Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1974. First edition. Octavo. 285pp.; bibliography and index. Gray cloth boards, black spine lettering; dust jacket. With a full-color leaf at front of volume illustrating two yarn paintings by Ramón Medina Silva, a Huichol shaman-priest and one of the book’s central figures. Fine in a near fine jacket with internally repaired closed tears at the head of the moderately faded spine. Part of the “Symbol, Myth, and Ritual” series edited by Victor Turner.

An engaging firsthand account of the peyote hunt as practiced by the Huichol, an indigenous people of Mexico and the southwestern United States. The book centers on the figure of Ramón Medina Silva, a shaman-priest who instructs Myerhoff in the myths, rituals, and symbols surrounding the Huichol’s yearly pilgrimage to gather peyote in the sacred land of Wirikuta. Myerhoff (1935-1985) was an American anthropologist and filmmaker noted for incorporating elements of reflexivity and narrative storytelling into more traditional modes of anthropological research. She and colleague Peter Furst were the first non-Huichol individuals to participate in the peyote hunt.