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Hans Peter Duerr - Native American Indians - The Thorn Apple Witch
Identifier
008366
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Hans Peter Duerr - Dreamtime
Apparently the thorn apple witch Kieri Tewiydri was stubbornly intent on wooing the Indians away from their hallucinogenic peyote cactus and on getting them to take thorn apple instead. ‘There is madness in him’ the shaman said. Then he continued reporting about the sorcerer
“Many people are that way, they learn from him. They follow his trail. They become dizzy and their throats become constricted. They become intoxicated and stumble over their own feet. They writhe and fall on the ground. Kieri Tewiyari sings over them. He uses his arrow, he blinds them. He says ‘I am the mara’akame, follow me’. In this way, he asserts his influence over them. He makes them roll on the ground. They are gripped by the desire to climb on high rocks, to fly, to jump deep deep into the chasms as though they knew how to fly. They believe that they can fly, those people. They learn from him and they become witches”
At one time, the Luiseno Indians of California also used the thorn apple at their initiation, especially in order to turn into all sorts of birds, crows, owls and hawks and to understand their language. For the Huichol too, kieri is connected with flying.