Psychic Detective 8 The Peyote Ritual By: Jake Preston
This is a work of erotic gay fiction, intended for readers who enjoy a murder mystery in which fully developed characters interact sexually and in other ways. Their sexual encounters are sometimes romantic, sometimes recreational, sometimes spiritual, and almost always described explicitly. My attention is equally divided between narrative, character development, and sex scenes. If you don't care for this combination, there are many other excellent "nifty" stories to choose from. And remember that while nifty stories are free, maintaining a website is not. Please think about donating at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html
Writing is usually a solitary avocation, but not necessarily so on nifty.org, where a longer story appears in installments. If my characters and my story grab your attention, you can always intervene with suggestions for improvements. All sincere comments will get a response!
Jake, at jemtling@gmail.com
Chapter 8 The Peyote Ritual
Sunday morning, July 6: The peyote chips had dried on the kitchen counter. At Dark Eagle's instruction, the four sworn-brothers moved furniture to make room for guests. The day was rainy and cold- "Rain is a good omen," said Dark Eagle, for "the ritual requires a fire in the fireplace."
"There will be thirteen of us," Jimmy Brave Heart said. "Isn't that an unlucky number?"
"Each one is indispensable in his own way," Dark Eagle said.
The four Ojibwe elders arrived: Peter Brave Heart (Jimmy's father), Matt Aseban, Jim Beaver Trail, and Steve 'Rabbit' Waabooz (Tony's father). Dark Eagle sent them to the sweat lodge, and the four 'brothers' with them. They stripped down to their shorts, but in the heat of the sweat lodge, Jim Beaver Trail persuaded Dmitri to get naked. If the truth be told, Dmitri liked it when other men admired the physique of his wrestler's body. The elders broke into a ritual that they had used before:
"Abeweyiingwe," Peter Brave Heart said. "Abweninjiiweg," Matt Aseban said. "Abwezideweg," Jim Beaver Trail said. "Abwenidiyid," Steve Waabooz said.
The elders laughed at their verbal game. Tony Waabooz translated: "He has a sweaty face. He has sweaty hands. He has sweaty feet. He has a sweaty butt." The elders laughed again. On ritual occasions, it was their job to introduce polar opposites- solemn Ojibwe traditions, and carnivalian humor. "Sacred laughter is as important as prayer," Dark Eagle used to say.
Jimmy Brave Heart's red-faced blush was almost imperceptible in the dim light of the sweat lodge. It was only two hours since he had burrowed his nose, his tongue, and his cock in Dmitri's butt. Still fresh in his mind was the sensation of Dmitri's sphincter tightened around his shaft while semen flowed into his anal canal. At that moment, Dmitri had been an extension of him. Jimmy didn't like being naked in the presence of his father, but he stepped out of his shorts so Dmitri wouldn't be the only one. David was less sympathetic, knowing that Dmitri liked the attention, but it went without saying that all three of Dmitri's sworn-brothers would get naked, too.
The 'brothers' were frolicking in the water on a cool-down when Göran Svenson, Harvey Winik, and Red Hawk arrived. They stripped naked, too. Eye- and body-contact were inevitable between eleven men crowded in the sweat lodge, seven of them butt-naked and remembering sex with one or more of the others within the last few days, or hours. Göran Svenson rivaled Dmitri in surplus masculinity, but in other respects they were unlike each other. If Dmitri fulfilled popular notions of Apollo, Svenson was more like Paul Bunyan, minus a beard, axe, and ox- unless the bulge in his basket could be animated as Babe Blue! Svenson's opposite in the group was Red Hawk; he's what anthropologists call 'slender gracile', even androgynous when seen from the rear, a look that he cultivated by wearing shoulder-length hair and an elaborate turquoise necklace, quite similar to the ones worn by the 'brothers' on this ritual day. How strange that the most androgynous creature among them should be a voracious top, while his hunky opposites, Dmitri and Göran, should be accessible to sexual domination by men who wanted them! Harvey Winik was somewhere between these extremes: stout but strong in his middle age, new to the gay scene, self-described as a top but easily seduced by Red Hawk, who suggested to him that he should think of himself as 'versatile', depending on who he was with. The truth is that Winik was too inexperienced to understand his gay sexuality.
