Peyote is the darling of the psychedelics renaissance. Indigenous users say it co-opts ‘a sacred way of life’

Margie Whitney-Silva, 52, stands in a traditional hogan while holding a peyote cactus in Tohatchi, New Mexico. Photograph: Sharon Chischilly/The Guardian

On the first day of autumn, evening temperatures near Window Rock, Arizona, were brisk. Beneath the late September sky, a traditional round hogan in this remote corner of the Navajo Nation was enveloped in darkness. Ten tribal members gathered inside.

After a dinner of mutton and fry bread, the group settled in a circle around a wood stove radiating with burning juniper, preparing to ingest what the Diné (Navajo) call azeé – the medicine.