Organic farming has helped some indigenous peoples in Mexico to reinvent themselves. How many people are there? According to INEGI figures, about six million Mexicans over the age of five speak at least one indigenous language. Another three million Mexicans consider themselves indigenous but no longer speak any indigenous language. How many indigenous towns or […]
Continue ReadingPosted by Janis on August 12, 1999 Hola a Todos, This is not meant to be a political question, I know this may seem impossible, but I am looking for some factual info. Last evening I saw a documentary by Nettie Wild entitled “A Place Called Chiapas.” Wild is a Canadian filmmaker who spent eight […]
Continue ReadingAll my life, I have been a coward about death and dying. It’s all so unsanitary somehow; so negative; so threatening. Better to turn your head, tune out suffering, and tune in to the happy positive life of eternal youth that is the birthright of every television-watching white kid who grew up in the U.S. […]
Continue ReadingHigh in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains of Mexico, northwest of Guadalajara, the Huichol Indians live in small villages called ranchos scattered throughout this remote, rugged terrain. They integrate peyote use into their lives, culture, and religion today as they have done for at least a thousand years and most likely for thousands of years. […]
Continue ReadingThe Huichol way is the way of the Heart. Of utmost importance to the awakening and development of the heart is the sacred Peyote. Peyote looks like a cactus and grows wild in the desert. It has been used for medicinal purposes as well as for spiritual visions and experiences for thousands of years. Guadalupe […]
Continue ReadingIsolated high in the Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico, and protected from the outside world for centuries by the natural barrier the mountains afforded, the Huichols have preserved probably the most pure preColombian culture in our hemisphere. The Huichols call themselves “the healers.” For generations, they have performed ceremonial rituals they believe heal the […]
Continue ReadingSummer solstice 2003 would be memorable. A local paper mentioned a Huichol vigil to be held near the shoreline of Mexico’s Lake Chapala at a site called Isla de los Patos. The ceremony was to peak on June 21, the solstice. Under the leadership of shaman Pablo Taizan, supporters intended to contact ancestral gods through […]
Continue ReadingEvery so often, an event or circumstance occurs which changes the way we think of ourselves, or our place in the universe. Today was a day like that. Late yesterday, a guest of my neighbor learned of an Indigenous celebration to be held today, high in the mountains. If I wanted to join her, horses […]
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Yohualichan is one of those places that, if you blink, you might miss it. Situated toward the end of a meandering cobbled road in the midst of the Sierra Norte Mountains of Puebla, the entrance to the town’s road and archaeological site is marked by a single blue sign around a curve in a one-lane […]
Continue Reading“The Earth is sick and dying. The lands of the Huichol Indians, hidden high in the remote Sierra Madre mountains of northwestern Mexico, are dying. The forests are shrinking, water is becoming scarce, and the animals are disappearing. “The Huichol Wise man, the Grand Shaman, knows why.” “When the world ends, it will be like […]
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