What people sayabout Ebando.

My stay at Ebando was profound. I was called to the medicine in the whispers of a dream. I was welcomed by the kindness that radiates from Tatayo's very being. I was nourished with love every day, through the meals prepared by a Queen among women — who fed me with a smile that could stop my heart.

The Ebando team is True and full of Love. Without the slightest hesitation, I would absolutely recommend them to welcome you to Gabon and introduce you to the ancient medicine of the forest. The experience will change you forever in a way I cannot describe and that you cannot anticipate.

Dimitri! I wanted to reach out — I've just returned after two weeks in Gabon with Tatayo for my initiation. It was an incredible, life-changing experience and I hope I'll be able to share the details with you in person the next time our paths cross. Thanks again for the introduction.

Deep gratitude to Hugues Obiang Poitevin. Tatayoyo, for the living love, the prayers and the healing blessings, and to all the Bwiti brothers and sisters of Ebando who carry on the work that lights the path for so many people. Great blessings! Basse.

Hi TataYo! J. and I made it home safely yesterday. The new adventure begins: I'm fighting the jet lag to get back onto California time :) Thank you to you and the rest of the Ebando family for this incredible time in Gabon. These were life-changing weeks and I hope to come back one day.

I had to send you all a little note, you wonderful, crazy people — I miss you so much, and yet I feel you so present and alive in my heart! So many precious memories, belly laughs, soul connections, life lessons, priceless exchanges, transformative challenges and delightful characters, all woven together with that raw, wild, malarial, musical magic!

Hi Chandler, my advice: go to Tatayo. It's the only place to go in Gabon as a Westerner, and his Bwiti is an all-embracing love. Let me know if you need any information.

Hi Chandler, my name is Kidani, I'm from Boston. I did my iboga initiation with YO, and I have to admit it was quite a journey. In my view, what you carry in your life and what you bring to the Iboga shape your journey. There would be a lot to say — if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to write to me.

As night falls over Ebando and we set off for the airport, I can't find the words to describe what I'm feeling. I am deeply grateful to Hugues Obiang Poitevin and Sarha Abang Essone for being incredibly generous hosts during the two weeks I spent here. They were extremely caring.

Peace, Tatayo and Sarah. I hope you are both well. I'm doing fine, and I'm watching the experience you gave me transform my life. I miss you both. I'd love for you to send me a few photos to remember it by, and to keep you close.

Hello papa Tata Yo, thank you for this absolutely perfect initiation. You have my deepest gratitude and respect for the care, love, wisdom and humour you showed me. I hope to see you again one day. I didn't speak much during my stay, but I am forever grateful to the iboga and to you.

I have worked around ibogaine for the past 5 years, and for the last two I have been Director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance (GITA). I went to be initiated at Ebando last year with two friends, and I can say that this ceremony was an enormous blessing. It touched my life in one of the most profound ways I have ever known.

Dear J., I'm in Ghana at the moment, but as soon as you feel it, reach out to me. When I get back in December I'll also be able to call you or write to you in more detail about the experience at Ebando. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn about life and about yourself. Ebando is a beautiful place and everyone who lives there gives the love and the atmosphere needed to do something as profound as an initiation. I recommend it without any doubt.

Bokaye! Wanye! Hello Tata. I've already written a long letter. I just wanted to send you a short message to tell you that today I've been telling stories and reflecting on my time at Ebando, and I miss you all so much. I feel so much love and gratitude for you and for everything you gave me.

I want to thank you again for bringing me back to my life! I am forever grateful to you. I still haven't smoked again — neither cigarettes nor weed. Some of your messages changed my life. I haven't forgotten my mission. My plan is to come back in January to help you plant iboga. I'll also have some money to give for the land.

YO! I miss you already, dear Papa! I recovered from the malaria in a few days, I'm fine now. I wanted to thank you for this bwitiful experience in Gabon — I'm starting to discover a mysterious influence from the initiation, mainly on my habits: they're gone. It's a new level of freedom that I have to explore and adjust to.

Last month, I finally made my decision and went to be initiated into the Bwiti tradition at Tatayo's, in Sablière, Gabon. I am grateful to all those who went before me and who — by sharing their experiences — gave me the confidence to do the same. I am still struggling to make sense of what happened to me in Gabon, and I expect it will take me several months to measure the effect on my life.

Daniel, Hugues Obiang Poitevin is your man. He was the first white man to be initiated and now holds the rank of Ghanga. He was born French, went to Gabon 30 years ago for two weeks and never left. He now holds a Gabonese passport. He is utterly devoted to eboga and to its importance for the world. He carries out fantastic initiations himself and is perfectly placed to take people into the interior of the country. Completely trustworthy.

1 year ago, the destiny made me met a welcoming and nice 'getting-young' man with fresh spirit that had the wisdom to know that he does not need to prove it to anybody. To say that this was one of the most enriching, surprising and beautiful experiences of my life would risk to be a far too moderate assertion. All this is possible, yes, to the sacred wood. But not less important, the welcoming family environment created in Ebando is what makes possible that the wood worked on myself with full intensity. Total trust in the new family/tribe is a condition to free yourself to the unknown, face your fears and fight the longest of the nights.

The village where you come in wearing a mask and leave a free bird. It was here at the temple of the feathered serpent I was initiated into a beautiful bwiti tradition. To see a culture come together to celebrate the greatest fight you can have and that is with one's self sheds light on the source of all darkness. A person of peace naturally detests all weapons. In the greatest of battlefields there are no enemies, weapons, or machines. There lay only a mirror and a bucket. To put yourself in a place desired by very few brings you closer to the purest essences of life and thus truth.

I have had experience of other entheogens, plant teachers, allies....whatever you choose to call them and of various pharmaceutical agents purported to induce spiritual experiences but quite honestly nothing compares to the Sacred Wood of the Iboga Tree. From that moment on I felt I was completely loved and cared for. There was none of the fear/terror, discomfort, sickness or disassociation that is often part of such experiences. I was treated by the Wood very much as a child would be treated by a loving parent. The Wood itself instilled a sense of trust and love in me, letting me know that I had nothing to fear. Throughout the past two years my outlook, my attitude, my perception and consequently my life have all changed beyond recognition.

My stay for initiation with you in December-January has been life changing. Never could I have dreamed it would change so much. My initiation has been all about grounding, connecting fully to my body and to the energy of the earth. Since my initation I feel my life has just now really started, finally my innerchild has been released and I can feel so much more live, joy, love but also sadness and fear are much more an the surface now. I felt very safe and in the perfect nursery for my rebirth.

I can't express to you the extent of my gratitude for what both myself and P. experienced while we were in Gabon. Quite simply it has changed everything. Coming back to the UK has been like stepping back into another person's life. Bwiti continues to bring new blessings to me each day Papa. It is a life full of love, fun and bliss. Thank you for all you have given us. Bwiti taught us the importance of truth, love and forgiveness and continues to fill our hearts each day with the courage to live life according to our true will.

If you are wondering whether Ebando is an authentic, safe place to get your Iboga initiation, then do not hesitate a moment longer. I whole-heartedly recommend Tatayo and Ebando. The initiation involves 4 days of preparations - focusing on your intentions whilst being cleansed, and performing a symbolic rebirth. During your initiation the live music is incredible - and they play to you all night, right beside your head! My initiation was so beautiful. Even if its hard at times, you will feel brand new some time afterwards. I feel its the biggest, most important healing of my life, and that Iboga is the most powerful tool for transformation available in the world.

I need to express my gratitude to you and to all my fellows in the village. I now feel I am completely part of a new Family, and this is a kind of Blessing I've never dreamed of receiving. Only Iboga could show me how complete the Blessing is. During my initiation I truly connected with my Composition. I now understand what I came from, what I have done so far, and what is expected of Me now. The best part is I now have a supportive and loving family in your Village Ebando. My experience in the Bwenzi has fulfilled me. I saw the Way and I will follow it.

Sorry I have not been in touch sooner but it took me a while to get myself together. Thanks for everything I had an amazing time. It has been a life changing experience. Give my love to everyone there and thank them for making me feel so welcome. Missing you all already.

In the end all was smooth and easy, the most surprisingly idyllic journey into one of the most marvellous religions and curative psychedelics in the world, without ever once seeming tacky, touristic or sterile. The world of Ebando is an honest one, a welcoming one, and one utterly tied into the Gabonese populace and culture. The guidance offered and the preparatory rituals make the build up towards initiation increasingly easy and by the time it came to eating the wood my mind was utterly at ease. The whole experience was life altering and I still dream of it often.

i feel deep gratitude whenever i think of you all! not a day goes by that Clint and i don't think about our weeks with you at ebando. what an incredible experience. now that we are slowly surrendering back into the process, deep insights and revelations surface around every corner. what beautiful medicine!!! thank you, Papa Andre, Mama Lucy, Abang, Kathy and every single one of the lovely team, for making this unforgettable initiation possible.

I went to Gabon in Jan 2011, to initiate into the Bwiti religion. For someone in my condition - weak, ill and unable to cope with extreme conditions - Ebando was perfect. Ebando was like a haven - and I think perfectly equipped to accomodate westerners. Tatayo did everything to meet my needs, and more. I felt at ease with him immediately and I quickly saw that I could trust him completely. I came out the other side, feeling like a new woman - pure and happy and very centered, in a way I have never been before in my life. My visions clearly showed me my path in life and the experience has made my focus is very strong.

MUCH LOVE to you Tatayo!! thank you for infusing me with those good traditions. that harp that was put on my head is still there. Work continues to be great but is much less taxing and is much richer. We continue to bring people to the ocean for giving her gifts and ritual cleansing as we always have but now we also bring everyone to the deep big forest and river here to give gifts and ask permission and have the most beautiful days.

We are doing good here to say we're blessed, by the fireside, Loving the superhuman music collection from your home world. I feel regenerated, feeling so grateful for some infin8 solutions we met through initiation. and Good to be slowed down! My health is on a good setting.

I have been in London for almost 2 weeks now, I have been having amazing dreams and sleeping without any trouble. My next stop is H...... My girlfriend and I will try again at the relationship thing. I am not scared any more and I feel ready. I will start table tennis training and gym training whilst I get ready to go back to university for my masters degree. Hoping to find a Balance so key to Happiness.

I managed to get hold of Tatayo by phone and i trusted everything he told me and i decided to go to Gabon. It was very important for me to trust Tatayoo and i felt safe, protected and previliged. I was treated with respect and i have been given choices that i felt they were too many. The impact on me was just beyond my expectations. I was open minded and very focused and i knew that nothing will distract me from what i was going through.

Jan Asked: I received your email address through Hugues Tatayo, and he suggested that I contact you with my questions regarding the bwiti initiation. I am convinced that the bwiti initiation is something I want to do, but still it would be nice to hear from someone who has already undergone the ritual.So, could you tell me something about your own experience (in as far as you are allowed). How did you come into contact with bwiti, how did you prepare for the ritual, how long did it take, how did you feel, how has the bwiti ritual affected or changed your life, was this what you had expected ? I'm looking forward. Best regards, Moukoukou MaMisoba <moukoukoumamisoba@yahoo.es> answered : Hello Jan, Yours questions are indeed difficult ones ! For Iboga is a very personal and specific experience for every one who wishes to become initiated although it does extend to the group present. It is an experience you share with your Father and Mother in initiation as the nights unfold. What I can say about my self is that it has been one of the highlights of my life and believe me I've been around. I wouldn't put it on the same level as witnessing the birth of a child or getting married or laid for the first time. It is something of its own. Some aspects are not so pleasant, you puke, you see strange images people through new glasses. As you might have read or heard initiation involves a symbolic death in order to be reborn again. When you are reborn you are a new person. In my case I could see what part of me I had lived with which wasn't me but just a facade I used to to get by in life ; a facade for others but also for myself. I came in contact with Bwete through Iboga and Iboga through Kudzu which is a plant supposed to help you get out of addictions. I have been a drug user since my first cigarette @ 7 or 8 and moved steadily through the harder stuff and the crime that goes with it if one intends to have a decent daily supply. My last stunt as I was working in Spain ‘99 relocated by the Bay Area company I worked for was the culminating point of my drug consumption. It didn't last long (well, four or five months) and my wife got me on a plane back to Paris where we use to live so that I would get on a methadone program. It worked fine at the beginning but it soon became hell. I was using methadone as a drug and drinking buckets full of the stuff. So after five years I was a psychological and physiological wreck. Surfing on the net I found the email address of the lady who wrote the book on Tatayo: Paroles d'un enfant du Bwete. I got on my Mac to ask her for more info and she suggested I get in touch with Tatayo which I did. I arrived late October with another chap called P… and stayed for five weeks. Not only was I initiated but before taken through the rite of the "Cutting of the rope" which has nothing to do with initiation although frontiers don't exist in Africa expect in the white’s minds specifically when it came to sharing the pie. This rite breaks the bond with the evil which itself can come under different forms. In my case my parents and drugs. It was quite tough going but after that I was ready for initiation which I procrastinated until I had no methadone left. Hadn't I been such a coward I could have slid off methadone by taking little daily doses of Iboga which would have given me the opportunity to have a not so drug cleaning orientated initiation. The Bwete initiation as such went quite hard for I suffered from the abstinence but nothing comparable to a cold turkey. I’m talking a 1 to 20 ratio. After that I was very very tired when I moved. When I came back to Paris (a different man from the one who had arrived five weeks earlier) I took a combination of minerals, sea stuff, oils and vitamins etc... Within four days I was jumping around in full shape but with my mind else where. End January I had an Iboga night with the chap I had gone with, and two weeks later I had never been so on top of my life. Very positive full of energy. Methadone an old story. Jan, if you have reached this stage of enquiring and asking for testimonials I think Iboga is waiting for you. It is not the case or the time for everyone. The first time I enquired with Tatayo the project went into a draw for four months. Iboga decides if and when. If one doesn’t respect things can turn very unpleasant. Also very very important, the confession. Start working on it as soon as you can because when the moment comes you’ll have maybe 30 minutes to spill out things (just prior to starting the ceremony). I wrote everything down (gee I though I had not been such a bad guy but in fact the list was quite consistent. As for Tatayo he is the one you can trust on all accounts : his knowledge, the costs of the ceremony...The man takes his mission to heart where most of Ngangas don’t go far beyond their wallets. Vais con Dios hombre ! Moukoukou MaMisoba

It's been 36 months since I left Gabon. I built a house, quit my job, quit my troubling relationship, and life was as happy as I've never been before. Started out new by becoming a mountain guide,spending my time wandering through the Alps and having time for myself. ....I guess Gabon gave my life a new flavor.

