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Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments:
An Entheogen Chrestomathy
Thomas B. Roberts, Ph.D. and Paula Jo Hruby, Ed.D.
Author Index | Title Index
The Peyote Religion Among the Navaho.
Aberle, David. F., with Moore, Harvey C. (1966).
New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
ISBN: None
Description: Paperback,
xxvi + 454 pages. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No.
42. Subscribers' edition distributed through Current Anthropology,
Contents: Preface, acknowledgements,
table of contents, lists of figures, maps, diagrams, graphs, charts,
tables. Twenty-two chapters divided into 5 parts: I. The Peyote
Cult, II. The Peyote
Cult Among The Navaho, IV. The Differential
Appeal of Peyotism in the Navaho Country, V. Peyotism
As A Redemptive Movement, 7 appendices: A. Trends
in Navaho Population and Education, 1870-1955, by Denis
F. Johnston; B. Vocabulary; C. Four Interviews; D. Peyote
and Health; E. The Leadership
of the Native American Church in the Navaho Country; F. The Interview
on Navaho Communities; G. Postscript-1965; Bibliography-References
Cited; Index of Names; Subject Index.
Note: Sixteen pages of
photographs appear between pages 134 and 135.
Excerpt(s): This book
deals with the history and nature of the peyote cult in the Navaho
country, with the long-continued resistance to the cult of the
majority of the tribe and the vast majority of the Tribal Council,
and with the factors that promote individual acceptance of the
cult and that account for variation in the level of acceptance
of the cult in various communities. By and large, data were gathered
from 1949 to 1953, and little attempt is made to discuss events
since then. ...
Since in fact I have not stated a policy position
in the body of this work, let me say here that in my opinion the
Native American Church of North America and its branches on the
Navajo Reservation do not constitute a threat to the health, safety,
welfare, or morality of the Navajo Tribe, and that, although the
Tribe may have the right to legislate against the use of peyote-an
issue still under legal dispute as I write-equity demands that
the Native American Church be given that protection of freedom
of worship normal in the larger society and written in the Bill
of Rights. (Preface, page vii)
Tentatively, it is suggested that redemptive movements,
which do not preach withdrawal from the world flourish where groups
are pushed into new, ambivalently regarded niches, where their
engagement with a larger economic-political system is increased,
whereas transformative ones flourish where groups are encapsulated
or extruded from an old niche without obvious minimally satisfactory
alternatives and with a general decrement in or lack of involvement
in the larger system. The spread of Navaho peyotism against opposition
fits this interpretation. (Conclusion, page 354)
Compilation copyright © 1995 – 2001 CSP
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