Huichol Peyote Ritual Analysis

Exercise 1: God/ spirit experienced in the Huichol peyote ritual
According to the video, “The last of the medicine men-peyote” by Benedict Allen, Huichol is one of a native tribes in Mexico who Sharman eat the hallucinate cactus call peyote in order to interact with their god and enter the whole new different world of their gods. Every year the Sharman will lead all these people in the desert, which the Huichol believe that it was the land of their Gods and their ancient ancestor once lived, to perform the sacred ritual.They believe as long as they make the gods happy and continue to make this pilgrimage, the sun will rise and the rain will fall. On the other hand, if they do not make the pilgrimage, terrible thing will happen to them. In this

ritual, the Huichol people are require to be purified by confessing their sins and eat the sacred peyote. They believe that only if they found and eaten the peyote in the desert, they can reach out to their gods. However, what the Huichol people do not know is that the peyote plant contains mescaline, which is a combination of stimulating component and hallucinogen; which mean whatever spiritual senses they experience by eating the plant are not real and it is all in their head.
The reasons for what the god/spirit experiences that the Huichol people have are not real is because everything they experiences are “in one’s head”, and they are all hallucinating.

According to “What Is Peyote? | Is It Addictive & What Are the Side Effects?”, hallucinogens including peyote can create a sensory effect. In other words, a person who takes peyote might believe and think that they smell, hear sounds, touch things that are not even there. For example in the video “the last of the medicine men-peyote”, one of the members of the tribe who is a violinist said that he heard the noise of the song that he is playing now was from the last ritual after he ate the peyote. Another effect of hallucination is people can see things that are not even there. For instance, after eating the peyote, Benedict Allen describes that he sees stuffs such as the distance come and goes, everything and even the stones are moving and vibrating. Losing in touch with reality is also the effect of peyote according to “What Is Peyote? | Is It Addictive & What Are the Side Effects?”. It is said that “During a peyote trip, some people might feel introspective, calm and like they’re in a very deep meditative state, while others could experience hallucinations that bring them distress or even cause them to put themselves in harm’s way.”, which bring the similar effect that Benedict Allen and one of the tribe’s member name David experience after they eat the peyote. In the video, Benedict Allen

describe it as he is not sure what he was, he feels calm, suddenly release and in harmony at last. On the other hand, after eating the peyote, David described it as he saw something black from the sky cover his body, carry a stick dripping with blood and looking at his sin, which causes him to confess his sin right away.
In conclusion, because there are so many similarities between how people react/feeling and the effect of hallucination, it is proved that what the Huichol people are experiencing on spiritual/gods are all in “one’s head” and it is not real. It is understandable for the Huichol people to believe that the sacred peyote is what helps them interact with their gods because of their culture, believes and religion. However, if everything is looking at scientifically, everything the Huichol people experiences are caused by the hallucinogens and stimulate from the peyote. In summary, the spiritual experiences that the Huichol have are all in one head and it is not real.