I'm very happy since initiation ! by the way and magik is happening all around me. I am full of light and love! Thank you sooooo much! Much Bwitiful love xo xo

Tatayo, I arrived home midday Saturday. My wife and children are well and everything is fine here. Hello everyone. Just being in Gabon for a short time was very refreshing. The work that we are doing requires favourable laws, like those that exist in your country, and in some Central and South American countries. Australian law, I have recently learnt, states that all seeds, including vegetable seeds, brought into the country by a citizen will be, at the border, confiscated and destroyed. This policy was un-beknown to me when I was in Gabon and unfortunately the seeds of the wood, that we gathered in the village, underwent this process on arrival in Australia. People are becoming more and more imprisoned and are deluded that they are free. There is only one thing that can destroy the delusion of ignorance and that is enlightenment. The seeking of enlightenment should be our prime concern. Fortunately, we do not even need to seek, for we already are the enlightened nature. It is always part of us. It never fails us, it never dies. All we need to do is get rid of the false belief of birth and death. Once we do that, the eternal enlightened nature, common to all phenomena, shines through. It's all very simple. Society teaches the opposite of this. That, beginingness, maturity, old age and end is the only reality. The truth is, the cause of all human sufferring arises from a belief in this concept of beginning and end. Life is eternal, we are immortal - nothing more need be said. I want to thank you for translating my words whilst we were together. You purely translated without adding any of your own thoughts. What you are doing in the garden, in the grove within the temple grounds, is unique. You deserve to be called the sage of Gabon. Respectfully, Alan [Kombe]

Hello Aston, my name is Eoghain or in bwiti Opunga Yaro Mbene its exactly a year since my trip to Iboga in Gabon my bwiti father Tayato send me emails about your possible TRIP OF FREEDOM to Gabon, I would like to share my experience with you the Iboga experience is a difficult one but so rewarding when you come out the other side and look back it is beautiful or as Tayato likes to say Bwitiful, I was suffering from child abuse --- depression(repression of thoughts) -- -substance abuse and going now- where with my life. now a year later i feel F##ken great(please forward this to tayato as i know he will laugh at my use of language) I got married and have a beautiful baby girl all since i took the holy wood in Gabon with Tayato, i haven't drank alcohol or taken any sort of crap in a year I hope you can see the chain that i had to break through and i did this by choosing to take the road of Iboga that few have taken but that many seem to be now called forth for. what Iboga does, well this is my experience in a nutshell is peels open you Ego, taking you inside to the darkness to the root of your problems, lets you spend some time there and them takes you on a personal spiritual journey to and delivers you home as clean and free as you can every imagine. Trust in yourself and your Guides, you are already half way there, to being free and seeing the true reality of yourself and the Great mystery that life IS... as for the logistics i spend a year researching where i would go to be initiated and thankfully i was guided to Tayato, and his bwiti family. he is one of the best, kindest, loving, honest, human beings i have met on my adventures and believe me i have had a few !!! kindest regards Eoghain O Horgain opunga yaro mbene

We came back to Tatayo´s place deciding to have another initiation with Tatayo. This was the right decision made. They gave us full attention and went through the same, if not more, traditional details. We had our floral spiritual bath, they dressed us up in a traditional way, there were singing and praying session, Iboga eating session, dancing, etc. Throughout the initiation, we could feel their tenderimg care and love given to us. The entire experience with Tatayo´s group was just beautiful and full with love.

Afterwards, it was if I had meditated for 20 years straight, nothing could faze me and I had insights into things that were problem areas of my life. The reason i chose Gabon was so that I would have the accompanying rituals. I cannot emphasize enough, that if you have the opportunity...travel to Gabon and experience it there. It will be, at minimum, a life changing experience.

Yes, thanks to Tatayo, who went through it with me… Without his support I would not have finished! I'm so glad I did, life is great and things that used to be problems now are very easy to deal with! Love to all of YOU !

I got here safely, excited for my new life but missing my family in Gabon. Truely life is bwitiful. Thank you for everything, I will start working on the website tommorow. love Obwenina…. (later) More and more I learn from the root, and more and more I give praise for my life and my salvation. Truly, life is bwitiful!>br>Thank you, thank you, thank you, can't price smiles can't control joy freedom is infectious a disease to end all disease May the miracle workshop keep pumping out magic obwenina

As for the staff, it's more a big family than anything else: they are all exceptional. Tatayo, the anti-guru, head of the family, always with a joke or two about religions that make you die laughing. Master of his domain, respectful and honest, from the height of a wisdom dearly earned. What I learned about myself makes me understand why people speak of rebirth: I am still myself, but different, wiser. I'm made anew, set for twenty years like this!

Greetings to the village of la Sablière, Yo, It's been seven months since I went into the pot, but over a wood fire if you please! That deserves a peek under the lid to see how the sauce has set... One thing is certain, my vision of life has radically and lastingly changed. I tried hard but I gave up on the idea of understanding how a simple plant and the rites that go with it could have brought about such upheavals. The "psycho-cosmic big bang" of the night of the initiation clearly opened a breach in the foothills of "my identity". Strangely, what I glimpsed through it seemed to me, in time, far more reliable, dazzling and immutable than that crust which had caked over it at the mercy of the tides of injunctions, prohibitions and prevailing norms. The frame of reference, essentially social, on which I had built myself (in reality camouflaged myself) turned out to be merely one fibre of an infinitely vaster whole. The word "humanitarium" ought to exist. Perhaps we'll realise that we're locked up in it? Even the environmental cause only makes sense in our eyes through its impact on our social frame of reference. It is indeed within this new (for me) infinite frame of reference that the iboga swept its searchlight methodically. If every cause is the consequence of other causes, then let's go back up that chain to try to find its source, if there is one. The process is often painful but today I understand the therapeutic virtues of the plant insofar as the share of psychosomatic illnesses is, in my eyes, underestimated. More interesting still, the wood put particular emphasis on the impact of my choices on each "cause-consequence" link. Today I think I'm more able than before to weigh up my choices, however "insignificant" they may be, so as to give that chain the direction truly desired over the very long term!! I'm even amazed that, in the past, I could have made choices so at odds with what I truly aspired to, often for absurd reasons. By trying too hard to give meaning to my life, I'd ended up forcing it into sub-objectives and sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-objectives that sometimes drove me away from its true promise: happiness. Today, I almost entirely embrace my qualities and my flaws, I'm happy and this is only the beginning. I'm less ashamed of loving and less terrified by the responsibility of being loved. My happiness serves life. If I have the temporary enjoyment of it, this body is only a biological vehicle. Love and knowledge are the only things that will outlive it. I hardly feel boredom any more, just about anything can be a source of wonder. In the same way, I've hardly felt regret any more. My choices are made with more discernment and less under influence. My compassion has had a new lease of youth and now that I've been able to see just how much others have had influence over me I'm attentive to the one I might have over them. More anecdotally, I haven't smoked again, drunk barely more than a dozen glasses and I'm aiming to run a marathon in a month. It's so hard to make these changes understandable to people…especially if they knew me before (some still think I'm flagellating myself by drinking water…). Let alone to speak of the experience as such…you've heard about the article in Le Point. Don't worry, coming from them and their investigation ("nothing to do with the traditional sorcerer whose religious knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation" or again "iboga decoction" proves perfectly well that they have no idea what they're talking about) it's almost good publicity. On the news, they also spoke of a ceremony in France with iboga intake that had gone wrong. The law of reaction also applies to "new" ideas and the more consistent they are, the more resistant the opposition will be. I don't know you that well and you're certainly a "guru" in your own way, but I gave you all my trust for a week at your place and the results far exceed what I'd hoped for. The spirit of the village is also there to bear witness to the positive impact you have on those around you. I spoke with Robin on the phone today for the first time since September. Things were much less simple and pleasant for him but apparently he's got off methadone. Give my best to Pemba, Etudia, Mbilou, Zingo, Mobengo and those whose names I've forgotten (by the way, could you remind me of the names of those who played the harp and the mugongo the night of my initiation?) …especially the fairies of the village. Bassé bassé !! Mikoukoué Mamboka

Initiated in 2006, I wanted to put an end to a way of life (alcohol, tobacco) through a symbolic death. I consider that I reached this goal: I no longer use these substances, and the reasons that drove me to them (unease, anxiety, depression) have disappeared, giving way to a kind of rebirth. After a week, enthusiasm, energy and contentment, as if I had freed myself of a weight, took their place in my life and have never left me.

Hello my Papayo!! I want to tell you that I still think of you all just as much and that I keep going along my own little path... it's crazy all the things that happen to us.. We're going off on retreat in February to a place that's dear to us, the A..... No more work, money, career plans etc, just the quest for self.. nature, water, the sky and us... You can't imagine how much that delights me!! finally at peace.. out in some good old backwater from round here!! I keep feeling what the Wood did for me!! it's so good to feel oneself!! I still dream a lot ... It's bliss.. a life by day, a life by night.. the same search going on... I love my life like never before... No more need to heal myself, I no longer hold any grudge, any sadness, any inner unease, I want ... to understand, to see and to love, and to delight in all of it, it's more beautiful than anything.. I'm no longer a wounded child, but a fulfilled woman. There you go, kisses my Papayo and I can only send Love to the village. Kiss kiss kiss The dragonfly who can finally take flight ....

Things are getting better and better since I came back from the country: I've found work again, and it's been two months since I quit cigarettes for good. It's really good, I no longer crave them. My initiation acted like a revealer. The work goes on... Bassé!

I don't know if I told you, but I've finally found my path. At the start of my initiation, I said my wish was to reconnect with nature: today, I'm an organic market gardener. Thank you Maboga!

I met Tatayo at the end of a six-month stay in Libreville, and we had just enough time for me to be initiated. A lot of positive things came of it, some I'm not even aware of yet, others more down to earth and quite pleasant, like quitting smoking with no difficulty at all. You just need to trust: first yourself, then the people there who will welcome you. I came out of it cleansed, and well. The moment of initiation is unique, make the most of it, and bear in mind that many people will pray for you when the time comes.

I am the same person, and yet everything inside me has changed, always toward my undeniable faith in your ancestral Gabonese culture, the Bwiti, which has led me to an inner peace such as I hadn't felt in years. You delivered me from those ills that too many Westerners carry while wondering what is wrong with them. I feel light. I love you with all my heart.

My love and I have just come back from Gabon, where we were initiated in the Bwiti tradition. I can attest to the powerful healing effects of this wood: now, back home, I feel more at ease, more whole and more appreciative of life than I ever have. I also feel more embodied, more in touch with the subtleties of my inner experience. It is not so much that my struggles magically disappeared, but that openings have emerged in old patterns, leaving me more aware of them and more able to change them.

I hope you're doing well! Some things from my vision are becoming clearer, almost as if I caught a taste of what was to come. As time goes on, I value the experience I had at Ebando more and more. Thank you for providing a safe space, with enough inner room for each person to go through their own process. I now understand why it takes time before re-initiating. I have a lot to learn! Please give my best to everyone.

Hello Tatayo, How are you? Things are very busy here. I have only little time to let my mind wander among the stars... But the opening that my stay in Gabon allowed me keeps walking with me. Don't hesitate to give me news of you and of the village. Kiss. S.

Dear sister, dear brother in humanity and in the sacred plant, I wish to bring my testimony regarding the price of initiation into the Bwiti. Yes, iboga is a natural and sacred plant, a gift from God. Yes, an initiation is priceless Yes, ideally one should pay nothing in this bond with the sacred But the life of Gabonese people is very, very, very far from being ideal… I got to know Yo and the Ebando association a year before my initiation, on the occasion of some work on the Bwiti. I have always had both an attraction to and a wariness of plants, of initiations and of the people who surround these plants. And I continue to warn people. But having spent nearly two weeks on site observing, listening and enquiring into the rituals as well as the people, I undid my prejudices while keeping a critical sense… But above all it is the Call of the Bwiti, very strong, that made me take the step and come back a year later to undergo an initiation that was worth all the gold in the world… Yes it is very expensive, but Gabon is a very expensive country, more expensive than France on many products!!!, and I am a witness that the association makes no profit and that Yo does not draw any benefit from the initiations. He invests all the money in the welcoming, the ceremonies (which are costly! products, musicians…) and also in the reintegration, the education and the training of young Gabonese women and men whom life has traumatised from childhood… It is difficult and courageous work that he does, which few Gabonese would be capable of doing. If the conditions are sometimes hard, especially when you arrive to undergo an initiation that you idealise, I saw the evolution of some of the young people over a year and I was delighted to see that there was a result, whereas at the start I was very sceptical about the effectiveness in giving back a meaning to the lives of these young people. Above all I learned not to JUDGE and to LOVE, beyond good and evil, while remaining firm and lucid about certain situations. But all this one can only realise on site and even more so after the initiation, one cannot judge from abroad as long as one has not lived the experience. It's true, I agree, it is expensive, but in the end it is not just a selfish initiation that one pays for, rather one contributes to the real improvement of certain young people who have not had the same chances as us. It is a personal and SOLIDARY act. I saved up for a year to pay for this journey, which is worth all the journeys in the world. I hope from the bottom of my heart that one day we will be able to find a way so that the initiation does not cost so much, even nothing, if not the price of our ego…… Love and good luck, may the Spirit of the Bwiti accompany you. S.

"Hi Ebando, Yo, Just a quick hello from Ch…. to tell you that not a day goes by without me thinking back to that short stay at the Sablière. I even have the leisure to do so during the very many hours of travel I have to take across this vast territory. No matter how I turn it over in every direction, I still don't understand any better what happened, but I do indeed have the impression of being more attuned to my body and more in tune with my soul (this last one is brand new in my sphere of knowledge and I find it magnificent... actually it's not so bad, narcissism, in any case it's always better than self-mutilation!). I've also perceived some of the reasons that made me build myself this way and not another, it's exactly as you described it to me before the initiation: the wood is like a little voice (way) that helps you sort out what's good for you and what isn't. It's certain that one feels touched by a positive force that very clearly surpasses the intellect of the human species. My frustration at not remembering much gave rise, a week ago now and while I was squatting at our Tibetan friends' place, to an idea that's maybe absurd but for which your opinion is crucial Tatayo. Are there any precedents or contraindications to doing a regression under hypnosis to recall what happened? What do you think of it, both at the level of the bwiti rites and at the "scientific" level? Your friend whose name I've forgotten (another white nganga, almost bald, who was there the day of my initiation and who seemed eager to want to help me get the best out of it) seems to reflect on this kind of question, what would he think of it? By the way, I've lost the email contact of the banzi brother, R…. I would have liked to know how he was doing. Would you have that somewhere? And Justin's while we're at it... If you need anything easily sendable, I've got "everything-dirt-cheap" here and I'm still here for a month. Thanks to all those who were present, this experience is no doubt the most striking I've ever been able to live and I can't help talking about it to those who are willing (able) to hear it, I don't know if that's very much in agreement with the rites. One day I hope to have the occasion to help someone by suggesting them this way (voice). Mikoukoue Ma mboka PS: among the most visible signs, after having seriously tried about 10 times I have the impression I'm done for good with cigarettes, I haven't smoked a joint again since, which makes me dream again at night, I've realised that I didn't like alcohol and that vegetables weren't only there to accompany meats... my family might ask me questions at the Christmas meal."