In the gay intimacy of the sweat lodge, Peter Brave Heart and his son Jimmy explained the customs of sexual conduct in the peyote ritual. Their account was clinical; even Red Hawk, an anthropologist, couldn't have done it better. Even so, uplifting whiffs of testosterone mingled with steam in the hut crowded to naked men. In the peyote ritual, sexual participation is voluntary, but if a man gets naked, that signifies his desire to participate. If he asks another man to have sex with him during the ritual, it's considered bad manners to refuse him. Of course, the rule cuts both ways: he can't refuse another man's invitation, either. It's also bad manners to proposition another man unawares during the ritual; better to ask him ahead of time, but bad to refuse him ahead of time. Rather than refusing sex with someone who asks, it's better to withdraw from the ritual altogether. "But peyote-passion is such that spontaneous sex is possible, too, and what we are calling 'bad manners' is forgiven," Peter Brave Heart said. "That rule cancels out the others. One other rule applies to today's ritual: no one is allowed to touch David, except his sworn brothers."
Usually the elders kept their clothes on, content in their spectator role, but when Matt Aseban gazed at Dmitri, he decided to go naked. Jim Beaver Trail was attracted to Svenson in the same way. During the next cool-down period in the lake, Matt approached Dmitri, who replied, "I am for you, then, Matt Aseban, and as you are the first to ask, you'll be my first in the ritual-assuming that anyone else wants me." He laughed. "I should warn you, Dmitri, that Aseban means 'raccoon' in Ojibwe. I'm Matt Raccoon Aseban. Raccoons get into everything." His remark got a toothy grin from Dmitri, who wished that his homophobic father could be more laid back, like Matt Aseban.
Jim Beaver Trail propositioned Göran Svenson, who said, "I'll agree on one condition; namely, that you spend the night with me at the Lodge" (he meant Wayward Island Resort).
Red Hawk counseled Harvey Winik: "Do you see anything you like? For you, Harv, the peyote ritual is a chance to broaden your experience." Winik admitted that he was partial to Jimmy Brave Heart and Tony Waabooz, but couldn't choose between them. "Why pick just one, when you can have both of them?" Red Hawk asked. "We'll all be high on peyote, and viagra for endurance!" The idea seemed outrageously unrealistic to Winik-that two vital young men would want to be with a man old enough to be their father. "Would it be all right if I asked them for you?" Red Hawk volunteered. Minutes later, Red Hawk had organized a peyote-threesome for Winik, Jimmy Brave Heart, and Tony Waabooz.
"What about you?" Winik asked Red Hawk. "Everyone else seems paired up, except for David, and Dark Eagle said that during the ritual, David's untouchable."
"I'm going peyote-light this time," Red Hawk said. "I'll be on the viewing stand, so to speak, with Dark Eagle and Mrs. Ravitch. I'm here to observe and record, on orders from Dark Eagle."
"Peyote-light?" Winik asked.
"Limited to two peyote chips, rather than four or six; enough to get into the spirit without getting lost in peyote visions," Red Hawk replied.
If other assignations were made during the sweat-lodge encounter, I'm not aware of them. Of course, the four 'sworn brothers' had no need to proposition each other.
The elders began the ceremony by distributing peyote chips, whisky, and viagra. "You must chew each peyote chip thoroughly. Chew it until it feels like a past. Only then should you wash it down with whisky," Peter Brave Heart instructed. "Dmitri and David, Jimmy Brave Heart and Tony Waabooz, you must not take peyote until after the Greek dance that Dark Eagle has promised us. Thirteen participants sat in a wide circle, on the ceremonial carpet by the fireplace. Dark Eagle started the peace-pipe. It circled around three times. "It's just tobacco, no marijuana," Dark Eagle said. He grinned at the two law enforcement officers, Winik and Svenson. Not that they would have objected.
