Iboga & Bwiti.
The sacred wood of the cult
of the equatorial force.

It is vital for our humanity to discover all of this age-old wisdom, which is part of our own cultural heritage. A sound understanding of the role of the so-called esoteric communities matters to everyone. In Gabon, the Bwiti is one of them.

Some observers go so far as to say that “Gabon is to Africa what Tibet is to Asia” — a true spiritual centre of religious initiation.

The purpose of our association, Ebando, is to make these essential heritages better known.

Faced with the wave of Christian-inspired sects and the establishment of Islam in Central Africa, traditional cults still endure, the best known in Gabon being the Bwiti — an initiatory rite whose facets several documentaries have recently revealed to the public (director Jean-Claude Cheyssial, filmmaker and ethnologist, accompanied by Tatayo).

Iboga, the initiatory vehicle of the Bwiti, also called the Sacred Wood, has tonic effects in small quantities and leads to initiatory realisations in larger quantities.

The use of Iboga reaches back to the dawn of time, for the magical shrub already flourished in the shade of the giant trees of the equatorial forest, long before the arrival of the first hunter.

The first to experience its power were the forest peoples, who had observed animals — wild pigs according to some, porcupines or mandrill monkeys according to others — fall into a state of great excitement after eating the roots of the Tabernanthe iboga.

Its ritualised practice then passed from generation to generation, at the heart of the forest and its peoples.

A tangible hypothesis

The origin of the Bwiti seems to have come through the Membè-Meriè linguistic families, thanks to the BaBongo, who are said to have revealed the master plant — Iboga — that lies at the heart of the Rite. On so sensitive a matter, we state this as a supposition, not as an established fact.

The purpose of the initiation — which may unfold over several days — is, in particular, to carry the initiate back to the origin of time, reliving the memories of the thousands of generations who came before, buried within their individual memory, a fragment of an immemorial collective memory.

Another purpose is, of course, healing-related: many patients rely on the power of the rite to drive out all kinds of ailments, whether physical, psychosomatic or of a sorcerous origin.

One part of Cheyssial's documentary describes the possible use of the shrub's alkaloid properties in the treatment of withdrawal from drugs — notably heroin and cocaine. According to several experiments conducted by American scientists and followed by the best-known pharmacist in Gabon, Professor Gassita, the strength of Iboga's derivatives — Iboga itself being not at all addictive — makes it possible to swiftly break dependence on hard drugs.

On the actual state of scientific knowledge, its promise as well as its limits, see what the research says about Iboga and ibogaine.

If one day you eat Iboga, you will eat the bitter bark of the root of this shrub that grows in the primal forest of Gabon. It has been used by the forest peoples in their rituals of physical and spiritual healing for thousands of years.

This ritual, the Bwiti or cult of the ancestors, is moreover at the origin of the Western therapy known as family constellation. This plant is a precious gift of nature.

The bark is the part of the plant in direct contact with the earth, the membrane that governs the plant's exchanges with the soil. By eating this bark, you reconnect with your own roots. In a way, you reassess and fine-tune your programmes of exchange — inputs and outputs — with the outside world.

The reformatting of your bio-hard-drive is set in motion. Throughout the month that follows, the deep work will continue to unfold.

All of this is lived with an intense feeling of hyper-presence. At no point is it a matter of an artificial paradise — the dreadful bitterness of the wood gives you, in fact, no real wish to return to it.

Iboga takes part in the healing of ills and wounds, from the most physical to the most subtle. By eating the sacred wood, you reclaim all the force of the universe that is within you and within each of us, and you agree to redistribute it without fear of lack.

This feeling of peace gives rise to:

• ✦discernment — where intelligence is at the service of the heart
• ✦happiness — and it is where there is the most happiness that there is the most truth
• ✦autonomy — why go and consume on the outside what already exists within you?

It is in this energy that deep understanding and lasting transformations can take hold.

The forest peoples also call Iboga the Sacred Wood. But what does it have that is more sacred than any other wood, this Iboga? Iboga, when it is used within a healing process, is an entheogenic plant — one that brings God to you (God being only a manner of speaking; the words Universe, Life, Love would do almost as well).

To eat Iboga is an experience of faith in life. You then gain access to a form of collective memory.

The journey toward healing is not tied solely to eating Iboga, but also to the intention you bring to it and to the conditions in which you eat it.

The “miracle” of your healing therefore also depends on your intention to heal. And it does not necessarily work 100% the first time — you may need one or two further sessions to feel at ease in this new dimension of life.

When you eat the wood, it works within you where it must work, at the right rhythm. Perhaps you will have no vision at all and only physical sensations, at least consciously. Perhaps you will travel journey upon journey. It does not matter — trust.

What matters is that the healing takes place where it must take place. And Iboga sees where you need to heal. And had you seen it before, you would not have come to eat this wood.

As in Alice in Wonderland, by eating the Sacred Wood you will go to the back of your cupboard — where all your secrets are kept. Agreeing to leave your seat as a dreaming onlooker, opening the secret door at the back of that cupboard, and…

Healing,
happiness
and autonomy.

— Pierre-Kouna

Ebando is one of the houses of transmission of the Bwiti and Iboga in Gabon. The association accompanies each visit within a setting respectful of the Fang (Dissumba)The initiatory tradition of the Fang people, in northern Gabon. Hugues Obiang Poitevin (Tatayo) was initiated into it in 1979, the first white man received in this lineage. and Akèlè Simba (Misoko-Ngondé / Maboundi)Bwiti tradition of central Gabon (Akèlè / Simba). Tatayo was initiated into it in 1994, in the Ngondé na Dipouma lineage. traditions, with a trained and experienced local team.

Our approach:

• ○No individual initiation — we recommend a group stay (ideal: 3 people)
• ○A stay of 12 days — the duration is set by Ebando for each session
• ○Mandatory medical preparation — ECG, liver examination, blood pressure, sobriety recommended 2 weeks beforehand
• ○Aftercare — 4 to 6 months of sobriety recommended after the return