The Peyote Road

The Peyote Road PDF Author: Thomas C. Maroukis
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806185961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Despite challenges by the federal government to restrict the use of peyote, the Native American Church, which uses the hallucinogenic cactus as a religious sacrament, has become the largest indigenous denomination among American Indians today. The Peyote Road examines the history of the NAC, including its legal struggles to defend the controversial use of peyote. Thomas C. Maroukis has conducted extensive interviews with NAC members and leaders to craft an authoritative account of the church’s history, diverse religious practices, and significant people. His book integrates a narrative history of the Peyote faith with analysis of its religious beliefs and practices—as well as its art and music—and an emphasis on the views of NAC members. Deftly blending oral histories and legal research, Maroukis traces the religion’s history from its Mesoamerican roots to the legal incorporation of the NAC; its expansion to the northern plains, Great Basin, and Southwest; and challenges to Peyotism by state and federal governments, including the Supreme Court decision in Oregon v. Smith. He also introduces readers to the inner workings of the NAC with descriptions of its organizational structure and the Cross Fire and Half Moon services. The Peyote Road updates Omer Stewart’s classic 1987 study of the Peyote religion by taking into consideration recent events and scholarship. In particular, Maroukis discusses not only the church’s current legal issues but also the diminishing Peyote supply and controversies surrounding the definition of membership. Today approximately 300,000 American Indians are members of the Native American Church. The Peyote Road marks a significant case study of First Amendment rights and deepens our understanding of the struggles of NAC members to practice their faith.

The Peyote Road

The Peyote Road PDF Author: Thomas C. Maroukis
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806185961
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book

Book Description
Despite challenges by the federal government to restrict the use of peyote, the Native American Church, which uses the hallucinogenic cactus as a religious sacrament, has become the largest indigenous denomination among American Indians today. The Peyote Road examines the history of the NAC, including its legal struggles to defend the controversial use of peyote. Thomas C. Maroukis has conducted extensive interviews with NAC members and leaders to craft an authoritative account of the church’s history, diverse religious practices, and significant people. His book integrates a narrative history of the Peyote faith with analysis of its religious beliefs and practices—as well as its art and music—and an emphasis on the views of NAC members. Deftly blending oral histories and legal research, Maroukis traces the religion’s history from its Mesoamerican roots to the legal incorporation of the NAC; its expansion to the northern plains, Great Basin, and Southwest; and challenges to Peyotism by state and federal governments, including the Supreme Court decision in Oregon v. Smith. He also introduces readers to the inner workings of the NAC with descriptions of its organizational structure and the Cross Fire and Half Moon services. The Peyote Road updates Omer Stewart’s classic 1987 study of the Peyote religion by taking into consideration recent events and scholarship. In particular, Maroukis discusses not only the church’s current legal issues but also the diminishing Peyote supply and controversies surrounding the definition of membership. Today approximately 300,000 American Indians are members of the Native American Church. The Peyote Road marks a significant case study of First Amendment rights and deepens our understanding of the struggles of NAC members to practice their faith.

Peyote Religion

Peyote Religion PDF Author: Omer Call Stewart
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806124575
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
Describes the peyote plant, the birth of peyotism in western Oklahoma, its spread from Indian Territory to Mexico, the High Plains, and the Far West, its role among such tribes as the Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Caddo, Wichita, Delaware, and Navajo Indians, its conflicts with the law, and the history of the Native American Church.

Peyote Religious Art

Peyote Religious Art PDF Author: Daniel C. Swan
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9781578060962
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
An examination of the vibrant traditional and folk arts inspired by the sacramental use of peyote by members of the Native American Church

The Peyote Cult

The Peyote Cult PDF Author: Paul Radin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Peyote Effect

The Peyote Effect PDF Author: Alexander S. Dawson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520960904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The hallucinogenic and medicinal effects of peyote have a storied history that begins well before Europeans arrived in the Americas. While some have attempted to explain the cultural and religious significance of this cactus and drug, Alexander S. Dawson offers a completely new way of understanding the place of peyote in history. In this provocative new book, Dawson argues that peyote has marked the boundary between the Indian and the West since the Spanish Inquisition outlawed it in 1620. For nearly four centuries ecclesiastical, legal, scientific, and scholarly authorities have tried (unsuccessfully) to police that boundary to ensure that, while indigenous subjects might consume peyote, others could not. Moving back and forth across the U.S.–Mexico border, The Peyote Effect explores how battles over who might enjoy a right to consume peyote have unfolded in both countries, and how these conflicts have produced the racially exclusionary systems that characterizes modern drug regimes. Through this approach we see a surprising history of the racial thinking that binds these two countries more closely than we might otherwise imagine.

People of the Peyote

People of the Peyote PDF Author: Stacy B. Schaefer
Publisher: UNM Press
ISBN: 9780826319050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
The first substantial study of a Mexican Indian society that more than any other has preserved much of its ancient way of life and religion.

