Lakota Woman

At “the heart” of AIM is the rebellion against Christianization and the return to “ancient beliefs” (93). It inspires Crow Dog to reconnect with her more traditional relatives like her grand-uncle Dick Fool Bull, who takes her to her first peyote meeting. She feels the drumbeat deep in her heart and hears “long-dead relatives talking to [her]” (96). Her mother, who raised her Catholic, isn’t happy that she’s taking this path.

Leonard Crow Dog, the author’s husband, is a peyote priest who “looks upon all ancient Indian religions as different aspects of one great overall power” (98). Visions are central to all Native American religions, though the manner by which they receive visions differs.

White people visit Leonard to ask for peyote; they use this sacred herb as a recreational drug. Already it “has been hit by inflation” (100), sold to the people by dealers at high prices.

Peyote unifies tribes, making them forget the competition between them. It helps Crow Dog “see the royalness of [her] people” (100). When a person has a song with no words, peyote helps “put words into your song” (101). Though members of different tribes don’t speak the same language, “through peyote we speak one tongue, spiritually” (102).