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Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians cover

Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians

Barbara Myerhoff

Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians

Ramón Medina Silva, a Huichol Indian shaman priest or mara'akame, instructed me in many of his culture's myths, rituals, and symbols, particularly those pertaining to the sacred unity of deer, maize, and peyote. The significance of this constellation of symbols was revealed to me most vividly when I accompanied Ramón on the Huichol's annual ritual return to hunt the peyote in the sacred land of Wirikuta, in myth and probably in history the place from which the Ancient Ones (ancestors and deities of the present-day Indians) came before settling in their present home in the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental in north-central Mexico. My work with Ramón preceded and followed our journey, but it was this peyote hunt that held the key to, and constituted the climax of, his teachings.

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Publisher
Cornell University Press
Year
1974
ISBN-13
9780801491375
Genre
Nonfiction
Topics
Huichol Indian religion and ritualsPeyote and shamanismIndigenous Mexican culture

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