peyote

peyote (pâ-o´tê) also peyotl (-ot´l)  noun
A spineless, dome-shaped cactus (Lophophora williamsii) native to Mexico and the southwest United States, having buttonlike tubercles that are chewed fresh or dry as a narcotic drug by certain Native American peoples. Also called mescal.

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl peyotl.]

Peyote

Peyote, common name for a small, spineless, turnip-shaped cactus, native to Mexico and the southwestern United States. The grayish, mushroom-shaped tops, called peyote or mescal buttons, yield nine alkaloids, of which mescaline is the principal active agent. The dried buttons are eaten, brewed into a tea, or powdered and packaged in capsules. The mescaline in these preparations alters perception, producing vivid color hallucinations, inaccurate estimation of time, and a feeling of anxiety. It is not known to be habit-forming, but use of impure or large doses can have toxic effects, such as nausea and depressed breathing. Peyote has been used since pre-Columbian times by Native Americans in their religious rites; the practice has been incorporated into their modern Christian ceremonies. Peyotism. Mescaline has been used experimentally in investigations of schizophrenia and other psychoses.  Peyote and mescaline have become drugs of abuse in recent years. Scientific classification: Peyote belongs to the family Cactaceae. It is classified as Lophophora williamsii.

The peyote cactus by nature is normally found in desert or semi-arid environments. Peyote has been used for centuries in the Americas by Native Americans in religious ceremonies. Native Americans still use peyote for this purpose, the only use allowed under law in the United States.

mescal button

mescal button (mès-kàl´ bùt´n) noun
The fresh or dried buttonlike tubercles of peyote, chewed as a drug by certain Native American peoples. Also called peyote.

mescal

mescal (mès-kàl´) noun
A Mexican liquor distilled from the fermented juice of certain species of agave.  A food prepared by cooking the fleshy leaf base and trunk of certain agaves.

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl mexcalli, mescal liquor, from metl, maguey plant.]

mescaline

mescaline (mès´ke-lên´, -lîn) noun
An alkaloid drug, (CH3O)3C6H2CH2CH2NH2, obtained from mescal buttons, which produces hallucinations. Also called peyote.

The Ghost Dance of the 1880s spread among a number of tribes that were all undergoing similar upheavals, and indigenous peoples of the Great Plains shared in each other's Sun Dances. The preeminent pan-Native American religious development, however, has been Peyotism, a religious movement centering on the sacramental ingestion of peyote, a mildly hallucinogenic cactus. In 1918 Peyotism was formally incorporated as the Native American Church. The group's status as a religious organization enabled members to seek legal protection for the ritual use of peyote. In the mid-1990s membership in the Native American Church was estimated to be 250,000. Between the l880s and l930s, U.S. authorities attempted to ban Native American religious rituals, including the Ghost Dance, Sun Dance, and peyote cult. In Canada the same restrictive tendencies prevailed. In more recent years, however, governmental authorities have adopted a more supportive attitude toward the practice of native spirituality. In 1978 the Congress of the United States passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, an official expression of good will toward Native American spirituality.
 

• emo track _The Ghost Dance_ by Moss Icon

  

• 604 label Peyote
• 604 track _Peyote (Contact)_ MP3 by I.L.O.
• tribal ambient release _Peyote_ by O Yuki Conjugate

 

• _Snake Charm_ MP3
• _A Darker Belief_ MP3
• _Earth Loop (Fragment)_ MP3 (192k)
• _Long Pig_ MP3
• _Alia Ma_ MP3
• _Dusk Dead Heart_
• _Still Breath_ MP3
• _Tidal Dance_ MP3
• 604 track _Sea Of Tranquility_ MP3 (192k) by Don Peyote
• 604 track _The Ancient Jewelled Moon_ MP3 (192k) by Peyote People off of _Scrambled Heads_ compilation CD on Shpastic Elastic (2001)
• sample: "i will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, or numbered!" - from _The Prisoner_
• ethnic fusion track _Peyote Healing_ MP3 (vK) by Robbie Robertson off of _Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy_ (1998)
• uruguayan hardcore hip hop track _Cable Pelado_ MP3 by Peyote Asesino off of _Terraja_ (1999)
• 1960 - American Indians granted sanctioned use of peyote as a religious matter
• "I was doing peyote when i took my SAT's... got an 1800." - Steven Wright
• film _The Doors_ (vhs/ntsc) (1991) directed by Oliver Stone - "the peyote trance"
• film _Peyote Road_ (vhs/ntsc)(1994)
• The Peyote Road addresses the United States Supreme Court 'Smith' decision, which denied protection of 1st Amendment religious liberty to the sacramental use of Peyote for Indigenous people, one of the oldest tribal religions in the Western Hemisphere. Examining the European tradition of religious intolerance & documenting the centuries old sacramental use of the cactus Peyote, The Peyote Road explains how the Smith decision put religious freedom in jeopardy for all Americans.
• Panspermia

  

the peyote scene in the film _Beavis & Butthead Do America_ (vhs/ntsc)
 - what's with the psychedelic/animation connection?  toon town at Disneyland on mushrooms is completely UNREAL.  the entire theme park was made for mushrooms.  all the kiddie rides make sense when you are an adult.  and what's up with scooby doo and scooby snacks?  and the always hungry tweaker shaggy and the psychedelic van where only THEY can see ghosts and goblins?  why does everything from Edgecore and Psy-Harmonics sounds like a soundtrack for a cartoon? - @Om* 12/3/99

In _Drug Control in a Free Society_ (pages 31-32) J. Bakalar and L. Grinspoon write:

          "Members of the Native American Church, an Indian group, are allowed to take peyote in their religious rituals.  Here
          federal courts have found a fundamental right of the individual that overrides a state interest in suppressing
          nonmedical drug use; the guarantee of religious freedom in the First Amendment to the Constitution.  In other words,
          the drug use has to be more than a pleasurable taste or pursuit before the law will allow it.  To refute the
          presumption that nonmedical drug use is negligent, ignorant, and generally worthless, there must be overwhelming
          evidence that the drug users know what they are doing, consider it important in their lives, and believe seriously in
          its intrinsic value.  But even that is not enough.  The courts have made it clear that they will not accept merely
          individual religious beliefs (much less consciousness expansion) as a justification for drug use, and they have said
          that they will scrutinize very skeptically the claims of any new organized churches.  The drug must be not only
          religiously important to its user but also an essential part of a traditional rite with a communal significance.  So
          far, the exception made for the Native American Church is unique.  It is as though mountain climbing were regarded as
          generally so dangerous and useless that climbers would be fined and jailed unless they could prove they were making a
          pilgrimage to a holy site on the peak certified by an established church."

TelexExternal LinkInternal LinkInventory Cache