Bokayé Papa, you're in my heart and in my thoughts. I spoke to Katy on the phone two days ago. I wanted to tell her and you too that I'm clean as clean can be (no alcohol for 9 months and no medication for 91 days) After thirty years of getting wasted it feels good and the process got set in motion at the Sablière. A rebirth of sorts David

Di Nganga Bouékayé, A great moment at DaddyYo's; very gruelling for the one (like yours truly) who was lugging around heavy, intoxicating bowls. I am still overwhelmed by the care that Kathy and he lavished on me during those three days, while I was in a rage, at war, and howling things that were not nice at all. We all deserve a place in the record books. Me for the longest screaming fit in history and the record number of openings and closings of the Vieux Campeur mosquito net (I didn't stay put for more than five minutes), and you for keeping your cool and not judging me. Kathy, Yo, I love you. For those who are interested, the benefit was immediate, but something happened these last few days. I have light in my head in great, big doses, somewhat in proportion to the quantities my Papa had me ingest. It was the beginning of December, we're now at the end of March... Phari in his wisdom is perfectly right, it's a window onto a beautiful day, but night falls and the weather is changeable. It's time to reread the parable of the talents. Best, Moukoukou MamisobA, mmm...

Tatayo Ma Missoba, I'm making the most of a unique and so longed-for moment, that of the music to begin with but also of the words. the enrichment of the being through its "true" self, fields and songs open up, the violin my speciality, I wander through the rhythm. I affirm this sensibility and I find it to be my own. thanks to you, and I thank you for it, it's working, oh yes it is! obacca massorrrrr~~ yours (another anonymous one!)

Dear Yo, In the course of the last weeks I started remembering and reliving the visions of my initiation - finally, after a few months of complete abstraction! As if something burst open and Iboga visions are pouring into my perception out of their own accord. All this is utterly profound and irriversibly life-changing. I am receiving incredible insights, direct instructions and guidance from what feels to be the spirit of the Forest. I hear echoes of mongongo music at night which make me jump out of bed and start dancing, often till Sunrise! I could suppose I've gone completely bonkers, if it wasn't for the immense happiness, determination and inspiration radiating all over. The effects of the mutation are so strong that my whole life is being restructured now. A profound healing is happening to me and to people who are somehow related to me. Long-term problems in my blood family have been miraculously resolved by the spirit of Iboga. I can speak of many things, but most importantly, I have been clearly shown my Path, my true Nature. Glory to the Self-Effulgent Heart of all Being! Namaste Dibobé

On Aug 1, 2011, at 11:09 AM, I. wrote: hi Bill, i have been initiated into Bwiti at Ebando. i have to say the initiation is quite an extraordinary event in the time-space continuum and goes far beyond what the rational mind can figure. Personally, if i am asked your question, i would recommend to spend a month in Gabon. it is a unique opportunity to come in touch with its spiritual heritage. i found that the initiation is a deep and complex process which is not confined to the actual event of consuming the Plant and the duration of its strongest effect. to put it simply, there can be no rush in such a matter. feel free to ask if you have more questions. ;) I On 1 August 2011 22:22, Bill wrote: thank you, Ignat. I am grateful for your response and for your time. I do trust Tatayo and have no concerns really, other than a couple stories I heard of initiations being stopped because there was money or alcohol demanded, and people getting drunk. But most everything I have heard is very beautiful. I understand there is time needed to quietly process the ceremony. Do you think if I stayed in Gabon 3 weeks it would be enough time? Also I was just curious what I'd be "doing" (or not doing) during my stay. I am just trying to imagine how it'd go after the ceremony. Would I just be by myself relaxing every day or ...? I feel very privileged, honored and blessed to be facing this beautiful ceremony. Again, thank you for your insights. I'm very grateful. Blessings, Bill Traditionally, the initiation ceremony involves the participation of the whole village. it is a family event, so, naturally, the to-be initiate should feel at home as he approaches that point. in case of us outsiders coming for initiation, a period of mutual 'tuning in' before the ceremony is essential. Ebando is a very friendly place - even so, at least around a week preceding the ceremony is commonly required to build a good level of resonance. on the night of initiation we eat Iboga - the amount consumed and the length of consecutive extreme effects varies individually. in my case, i spent nearly a whole week in a profoundly deep lethargic trance. the process initiated by the Plant may be intense and unpredictable in some cases, so it's advisable to have as much time as possible for a gradual comedown and reintegration before finally setting off into the world. it is very liberal at Ebando, you will be free to stay quiet by yourself, to sing and dance, to interact with the people after the ceremony. it's really great if you have at hand the tools necessary to make your art. my experience taught me to take it very slow after the Iboga trance and not to leave the compound even if i feel inspired to do so. after the extreme effects of Iboga have worn off, at least a week is a decent amount of time to smoothly approach the exit, which is a beautiful ritual in itself. after that you'll be ready for some action. if you have extra time in Gabon, there are things to see - this you may discuss with Tatayo. i was in Gabon for 3 weeks, which in my case was just enough for a well-rounded initiation. i wish i had more time to see the beautiful country - that's saved for the next visit. Dibobe

Hello Tayato, its your son Opunga yaro mbene, I just want to say that I love you & bwiti, Thank you & bwiti for coming into my life, I know we will dance in the cosmos, where we will rest & smile, I want to Work with the Holy-wood Father, and free people like I was freed, from pain & Suffering.. I am in your servive Tayato also I am going to grow the holy-wood in Peru in secret so its closer to Ayahuasca, I hope to see you again in this life & meet pygmy opunga yaro mbene

Hi Tatayo Matej and I have arrived in Slovakia yesterday. We have completed the tiring flight journey. And Matej is also recovering from his Malaria sickness gradually. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for helping me on my Iboga initiation, trip to the pigmes village and the grand finale of the famous Africa dance ceremony. These will be very memroable events for me. I will not forget any of them. Please extend my sincere thanks to Olga and her two beautiful daughters. They have taken so much care of me during my initiation (2x). It was a pity I did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to olga in person. I am still thinking deep about my vision. The universe man said, "don't change the system!" I believe there are deeper learnings for me. I cannot comprehend everything now but day by day I will try to unfold more learnings. Have you heard from Bobo yet? Hope she comes back safely. Lastly, please say hi to all the musicians, Claire, Eleanor, Zovana, Willy and all. Hope to see you again in future. Om Namascar Shiou An

All praises to Bwiti for leading me, changing me, making me. All praises to you and your crew for showing me this wonderful life. God has blessed me with many signs and visions to what I should do next. The wonderful part is it involves seeing my Bwiti family again! I have a brother in South Africa who used to run the drug scene, now despises it. God brought us together and has shown me sense then that the path I need to take is establishing a center for Bwiti in South Africa. But there is more I need to know! I opened a book, as Olga says, I must memorize it before I teach it. I hear that Dimitri will be at your place in January, to help with questions on urban Bwiti. I want to return in January for a couple weeks, to acquire, firstly, more knowledge, secondly, some plant material, thridly, some weaponry (instruments), fourthly, travelers (I want to do real Bwiti, real Bwiti needs real Ghanga's) Blessings, blessings, so many blessings, Looking forward to returning to the center of the world and the center of my heart, obwenina

7°> HEY, JOSH > I'VE SPOKEN TO TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN TO GABON, AND HEARD TWO DIFFERENT STORIES. > MY FIRST QUESTION IS ABOUT COST: GUIDES,CAR,CEREMONY ? > ALSO A SHORT TRIP VS. LONG. IS IT "COMMERCIAL" IN COMPARISON: TO > ONLY TRAVEL 10K. IN. MY SHORT CUT IN PERU WAS NOT SO COOL. > DO YOU THINK 2 WEEKS IS ENOUGH TIME, HAVING DONE IBOGAINE BEFORE I > FEEL LIKE I MIGHT NEED A FEW MONTHS... > THATS GOOD FOR NOW. > THANKS JOSH, > A. A. How did you get my details? I recommend you contact Hugues Obiang Poitevin (email above), He can sort everything our for you, whether you are interested in ceremonies or an initiation for you... He will give you choices as to where , when and give you more details on the costs etc. He also speaks English - in a very special way... Where are you from? Hugues will also protect you from "Commercial" tradi-practitioners who may exploit a foreigner just arriving in Gabon on their own. He would save time and the potential risk of getting ripped off. 2 weeks is enough time just, but longer is better.. J. > Hey A., As far as Hugues(Tatayo) goes, I would trust him with my life (and indeed have). There is no-one better placed to bridge the gap between western traveller and Bwiti. I spent 6 years there and have travelled all over with him. He made everything easier and got us access that would have otherwise been impossible. There are more people dipping a toe into the ancient ways of the Gabonese people... it is easy to get it wrong and have a pretty rough time. Hugues will do everything in his power to make sure you get the most from a trip if culture/tradition and rituals is what you are after... Just remember, if you do make it there, you are still one of the first to go. It's unlike anywhere else on earth but you need a way under the surface otherwise you won't see anything... Hugues is the best person I know to get you under the surface. best Josh

M'bolo Tatayo, I hope you are well and are having lots of new banzi over at Sablière to be initiated. In the past year I have received quite a number of enquiries about Bwiti. Most were given my email address by you, but some just stumbled upon your website, found my email there and wrote for information. I answer these emails as best I can, and typically 2 to 3 messages will be written. Then all communication stops, and so I never know whether these people will pursue their dream of becoming initiated. The strangest thing happened to me last night, and I feel compelled to write you about it. I had asked my higher self for a dream-message (I work with an alphabet dream code), whereupon I was awoken in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. While still not completely clear-headed I heard the audible sound "A", I don't know where it came from or who made the sound. In my code A = Avarice, these messages of course need interpretation, and the next thought that entered my mind was that I still owed you money. You must be a Very Important Person in spiritland, as 'they' sent me a message urgent enough to wake me in the middle of the night and make my body or my room make sounds of their own accord. So please respond to this email message, and I will send you the 1000 EURO that I promised by Western Union. I release you from the obligation to use it for an environmental or social project, and give you the money to spend as YOU see fit. I am confident that it will end up being used in service to mankind. Greetings and blessings to you, warriorspirit. Jan

(to Tatayo) I saw in the forest that you are an important link between the sky and the earth since life has made of you the first white pygmy. Ngadi na Duma

Hello hello You did it again yo..yo I'm not surprised , i knew that you will do that ...it was just a mater of when .I already predicted that you will be the head of your village and you will be responsible for initiating and guiding many searching souls . I'm still grateful for all your help . How can i forget your kindness , forthcoming ,honesty and guiding . When you introduce me to people in coffee shops,restaurents and on the streets as a Canadian person who just been initiated into Bwiti ,...they all bow their heads ,bend their knees as to make themselves shorter than me and shake my hand and asking me" you traveled 17'000 K.M just to be initiated? JUST FOR THIS?!" How can i forget that ? some of these people even gave me money . I could not do it without you and none of us can do it without each other help . I'm taking the initatives and responsibilities to take these steps that are necessary for me to be a complete human being . I only hope that will be more dedicated people like you to other human being to reach their potential . So Thank you

To my friend Tatayo, awakener of consciousness before the Eternal and magnificent celestial vagabond in his kingdom of Libreville :-) "The crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the non-conformists, the dissidents… All those who see things differently, who don't respect the rules. You can admire them, or disapprove of them, glorify them, or vilify them. But you cannot ignore them. Because they change things. They invent, they imagine, they explore. They create, they inspire. They push humanity forward. Where some see only madness, we see genius. Because only those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world actually do" (Jack Kerouac, On the Road)

My dear Tatayo know that I feel very, very well and my transformation continues and is taking the shape of a wonderful thing. Little by little... and I have moments of felt happiness when I become aware of this path I am walking. Today I thought about you a lot. About the things you taught me, about your kindness, your courage, your originality, about the things you have lived through all along your life, that you have felt, and about the love you have shared... I know you don't reply because you are very busy. I picture you there, savouring the sweet life..... Ali

Hi Tatayo, it's Epando-Pando here, I'm giving you some news! I've just moved to Berlin (more musical opportunities than in Finland), but my stay among the Finns delighted me, the country is magnificent and the inhabitants have an honesty and a kindness you can no longer imagine in Europe. It was exactly what I'd gone looking for: upright human beings. The most important thing: beyond the luck and the near-total absence of obstacles in my daily life, I no longer have any, and I do mean any, resentment or negative/dirty emotion towards my parents, I really feel that I love them and I can tell them so, and also thank them for what they do for me, things that would have seemed absolutely unthinkable to me a few years ago, when the urge to go and kill them with my bare hands sometimes filled me. You can't imagine how much of a gift this is for me, but also and above all for them I think. I believe I can speak on behalf of my family in addressing to you, to the spirits, to the ngangas, to the participants in the ceremony, our eternal gratitude. (You can of course publish this testimony on the Ebando site and include my email if needed) upon occasional request = note by Tata Yo. Give everyone a kiss for me, I'm thinking of you all very strongly, am eternally grateful to you, and may everything unfold in peace and in the advancement of your projects

We are in this world to learn, to bring light to what we have hidden away, to recover the level of consciousness of our soul. We are not on this physical plane to let ourselves be lulled by carelessness, self-satisfaction and the appearance of a quiet life, so it is extremely dangerous to spend one's life on holiday without wanting to act upon oneself and one's environment. What we refuse to learn through wisdom, we will learn through suffering. If we don't do something to move forward in life, life will make sure we move forward anyway. In any case, our evolution must happen. The real choice is right here: either we refuse to take part in it, or we take this evolution into our own hands. Refusing to do the work on earth exposes us to difficult ordeals. On the contrary, the will to contribute of our own accord to the work of creation softens the hard moments, and the difficulties don't have the same scale; they help us progress and serve us as experiences. Each of us is, in this world, like a small child who must eat his soup in order to grow. There's no leaving the table without finishing your plate; when you accept the rules you have the choice of the thousand flavours available, but if you refuse to eat, life imposes a compulsory flavour on you, even if you hate that taste. We all want to be free, it's the greatest desire of our conscious soul, but freedom has its rules, which it is wise to know. The whole paradox of the feeling of being free lies right there: Refusing to be a slave means accepting to serve... Good Day!

