I didn’t want to have to make this post this way. I only wanted to present the good and the hopeful. But on thinking it over I decided to present the reality of what has been motivating Morning Star Conservancy’s mission to help insure the future of the medicine. In this way, I hope this post will be more impactful. In my heart, I have the tendency to see things through hopeful eyes. But the reality is that I am strongly motivated to counter the negative things happening in the world, especially regarding peyote’s future, by moving forward with positivity. It’s what we can do.

The Good

First of all, many people value this medicine, and a few of us are determined to help it grow into the future. Exhibit A: Obi-Juan Kenobi, a friend of the medicine, has been rescuing peyote from destruction by paying landowners to allow him to harvest before the dozers run through their property as they clear land for windmills and solar farm projects. Once replanted, these plants thrive and create more seeds for the future.

It all starts from the seed. Saving seeds is saving medicine. This is what Morning Star Conservancy has been doing. And it’s been good.

Next comes the planting, and creating a space for the medicine to grow. We have been busy at this. We’ve established a pilot project which is an effective method of showing us what we need to do in order to scale up, increasing the amounts of seed we are able to cultivate in a larger project space. We’ve learned a lot and the larger project is now beginning. Eventually, this project will end up being a Seed To Ceremony program, providing medicine for re-wilding in its natural habitat as well as for ceremonial use for people who rely on its goodness. What follows are photos documenting our progress so far.

This is how good it can be. Given time, attention, resources, and prayers, this medicine can grow its way in our gardens, our hearts, and our world.

The Bad

The land where peyote grows is being rapidly converted for agriculture, energy production, and human habitat. Simultaneously, Native American Church purchases of sacrament deduct upwards of a million or more plants from the desert each year. Given the high rate of improper harvesting of immature plants, this results in many million seeds no longer being produced and a reduction in the amount of land available for them to grow on. It’s a double tragedy. This is why several organizations have been formed to effort a reversal of this process. Morning Star Conservancy is collaborating with two sister organizations, one in the US, and one in Mexico, in order to enact a seedling production and re-wilding campaign to help reverse this destructive trend.

The Ugly

These photos were taken last week of newly “converted” sacred peyote habitat. This is one of the areas that our friend Obi-Juan Kenobi has been salvaging medicine from. Although formerly abundant with medicine, these sad photos tell us all we need to know in order for us to get serious and collectively do something about it. Please help if you can.

Please Creator, help us help this land and medicine. With your guidance, let us do something good.