"Timothy Leary, the self-proclaimed prophet of LSD, once tried peyote," Red Hawk said, while everyone (except for the four sworn brothers) struggled to chew the chips. "He complained that the chips were disgusting and failed to induce the 'eighth circuit of consciousness'. That's what he called it. For him it was a scientific experiment, not a ritual. He accepted the conventional Aristotelian notion that pleasure is the absence or avoidance of pain. That's why he rejected the chips for their bitterness." After Red Hawk's discourse, no one dared complain that the chips tasted bitter!
Dark Eagle chanted a long prayer to Manitou. In it, he thanked the Great Spirit sending him twelve guests, and gave reasons (in Ojibwe) why each one was present: the four elders; the two detectives (Harvey Winik and Göran Svenson), the resident artist and anthropologist (Anna Ravitch and Red Hawk), the sons of two elders (Jimmy Brave Heart and Anthony 'Rabbit' Waabooz), and their sworn brothers, Dmitri Zarvopoulos and David Gabrioli. David came last but not least. "David Niizho-manitou, he of Two Spirits," he called him, "sent to help us unravel a mystery."
After the prayer, everyone moved aside to make room for Dmitri's acrobatic Greek dance, accompanied by boom-box music and the line-dance of David, Jimmy, and Tony. The neophytes held their own, while Dmitri astonished the group with acrobatic maneuvers. The first dance, syrtos handioditos, was surprising for its novelty, and for the spectacle of eagle-feathers swaying to the rhythms of a dance that seemed more energetic than any Ojibwe equivalent. The boys removed their headdresses and danced the kalamatianos, faster and faster, an even more energetic dance. Dark Eagle beamed with pride. Everyone else looked astonished. The beadwork on vests, shirts, trousers, and moccasins seemed to flash colored lights, reflected by firelight, or was it the first onset of peyote visions? When the boys doffed their vests and danced a zorba, the music was familiar but the dance dazzled more than anything they remembered from Zorba the Greek. (That was peyote influence, for sure!) They removed their shirts for the akrobatikos. This was Dmitri's dance, more than any other. Only he could perform it. Tony Waabooz did his part, with a red hand towel wrapped around his hand, supporting Dmitri's weight during tricky jumps and squats. Without Tony's help, Dmitri would have fallen to the floor, but he was an experienced dancer, and didn't miss a beat. It seemed to his spectators that Dmitri's feet never touched the floor when he moved, except when he squatted on one foot, with his butt an inch from the ceremonial carpet, and sprung into the air like an eagle. The turquoise necklace picked up colors from his torso and from firelight, in peyote-perfected perfection.
It was time for the syrtos eroticos, the last dance. Dmitri stepped out of his deerskin trousers and his shorts. Tony, David, and Jimmy followed his example. Everyone applauded and cheered. Dressed in turquoise necklaces and beaded moccasins, they danced the erotikos, a slow, romantic dance. Here it must be said that the boys improvised some erotic moves that had never been seen at a Greek wedding: mock-fondling, mock-fucking, frontal flaunting of genitalia, and curvaceous displays of naked butt.
When the dance was over, Dark Eagle directed the boys to sit Indian-style on the ceremonial carpet. David was North, at Dark Eagle's feet. Dmitri was South. Jimmy Brave Heart was East. Tony Waabooz was West. Harvey Winik sat next to Jimmy Brave Heart. Matt Aseban sat next to Dmitri. Göran Svenson and Jim Beaver Trail sat together, between David and Tony Waabooz. Peter Brave Heart and Steve Waabooz, sat between Dmitri and Jimmy. Dark Eagle sat apart on the love seat, between Red Hawk and Mrs. Ravitch. Peter Brave Heart distributed peyote chips and whisky to the dancers, and towels for them to wipe down their sweat. Dark Eagle told them to get closer in the circle. "Your arms and legs much touch the men on each side of you," he said. He lit the calumet, smoked, and passed it to Mrs. Ravitch and Red Hawk, who brought it to the ten men in the circle. The calumet circulated three times. By the third round, everyone seemed eager to help his neighbor with the pipe. They got giddy and handsy. The ceiling floated toward them and away.
