Native Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility

Two dominant strands of religion existed in North America. First was the religion of the hunting tribes. These emphasised the carnivore spirits and Father Sun which tended toward individual empowerment. Second was the agricultural religion which emphasized the plant and tree spirits along with Mother Earth. This tended toward a collective empowerment. There was thus, no ability to reconcile the one and the many. Neither maintained a written record of history because life was viewed as cyclical. The result of a cyclical view of life is the deninal of purpose as well as any hope of progress and direction for history. This left the Native American without hope, and the dominant religious trait became the Peyote Cult (drug cult) that show more abandoned life and meaning all together. show less