Wixárika Mara’akate: Healing with the Powers of Peyote
Stacy B. Schaefer
BRILL eBooks June 16, 2025 DOI: 10.1163/9789004729759_003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Peyote |
| Topics | Mescaline |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that peyote occupies a central place in contemporary Wixárika culture and healing, with mara'akate using it to restore equilibrium and good health. Contends that Wixárika emic perspectives on peyote-induced consciousness alterations and Western neuropharmacological explanations share commonalities despite differing ethnomedical concepts and systems of health and well-being. |
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the healing practices of Wixárika mara’akate who use the power of peyote for restoring equilibrium and good health for themselves and their patients. The natural history of peyote and the dynamic liaison that exist between this entheogenic cactus and humans illustrates peyote’s central place in contemporary Wixárika culture. The specialist training that a mara’akame undergoes involves unique personal experiences informed by peyote. These alterations of consciousness that arise from ingestion of peyote are examined through Wixárika emic perspectives informed by experiential insights, as well as through etic explanations from neuropharmacological research. Rituals that integrate peyote as a prime catalyst for healing predominately take place on the pilgrimage to the sacred peyote desert in the state of San Luis Potosí. Oral traditions and individual examples of healing illustrate a central concern with issues of fertility. Wixárika beliefs regarding illness and disease are examined in relationship to Western biomedical studies on medicinal and therapeutic properties of peyote to highlight the commonalities despite differing ethnomedical concepts and systems of health and well-being.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mescaline, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schizophrenia: A New Approach. II. Result of a Year's Research | 1954 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Thought insertion as a self-disturbance: An integration of predictive coding and phenomenological approaches | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Entactogens: How the Name for a Novel Class of Psychoactive Agents Originated | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Steric and Electronic Relationships among Some Hallucinogenic Compounds | 1970 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| EFFECT OF DRUGS One individual | 1952 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | n = 1 |