Native societies of the Western Hemisphere have for 2,000 years
utilized various naturally occurring materials such as the "sacred"
mushroom of Mexico and the peyote cactus. Scientific interest in
the hallucinogenic drugs developed slowly. A neurologist wrote
about his experience with peyote before the turn of the 20th
century, and his account attracted the serious attention of two
distinguished psychologists, Havelock Ellis and William James.
Mescaline was isolated as the active principle of peyote in 1896,
and its structural resemblance to the adrenal hormone epinephrine
was recognized by 1919. There followed some interest in model
psychoses (that is, drug-induced simulations of abnormal behaviour
patterns), but it was not until 1943, when a Swiss chemist
accidentally ingested a synthetic preparation of lysergic acid
diethylamide and experienced its psychedelic effects, that the search
for a natural substance responsible for schizophrenia became
widespread. An American mycologist called attention to the powers
of the Mexican mushroom in 1953, and the active principle was
quickly found to be psilocybin.
 

Native American Church

also called PEYOTISM, OR PEYOTE RELIGION, most widespread
indigenous religious movement among North American Indians and
one of the most influential forms of Pan-Indianism. The term peyote
derives from the Nahuatl name peyotl for a cactus. The tops of the
plants contain mescaline, an alkaloid drug that has hallucinogenic
effects. It was used in Mexico in pre-Columbian times to induce
supernatural visions and as a medicine.

From the mid-19th century, use of peyote extended north into the
Great Plains of the United States, and probably first developed into
a distinct religion about 1885 among the Kiowa and Comanche of
Oklahoma. After 1891 it spread rapidly as far north as Canada and
is now practiced among more than 50 tribes. Statistics are uncertain,
but reports suggest nearly a fifth of the Navajo in 1951 practiced the
peyote religion (despite strong tribal council opposition) as did
one-third of Oklahoma Indians in 1965. The Native American
Church claimed some 225,000 adherents in 1977.

The various forms of peyotist beliefs combine Indian and Christian
elements in differing degrees. Among the Teton, for example, the
Cross Fire group uses the Bible and sermons, which are rejected by
the Half Moon followers, who, however, teach a similar Christian
morality. In general, peyotist doctrine consists of belief in one
supreme God (the Great Spirit), who deals with men through
various spirits, which include the traditional waterbird or thunderbird
spirits that carry prayers to God. In many tribes peyote itself is
personified as Peyote Spirit, considered to be either God's
equivalent for the Indians to his Jesus for the whites, or Jesus
himself. In some tribes Jesus is regarded as an Indian culture hero
returned, as an intercessor with God, or as a guardian spirit who has
turned to the Indians after being killed by the whites. Peyote, eaten
in the ritual context, enables the individual to commune with God
and the spirits (including those of the departed) in contemplation and
vision and so to receive from them spiritual power, guidance,
reproof, and healing.

The rite characteristically, but not always, takes place in a tepee
around a crescent-shaped, earthen altar mound and a sacred fire.
The all-night ceremony usually commences about 8 Pm Saturday
and is led by a peyote "chief." The services include prayer, singing,
sacramental eating of peyote, water rites, and contemplation; they
conclude with a communion breakfast on Sunday morning. The way
of life is called the Peyote Road and enjoins brotherly love, family
care, self-support through steady work, and avoidance of alcohol.

Peyotism has been much persecuted. Although peyote was banned
by government agents in 1888 and later by 15 states, Congress,
backed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the churches, and some
Indian groups, resisted repeated attempts from 1916 to 1937 to
have its use prohibited. In self-defense, peyote groups sought
incorporation under state laws--first in Oklahoma as the First-born
Church of Jesus Christ in 1914, then as the Native American
Church in 1918, and by 1960 in some further 11 states. In the
1960s appeals by peyotists in the name of constitutional freedom of
religion were supported by anthropologists and others and upheld in
several state supreme courts.