An Age Old Practice Promoting Man and Earth's Connection.
The Indigenous Peoples of North America are historically linked with the pre-westernized earth. Given that connection, the relationship between early North Americans and the earth was crucial for their survival. Something so life giving as the earth needed to be celebrated, explored, and understood. The People (in the collective, respectively; representing many tribes nationwide that were developing at similar speeds) quickly learned through foraging how to be sustained by the earth, and find respect for the earth's provisions. Because naturally occurring hallucinogenic plants were abundant, early peoples found a connection with the spirit realm, and over time, found that these plants allowed for a greater understanding of the earth's harmonies, and powers. Some early Peoples learned quickly to identify such plants, and adopted their uses in ritual prayer, healing, and spiritual enlightenment. (Grim '83 pgs. 4-7) .
Through the development of religions that embraced the sacred plants and their gifts of wisdom, came a spiritual hierarchy within the social structures of these early peoples. Before continuing, it must be noted that hierarchy' in the western sense must not be applied. In most cases, the existence of such status only denotes one's role in the tribe, paying equal respect to all members of one's tribe. (Steiger, 1975 p.175-9) Often, the most holy position in a tribe was called a Shaman. This role was to be filled by the man or woman who was most knowledgeable on the workings of the earth's cycle, its healing powers, and the one with the strongest contact to the different layers of the spiritual world, by way of hallucinogenic plant consumption. .
The roles of the Shaman, and the use of psychoactive plants in rituals, are extremely important aspects of Native American culture. Because the possession or use of such substances has become criminalized by the US Government, this paper will focus predominantly on pre-European contact practices of Indigenous Peoples.
