Peyotism is the largest religion started, organized, and directed by and for Native Americans and gets its title from the fact that members of the religion use the peyote -û sometimes referred to as mescal û- in their ceremonies, a point that has caused fascinating legal challenges between those supporting the First Amendment protection of freedom of religious practice in the United States and those who wish to prohibit the use of hallucinogenic drugs for what they see as recreational (or at least on-medicinal) purposes. Peyotism has also brought the Native Americans into conflict with mainstream society, and one might speculate that part of the reason that the followers of peyotism have been so adamant in their insistence on using it is the IndiansÆ wish to wrest some control of ceremony and cultural identity back from the society that tried so hard for so many years to destroy the sense of identity of native peoples.
The name comes from the Aztec word peyotl, which designates a small spineless psychedelic cactus (called within the Linnean system Lophophora williamsii) that is native to southern Texas and north-central Mexico.
Spanish conquistadores found peyote used as a sacred medicine and a source for magic far beyond the area of natural peyote growth. The Inquisition of New Spain, on June 29, 1620, published an order prohibiting the use of peyote for any purpose. That order û- like many that the United States government woukd try to enforce in later centuries -û would failed to stop the Peyote religion, however, which persists among the Native Americans surviving in northern Mexico, particularly the Huichol and Tarahumara. The cactus is also used among these groups as a folk medicine and its use as both medicine and an element of ritual spread somewhat from its ônativeö territory throughout the 20th century as pan-Indianism, especially in the Southwest and Western United States, became increasingly important (Browner,...