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Frank Collum, the Anglo peyote eater and sometime poacher, says that Native Americans should back off the Mexican peyote gardens. "If it keeps going like it is," he says, "there'll be a war with the Huichol. They eat an incredible amount of peyote. They've got their own problems with the Mexican government."

One local from Real de Catorce, Juan Hernández, makes his living taking foreigners to the sacred places of the Huichol on horseback. He charges about $20 per horse and serves as a guide. Hernández is a mestizo who lives in town, but he has close ties to the Indians.

"They call me before they start their pilgrimage in April," he says. "It takes them about four weeks to walk here and when they get here, I have firewood and food ready for them."

Hernández guides three horses straight up a mountaintop to a spiral of stones. It's not much of a monument, but the landscape is breathtaking, with a view of the Chihuahuan desert stretching as far as the eye can see. Hernández says that this is the birthplace of the god of the sun, Quetzal. He rubs coins across his body—it is a symbol of cleansing—and enters the stone spiral. When he gets to the center, he places the coins on a mound of other offerings. There are old shoes, a driver's license, candles, and Mexican and U.S. coins.

"This is a place of spiritual renewal," he says.

Hernández follows many of the Huichol practices—including peyote eating. He prefers to mix it with chocolate or fruit juice so he's not likely to vomit it back up. He likes it because it gives him energy. He believes—like the Huichol— that the peyote ceremony on Wirikuta releases the shamans' spirits from their bodies. He's seen their spirits flying around the mountains like large, colorful birds.

But he's not immune to the transformations going on in his hometown. His eyes light up when the name Brad Pitt is mentioned. "He was so cool," Hernández says. "We all hung out with him for two months when he wasn't filming."

Mauro Morales looks a little worried when he talks about Mexican peyote. He knows that there's much more medicine on the other side of the border, but he's not crossing the river to seek it out. Even though he's a licensed dealer, transporting the stuff across the border would land him in jail. And he's skeptical of the Mexican police.

"You don't want to get caught with medicine over there," he says. "In Mexico, you're guilty until proven innocent. Here, you're innocent until proven guilty."

Still, like many people following the decline of the peyote trade in Texas, he hopes that, someday, he might be permitted to import peyote into Texas. But time may be running out for him. Morales says that he knew he was getting older when Indians started calling him "grandpa" a few years ago.

Morales gets part-time help harvesting peyote from his sons in February, when deer season ends and Indians start arriving. But one son has a full-time job, and the other is more interested in his hobby of cockfighting than in picking medicine.

Morales has his eye on his 14-year-old grandson Angel, who's doing well in school and has good manners. Angel might be able to take over the family business someday. But he's not sure. "The medicine might be extinct in 25 years. Then everyone will have to go to Mexico."

Write Your Comment show comments (6)

  1. I would like to express my support for the ranchers to continue to fence their land and destroy the peyote plant. The main threat to true native American culture is this evil thing. The only people that should be eating peyote are the people that live by it and can access it in the locality. For all other tribes, access, use and possession of peyote should be permanently banned. Not all tribes embrace peyote and as an Ojibwe Indian, it is forbidden in our tribe. Anyone that says otherwise is a liar. The Crees of Montana are ardent followers of the Native American Church. They are not legally descendants of a federally recognized tribe, so therefore, their use of this product is ILLEGAL!!! Any peyotero that is caught supplying these people can face prosecution. Please ranchers, help save the authentic cultures of Native America and destroy the peyote plant when you see it, deny access to peyoteros, its your Constitutional right of liberty and privacy over your property and eradicate this menace from American society. I am a traditional, drug free Native American. PLEASE STOP THE PEYOTE DRUG TRADE TO NORTHERN TRIBES, THIS IS NOT OUR ORIGINAL CULTURE.

    Comment by M GOPHER — February 14, 2008 @ 11:25PM

  2. I disagree "Ojibway", I am of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma & believe that peyote should continue to be used. It's been here for thounsands of years, & yes not all tribes used it so why don't you leave it alone & let the rest of the nations take part in it. You don't speak for all the Natives!