(6 months after initiation) Just a few words for you, who opened doors for me in a battle so hard and so beautiful that I shall remain marked by it forever. I thank you for it and sincerely want to tell you so. To you, who often accompany my thoughts. Life is a battle and I thank you for having trained my wings so as to make them stronger and more powerful, to allow me to fly in this world that isn't always made for me. Thank Papa André too, for having guided me on this path that lets me call upon the strong spirits. The sound of my horn goes with you. Etsika O Motsoï

Papa, I arrived safely in P where it is very cold. It was a magnificent journey, magical, a journey that surpassed all my expectations and that will nourish me for a long time. Thank you! BwitiLove Mussingi

Hi you brave ones! All is well with me, Finland is really a lovely country, and I've been at peace with myself, my family and others ever since the initiation. I often think of you all. Lots of good things, may the spirits and the gods protect you and assist you! JBR

A huge thank you to Ebando, to Tatayo and to all the children of the village. Bassé Thank you for your devotion, thank you for listening, thank you for giving me the chance to discover the Bwiti and everything that comes with it. Today I am very happy with my experience. I won't forget you, I will come back.

Hi Tatayo, I'm in the Dordogne and have just got back from La Rochelle. I'm making the most of summer in this region I love so much (the only fixed point in my whole life for the time being). I'm splitting up from my boyfriend, which is a bit of a slog, but it's happening little by little and it's so much less painful compared to the break-ups I've known up to now. It's crazy, a miracle for me! Mi ré si. . I have a few more low moments here but I really can't complain, it's beyond compare, I've got a "quiet strength" with me ... I hope all is well at Ebando and I wish you lots of happiness (with Joli Coeur!!) Big kissesxxxxx to lovely little Abang; and to Yann and his wife too and tutti cuanti, and until next time: BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE Mbeï

Yo PapaYo! I took my time before writing to you, just to take the temperature, between Italy and Belgium (where I've been for three days), between family and friends. I feel good, very good, alive, the heart is present, I feel like, and have the energy to, give, in an attempt to share all the gratitude felt through my experience and those beautiful moments with you. As a result, the relationships with my loved ones are richer, opening up, I'm rediscovering an intimacy that had somewhat withered with my partner, I'm amazed by my son, even if he sometimes puts us to the test ;. It's subtle but obvious, I feel stronger, more confident, I have more faith in life. It's important to have faith, each in their own way, each their own bwiti... I haven't smoked another cigarette since the initiation, I'm managing without great difficulty, above all I feel much better not smoking any more, this new freedom being quite telling of the feeling of a greater inner freedom. It'll be another step in a week, with a return to work. I'm thinking very strongly of you, with a heart full of joy, which I send to you all over there, between ocean and forest, between sky and earth. Thanks again to you for this beautiful step in my life, whose fruits have not yet finished ripening. Kiss your sons and your daughters, my brothers and sisters, Noé, and Joli cœur too for me. We are together. Bassé! JF

SAFE RETURN! Back among the madmen, I'm in great shape, perfectly calm. This experience can in no way be the subject of a banal trip report like the so many I've read. The only trip report worth anything is this one: for nearly three weeks I spent time alongside big-hearted people who courageously help the inhabitants of the old world confront their fears, and demons, and questions. As for the latter: the proof that a good answer was found is that ten new questions arise at the same time as a tenfold-increased urge to find ten new answers. DISUMBA

Libreville, 26 March 2013. Initiation vigil of 2 European banzis, Mother-wondrous and Father-wondrous Bwiti, Bwiti is bwitifull, Mother-Earth and Father-Sky of all the re-fathers and all the re-mothers, united in the same Grail; Bwiti akhbar!!! The Sacred Wood so loves to love, So in all innocence: Ask!!! and the more you ask, the more you will receive, The more you give, the more you will receive, So, to be consumed without moderation. In the generosity of the dancing bodies and the en-chanting voices, face-paint in the 3 ritual colours and scents of protection And the Sacred Wood playing its music, let us be in uni-son, Thank you the n'gombi (the harp), thank you the mougongo (the mouth bow) Wow!!! It's believable, Wow!!! It's possible!! Ya k!!!! Generosity and love of these big brothers and sisters Who welcome 2 new children into this family of the heart, Welcome little brothers!!! So that the passage may be as gentle as possible, We are going to sing and dance all night long, The moon, the stars and the rising sun will accompany us The light of our faith, of the candles and of the moupetou (the sacred torch) will light your way and make the night spirits flee. O Zambé, O mabondo!!! Everything is in the uni-verse, the whole uni-verse is in us We are together Pierre-Kouna

Good evening dear Yo I went back to work yesterday and I am amazed by the energy I built up in Gabon and the freedom I found there, which shows itself in the way I listen to my patients M. known as Mivova

"A rickety trousseau A gangly bearing A heart that falls for everyone An allergy to rules A passion for Lolita Pockets forever full of holes A love of the Bwiti Clownish faces Homeric outbursts And, and, and A humanity with no mask There you have Tatayo, who moves you, who annoys you, who hits the mark!" (A BELGIAN PYGMY)

Thank you for sending me the letters from the people who have undergone the taking of Iboga. It makes me want to put down in writing a few elements of my experience (after the cutting of the cord, a few months before the initiation). I find that: 1- Iboga is extraordinarily ecological and assertive, in the sense that it supports me in my intention, in my intentions of the moment. In the days, the weeks after taking the bark of the root, my existential questionings are more pertinent. The answers that arise are more dazzling, more radical, more obvious. If I seek the encounter with the other, I have the feeling of being firmer, simpler, less encumbered when it comes to showing myself, acting, undertaking, knocking at the other's door. During those weeks I have the feeling of being more fluid, more legitimate in the very fact of living. There is nothing to prove, nothing to impose. There is only being. Being there. I had the feeling of being an "individual", a "person" more clearly identified, more responsible, more autonomous (less entangled), more pertinent in all relationships, that is, of seeing the other better as a being, of seeing better whether the other is reliable, whether they are competent, honest… Since then I no longer feel like discussing, in the sense of quibbling, sharing thoughts; it is about being there, savouring what there is to see, to hear, to touch, to smell, to eat … it is more about being there, sharing what is life, sharing with the living … and savouring. There is nothing to demonstrate and no time to waste on blah-blah and bowing and scraping, waiting for the other to be willing … If I want to write I have the feeling that the wood helps me to write If I want to tinker I have the feeling that the wood helps me to tinker If I want to sleep I have the feeling that the wood helps me to sleep If I want to meditate I have the feeling that the wood helps me to meditate 2 – I find that there are several levels of reality that have revealed themselves to me with Iboga. […] And as I am 58 years old, a human being who also has something to transmit, and that is also why I have just written this! Yo! 18 April 2006 raymond.legolvan@laposte.net

Hi MCC, I confirm that I am at your disposal for any useful information. Hi! Nyundu Na Mikanzo Here I am again, bokayé! You needed to have this information as quickly as possible, now I'm going to take more time to answer the more philosophical questions you ask: in principle no, in relation to the work done with the plant, must nothing touch us? during the initiation, "one" does not touch the Banzi, one must not even speak to him while he is under the effect of the Wood. This is in order to leave the initiation in the care of the Spirit. In the Wood one is alone facing oneself and it must be so. Moreover under the effect of the Iboga one is "open", thus vulnerable, the guard corps is there to ensure the protection of the Banzi, both material and spiritual. The Banzi is in the "hands" of the Bwiti, of the Spirit, he is sacred, one does not defile the sacred, so one does not touch him. Touching him could let through influences one does not suspect, one enters into the subtle, everything acquires an unusual importance. Can you tell me about your experience? It's hard to recount one's experience, impossible even, words fail and lie, so I've given myself as a guiding line to say only what may be useful to my fellow being. My experience was very painful physically, emotionally and mentally. Fortunately Hugues and the Ngangas of his guard corps are competent and trustworthy and I was able to endure the sufferings chosen by Iboga for me, well surrounded, in complete safety and without worrying about anything other than the work of Iboga within me. Although having suffered a great deal I come back from the initiation with the feeling of being like new, cleansed in body, in heart and in my memories. And I've forgotten the pains of the initiation, because what the wood makes you endure, it also gives you the strength to endure it. You've known ayahuasca, so you know what kind of ordeals the shamanic plants of the forest have in store for us. My experience of Iboga is not described in visions or hallucinations, it's much stronger than that, it's a death and a birth, because Hugues gives the wood completely and to saturation so that it invades us as It desires. Too many unscrupulous Ngangas give insufficient doses to their Banzies, to hold back the Knowledge and keep a power over the "others". Hugues is a true servant of the wood and no one leaves his place without having been flooded by the sacred substance of Iboga. One must trust his methods and let oneself be done, he is a true experienced initiating "master" who never seeks to influence the people the Spirit sends towards him. There you are, MCC, that's what I was inspired to share with you today, I will insist on only one point: Hugues is the right man. Best wishes of deep peace! Nyundu Na Mikanzo nyundu@wanadoo.fr

Hi Tatayo, hello happy new year I wish you a good and happy new year, to you and all the people of Ebando. Me, I'm only just starting to feel better, after coming back from Gabon I got very depressed and I had a few relapses during nights out with drugs. but since New Year's Day I've decided to stop all that and do my best to get my morale back, but it's not easy. one thing is certain, the initiation let me see more clearly into myself and I regret not having done it 10 years earlier to avoid quite a few mistakes, now I know myself better, but I still have trouble accepting myself and a lot of time to make up for... In short, the work isn't finished yet! Apart from that I hope you're all well at the Sablière and that things are working out for you, you do an Amazing job Tatayo.. Respect!!! Bokayé Ngenga Robin

What a pleasure to hear from you! I hope we'll be able to afford a trip to Gabon soon.....In the meantime, if you give me a postal address I'll send you a record we recorded called Bokaye! you can also go to myspace.com/dharmas2, there are photos of our show and a few songs. I'm also attaching photos of the harps I make. my encounter with iboga changed my life and I'll never be able to thank you enough. ABORA !!! saludos y abrazos a todos !! JeanClaireNaomi

Love to you Tatayo, the Banzi he's working hard in there, among the krauts still. He's also thinking of seeing again the honest Bwiti of Africa. An idea that runs through the grasses of the meadows. So look at this marvellous jewel, born from a child's heart: http://www.stephenjourdain.com/ We are the children of God, who don't understand what's happening to them, why grow old, why so much pain, is it really inevitably so. The heart of the child walled up in hardness, because he has forgotten, the tenderness and the joy he wanted to share, the carefreeness of Being, the lightness. By protecting himself, he hardened, and then forgot that he was a child, to the point of not even believing it anymore, crawling through a life with no meaning, fragmented, born of pain, fabricating an Other. We, the children of God, blessed of nature, become slaves. Light to you Tatayo, and be Blessed in your good work, Nungu

"To establish a new relationship with oneself and with the world. To travel differently, into the folds of new, unexplored dimensions. To look at what I see, to listen to what I hear. To activate a dormant sensibility in order to enter once again into space-time. To brush once more against the walls of the living and be reborn, become new, even if that is impossible, to do it nonetheless... To spiritualise the living matter that I am... Nestled at the feet of the great trees of the primaeval forest, on African soil, in Gabon, there lives an exceptional Being, an endemic shrub, by the name of Iboga. On this alchemical ground this plant draws up through its roots a potion of a unique complexity. On its sacred soil, where other trees simply draw their sap, the Iboga shrub distils within its plant veins the vermilion nectar of origins: through it circulate twelve alkaloids, twelve spirits, twelve symbolic, initiatory and creative powers. For thousands of years, perhaps for more than forty thousand years, humankind has maintained a mystical relationship with this plant Being. At the dawn of humanity, immersed in the green hell of the all-powerful plant kingdom, at once nourishing, disquieting and full of dangers, primordial man received the teachings of survival among the plants from the plants: human beings, since the dawn of time, eat the bark of the Iboga root to receive its wisdom... Sapiens sapiens eats the Sacred Wood. To take into oneself the flesh of this mystical tree is to be literally invaded by a power of an unheard-of force but also of a great benevolence. [...] The Wood penetrates into man down to unconsciousness, until there awakens in him the New Relationship, for in the further course of the process it is a relationship of a depth unknown until then that takes hold..."

Ah how cruel it was to leave!!!!!!!! I felt a real pang in my heart when I left you and my only comfort was the certainty that I will come back one day. This journey changed my life, I am a new person now and I know that nothing can ever come to trouble the peace that I found in my heart. I am now ready to live and to carry out my plans, to appreciate each moment. This experience allowed me to forgive my family for all the harm it did to me. and all the love I received during my stay is well worth 24 years where I waited for signs of tenderness from my family. I now know that my new family is you!!! So once again a big thank you to each one of you. Know that I will be delighted to welcome you if you pass through here!! huge kiss EPANDO PANDO !

yo tatayo already almost 10 days in france and time once again seems to me like nothing but a fragile little boat.... i feel like i've been here forever and at the same time i feel like i stayed years in africa conclusion.. ... might as well cling to the present, the rest is really in no way governable. .. so a good arrival, despite my back which keeps talking to me in a language i don't know.... the weather is nice and i've been working since yesterday in montreuil as a barman in my old bar, the owners are putting me up above it, and so it's great to be able to combine friends, work and money.... i keep a good memory of my stay at your place but i'm waiting a little longer before talking about it, and besides internet cafés don't inspire me... just one thing, when i breathe in a certain way, i recover in a single breath the inner calm that i had known at your place i'm happy about that.... we'll talk about it again... .well i will kisses to everyone and especially to papa Lucie and mama Andre..... i don't forget them and i'll send them a card and photos soon Arno...mukuku na pindi

MaMISOBA I want to express to you my deep gratitude for the LOVE, the ATTENTION and the gaze you have given me since my Arrival in Gabon. And especially during the INITIATION… I cannot remember ever having been surrounded by so much affection, care and LOVE by SO GREAT AND BEAUTIFUL A FAMILY. I came to you empty-handed and you welcomed me with an OPEN HEART! THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART to ALL! THANK YOU to TATAYO! THANK YOU to PAPA ANDRé and MAMAN LUCIE THANK YOU to OLGA and MODIPé THANK YOU to the whole team of MAMISOBA….PEMBA…MBILOU….CONSTANTINE…ETUDIA !!! LOVE TRIUMPHS OVER EVERYTHING….. BOKAYE ! BOKAYE ! BOKAYE !! MOHISSI NA MABOUNZA !

