Fertile Grounds? Peyote and the Human Reproductive System.

“From personal perspectives informed through bioassays and participant observation in peyote ceremonies among Huichol Indians and Native American Church members, the topics of menstruation and fertility will be examined.”

Transcript abstract

This paper examines how ingestion of the mind-altering peyote cactus, (Lophophora williamsii), endemic to the desert of northern Mexico and the borderlands of Texas, may interact within the human reproductive system, specifically in women. The influence of peyote on pregnancy will be discussed through pharmacological and neuropharmacological studies found in the scientific literature involving peyote alkaloids, such as mescaline, and qualitative data collected through ethnographic interviews with indigenous women from Huichol Indian culture in Mexico and members of the Native American Church in the United States. From personal perspectives informed through bioassays and participant observation in peyote ceremonies among Huichol Indians and Native American Church members, the topics of menstruation and fertility will be examined. Information grounded in biomedical and fertility research will be presented to hypothesize the interplay that may occur between peyote/mescaline alkaloids, sexual hormones, and the human reproductive system. In conclusion, the role peyote may have on human reproductive endochrinology will be examined and the implications this may have for other serotonergic entheogens.