    Comment by Emarthle — February 15, 2008 @ 10:34AM

  3. TO Ojibewa, How can you claim to be a tradtional Native American, when you advocate for and approve of the eradication of peyote? One the beliefs, I as a proud Chippewa-Cree,Sioux-Assinoboine woman was taught, was to protect and respect the Mother Earth. That the Creator placed us on this earth to care and protect her, which also include all the plants and animals. For you to support and advocate that Peyote be eradicated is Wrong. I fully support your right to your beliefs. However, you DO NOT have the right to force your beliefs on myself or others. Whether or not you choose to believe that Peyote is a medicine and a blessing, is your choice and right. I, however, also have the same right and choice to believe otherwise. I have seen the blessing of Peyote. I have seen the wonderful blessings that come from using this medicine. Another thing, for you to "claim" that the Cree's from Montana are not members of a federally fecognized tribe. YOU ARE WRONG! before you try and tell people how they should believe, find out what being a traditional native means.
    To the ranchers. For you to fence and distroy Peyote is also wrong. I hope and pray, that you will never have anyone, bar you from your path, to the creator. That you will, never be persecuted, for you beliefs.
    How sad that we as a country will send our Men and Woman to die, in other countries,so that they can have the rights and freedoms that we supposedly do. That we will go to war so they get the right to choose however they want. when we won't stand up or speak out and protect the rights of the Native Americans who believe in using Peyote as a medicine. I thought that one of the founding principles of this country was the right to choose and believe the way you want and not be barred or persecuted for those beliefs. Wasn't that the reason given for the extrimination of millions of Native American people? How can we teach our young childern that each and every day? Yet, not protect members or followers of the Native American Church right to worship and believe in using Peyote?
    I hope and pray that the creator will open your eyes and your hearts, so that you would see the blessings he gives us in the plants he created for us to use. That the Creator will allow you to see that even though we may follow diffent paths to reach him. None of those ways are wrong, if we all end up in the same place in the end, its just we chose to take a different road, and he loves us regardless.
    Thank you for allowing me to express my thought and views on this matter, I hope it gives you a glimpse into seeing why protecting Peyote and the rights of others to believe the way they choose is important.

    Comment by Cheyenne — February 17, 2008 @ 03:53AM

  4. As the great French explorer and writer said after his trips to the United States in the 1830s with respect to the American Indian: Two cultures collided, the inferior culture lost. Enough with this stupid romanticization of the natural state of the American Indian. Worshipping nature a la Darwin is asinine. Nature is cruel, it kills the young, weak, and infirm. We as human beings stand outside nature in a sense. It is a huge farce that the Indians were "at one" with the environment. They were a tough and formidable foe, we respect them for that, but they lost. Let's quit playing the "noble savage" victim game and while we're at it, ditch La Raza and their delusions as well.

    Comment by Doug White Eye — February 18, 2008 @ 06:58AM

  5. As the great French explorer and writer De Tocqueville said after his trips to the United States in the 1830s with respect to the American Indian: Two cultures collided, the inferior culture lost. Enough with this stupid romanticization of the natural state of the American Indian. Peyote will make you crazy. Worshipping nature is hip now, but asinine. Nature is cruel, it kills the young, weak, and infirm, civilized human beings do not. We as human beings stand outside nature in a sense. It is a huge farce that the Indians were "at one" with the environment. They were a tough and formidable foe, and we respect them for that, but they lost. Let's quit playing the "noble savage" victim game and while we're at it, ditch La Raza and their delusions as well.

    Comment by Doug White Eye — February 18, 2008 @ 07:00AM

  6. In response to White Eyes: Being a life time traditionalist, I reject Christianity as superior to my culture. Christianity is what brought the scourge of peyote---as you can ask any peyote user, they believe in Jesus, just like you. Your racism is evident in your assumption that the inferior culture lost....Bear in mind the Vatican and organized Christian institutions have been and continue to be supported by military institutions and this has been the church-state modus operandi for centuries--it is the foundation of manifest destiny and the pillage and plunder of indigenous societies, wealth and culture. Native people are not vanquished people BUT FOR a constitutional government that barred African Americans the right to vote for almost 100 years after its founding, for women even longer, and citizenship to native people until 1924. One can hardly call that a true democracy. The doors to democracy were only opened after the plunder had been had.

    As for the Peyote followers: The Native American Church should be held to liability as to the long term effects of peyote. What scientific evidence exists that this is a safe drug to use? I only agree with White Eyes in that peyote will destroy a person's mental health. I have seen this happen first hand, it is as destructive and even more pervasively harmful to native people than the introduction of alcohol. Peyote is not aboriginal to most if not all northern tribes and its use should be banned.

    Comment by M Gopher — March 4, 2008 @ 06:36AM

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