Beautiful Flowers: Women and Peyote in Indigenous Traditions

Women and Peyote Origin Myths

Wixárika myths lay the foundation for beliefs about women and their roles in the culture. One origin myth of the pilgrimage to the Peyote Desert in San Luis Potosí, tells of the Earth Goddess, Utüanaka, and how she manifested the path to Wirikuta through the designs she wove on her loom. She, and two other goddesses, Yuawime and Wiri’uwi, traveled far from their Sierra homelands to the desert. Upon arriving, Yuawime stayed behind while Wiri’uwi accompanied the Earth Goddess into Wirikuta where they encountered peyote. They ingested this little greygreen cactus and learned of its psychoactive powers. The Earth Goddess traveled back to her Sierra homelands to share this remarkable cactus with her community. Wiri’uwi remained in Wirikuta and became the “Mother of Peyote.” Thus began the Wixárika peyote traditions; every year Wixáritari (plural) make the pilgrimage to Wirikuta to relive their history, leave offerings, commune with the gods and goddesses, and harvest peyote to share with their communities back home.

There are various versions of the peyote origin myth recounted by NAC members. In times past a Native American woman wandered through unknown lands. In some accounts she was looking for her lost brothers; in other versions she had a daughter or a little boy with her and they were lost trying find and rejoin their tribe (Perez 2009). Exhaustion overcame the woman and she lay down on the ground. She saw a peyote plant in a dream and it spoke to her. When she awoke she discovered the plant and ate it. The spirit of the peyote told her how to find her lost relatives and she shared peyote with them. After they had eaten, “the peyote told them how to run a meeting, told what things to use, and how to do it” (Parsons 1936:64). This heroine is known as Peyote Woman. In both origin myths the main actor is a woman; she is searching, and her personal quest enables her to have a supernatural encounter with the peyote plant. Realizing its powerful, beneficial qualities, she takes peyote back to share with her community, initiating the rituals and ceremonies revolving around this psychoactive plant that exist today.

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