prosecuted under the edict were held in 45 Spanish settlements or towns over the next 265 years.”
In 1719, Spanish authorities in New Mexico tried a man from Taos Pueblo for having drunk a beverage made with peyote. The Spanish felt that peyote was associated with black magic and that it gave visions to witches.
During the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, the American government viewed Christian missionaries as vital to the administration of Indian reservations and the conversion of Indians to Christianity as one of the primary goals of the American government’s Indian policies. Aboriginal religions had to be abolished as they were viewed as a hindrance to “civilizing” the Indians. As the new peyote religion emerged on the reservations in Indian Territory, governmental authorities took efforts to stop it, including arresting and jailing those who advocated the new religion.
One of the popular Indian stereotypes that was nourished during the nineteenth century and continues during the twenty-first century is the image of the drunken Indian. Intoxicants, according to the popular belief, turned Indians into violent savages because they were deemed biologically incapable of consuming alcohol in an appropriate manner. Based on this stereotype, governments—federal, state, and local—passed laws prohibiting Indians from having alcohol. In 1897, the United States formally prohibited Indians from having alcohol. Since many people viewed peyote as an intoxicant, this enabled law enforcement to arrest people for possessing peyote. Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin report:
“The federal statute was found not to apply to peyote. Nonetheless, peyotists continued to be harassed under the 1897 law or through orders from Indian agents. Raids, arrests, confiscation of property, fines and jail terms continued for the adherents of the peyote religion.”
In 1918, the U.S. House of Representatives debated a bill which would outlaw the use of peyote by Indians. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was one of the key lobbyists supporting the bill. The BIA claimed that those testifying against the bill were encouraging the Indians to maintain heathen ways and blocking their process toward civilization. The bill was passed by the House but was rejected by the Senate.
With the urging of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the lobbying efforts of many Christian missionary groups, several states passed laws against peyote. In many cases, these laws were later amended to allow for an exemption for the ceremonial use of peyote, although this often applied only to Indians enrolled in federally recognized tribes.
One of the concerns expressed by many non-Indians is that peyote is addictive and therefore is a dangerous drug. However, there is no scientific evidence for physiological dependence associated with peyote. In one study of addiction which used an addictive liability index, researchers found that alcohol is most addictive (an index of 21), followed by opium (an index of 16), cocaine (an index of 14), and marijuana (an index of 8). Peyote has an index of 1. According to botanist Edward Anderson, in his chapter on pharmacology in One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church:
“The only evidence cited for including it on the scale at all was that some subjects showed a slight increased tolerance during the test period.”
According to the medical and scientific definitions of “narcotic”, “addiction”, and “tolerance” peyote should not be considered a narcotic.
With the War on Drugs, peyote has been included as one of the “narcotics” banned and Indians have continued to be arrested under a number of federal and state anti-drug laws.
Today
The Native American Church has continued into the twenty-first century and its services found throughout the United States. The difficulty that the church encounters is that it uses peyote as a sacrament. Since peyote is considered to be a hallucinogenic drug it is illegal under America’s war against drugs. Thus, those who attend the church services are sometimes subject to harassment by law enforcement as well as the possibility of arrest. The Native American Church is the only church in the United States whose membership is restricted by law to racial criteria.
Today many American Indian alcoholics find participation in the peyote ceremonies to be more helpful to their sobriety than participation in Alcoholics Anonymous. Part of this may be the result of a more culturally appropriate spiritual approach, but the current research seems to suggest that it may be more than that.
Those who follow the peyote road feel that the use of alcohol is not compatible with this way of life. In fact, there are many who feel that peyote can be used to cure alcoholism. Sobriety is often stressed as an important part of peyote spiritualism. The eminent research psychiatrist Karl T. Menninger has concluded that peyote
“is a better antidote to alcohol than anything the missionaries, white man, the American Medical Association, and the public health services have come up with.”
Religious Freedom Day
Religious Freedom Day celebrates the 1786 Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom. Since the beginning of the European invasion of North America, American Indians have been systematically and brutally denied religious freedom. The Native American Church is but one example of this.
Indians 101/201
Twice each week this series presents American Indian topics. Indians 201 is an expansion of an earlier essay. More about American Indian religions from this series:
Indians 101: A brief introduction to tribal religious traditions
Indians 101: Suppressing Indian religions in Montana in the nineteenth century
Indians 101: Suppressing Indian religions in Montana, 1900-1934
Indians 201: A very short overview of Kiowa religion
Indians 101: Ceremonies of the Great Basin Indian Nations
Indians 201: Sacred places in New England