Hello, My name is Sophie, I'm 26. Some time ago I contacted Tatayo to get more information about how the initiations in Gabon unfold. Tatayo passed on your emails so that I could contact you to get some information. I took iboga for the first time at a seminar with M…. The experience was difficult, but I felt benefits immediately after the seminar. Today I wish to take part in this kind of seminar again. [...] How did you experience your initiation? It's hard to describe, I have never been so surrounded by love, it's extraordinary. The plant is a friend, I was so afraid that on the first night I couldn't reach the light and I couldn't manage to listen to what the wood was trying to tell me ("don't be afraid, I'm here to help you, to do you good, feel what your body is telling you, listen as it relaxes, it's in confidence, let go, let yourself go") and I asked for help before the start of the second night, to no longer be afraid. And the second journey was fabulous… Was it beneficial to you? It doesn't fix everything but it does a "heck of a clear-out"; people find me transformed, the same but different, fulfilled… Thank you for your answers. Sophie

Hello, The Old Man passed your email on to me. So I'll offer you my point of view through my own experience. Taking iboga is, I think, an intense physical-psychological-hallucinatory experience that is often liberating, some would even say sacred, but that might be a confusion of categories. Taking iboga is also, in its cultural context, intimately tied to a many-faceted African religion: the bwiti. And while, in my opinion, you can do one without the other, doing so means depriving yourself of a traditional know-how. In any case, watch out for the charlatans, who are legion, and some people have died because of them. Tatayo, a colourful, even complex character, has, in my opinion, the experience and the qualities required. Otherwise No prerequisites are necessary if the initiating father is competent and has integrity (otherwise there's a serious risk of manipulation and/or psycho-emotional destabilisation). • Just clearly identify, with the greatest transparency and with his help, the reasons for your request (otherwise there's a serious risk of manipulation and/or psycho-emotional destabilisation); • TATAYO asks for 3 weeks of availability, but go for a flexible ticket, because it's a lot and a little at the same time; • His services are charged at 2500 € all costs included, but in my opinion an extra 200-300 € is welcome (+ the price of the plane ticket); • In France, iboga is considered a narcotic and is therefore banned (a Gabonese bwitist was imprisoned in January 2007…) • I've heard that in Holland it was possible to find iboga initiations without knowing any more than that. Hoping that these few bits of information may be useful to you Ph. F. aka MANI

My dear Tatayo, yo, I hope all is well with you. As for me, my little life has picked up its course again, but it's not quite the same anymore: something has changed. Subjectively, I'd tell you that a limitation has been overcome, my behaviour has shifted and it seems I'm getting closer to who I'd like to be. But above all, this feeling of being at peace with myself, it's extraordinary, I even take pauses in my day, just to enjoy this state... too good... too full... too serene... immense... So, as for the gods and the universe, I'll see about that later. Again a big thank you to you and your team, a wave to papa André and his wife and also to Bitsaka. Say hi to the New York pygmy from me too, please. MANI

TATAYO! Ah! A year already... A year, and so much ground covered during and after… BASE, BASE, BASE, the obligatory three. It's lighter than three belts, and so it's better for the heart. Thank you to the MAN who initiated me, the one who speaks loud and strong, the one who is ALIVE, who radiates when he smiles and when he laughs. Thank you to you. Thank you to the GUIDE, to the one who loves Gabon for Gabon and the Gabonese for the Gabonese. Thank you to KTY, a wonderful woman, full of courage and experience. Thank you for everything, thank you for what you taught me. Thank you to your children for everything they did, everything they said: Noé, Arthur, Claire, children of your parents, of Gabon and of the wood. Such attentiveness and experience in the face of the banzi. Thank you to all the Ngangas of Ebando: Mbilou, Dibenga, Pemba and her children, Lumière, Eric, as well as to the two Ngangas who were there for the second ceremony. Your words, your counsel… Everything is there and continues to bear its fruit. Talented and wonderful Ngangas of mystical Gabon! Thank you to Papa André and to his wife… The kind of rare people who say little but mean much! A peaceful encounter like a deserted beach where the sea comes and goes… I can't wait to see you all again! Thank you to all the others whose acts and words in those magical moments had their importance and their meaning. Thank you to Gabon and to the Gabonese who hold this immense spiritual and human richness that is THE BWITI; may I be heard and may the Bwiti enlighten men, raise men up, for a very long time still. Thank you to the very great men of the forest, to the ancestors, to the spirits. *** A white man who owes an enormous amount to the black man, who still possesses the true richness of this world. A man both white and black Nzegho na matodi I love you

Yo Papa, After more than three months of reflection and meditation, I've understood a lot about the origin of my problems. A painful and yet liberating realisation - my feet still bear the scars of it - my parents have been rotting and squandering me for almost 20 years… Therein lies the root cause of all the rest of my problems. I believe their stupidity, their narrow-minded French upbringing smothered me, and that my depression was a cry for help from my true self, a light imprisoned since the age of 7, according to my own mother… I denied my dreams, my spiritual identity, my vocation (at 8, I wanted to be a healer, you see…); I forgot myself, forbade myself life, freedom, love; and the Wood, the body of Christ, SAVED me. BASI!!! My nightmares, my anxieties, gifts unowned and asleep… As I told you in a previous message, last week, I took 1.5g of Ibogaine; I recovered my forgotten visions, understood new things, saw new ones, and above all, I SAW who I really was, and all the work accomplished by the Wood since my initiation. I now know that I must continue my initiatory path to become Nganga, to live this Light I saw within me. Itsamanghe is interested in my project, the NGO PROMETRA, based in Dakar, is going to study my project. I'm hopeful, the bwiti is advancing. My impatience is only due to the difficulty of living my bwiti among the vampires… The door has opened, the bird will soon be able to take flight, to reclaim its Freedom… God bless you all, a thousand basse! Aniepa

Startayo!!! You're actually my Star!! But the respect I owe you forbids me from pouring out praises in your presence!!! So I got back to Nantes at noon today, I'm at home, it's raining, it's 9 degrees. But the warmth will now never leave me again. At your place I found everything I was waiting for, and even what I wasn't waiting for, or no longer was. The 7-day process up to the culminating point, everything has a meaning, everything happened as it should, it's freaky how everything was written somewhere, carved into the Wood. Tatayo, the album I gave you and which will come out this year, I wrote it before coming, and I gave it its title before this journey. It's called "The Meaning of Life" (the meaning of Life?), with a question mark, before this journey; today I know I can forget the question mark because I have found the meaning of my life. The Wood answered me, told me where I came from, from the Dawn of Time, successive reincarnations, the Tiger, the River, Durga the goddess who rides the Tiger masters the Arts and slays the demon with her Sword. Well I don't have a sword but I have my words and my mic. [...] I've been weaned off my demons for 10 days. I feel free, at 33 years old the Rebirth. [...] The Sacred Wood called me I searched for my past Waited so long felt lost so often I cursed the Gods of the Whites for having created such torments I wept I loved I suffered and forgave I found the path of light towards my own They told me: "you are not a stranger among us but a brother and a sister and we have loved you since the 1st day" [...] Don't be afraid, don't be afraid for the time has come [...] it took me oh so long to find myself again, A feeling oh so strong I want the world to understand I found my brothers my sisters my father and my mother It's Bwitiful bwitiCall Bwitiful Bwiticall Come on Come!! Come on Come!! Come on Come!! Come on come!! I'm coming!!!! ONE LOVE ++++DAJILA you can publish, you can keep my name, I have nothing to hide! bassé!! Dajla

Yo papa, I hope all is well at the village, and that the bwiti is moving forward. I read on the forum that everyone is feeling things, and me too, changes. But, as for the bwiti, the wood spoke to me of an important year, 1979, and of the Christ-like sacrifice of your father, my grandfather, for us albinos. That day, the bwiti crossed a major threshold, but at what cost... That's what the bwiti tells me. I believe 2012 will be the crossing of a threshold, in the spiritual evolution of humanity, but I don't believe in the great evening of the revolution; it must take place in each consciousness, gradually and together. We could use you here, no doubt, but one of the 12 gates is in the land of Gabon, you are its keeper, and the vampire types are too numerous here... Besides, the bwiti is guiding me a lot at the moment, ideas, projects. And I discover the language of the birds every day, a pure delight... A shame that the west (that which slays...) wastes us away... See you soon, let's stay together, even you far away, ONE HEART, BWITI VIBRATION ! Bokaye, Dibadi Ndako (initiated at Ebando village in October 2007 !)

Dear father Tatayo, How happy and proud I am of your spirit and your faith in nature, mother of all things, yet creation herself. A great thank you to our brother who thus contributes to an awakening that, I hope with all my heart, will be eternal. With my warmest friendship and brotherhood. Greetings to the great chief Mboloko as well as to the women of the village blessed with Beauty. Insha Allah! In trusting you receive the above in good faith, I beg to remain sincere, Justin H.

Hi Papa, Here I am back in France, the journey went well. I really feel the change coming back here, I feel truly liberated, with an inner strength, the wood that stays in the body... I'm happy, but also sad to have left you, the departure was hard, give my warm greetings to everyone, the ngangas and the maboundis, and tell Mbilou that I'll come back. I miss you all, but you're in my heart. Greetings to you, Robin Hood, of Sherwood forest, dear Wood... Bokaye ! Dibadi Ndako AFTER 3 WEEKS of BWITIBOGA INITIATION ! It's hard to slot back into French society, with the experience that's now within me; I'll tell you later how it evolves. I hope the whole village is well, hug everyone for me. You're in my heart, my bwiti, the Wood is truly strong… Bokaye, Robin Hood ! Lots of good and beautiful things, Mamisoba ! Dibadi Ndako

Hi Tatayo, how are you? Right, I'm sending you this little message to let you know that my return to France went very well after endless hours of waiting at Libreville airport, I'm now properly back down to earth after this unforgettable expedition to the planet Bwiti.... I'll take the time this week to put my testimony in writing to send it to you. I hope the whole team is well and that the banzis keep flocking to the Sablière to meet you and to reach things as powerful as those our group of 8 (and not 7 apparently) was able to obtain thanks to all of you. I keep a great memory of this time at the Sablière (despite that little falling-out at the end with Bilou, hoping he isn't too cross with me, but for me and for him I think this didn't happen by chance and each of us has a lesson to draw from it) and every meeting with my friends in France has become for me an opportunity to tell this wonderful story I got to live with you, and I can tell you that even before having the chance to recount my encounter with the Bwiti, all the people who know me are stunned by the physical change that has taken place in me (everyone finds me in a shape like they've never seen me in before!!) Say hello to everyone for me Love to all Ciao

Tatayo, I hope with all my heart that the house is doing well. Where are things at with Patrick, and Ange de Lumière??? Have new people arrived??? What's next for the various film shoots??? I was happy to meet you and to see the work you've undertaken personally on the one hand, and on the other hand the synchronicity with Papa André, the children born of the Bwiti, Olga... I bought the books, and what touches me is the approach that your spiritual father brought, it was high time. It was high time that this path opened up, Africa must bring its spiritual dimension to HUMANITY in an approach of LOVE, PEACE, HARMONY, COMPASSION. And that is very important in the path I have chosen. I meditate, I pray, and I call upon the intrinsic dimension of Africa, I wished so much to no longer have to make blood flow, I wished so much that the HEART of the AFRICAN CONTINENT would beat for HUMANITY. Going further, this approach is a salvation for Africa itself. Since my return, I can't wait to go back to the continent, it was already planned, but there's like an acceleration in time and space. At the same time I have to be GROUNDED and not let fear and doubt invade me, I feel like I'm taking on a heavy burden, but as that Ivorian proverb says, "There's nothing behind, it's only man who is afraid," ah, ah ah!!! Thinking of our Pygmy sisters and brothers, I think of the Pachamama Alliance and of Blue Eagle, here is their site: www.pachamama.org, I'll give you Blue Eagle's site later. I think we should intervene in Europe, in a different way regarding the Bwiti, by which I mean what reflection at the level of consciousness does the Bwiti bring to HUMANITY??? Tatayo, I hope you're well, your health, your loves??? What did the spirits say regarding the FEMININE ENERGY of the place??? I look forward to reading you very soon. Ayoko

Far from recounting my journey, here are a few lines that may help some people, perhaps, to perceive the state of mind, one of the roads a journey can follow. Enjoy the read. (in the hope of not offending the initiates and of enlightening the curious. This is not THE TRUTH but one of the roads...) We are under the kapok tree, the Tree, we tended to it carefully a few moments ago. Now, it's the one that will say whether the doors are open, whether the moment is favourable, the air is mild, a few candles light up the place with their random flickering, the magical and protective trees surround our frail vessel. Tata throws the two cowries... If they fall open, it's in our favour, otherwise, the initiation will be for later. Tonight, They grant me passage. The worlds of the beyond are like history, algebra, languages. As long as no one tells us about them, our representation of the world keeps its limits. From the moment we cross over, the limits fade away and it's another life that begins. The one where I act not out of obligation but out of rigour, the one where each movement is a choice... Not always so easy to assume. The music begins, and I close my eyes. The jungle appears, lianas, opacity, unease, the unknown, I cross it as if carried by a flying carpet following a river whose flow bounces and weaves its way between the rocks. [...] Could this be a new door?

hi tatayo it's herwann how are you? I miss you something awful, little father. I would never have thought all this would miss me this much. In any case every day that passes for me is a questioning in my life, and so it's certain that the initiation is becoming indispensable. anyway we'll have the chance to talk about it. But right now I'm full-on into my show, into my solo. So don't hold it against me for not calling or phoning you much because it's true that time here isn't the same as over at yours. know that I haven't forgotten you, you filled me with happiness, joy and lots of other things with our meeting. I miss you incredibly. you know there are people who ask me an enormous amount of questions about the initiation, it's incredible, it's as if I were important in their decision, it's very unsettling. Tonight Dajla is in concert, I'm going to watch her play. there's a very strange connection between iboga and me, right, say hello to everyone and of course to the girl, to the goddess............who troubles me still! I love you all deeply. your student of life. herwann a.... békalé odsiou. bassé. long live Africa www.Moralsoul.com