Dark Eagle uttered an improvised prayer in English. It was part of the ritual, but he made it a long prayer, to give the dancers time to get their bearings:
Manitou, Manitou!
As You are the Spirit of Life,
We of the Ojibwe have never slain any living thing as a sacrifice to You.
We respect your sacred birds:
the Eagle, the Hawk, the Osprey, the Crane, the Owl, and the Loon.
We respect your sacred animals: the Wolf and the Bear.
We respect all human life.
We welcome wayfarers as guests. Sometimes You speak through them.
Because You are Spirit, we worship no graven images.
Our gifts to you are friendship in the sweat lodge and in the sacred wigwam.
Speak to us now, in our peyote ritual.
You sent David Gabrioli, he of Two Spirits.
You sent Dmitri Zarvopoulos, his guardian.
We honor them as sons.
Jimmy Brave Heart and Anthony Waabooz are their brothers.
David is North. Dmitri is South. Jimmy and Tony are East and West.
Evil has come to the Island of Eight Eagles.
You sent David and Dmitri there to disclose it.
They've done their part, and they will do more with our help.
Speak to us now. Tell us what we must do.
Dark Eagle continued in prose: "Twenty years ago, Manitou foresaw that evil would come to the Island of Eight Eagles. He sent a shaman's spirit to David Niizho-manitou Gabrioli. He sent a warrior's spirit to Dmitri Zarvopoulos, to be his guardian."
Dark Eagle had his critics in other Indian nations, who faulted him for three heresies: he turned the sweat lodge into a sauna, he admitted non-Indian elements and non-Indian participants in the peyote ritual, and he allowed gay sex as part of the ritual. The first charge was untrue, for it was the Ojibwe people, not Dark Eagle, who secularized the sweat lodge. But it is true that Dark Eagle took advantage of this, realizing that companionship in the sweat lodge would attract more Ojibwe to shamanism. Indeed, he revived shamanism and made it stronger among the Ojibwe compared to other Indian nations-partly because of his 'ecumenical' views, as he called them. "There is no theological conflict between shamanism and the Judeo-Christian tradition," he claimed. "Any shamanist can be Christian without giving up shamanism, for Manitou is one of the names of God." Most Christians wouldn't agree, but then, most Christians don't accept equal rights for gay people, either, so established Christian churches have little credibility when it comes to what is or is not acceptable.
Then, too, Dark Eagle had a unique ability to detect two-spirited men, manifestations of Niizho-manitou. It was a spiritualized form of gaydar. When he found men of two spirits, he incorporated them into Ojibwe rituals. His acceptance of gay sex generated a spirit of toleration in the Ojibwe nation. With the possible exception of Anna Ravitch, no one knew anything about Dark Eagle's sexual orientation-an improper speculation in any case.
Dark Eagle rose to Native American fame when the Ojibwe Monument was discovered on Jake Preston's farm on the Rice River. Jake gave him use of the farm for a museum and a visitors' center, and for the Summer Solstice Powwow. It was a personal gift from Jake to Dark Eagle, although the Ojibwe nation would inherit the farm eventually. With Jake's help, Dark Eagle purchased other land in Ashawa-abandoned farms and lakefront lots. These he ceded to the Ojibwe nation. Moreover, the peyote rituals over which he presided had a reputation for eliciting authentic prophecies from Manitou. So Dark Eagle had more supporters than critics, because he attracted allies who did good things for the Ojibwe.
