---
name: Peyote
molecule: C11H17NO3
compound: "Mescaline"
era: Ancient
origin: Mexico
archetype: Freetekno
ancestor: Native American
swag_score: 4
image: "https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/peyote.webp"
date_added: "2025-01-12"
---

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/peyote.webp" alt="Peyote" width="320" />
</div>


# Peyote

## Effects & Properties

**Effects:** Psychedelic, vivid visual hallucinations, heightened emotional
sensitivity.

**Natural Occurrence:** Native to the Chihuahuan Desert (southern
Texas, northern Mexico), this cactus contains mescaline in its crowns or “buttons” and grows in
arid, rocky soils, and is harvested for ceremonial use.
**Appearance:** Small, rounded cactus
between 2-5cm in diameter, with gray-green to bluish-green flesh, with fuzzy tufts instead of
spines, and small pink or white flowers. Fresh or dried peyote “buttons” are brownish or
grayish-green and bitter.

## History

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) has been used sacramentally by Indigenous peoples of Mexico and the American Southwest for at least 5,700 years, based on radiocarbon dating of specimens found in Shumla Cave, Texas. It was central to the spiritual practices of the Huichol (Wixaritari), Tarahumara (Raramuri), and other Mesoamerican peoples long before the founding of the Native American Church in 1918, which formalized peyote ritual as a syncretic religion combining Indigenous and Christian elements. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1994 protected peyote use for Native American Church members, and Aldous Huxley's 1954 book "The Doors of Perception" describing his mescaline experience brought peyote into mainstream Western awareness.

## Connections

**Archetype:** [Freetekno](../../../core-lore/archetypes.md#freetekno)

**Ancestor:** [Native American](../../../core-lore/ancestors/native-american.md)

**Tarot Card:** [King of Cups](../../../core-lore/tarot-cards/king-of-cups.md)

**Paired With:** [2C-B](2c-b.md)

## Sources

- https://www.erowid.org/plants/peyote/peyote.shtml
- https://www.erowid.org/plants/peyote/peyote_faq.shtml
- [Peyote - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyote)
- [Mescaline - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mescaline)
- [Mescaline - PubChem](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Mescaline)
- [Native American Church - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Church)
- [The Doors of Perception - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_of_Perception)
- [Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15990261/)
- [American Indian Religious Freedom Act - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Religious_Freedom_Act)