What have the lizards done?

Papa Legba smoking a pipe, a sculpture done by the Yoruba of Nigeria.

Up until page 84 I've liked this book...then cruelty to lizards began. Until middle school, I was a farm kid and even later I spent enough time in farm country to have no problem eating pork that only an hour before had been part of a living organism, I however do have a personal problem with sewing a lizard's eyes shut and sewing another lizard's mouth shut. In almost every tradition I have studied such "torture" is involved only in black magic. Most animal sacrifice involves a simple cutting of an animal's neck, a quick process, and then the meat is used to feed those involved. (Many places with animal sacrifice are also poor communities where the meat provides an otherwise absent source of protein. I should note that the animals sacrificed have it a lot better in their lives than the animals we eat from Giant who are often raised in practically a cow factory. Many sacrificial animals are traditionally well fed and live like gods. In ancient Egypt their bull cults literally worshiped their sacrificial bulls as incarnations of various Gods.) There is a curses in Hoodoo in which animals are buried, burned, nailed, or eaten alive.

In several Native American traditions, the torture of your enemies was seen as bringing them bravery if they could tolerate it. Anyone who has watched "The Last of the Mohicans" sees this when one character is burned alive by the Huron. In some ways Don Juan's justification of promising to never to hurt other lizards seems to be a little bit of an empty promise to the two lizards that he does "torture." Most of the time I can excuse things on the basis of different cultures, but this one that makes me kind of sit an scratch my head.

Again the idea of intentions comes up again and again. Many lesser drugs only work to their fullest if a person intends to use them as such. While everyone using LSD may have a trip, it's those who have an important intention who gain anything from it. To many of us, having a glass of wine or rum is just a fun thing to do, however in many Western religions or religions influenced by them, alcohol is a sacrament. When I drink absinthe in a social setting, it's ability to remove a person's inhibitions or act as an aphrodisiac becomes more apparent than if I sit alone with a sketch book and use it to release otherwise restrained thoughts. In Voodoo, the sacrament of rum takes on a special purpose when it is mixed with 21 chili peppers during rituals to the Guede. The person first reaches a trance in which they are possessed by the spirits of the dead, as some people may attempt to pretend a possession, the ability to drink the peppered rum like water proves that a person is consciously absent. (Much like Mescalito giving practitioners their own songs, which prove they are truly in an altered state and not just copying everyone else.) Tobacco as I mentioned last class is also another drug where intention plays a huge part. A shaman may have a completely different experience smoking than Joe Smo from the local grocery store.

Lastly on the topic of lizards, I will add that lizards are often seen in Native American beliefs to represent dream messengers.