Hello, friend of the World, My name is Alain Magloire, I was born on 12 December 1972 in Montreal (Canada) and I am a Man., Note that by Man (with a capital letter!) I mean any human who has seriously undertaken the knowledge of himself… as opposed to the man who surpasses the animal only in his capacity to make himself miserable. There are many ways to explore one's inner self, taught by the different traditions across the world. I think they are all valid and have all proven themselves, but each represents a different path, with advantages and pitfalls specific to it. It is therefore very important for the person wanting to walk the path of self-knowledge to choose the school of wisdom that "speaks" to them the most. And there it is, how the Wood "called" me in August 2007. [...] When a brother spoke to me about the Bwiti and Iboga, I was immediately curious… and I had barely read about the subject before I was convinced that the Wood was an essential touch to my healing… and the beginning of a new Man! [...] And I say it again, Tatayo is an excellent starting point for this undertaking. He is more than capable of leading an initiation, but he knows that everything starts from the gut, and he is entirely open to introducing you to other competent initiators if you feel the need… He is an unavoidable reference of Gabonese Bwiti. [...] With that, friend of the Earth, I wish you a deep experience inside the Wood, and I'll see you again on the other side of the mirror!!! Alain Magloire EVOVI NOKA October 2007

Hi Tatayo, yes the drums of the Bwiti and the fresh air that reigns around you are still present here in my heart. I tell the good news to my friends, the illumination, it's nothing less than that which I bring back. We'll see who can do something with it. To those it doesn't concern I tell them how beautiful Gabon is and what restful holidays these were, hehehe! The vibration of love resonates in my heart, thank you to you Tatayo and Nbilou, , Kathy, Minangua, Mossodo. To all those who can understand me, understand the experience, to these other selves. The challenge is still there, the demon is powerful here and if you don't take yourself for god then you have to fight against him. Well if you take yourself for God, you thank the demon for being there, otherwise, you'd be bored. That's where I am. If you really are God you no longer see it, because everything is so perfectly dreamt. [...] People full of life. bwitiful Light to you Tatayo, light and love. And thank you once again (and this won't be the last) KUMUA !

How are you doing? So your American, he's going to get an eyeful!!! It's cool here, we're landing gently... I admit it's a bit hard to get back into this Western "reality". I've already got in touch with the cultural associations of international artists and musicians in Nantes and I think some of them are itching to discover your work!! I'm going to send you people :o) (we've earned the respect of some mystical guys now, wow! the Pygmies!! Iboga!!!!) We're going to try to do good work with the sound recordings we made, I'll keep you posted on all that very soon. For the parcel, I have a post office box but you can still give me your friend's address, if that's better. I really feel like coming back to see you all in December, I found a reasonable ticket around 16 December, to be seen with my schedule but I already miss Gabon a lot ... I hope we'll be able to help your association move forward too, there's plenty to do together. I wanted to thank you (Benji too) once again for your welcome, your availability and everything you allowed us to see and the wonderful people we met thanks to you! It's brilliant, I will never be the same again now. Iboga and all the friends from the sablière helped me regain confidence in myself, and to detach myself from the grip of my medication (a drug!) as well as from tobacco. It's going to get better and better, I'm sure of it. Tatayo, could you give me a quick rundown of the styles of Bwiti that were practised during our vigil so we can write a nice text and captions for our photo gallery on the website as well as on our next album? We took down the names of your guys, but don't hesitate to give me the bwiti names too of the people who did the vigil with you. I'll leave you, I'll call you back very soon, kiss the whole family for me, as well as Olga and her daughters. lots of kisses +++ Dajla

YOU'RE GOING TO GABON FOR THE SACRED WOOD? I live next to Bastille... It's crazy how well-equipped the crocodiles from the bottom of the seas can be these days In a nutshell, be nice, forget about the hotel and the comfort for the moment to go and see deep inside yourself how things stand ;-) THAT's where you need to invest, the hotel... You'll have your whole life to be comfortable there. Staying within the grounds of the place is a sweet song I've been missing my friend, ever since the day after my departure... Tata is a unique man, like everyone, but unique the way only the good ones are, I recognised him, that sly one, he is light, he's going to guide you. Ask him to write down everything you see during your inner journey, advice from an old-timer who didn't do it and regrets it, remember everything you're going to hear during this journey, remember everything you're going to see. On top of that the place is killer, the sea is 20 metres away, it's the road at the end of the tarmac heading towards the sablière, you just have to say that and everyone will point their finger towards the same spot, and anyway, tata, everyone knows him, they respect him. Every person who heads off to you tata takes a tear from my heart without fail tata!! I miss you!! The beard yes!! So say hi up there for me and to the family soon some news about my projects, I really do need to keep you informed... I'm roaming a bit around the world, I stay present but less often, Nepal obliges, you'll understand I know it at any time, wherever we may be.

I too am infinitely grateful for what I was able to live with you and your people Tatayo, thank you. And your little ones understood well I believe, and they will make little ones who will be fine, and soon the evidence will come in Europe as in Gabon about the nature of the spirit and of life. It's already starting, there are always the old bulldozers, who still run on money and power, baldness and big belly, impotence. At 50-60 years old they no longer inspire anyone and even less their own child. But there are the others, the others who serve as an example to the younger ones. In your generation, there weren't that many models, for ours there are a few more, and the next one will have even more, and so on. To hold oneself upright and relaxed, that's inviting, especially when one is young and longing for a life of glory. But without an example, without the wood, the path is hard to find. Yes the evidence will come, in this world. It will always be a world of cracked ones, of course, well I hope so. Light to you, to you all. Kumua di Pindi, eternal among the eternals

"How could I have imagined a few months ago that I would end up where I am, and have to and be able to do what follows? Thanks again to one of the rare Western Ngangas, Tatayo, who in my view embodies a definite evolution of the Bwiti, perhaps precisely because the meeting of the two continents allows a salutary evolution of the Bwiti... Before speaking of what is dearest to my heart, I would like to tell you all that following my initiation, my head full of iboga, a cutting revelation came to me during a discussion about the recent events in France concerning iboga. The spirit no longer wishes for any advance in France. The intentions are not all heading in the right direction, far from it, it's too late, the cleaning-up should have been done before. Too many disappointments, too many people in turmoil, too many lies... Farewell iboga in France: once again personal interests have forgotten the meaning of the sacred. [...] I sincerely think that the Bwiti could be one of the most beautiful spiritual paths on this planet if humans make a few efforts. [...] This is how the human being will grow, by relentlessly seeking to accept, to respect and to understand his fellow man, not by brutalising him. [...] Lots of beautiful things to you all..." Nkwa ponga na Nzegho

MOUNGONGO ! How beautiful your music is. Just now again I'm listening to your melody, that of those women behind bringing all their presence to accompany me, we are in Gabon in Libreville and the journey begins, lulled by the purring of the sea just behind, the gaze deep into the distance, in an absence-presence, images come, a universe is created, mine? The one in which I move is now immense now tiny, the spirits are there, I feel their presence and at that precise moment I recognise them, the mother of Tatayo's bwiti who baptises me, recognised beyond any possible doubt. They are all present!! Before arriving at the place where the doors only open when our eyes are washed and our hearts at peace for a moment, the road was long, endless at times, full of jolts, of unique discoveries about what I am, the one I was, just before this precise instant, this instant after which nothing will be as before. The images pass by, race and slip away like a trail of dust whipping your eyes with a unique delicacy. When they vanish and you open your eyes again, the world is far bigger, quite different, yes, this world, in fact it is the simple vision of it that opens, changes, and leaves me astonished before the rightness of a truth far too long masked, hidden, that I never had the strength, until this day, to face. Fear, that unknown, which escapes, unveils itself as soon as I hunt it down, flees, because at that precise moment, it is Tatayo and his people who protect me for better and for worse. The journey continues until the early morning. On my waking, when the birds bring me back, I rediscover a new me, a new world, my face is different and yet identical, this magical night, I will never forget it. Thank you to you, Tata, and your people This here is a tribute, a story told so that it may last forever beyond my heart, perhaps in yours…

Hello Antoine, I won't answer your questions one by one but I would still like to shed some light on one or two points. Firstly, know that an initiation to iboga doesn't necessarily mean being initiated into the bwiti, and even less adhering to it. If you surround yourself well, the bwitists who will be around you during this wonderful moment of your life will bring you a great deal through this philosophy and magic without forcing you for a single second to follow them. As for what iboga can bring you or not, it's very simple. If you're brave and you eat enough of it (there's always a price to pay to obtain something, in this case it's this one), you'll rid yourself of all your dependencies, inner and outer, and surprisingly, the questions will be replaced by answers, by convictions. To be fair and to respect certain initiates, I would also say that some people, who have experienced things even worse than those I've known, don't draw all these benefits during the initiation, but you should know that iboga works for a long time and powerfully after the initiation, and that sooner or later we make enormous progress. Antoine, it bothers me to tell you things like this because I wouldn't want to rush you, but don't ask yourself too many questions and wait calmly, as Vladimir told you, for your heart to tell you to go to Gabon. Many questions are the fruit of reflection that smothers what you can feel. For one reason or another, you'll feel when the right moment has come if you listen to yourself. The rest, the looping thoughts, is unimportant because it's against yourself, you'll feel it sooner or later, and if we're all discussing this together it's precisely because the spirit grants us this remarkable step forward. Be at peace, take your time and do things as you feel with your heart, it's your heart that speaks to you when you're at peace, precisely. See you soon Antoine, Nzegho

From the island of Réunion in January 2007: my dear Yo, I would like to say (to our friend Bertrand, who is wondering about it), that the initiation in Gabon is truly powerful and lets you turn a page as well as set out on the path that calls us, to the extent … that we really want it. As for me, I'm going to spend several months at the Vipassana centre in the Yonne (France) where I'll alternate between service and ascetic practice (something I could never have done if I'd carried on in chronic alcoholism), then I plan to settle in Brussels in September 07 in order to prepare a teaching diploma in "Chi Kong" over a period of three years, and at the same time, to enrol in an academy of "traditional Yang" tai chi chuan as well as in an aikido dojo. This project of intensive learning has been close to my heart ever since I've felt freed from my addictions (tobacco, alcohol)…… So! yes the initiation is a beginning …. …..and what follows must live up to it, yours sincerely!

Methadone detoxification testimony Dear Professor Gassita, We saw each other at your pharmacy a few days before I went onto the mat. I came with Tatayo, it was November 2005. If you'd like any further details, don't hesitate to write to me. Mukuku Mamisoba I'm 46 years old. At 22-23 years old I became chronically intoxicated; mainly with opiates, notably heroin, morphine then methadone, not to mention cannabis, cocaine and crack. Over this period of 23 years I was under the grip of narcotics 50% of the time. In the 90s I alternated between periods of morphine addiction and abstinence. In December 99, after reaching peaks in consumption (I'd been living in Barcelona for 6 months, a city where narcotics are available 24/7, of good quality and at quite reasonable prices) my wife made an appointment with the doctor I used to see back when we lived in France and put me on the first plane. And so began five years of methadone. [...] In May 2005, I therefore looked for solutions to stop using plants [...] after reading two books on the subject, I ended up arriving in Libreville at Tatayo's place at the end of October 2005. When I arrived in Libreville I was consuming 180 milligrams of methadone hydrochloride in syrup form in a single daily dose in the morning before breakfast. Tatayo asked me to stop this intake in view of the preparation for the initiation to the Bwete. He gave me doses of Wood as a substitute. [...] I suffered a great deal, both physically and mentally. Looking back, it was a good suffering in the sense that it was full of teaching, like an initiatory ordeal. [...] I've changed profoundly since my encounter with the spirit of Iboga. I wish to return quickly to Sablière to make the Eboga journey in a body free of toxins. 30 September 2006

about the bouti, lived experience, successful experience To the future brothers and sisters in the Mamisoba, I wish you to know the joy of approaching the ancestral culture of the bwiti, whose function is to free, emancipate and heal many addictions. I no longer drink and no longer smoke since the cord-cutting vigil, and now I steer my life 100 per cent with my heart. For me that is the real benefit of the initiation: to be able at last to walk a path while being totally in agreement with myself. The iboga carries out a work of purification, and the banzi whose life has been tied to a certain addiction will have to make an effort, but there are nganga men and women who will be there to sing for his healing and also the blessing of eboka. To regard the initiation as the death of what was making us unhappy and the rebirth with the aim of accomplishing what calls us in the deepest part of ourselves. That is what some call a path that has heart. To trust in the strength of the tradition is very important, as is the trust one discovers within oneself. 8 September 2006

My dear M, I'm going to answer you frankly and methodically: 1°) Yes, it is difficult to come back to what I'd rather call Western reverie (Tatayo, who likes to play with words, says "wrecked-ern" [accidentée]). 2°) The advice I give you is this: one should only go towards Iboga if one feels the call; if one doesn't feel the call or if, once there, the Spirit says "no" through clear signs, one must know how to give up. The initiatory ordeal is so gruelling that one cannot reasonably advise it to anyone, only the Spirit is in a position to know who is fit to undergo the law of Iboga. Moreover I'd say that one must be ready to die for the Truth or else one might as well go get stuffed and carry on living in mediocrity. 3°) Aspects of my experience? You are afraid and that's a good thing, it's part of the price to pay and the price to pay is also financial, the complete initiation with the "protections" costs 2500€ and you need to be able to devote two to three weeks to live the whole thing in good conditions. With the price of the ticket from Paris you therefore have to reckon on an expense of about 3500€. You have to know how to pay dearly and on every level to benefit as powerfully as possible from the initiation. Getting initiated to Iboga is no small affair and in particular with Tatayo who is an excellent servant of the Wood because he gives it TOTALLY. There you are Marc, that's what comes to my mind and my heart at the moment of writing to you. You'll notice that I'm being neither tender nor reassuring but that comes from what the Wood gave me during my initiation; the Wood now needs strong men and women, refined beings, more intelligent than average and who will know, at the end of their encounter with Iboga, how to transmit a new fire to the humanity they rub shoulders with. Your experience with Ayahuasca interests me, can you describe to me the initiatory ritual? Good luck in life! Nyundou Na Mikanzo