One Nation Under God

One Nation Under God PDF Author: Huston Smith
Publisher: Clear Light Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
This inspirational book celebrates the faith and courage of members of a traditional church that -- in 20th century America -- still struggling for religious freedom. Their Greatest challenge is the ongoing legal battle against the 1990 Supreme Court decision citing peyote use to deny the Native American Church the First Amendment right to 'the free exercise of religion'. Legislation providing an exemption to the Native American Church was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1997. The eloquent personal testimony offered by Church members from many different tribes demonstrates the spiritual strength of this religious tradition and makes it clear that peyote is not used to obtain 'visions' but to heal the body and spirit and to teach righteousness. Peyote meetings play, which stress abstinence from alcohol, truthfulness, family obligations, economic self-suffering, service, and prayer. This book is important reading for any one who cares about spiritual values, political process, and the individual's freedom to worship according to the dictates of conscience.

Peyote Dreams

Peyote Dreams PDF Author: Charles Duits
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620551608
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
A detailed account of the transformation of consciousness and discovery of life’s purpose brought on by peyote • Shows how peyote and other visionary plants do not distort reality but gloriously unveil it, pulling the mind out of its cosmic slumber and revealing our unity with all life • Explains the necessity when working with peyote to remain the master of one’s mind and consciously work on oneself • Examines how modern society’s revulsion to sacramental plants and other consciousness expanders is deeply rooted in Western philosophy Charles Duits was caught in the grip of a dead-end existential and spiritual crisis. At the urging of one of his oldest friends, he takes peyote “like a man committing suicide,” launching him on a visionary journey of philosophical examination and spiritual revelation. In this little-known classic of drug literature, we find a detailed account of the radical alteration of consciousness and discovery of life’s purpose brought on by the Mexican cactus known as peyote. Consuming peyote more than 200 times, Duits lucidly describes the transformation of reality he experienced as well as the necessity to consciously work on oneself and remain the master of one’s mind in order to avoid getting carried away by hallucinations. The author examines how modern society’s revulsion to sacramental plants and other consciousness expanders is deeply rooted in Western philosophy’s embrace of reason and materialism at the expense of inner knowledge. He explains how sacramental plants do not distort reality as many fearfully believe but gloriously unveil it, pulling the mind out of its cosmic slumber and revealing a world that is finally real and full of meaning. Poetic yet precise, Duits’s descriptions of his peyote experiences offer a glimpse in to the beautiful divine reality of which we are all a part, yet over which the structures of society cast a veil. This guide to “sailing the inner sea” reveals that the answers to the meaning of life lie not in material pursuits but in experiencing the richness and unity of the world in front of us.

A Culture's Catalyst

A Culture's Catalyst PDF Author: Fannie Kahan
Publisher: Univ. of Manitoba Press
ISBN: 0887555063
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In 1956, pioneering psychedelic researchers Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond were invited to join members of the Red Pheasant First Nation near North Battleford, Saskatchewan, to participate in a peyote ceremony hosted by the Native American Church of Canada. Inspired by their experience, they wrote a series of essays explaining and defending the consumption of peyote and the practice of peyotism. They enlisted the help of Hoffer’s sister, journalist Fannie Kahan, and worked closely with her to document the religious ceremony and write a history of peyote, culminating in a defense of its use as a healing and spiritual agent. Although the text shows its mid-century origins, with dated language and at times uncritical analysis, it advocates for Indigenous legal, political and religious rights and offers important insights into how psychedelic researchers, who were themselves embattled in debates over the value of spirituality in medicine, interpreted the peyote ceremony. Ultimately, they championed peyotism as a spiritual practice that they believed held distinct cultural benefits. “A Culture’s Catalyst” revives a historical debate. Revisiting it now encourages us to reconsider how peyote has been understood and how its appearance in the 1950s tested Native-newcomer relations and the Canadian government’s attitudes toward Indigenous religious and cultural practices.

Faith on Trial

Faith on Trial PDF Author: Mark J. T. Caggiano
Publisher: Skinner House Books
ISBN: 9781558968769
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
In Faith on Trial, Mark Caggiano invites religious progressives and liberals to re-enter the national conversation about religion and the law, complete with historical context and legal analysis. Books about religion and the law are generally aimed at two audiences: lawyers and religious conservatives. These tendencies are a result of expectations on the subject as being either highly technical or arising from a conservative impulse to protect religious and cultural traditions. In Faith on Trial: Religion and the Law in the United States, legal scholar and Unitarian Universalist minister Mark J. T. Caggiano, argues that concerns about separation of church and state often serve to silence religious viewpoints of people on the Left, many of whom exit the conversation in the hope of protecting important social issues from religious infighting. But it is impossible to win a debate that you never join, and as Caggiano writes, it is paramount in these times that "religious liberals and progressives cultivate and refine an ability to articulate the need for moral changes within the political system. That goal will require an understanding of the law as well as a moral vision for the world." Geared toward religious progressives and liberals--and complete with historical context, legal analysis, and examples of specific legal cases and statues--Faith on Trial is an invitation to the religious Left to re-enter the societal debate about morals and ethics, with social progress and inclusion at the center of a national conversation about religion and the law.