The White Witchcraft of the Huichol Tribe Part 4 in Mexican Cultural Series
Tara A. Spears
In a country that celebrates the dead it is consistent that some groups still follow 5,000 year old practices using magic in contemporary rites. The Huichol (pronounced Wee chall) indigenous people have remained faithful to their religious beliefs and practices since ancient times. To the 21st century observer these practices might seem strange and labeled white witchcraft or sorcery. One of the unique facets of Huichol religion includes using hallucinogenic peyote in ceremonies. The Huichols are not using substances to escape reality but to celebrate and to be closer to their gods. “I went through the dark chamber of the mind and saw” describes Huichol peyote use. While they are not the only ethnic group that incorporate the peyote as one of the most important features for their rites, the Huichol are the most distinctive.
According to Huichol member, Armando Rios,“With the thunderous blowing of a sea shell, magic begins. The smell of copal (an aromatic tree resin used as incense) is in the air and announces the greeting to the four winds: north, south, east, west. With raised hands comes the greeting to heaven, then to the earth and, finally, to the center, to let the energy flow from head to toe, opening the way to a cosmological experience. This is the beginning a Wixarika ceremony that they carry out before eating peyote.”
To the Huichol, the heart of the world is Wirikuta, where the Blue Deer ended its path after being chased. Huichol say that every step that the Deer took turned into a peyote. This theme is dominant in Huichol art such as multicolored mats and other bead objects. Typically, it is the father of the family who initiates each of his children around age nine to peyote. This ritual is performed before the Deer Dance or during the Peyote Festival that is organized in May, to which Huichol come with offerings for the gods. 
Magic and sorcery are concepts that have been used over time to indicate forms of thought, practices, rites and ceremonies. Sorcery has also been used to define feared, hated or desired events, unexplained phenomena, and even acts of illusionism, conjuring and charlatanism.
Magic arose from the impotence of man to explain the phenomena of nature. The early people felt helpless before the world that surrounded them- and that they could not control. As a coping mechanism, man projected his amazement and fear by resorting to a series of acts to influence these forces in a symbolic and imaginary way. Thus, magic is defined as the set of actions that aim to influence the world around us, using imaginary and supernatural means. While most educated people now have the background of science to explain natural phenomena, the isolated simple tribes cling to their ancestral magic practices.
There are those who distinguish between black magic and white magic. The first, called goetia or witchcraft since the Middle Ages, is the antisocial activity that seeks the harm and destruction of others through illness and death. The second is socially sanctioned sorcery because it stimulates effort; it is a factor that tends to increase economic production; placed at the service of society, protects agricultural activities, trade, health, individual or collective integrity, and even issues related to love and social relationships.
According to historian M. Teresa Sepúlveda, “The priest is the fortune-teller, astrologer or medium who comes into contact with the sacred world or with the supernatural forces to implore his help, or to coerce the gods to obtain a certain end. The shaman is also the repository of theosophical, philosophical and scientific knowledge, and saves the historical memory of the group. He/she is the knower and the conductor of mystic rituals and ceremonies. And it is the doctor who restores the well-being lost by the absence of physical or spiritual health.”
Huichols use peyote and the Eye of God in many of their rituals. Within the tribe the sorcerer is revered. The most skilled of these diviners and healers is the Huichol shaman, who since his youth has manifested special qualities. Their culture believes that the medicine man/sorcerer/shaman knows the hidden things (of heaven and hell) and possesses a supernatural power; he knows when it will rain and when it will not, drives away hail, predicts hunger and plague, protects the village against bad wizards, lives without getting married, and is the counselor of kings and the public. Just as he is a suggestive artist, he is also a man who by his nature is subject to hallucinations and self-suggestions by fasting; to penance and priestly practices; to the use of narcotics, tobacco, and peyote.
No matter what your chosen spiritual path, it is impressive that a group of indigenous Mexican people have remained true to their cultural heritage. Just think of the courage it takes to wear their traditional clothes in this age of designer labels! As with every minority group in any country, we should applaud their uniqueness rather than fear their differences.