I come back to Western life with disgust, but I'm very happy to be reunited with my little family. I'm giving you my impressions as they rise up in me. This encounter with Iboga is, for me, a close encounter of the third kind. I had always considered plants to be living beings, but of a consciousness radically inferior to that of man, a vegetative consciousness. Today I know it is quite otherwise: plant consciousness is at least equal to that of man. Iboga showed me that, Iboga made me feel that. Now I have the sense that if this was given to me, it wasn't just to amaze me, but so that something useful would be made of it, useful to life and therefore to man as well as to nature. From now on I feel two desires that I believe I inherit from the initiation: the first is to keep experiencing Iboga within me, the second is to transmit, after deepening it and testing it consciously for long enough, the knowledge of the power of plant consciousness to men of power, in order to help them correct man's harmful action on nature. To do this I need precise guidance so I can keep travelling with Iboga, and in particular I need you to give me more info about the waking-dream techniques you told me about. What Iboga gave me is the idea that a new being was waiting to be born, a homo sapiens strong with hominid consciousness AND plant consciousness. A new being, a mutant: perhaps that's what Man is..? I'm waiting for your reply! Ciao Nyundu

Just a quick word so you'll pass on my thanks and my friendship to all your little Nganga. You see I've already replied to the emails you sent me and that I'm trying to serve the Wood by giving honest advice to those who ask for it. I've been asked a lot of questions by my friends here and there are already candidates, even though I clearly described the sufferings I endured. I'll tell you more as each one's process unfolds. We are together! Mukukumamisoba

my dear guy, (person asking for information) Here is the most useful information I can give you: 1°) Going towards Iboga can only be a personal step. You must feel the call of Iboga within you; if you don't feel that call, if you go because it's the fashion, you must not go. 2°) Iboga is the new world, you cannot go towards the new world by asking the old world for advice. Leave your mother and any other person in your family out of this. 3°) If, in the end, it decides within you to go towards Iboga, Hugues and his guard are faithful and reliable servants of the Sacred Wood; you can trust them TOTALLY. One last point: Iboga doesn't need us, it's we who need it. Good luck in life! Nyundou Na Mikanzo

After 22 days of traditional treatments in Gabon (against alcohol and tobacco): hi tatayo. I got back to Réunion safely and was able to handle my first confrontation with a whole bunch of South African and Réunionese friends during a party they drank dry until they couldn't take any more. I wasn't expecting it to be so hard not to drink in that festive context, and also here the simple fact that friends have a drink and buy a nice cold beer on the road at a petrol station, that's a guaranteed test. With time it'll pass. I feel good, like someone who's got their sense of smell back. Right, ciao.

February 2006 Hi Hugues, I'm doing well! I didn't understand any of what I went through, but ever since I came out of my state of complete exhaustion and stupor, things are good! I feel rid of a lump I had at the level of the solar plexus. I breathe better, my chest is clear and I have the sensation of having more freedom in my movements. Why? How? Well there it's a total mystery. But the fact is that now I feel good. Aline Anonymous but, like all the other anonymous ones, reachable on request at: ibogabon@yahoo.fr (--more later) March 2006 I remember having experienced at one given moment an absolutely dazzling joy that ran right through me, a joy linked to the feeling of discovering the invisible. I had the sensation of perceiving things that had their own energy, of seeing crackling energies. It's all a bit blurry. Jodorowsky appears at that moment in the form of a presence, of a floating consciousness, of a spirit in a way. He is there as a master of magic, a high-flying magician, to signify to me (with a smile and a knowing look) that I have acquired the knowledge, the learning that is indispensable to a practice of magic, I who am at that moment a magician's apprentice. He gives me his approval in a way regarding my "practice"... and his recognition fills me with happiness. Kisses to you ....still Aline.... reachable through Ebando…

As for my truthful testimony I had come to the Bwiti initiation as a last resort. For years, I had been struggling with a sort of octopus that I had on my heart, which took away my desire to live and which no therapy had managed to dislodge or even tame. During the initiation, I felt a strong inner charge leave all at once, and I then heard these words within me: "It's over". That was several months ago. Not everything in my life is sorted out, of course, but I no longer wake up with that despair and that desire to die which had become familiar to me for a very long time. Even if my life is apparently the same as before, it's an entirely different thing to live now; it has another taste, another lighting, another climate; more joy, beauty, confidence. It will no doubt take me several more months to take the full measure of everything this initiation has changed. To be continued…

So here is my testimony: Initiation into iboga is an inner experience of extreme power. If you feel ready, you'll need to go to Gabon and adapt to a different culture and to the Ngangas... Tatayo is the ideal person to allow Westerners to live through this transition as well as possible. With him, you'll be able to have an honest and frank exchange. He is the intermediary between you and the Bwiti, and the guarantor that everything will happen in your best interests. You'll be able to lean on him with confidence and that's crucial in the context of such an adventure. Bokayé ! PharI.

Of how iboga and the Bwiti can turn a life upside down, and they turned mine upside down Of how I came to know that I was a pygmy myself during a first initiation into the Bwiti, which at first I believed had not quite reached completion but whose magnitude I grasped later, among the pygmies of the small village of Tchibanga in the Gabonese bush; of the warm welcome and the kindness of Tatayo and the childlike gaze of the sage N'Zingu, my two fathers of initiation (the second one); of how this MaMisoba initiation and its spiritual power, which passed through my body (and that is what African spirituality is), "authorised" me to live "with my head in the stars but my feet on the ground"; of all my brothers and sisters of the Bwiti and even of Dintzona, my wife in the Bwiti, with whom I lived some of the most beautiful moments of my life; not forgetting Katy, mother of Arthur, Noé and Claire, Tatayo's adorable children, and who practises the difficult and often thankless art of combining the carrying of her family with the opening of her living space at the Sablière to the many passers-by; of all of this I am not going to speak now in what is meant to be a short testimony about my initiation and a tribute to Ebando. I just want to share an experience that is one of the most precious to me among all those I have lived in the Sacred Forest, and a very meaningful one. It goes back to the month of October 2005, when I returned to Gabon after my first journey the previous summer, the summer of my initiation, to give a piano recital to raise funds for Ebando (1). I was lying in a hammock in the guardroom of the Sablière, I had taken Wood, which had henceforth become medicine and spiritual nourishment for life. I was listening to the sound of the African sea, without seeing it, and my whole being resonated with the oceanic immensity and melted into it in the same infinitude, which was of a very pale blue colour, almost like white light. A few days later, back in Paris, I was working on the first bars of Mozart's last Concerto for piano and orchestra, music that I feel as already belonging a little to the beyond. I was trying to find the atmosphere that best suited this opening in its mobile stillness, and that moment filled with "oceanic feeling" (an expression that Manuel, my biological father, gave me later) lived at the Sablière, where I had heard the horizon, gave me the key to my interpretation. It was then that the oceanic immensity and Mozart's music met in the same place in my thought. It was then that I lived the certainty that the music, the music that is sound and that is light, of Mozart is the music of the Universe. Efrem Garcia i Salinas Mabondo ManZambia Pungu Barcelona, 21 December 2005

"The return to LIFE" by Jean-Michel: "The magic wand doesn't exist", people would tell me. The Bwiti initiation proved me the opposite! For years I had been on a spiritual quest to ease my moral and physical suffering, whose origin I couldn't identify. I could no longer see anything but suicide as a solution to my suffering. My first experience with IBOGA was during a "cure" in France; it allowed me to get in touch with a reality, invisible in a "normal" state of consciousness, absolutely wonderful and of an unsuspected beauty. Yet I was not freed, but I knew that this was the road to follow. A year after the cure, I found myself in Gabon, in the bush, among the Pygmies, to get initiated. There again, the work did not come to fruition. The initiators must be well chosen because not all of them know how Westerners work, very much in their heads, with very great difficulties in letting go. The dose of IBOGA administered was very clearly insufficient, and the communication difficulties didn't help. Not losing heart, I got in touch with Tatayo, whose contact details I had taken from the book by Mation Laval-Jeantet: "Paroles d'un enfant du Bwiti". There, I discovered a man of heart, generous, who refuses the power games into which many initiators have fallen. He has chosen to take only the positive, setting aside most of the stories of taboos, of devils, which are merely power games meant to keep people in check. Drawing from my experience, if I had any advice to give for a successful initiation, I would say that IBOGA gives everything you ask of it, provided you are clear about what you have come to seek. - Have a precise objective, don't let yourself be led astray by the multiple offerings that IBOGA can make. To reach the light, you have to accept looking at the black and staying plunged in it, because it's at the end of this black that I myself was freed from all my chains. - Don't form an idea in advance of what you "must" see, hear, experience during the initiation. - The music that accompanies the "traveller" is very important; you have to let yourself be carried by it, because it's the music that takes us away; IBOGA allows letting go provided the mind accepts it. - There are three ways to experience the experience: 1st: in the 3rd person: the person lives the experience as a spectator but does not get involved. 2nd: in the 1st person: the person is an actor in the experience, but may, perhaps, lack discernment. 3rd: in the 2nd person: you are both actor and spectator, you can "master", choose the work you are doing in full consciousness. The first experiences with IBOGA were only in the light, and yet the work did not come to fruition. It was then that I understood that I first had to free my body; that's how I entered the black, but consciously, and each time IBOGA offered me a way out towards the light, I refused it because I knew I had to go to the end of the darkness to free myself. The Bwiti initiation is not phantasmagorical tourism, but a work of consciousness requiring a certain dose of courage, determination and humility.

Yo Bwekaye! I wrote a piece about my experiences in Gabon and I wanted to share it with you. I don't have plans to publish it at this time (mostly, I wrote it as a way to help integrate my experience and share it with close friends) but it may get out there in a larger way, at some point and I wanted to share it with you, first. As always, I am happy to give you a glowing recommendation on any website and to anybody who may be interested in sitting in ceremony with you! Sending you much love! Dibadi

"dear Tatayo, I am safely home in Madrid feeling wonderful. Thank you for hosting me at your magical residence. This was a lifetime experience which I will remember and cherish. I am full of energy to change things in my life that don't work. I also feel lots of inner strength. Thank you for creating this loving space for us where we can grow. Hugs, Épando Pando"

There is a beautiful story about a caterpillar that lived much of its life believing that it had come into being only to eat and sleep and do what the rest of the caterpillars did. However it was unhappy. Somehow it sensed that its life had another dimension not yet experienced. One day, driven by a strange longing, it decided to become still and silent. It hung from the branch of a tree, weaving a cocoon around itself. Inside the cocoon, although constrained and uncomfortable, it waited, sensing and aware. Its patience bore fruit, for when the cocoon burst open, it was no longer the lowly worm that went in, but a beautiful, resplendent, winged butterfly which dazzled the sky. It soared and flew, no longer limited to its worm-like existence, but free and unbounded. The caterpillar had been transformed into a thing of air and lightness, magic and beauty. Once the transformation had taken place, it was impossible for the butterfly to return to being a worm. In the cocoon, the caterpillar had become one with its inner being and in this union it reached its ultimate nature. What happened in the cocoon can be described as yoga. Yoga is the path towards being boundless.

I am very happy that I have my connection to Ebando, and to you Yo. Many people, when they meet you think you are crazy. I have met many Bwitists in Europe and Gabon over these last eight years, and I can assure you, you are the least crazy of them all !! One LOVE.

Name : M Prénom : KOMBO : Mouloungui DIA NONGONOKO 37 ans - PAYS (Résidence) Country: G Profession/occupation : Musician Date initiation date : MARCH 2013 1-WHAT WERE YOUR MOTIVATIONS & AIMS ? I wanted too see behind the curtain, to widen my interpretation of the truth. I wanted to encounter or find my way to love and truth which is god. I wanted to develope, to disolve ego and psycho complexes. I wanted to learn and get to know to the bwiti culture with all the culture like music and dance. 2 - Considérez vous avoir atteint ces objectifs ? Si "oui" combien de temps après votre initiation ? Si "non" pour quelles raisons d'après vous ? Do you consider you did succeed ? IF YES, how many time after ? If NOT ...WHY ? I guess I did succeed, though not in a way as I had expected. As I had a rather difficult process, it took me quiet a while to transcend all my complexes. But after a week it felt that insted of fear and insecurity there was peace and acceptence. It´s hard to tell if it was due to the iboga or because of meeting all these beautiful people that i experienced so much joy and love. It felt like beeing at mothers breast as we banzies were treated with so much love and goodwill. 3 - Quels changements concrets pouvez vous lister dans votre comportement, votre vie...? WHAT CONCRETE CHANGES IN your BEHAVIOUR ? The permanent unrest and slight tense and depressed feeling which had remained with me every moment since my childhood has almost vanished and at times is not noticeable anymore. I expect it to return every moment since, because it is hard to believe that it really has permanently vanished, but until now I definately feel a change to more easiness. During my first studio gig as a piano player after the iniciation I noticed that my minority complex and shyness has gotten less intense, that i dont blame myself no longer for played mistakes, that I dont get tense just because I dont play a perfect take, that I play more inspired. I also feel a connection to god, a feeling like beeing loved and kept safe and taken care of. (But this might be because I fell in love recently). I also need less sleep while on the other hand I manage easier to fall asleep, as I had a sleeping problem before I came. I dont feel for watching TV or any stupid distractions of the reality like entertainment, that means I enjoy facing the reality, I enjoy living my life. The changes might not be lasting - it is now just 2 or 3 weeks after the initiation - but at least for now it does feel a bit like being reborn. IF NO CHANGE or WORSE , develop please .... 4 - why did you choose EBANDO ? I just followed the other Banzi but all Testemonies hinted that Ebando would be a good option. Contacting Tatayo was good, as he straight away could liberate me from doubts with his natural behavior and style before I decided to go. For me as a musician it was interesting that other musicians like Mambwité would live there. As soon as I arrived I realised that it was the best place to be: so much good will from everyone, not only one but many ngangas. A very natural attitude, no hiding of anything. No bullshit with money. The certainly expensive costs were worth every penny as we got the best preparation, an almost luxurios treatment, and beautiful extras like trips to other places to get a glimpse. The entire stay could not be weighten up/measured up with gold. Also the attitude towards the bwiti seems right over there. There is a deep respect for the tradition, and the people at Ebando really seem to mean it, they really seem to live the bwiti. I couldn't see anything else then developement of compassion, respect of the holy spirit, beauty, peace and love. I could not imagine a better place to gain trust towards the bwiti and gather courage to go for an initiation like that. Particulary for a white greenhorn it is an easy entry. 5 - Would you RECOMMEND Bwitinitiation or Ebando to a beloved person ? definately! I already recommended it to all my friends, and I will keep on trying to persuade others. No easy job, as most people in Europe have so many fears towards taking unknown drugs, going to unknown countries, doing anything unknown. But I hope I can convince some people in the long run. I will succeed if my changed state of conciousness remains like that. Together with my first Vipassana Meditation course the Bwiti initiation for sure is the strongest experience with deepest impact on me I ever experienced. Although I am not sure if it was the initiation itself or the whole package first of all meeting all these wonderful people in Gabon, I can say that together with the Vipassana practice, the visit of Ebando/Gabon is the best thing that ever happened to me even though I had some rather unpleasant moments with myself during the process ... (...) If NOT...WHY ? 6 - WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE or DEVELOP in EBANDO ? no need for changes over there. it's already a paradise. Certainly it would be great if every member of Ebando would get a descent income, and it would be nice if the future of Ebando would be secured. There should be a funding raised for it or something. 7 - Would you be ready to help EBANDO ? if YES ...HOW ? definately if I could. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for Ebando. Right now I would be willing to move there and help/work if there would be any need. Moneywise I am quiet miserable these days but I know of course that any donnation would be best for Ebando. Maybe I could translate the website into G.... I could advertise at G... healing schools or institutes with drugaddiction treatment programs if that helps. I really would love to help in any way. I might write a testemony later, if you are interested. I am really grateful for all that you guys have done for us.

