Amada's Blessings from the Peyote Gardens of South Texas

Numerous studies have explored ceremonial traditions that include the use of peyote, including author Stacy B. Schaefer’s previous research on peyote traditions among the Huichol communities of central Mexico. In Amada’s Blessings from the Peyote Gardens of South Texas, Schaefer, professor emerita at California State University, Chico, offers a distinct contribution to scholarly literature on ceremonial peyote use and the Native American Church by examining the life and legacy of the first federally licensed peyote dealer in the United States, Amada Cardenas (1904–2005). In the United States, peyote use has been at the center of legal battles, most notably the 1990 Employment Division v. Smith court case. While it addresses legal issues, Amada’s Blessings is unique in its focus on Cardenas’s life; we might thus consider the book something of a “micro-ethnohistory.” Through its focus on a significant central subject, the text traces the history of the peyote trade and offers a glimpse into the networks that connect those engaged in different facets of the Native American Church.Schaefer spent a significant amount of time with Cardenas and her family and friends between 1993 and 2011. Throughout the book, Schaefer addresses her subject by her first name, reflecting their level of familiarity and the personal way in which Schaefer documents Cardenas’s life. The tone of the book is loving, caring, and appreciative. Schaefer counts Cardenas as an important friend and mentor, and notes that she was a mother figure for the author and countless others. The text is somewhat hagiographic insofar as it richly details and celebrates the life and teachings of Amada, whom many regard as a saint. At some points, the text feels memoiristic with its foregrounding of the author’s feelings, perspectives, and personal encounters. Ultimately, though, Schaefer wrote the book to further Amada’s legacy; indeed, the book ends with Amada’s prayer for the wellbeing of the world.Throughout the book, Schaefer discusses Cardenas’s upbringing, family life, involvement in the peyote trade, and the role she played in battles to legalize the sale of peyote to members of the Native American Church. Of interest to scholars of religion, Schaefer describes how Cardenas, a devout Catholic, became involved with the Native American Church. In telling her story of Cardenas’s life, Schaefer interweaves information about history, politics, and culture along the borderlands. The text contains many detailed firsthand accounts from Cardenas’s devoted friends and family members. An appendix includes documents related to the establishment of official procedures for regulating the distribution of peyote, and Schaefer included over three dozen images documenting Cardenas’s life, family, and home.Schaefer contributes to the work of scholars who seek to reframe peyote use as something other than illicit drug use, a characterization that has dogged the practice since peyote use was first introduced to Native Americans in the late nineteenth century. The personal, casual tone makes the book accessible to a broad audience. This text should be of particular interest to scholars who are engaged in the study of borderlands traditions and those interested in ethnohistorical accounts of religion. The most significant contribution of this book is its documentation of relationships and networks among those who participate in the Native American Church. Schaefer demonstrates Cardenas’s influence among numerous people from the United States, Mexico, throughout the Americas, and further abroad. For years, Native American Church members from around the United States traveled to Cardenas’s home to buy peyote and participate in ceremonies that took place on Cardenas’s land, and Cardenas herself visited Native American communities, where she was an honored guest. This book captures numerous devotees’ fond memories of their “peyote rose.”

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