– about IBOGA –
THE SACRED TREE OF THE BWITI TRADITION

With thanks to Bwiti nima Gregory Puente and our mentor nganga Appolon for support in these answers.

 What is iboga?

Iboga (sacred wood) is a tree that grows in the basin of the Congo, in the second largest forest in the world. The root of the tree is used as a sacred plant medicine for initiating people and healing in the Bwiti tradition. 

Iboga has 22 alkaloids, of which ibogaine is just one. The sacred plant has many properties for healing on the physical, energetic and spiritual levels.

 Iboga is one of multiple tools used within the Bwiti initiation to enable people to experience deep things in the spiritual world and come back to ordinary reality, changed.

The goal of a Bwiti initiation is about meeting the transformation and answers you seek — not to eat iboga.

What’s the difference between Bwiti, a Bwiti initiation and iboga?

 Bwiti means what is unknowable, what is secret. So, I don’t know what Bwiti is. People may be surprised because I am a nima in the Bwiti tradition and I don't know what is Bwiti. The word comes from the Pope language which is a special language that initiates would speak.

 A Bwiti initiation comes from the Bwiti tradition. A collection of knowledge, we use ritual practices and sometimes the iboga root to help people to know themselves. We help people to go in the spiritual world, receive knowledge from the Spirit and live in the Bwiti during the initiation. They come back transformed.

Iboga is a sacred tool. We can use this tool, but it’s not necessary to use it every time. The main goal of a Bwiti initiation is not to eat iboga. It’s to meet your Higher Self. To know yourself. To know the Mother and Father Divine (feminine and masculine aspects of the Divine) and that’s inside you. To experience the Spiritual world. And there are many ways to do that in the initiation.

There are other sacred tools, like the song and harp.

Why do you eat iboga during initiation?

You can think of it as a tool to harmonise the vibration of each of the body’s chakras. It expands people’s awareness. Your third eye opens. Your kundalini moves. Your sensitivities grow. 

Note that in Bwiti initiation, iboga is ONE of multiple spiritual tools. It’s not a matter of eating iboga and then you’re initiated. It’s a mutliple-day process with purification, other tools and rituals throughout the process.

If iboga is not the only tool, what are the other tools?

Sacred wood is not the only tool used during initiation, but also the sacred harp, song and dance. There are also multiple precise rituals during the initiation to support your journey and transformation. 

The meanings of the songs and dances are important. They call in spirits and divine energy to help people to travel during the journey. The songs create a special bond between the physical and spiritual worlds. 

These are core elements of the science of African spirituality.

Who administers the iboga?

In our initiation retreats, only consecrated masters who have been authorized to initiate people and administer iboga.

They know how to identify if and how much iboga is right for your journey (and your journey back), along with what to do if you need support after eating the wood.

Does initiation involve other plant medicines, or just iboga?

In Bwiti Missoko initiation, bandzis (initiates) also eat another ‘mystical dish’ that, like all elements from the tradition (including iboga), come from the forest. There is one for women’s initiation and one for men’s initiation. These are the core of the initiation process.

What kind of preparation is necessary to eat iboga?

In the traditional initiation process, we have a period of purification that helps to put people in the right condition to journey. You also raise your vibration in order to do the travel and answers you need. This ritual purification and preparation is obligatory before the initiation.

If you’re doing an initiation, it’s helpful to begin the purification well before you arrive. It’s better to stop drugs, alcohol, and medication (with the advice of the spiritual father or mother) ahead of the journey.

Is iboga a hallucinogen?

Iboga is not a hallucinogen. Hallucination implies a false illusion or delusional visions. The experience you have with iboga is real. The knowledge you receive in these journeys are not false visions created by an intoxicated mind. The knowledge and experience are real.

Is iboga (and Bwiti initiation) right for everyone?

 Every person is at a different level of evolution. That’s why we’re here on the earth — to experiment and learn. Everyone has their own karma. Iboga helps people to know themselves, but the high comprehension of self that comes with iboga is not accessible or appropriate for people just starting out on the journey of self-awareness and consciousness. For people who are very rational, concerned with things just of this physical reality, iboga might be difficult. If they are not interested in spirituality, they are likely to not be interested in iboga anyway. For them, iboga is irrelevant.

But people who want to learn more in spirituality, these people are likely to be interested in iboga. And for these people, iboga can be helpful. However, it’s important to remember initiation is not just about iboga — there are many different tools used in the process of illumination.

When is iboga the right approach for healing and when is it not?

 People with heart conditions should not have iboga. But they can still be initiated in Bwiti Dissoumba Fang — there are other tools, like sacred song and ritual purification bathing.

What’s the difference between iboga and ibogaine?

 Ibogaine is a single alkaloid extracted from the iboga root bark. There are 22. Scientists found this alkaloid to be anti-addictive and to support the brain’s neurotransmitters and neural connections. This extract has helped to free many people who have addictions. The therapeutic aspect of iboga and ibogaine is amazing. Many diseases can be treated with this medicine, from addiction to Alzheimer’s. Iboga root bark is the full package with all the alkaloids.

The main difference is traditional versus clinical use.

 Someone who takes ibogaine in a clinic will have a completely different experience to someone who gets initiated with multiple spiritual tools, along with iboga.

 Both have their place, but it depends on which you feel more called to.