YO! Woke up just before sunrise today, feeling super-fantastic after some "rewiring" dreams. my "personality", or whatever they call it, seems to be very different from what it had been before communing with dr. Iboga. i cannot say exactly how, though, but people notice and say i'm a different man... who knows! i still have not remembered anything from my 5-6-day astral Bwiti adventure except a few indefinite dreamlike episodes and some flashes of what i may describe as "experiencing" the Universal Spirit. actually, i'm quite contented with this. these days my perception of time-space is sooo distorted that i don't think i'll ever remember anything - or even if i do, it will happen as an experience in the current moment, so i won't be able to classify it as a "remembrance"... a crazy empty-headed pygmy floating in the Unknown.. feels great! :) please convey this good feeling to the gang of Ebando - Pemba, Muruba, Mavyango, Etudia, Mbilu, Konzo, Ngando, and whoever doesn't cross my mind right now but is also involved. when you speak to papa Andre, please tell him he's in my heart. (do i have to mention there's an especially alloted space for you there, too?) PEACE ~i~

To Everyone! Thank you so much for everything. You have given me the greatest gift one anyone could ever wish for. I am so happy and very grateful. Words cannot describe my gratitude for all your kindness and love. Everyone has put so much effort into the process and I am overwhelmed how amazing and perfect my initiation was. From the moment I picked up the phone and spoke with Tatayo and during the whole of my time with you until the end I felt relaxed, confident and positive everything was going to be fine. I am happy to tell you everything I have experienced and been through is more than fine. It was fantastic in every way. I am more than good and full of love. I feel awesome! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!! What more can I say?

45 DAYS AFTER initiation in GABON .... Hey, just quick note to say hi thanks and i hope all is well in ebando I have been good since my return,i am still a little unsure about how the initiation has effected me yet but so far things seem to be working out for me. I found it frustrating that being unable to speak more than a few words of french i couldnt communicate properly with most of the people whom i wanted to talk to.I want to send my deepest gratitude and thanks to you and all in bwiti/ebando brothers and sisters. If i can do anything at all to help in any way pl just ask Im thinking of returning someday if thats ok with you? Give Apindia a ....kiss from me pl Much love and respect The Birmingham cockney. I believe the Technical term is 'mockney' x.

Bazi! How is everything? I hope that the holidays have been good and that the new year has started out well. I posted a report of my experiences with you at some forums: http://eboka.info/index.php?topic=674.0 I hope that I have inspired at least someone to visit you and that the information I've given there is accurate. Both of these forums are great and they could really need the knowledge from someone like you, maybe you could join them if you like. Lots of love

My Bwitiful Crazy FatherBrother, Bwakaye! All is very good here in the English jungle. No, all is better than good, all is amazing! Can I ask that you send my love and thanks to everyone that I didn't say goodbye to, to pemba, mutoba, bongema, maviango, mugoba, menge, - the list goes on, please just send my love to all, and plenty for yourself as well. .................................................. I am doing, and will continue to hold the light that I received at Ebando with the best efforts of my heart. It seems that light must be shining as when I got home there were three new people writing to me to ask about Bwiti. I think there may be a few English pygmies coming to see you in the near future. The Bwiti fire that has been burning gently in my belly these last years is now a large beautiful fire that is burning bright and I am already thinking of how I may be able to return next year. I think it is a real possibility that I may be able to organise a trip and accompany a few banzi's out there, already I have a bwiti sister here who has said that if I can organise something she will come. Lets see, its a very nice idea! Also, the idea of planting the Wood seems to taking shape, I need to speak to a couple more people about it but there is a possibility of planting in a large tropical greenhouse here in a couple of years time and also a possibility of planting in Portugal and Spain - I will be in touch as soon as I have more news on this. I spoke to Kombe (C....) yesterday, she is in a very good place. She sent me a card, and I quote from it here "things are different and its all good. everything is working out perfectly and I no longer posses lots of silly/bad habits I had before my initiation. I cant describe how beautiful I feel and am overwhelmed with honor and gratitude for everything. Everything is bwitiful and now I am free like a bwitifly. I am such a lucky girl" - an Iboga success story I think. How is my little sister E…..? Please send her my love and tell her to get in touch when she returns to London, I will try and look out for her. Maybe also you could send me the email for s…- maybe I can ask him to bring a few little presents out for you all. And if you have contacts for any other pygmies in the UK it would be nice to try and strengthen and build the family here. I feel I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask you, but its late and I want to go and get into bed with my wife, so I will write again very soon. much p.-m love

YOYOYO TATA, I have been meaning to speak with you, but for some reason, my phone will not connect anymore to Gabon after many attempts. I am sorry for my silence and lack of response with work, I have been going through a "dark night of the soul" as they say. I feel that although I learned much in Gabon, and that my life has changed, I feel that I wasted my opportunity to truly learn and get answers from my initiation. I feel that I put shame on myself and others by not following the simple rules that were given to me, and therefor was not ready to receive the lessons I came for. I can say maybe it was fate, maybe it was me making a bad decision, but either way I must say that I came to Gabon to have a vision of the self... to understand my purpose here on earth and how I could best serve the world with that purpose. Maybe I had too many expectations as to what would happen from initiation, but like I said I think that I ruined what might have been there by not following the rules that you and Pemba gave me. I don't think I was truly prepared and focused, but I am very happy that I came for initiation in Gabon. I know for sure that I am not happy in Babylon, and that I wish to have a life full of happiness and higher purpose. I do not find great pleasure in the things most people my age do: alcohol, drugs, and sex mostly. I know from being in Gabon and living there for a short time the type of lifestyle I would like: simple and clean and full of LOVE! ! ! I still remember strongly the night of my initiation ... If I had understood what I do now, I would have tried to keep going, but that is for the future... Trying to figure out how to make a living, be happy, and most importantly, have freedom in my life right now. I can only imagine right now if you are reading this you are no doubt bored, haha. Don't worry I won't ask you any silly questions, just wanted to share my experiences. I promise I am not forgetting you!! sorry everything is taking me so long! <LOVE> Demania

Here is my witnesses evidence for the ebando website! I have a newfound peace and joy in my life now!...and I owe this to Tatayo, Papa Andre, and all the bwitiful people that are part of their family at the ebando village. Before I came to Gabon and ate the Holy wood, I had many doubts in my life, much anger and confusion, and little love. With the help of these loving people (the happiest people I have ever been around), I feel that I know how to live now! I love Bwiti, and I know that I will be back in Gabon at some point in the future. It is a beautiful place with beautiful people...Thank you so much!! LOVE Okukue Na Aniepa

Hello A, my Name is Eoghain "eoghain o horgain" , or reborn by Iboga initiation:: Opunga mi ebene in Gabon last year with Tayato, the best deals are from Europe holland via morocco or just bite the bullet fly air France paris-libreville, I would say to you to fly air France because I took the cheapest flight possible and it ended up costing me 1200 euros because went i went to leave gabon there was NO FLIGHT for me, if you decide to go to Tayato´s village about 2000 for a month is good because Gabon is really expensive Tayato includes everything in the price, and is one of the best people i have met in my life, the care and attention he gives everyone is really special, if you need any other nitty gritty details about the initiation please ask me, my initiation was last october and it still huants me !!! But i wouldn´t change anything.. Kindest regards Opunga

OCTOBRE... AUTRICHIEN became PYGMEE ! "hey tatayo, iboga is still working and my life is just perfect! a lot of peple are interrested in it and im recumending you highly! thinking of it from a distance more and more i see what a great job u do, your work is professionell! your a good guy, i will come back some day to take more iboga with you...but right now i still get cold shivers when i think of eating only one spoonfull....love peace and happyness! Lukas

Dear All, I wanted to share this piece of intimate knowledge with the Bwiti community. I hope it will be of value to all those who have difficulty adjusting to the real world after the Grand Experience. It is derived from a book by Dan Millman entitled 'Sacred journey of the peaceful warrior'. Everything between brackets [...] are parts left out, or my own insert. "Certain mystical techniques and substances have been known for centuries to provide glimpses of the upper floors [heart chakra and above]. These are best treated as sacred, rather than recreational, activities; they can be useful as "previews of coming attractions" . Many well-intentioned, lonely, bored, or desperate people generate spiritual experiences through a variety of techniques. [...] But then what? What have they got? They return to their normal states more depressed than ever. Spirit is always here, always with us, around us, inside us. But there are no shortcuts to this realization. Mystical practices generate heightened awareness, but if experiences aren't grounded in a responsible life in THIS dimension, they lead nowhere. [...] You meet the Higher Self [...] by becoming the Higher Self. This process cannot be forced, it happens of its own accord. Daily life is our training ground. [...] Spirit gives you everything you need, here and now. You evolve not by seeking to go elsewhere, but by paying attention to, and embracing, what's right in front of you." Peace, Jan

FROM DIMITRI - MOBENGO: TWIN thought you might want to hear these radio shows one about my work with ibogaine heard by over one and a havef million …the other about my music love MOBENGO This American Life piece on my work with Ibogaine sared plants http://ibogaine.mindvox.com/Media/AV/SinkOrSwim-Ibogaine.mp3

TWIN Young girl Nicky is doing great ...no need for drugs first time since she was 12 ...she says she know that God loves her and she and everyone is worth love...tears cloud my eyes ....God is Good Bwiti is true......love to all love to you Mobengo Answer : YOYOYOYOYO !!!!!!!!!

I would like to do an iboga initiation-healing with bwiti professionals at the start of 2006, could you tell me the steps to follow? Hello, Call me, I'll give you some info. In any case you've knocked on the right door by writing to Hugues Obiang Poitevin (Tatayo) His commitment and his professional honesty make him an immense Gabonese traditional practitioner, certainly the only Westerner to master the spiritual and ethnic complexity of this fabulous country. yours sincerely, Mukuku

Yes, thanks to Tatayo, who went through it with me… Without his support I would not have finished! I'm so glad I did, life is great and things that used to be problems now are very easy to deal with! Love to all of YOU ! Ongongo

Hello Guy, Forgive me for not having replied sooner... Iboga, it is God who placed it on earth; what men make of it is the responsibility of men. But Iboga itself opens the doors of the sacred. As for Tatayo, you will find it hard to find anyone more honest in Gabon, a land of gatherers and hunters. Tatayo himself has a Christ-like dimension through his original belonging to the Fang Bwiti, which is of an eclectic Christian type. He manifests Christ through his profound humility and his keen sense of sharing, since he supports, to his own detriment, a community of young people who would most probably have ended up in the dark depths of Libreville. A tree is known by its fruit. Those fruits are these young people who surround him and who are probably the only ones from their background that I have ever come to know who do not steal, do not lie (except as a joke) and are able to convey to the patient a feeling of confidence and joy in living. Tatayo says that Iboga is the body of Christ… I do not know, who am I to affirm that… What I can say is that, like Christ for those who have truly known him, it saves. Like Christ, it is Love, and like Christ, it is a door, a way. A door opened directly onto the knowledge of oneself and of the world. I do believe that this is where Christ invites us: to explore, to seek and to find, free from all authority. I was an adherent of a kind of fundamentalist Christianity which turned out to be a prison. A Christian I remain, but I would rather say a Christ-follower, one who follows Christ on the way of birth from above. A true initiation makes you born again through the Spirit. I do not think one can live this experience otherwise than through a genuine initiation, something which is unfortunately no longer practised in our Churches today but which was in the time of Christ. Remember the word of Jesus: John, chapter 3 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him: "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a Teacher: no one can do the signs that you do, unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, no one can see the Kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him: "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, no one can enter the Kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you: You must be born from above. 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus answered him: "How can this be?" 10 Jesus answered him: "You are a Teacher in Israel, and yet you do not grasp these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If you do not believe when I tell you earthly things, how will you believe when I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of man. 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 15 so that whoever believes may have through him eternal life. This birth from above is something lived; like a birth, one becomes a baby again who has everything to learn. It is an experience that cannot be reduced to the mere fact of being sprinkled with water. We are actors in this birth, we bring ourselves into the world with the help of the Spirit. This is what is called being a Son of man… I will tell you honestly what I think: the Church as an organised Religion has seized hold of the truth in order to make of it an object of belief, whereas Christ invited us to experience. By keeping us in ignorance, it made itself a political and manipulative power and for a long time ruled the world. Remember that the enslavement of black people was sanctified by this same Church during the trial of Valladolid in 1550. This same Church condemned all our ancestral practices without discrimination, branding them as Satanism. Once again, a tree is known by its fruit; I leave it to you to judge… The pygmies knew Christ before the arrival of the white men. Iboga and initiation are one of the means offered to the world today to recover what was deliberately lost. That said, there are other ways and methods, which are open to those who are ready. Other traditions have preserved what had been given in the beginning, but the authentic is becoming ever rarer and hides in the Eden that is the forests of Central Africa. Of course the Tree of life is surrounded by the dangers that drive away the one who does not truly want it…. 6 September 2006 fanicolo@hotmail.com