So it was neither heresy nor sacrilege when Jimmy Brave Heart and Tony Waabooz lay on either side of Harvey Winik and offered him double sodomy. Winik penetrated Jimmy first. "Go easy on him," Jimmy said when Winik turned to Tony and knelt between his legs. "Go easy on him, he's a virgin," Jimmy said when Winik edged toward Tony with a cock already Jimmy- coated with lube. Winik tested Tony's portal with his mushroomy wet head. "I've never popped cherry before. Do you want to give it up to your old uncle Harv?" Tony responded by placing his hands on Winik's thighs and drawing him close. An unexpected landslide occurred. Winik's shaft drove all the way in. Tony howled like a wolf, but the pain subsided in peyote-visions of spirally colors and stars. Steve Waabooz was minded to rescue his son from the arms of a cherry- bandit, but Svenson distracted him with an invitation to spend the night with him at the Lodge. "We'll be a threesome, you, me, and Jim Beaver Trail," he said. Svenson guided Steve's hand to his naked butt. "You can get into this," he said. Winik was so delirious fucking Tony that he didn't notice Jimmy behind him, and in him. Winik arched and winced at the dull thud of cockhead followed by the unstoppable slide of shaft. His fucking-moves into Tony gave Jimmy the stimulation he needed. Winik planted his seed inside Tony. Only then did he realize that he'd been spooged, too.
Dmitri and Göran had promises to keep and pipers to pay. They lay side by side while Matt Aseban and Jim Beaver Trail missioned them tandemly, then flipped them and fucked from behind. Matt and Jim spoke Ojibwe words, sharing untranslatable remarks about male pussy, mounds of moon under their command, big dicks tucked under while Ojibwe dick plowed the field, the silken squeeze of sphincter around their shafts. Matt used his hands to part Dmitri's ass-cheeks so Jim could see his shaft-action. "All right, you've convinced me. Let's trade," Jim said. A minute later, Jim was fucking Dmitri and Matt was fucking Svenson. "They really are different, but sensational," Jim Beaver Trail said. He was getting ready to spooge Dmitri, when David was heard calling, "Dmitri!" Dmitri was startled. Jim Beaver Trail's cock sprung out of its target and jizzed on Dmitri's torso, while Matt Aseban filled Svenson's tunnel with spooge.
Dmitri walked over to David and helped him to his feet. He picked David up. David wrapped his legs around Dmitri's hips. Dmitri's cock plowed David's butt. They fucked furiously while Dmitri held David by the butt and David clung to Dmitri's neck. Dmitri spooged David while David shot jizz over Dmitri's torso. Spoogy white gobs contrasted the tawny dark of his body. They stood in a lovers' embrace, oblivious to everyone around them, and whispered words that no one else could hear. My speculation is that Dmitri asked David if he wanted to continue with the ritual. If David had said no, Dmitri would have picked him up and carried him back to the wigwam. But David said yes. Dmitri helped David into his deerskin trousers, and got into trousers himself. He helped David into his place on the ceremonial carpet-this time facing Dark Eagle.
Dark Eagle raised his right hand. Everyone was silent. Dark Eagle gazed at David. David returned Dark Eagle's gaze. Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes went by. David was in deep concentration. "Some thoughts have come to me," he said at last. "Maybe they come from Manitou, maybe they come from my own experience. That's for the shaman to judge. They are random thoughts, but I must speak them as they come. The evil that you speak of will return to the Island of Eight Eagles. A shaman was sacrificed. He was not Ojibwe, but he was a shaman. He came from an arid place of mountains, red rocks, and desert. The island must be claimed by the Ojibwe nation, and purified. The Eight Eagles must be protected. The hawk must be protected. The shaman that was sacrificed was a healer, not a prophet. If the hawk is not protected, the Eight Eagles will leave the island."
Svenson was so riveted that he forgot he was naked. He reached for a pen and paper, but found that he had no trousers. He sighed with relief when he saw Red Hawk taking notes.
David continued: "The evil one has a dark companion. They travel like an apparition and its shadow, from place to place, east to west and west to east. The hawk must be protected. West and further west they go, to a mountain forest. They have three places of sacrifice. One is for water, two is for sand, three is for the sun setting over the mountains. That's where my thoughts come to an end. I'm sorry I don't have more, Dark Eagle. I'm sorry if I failed you."