Iboga - African Spiritual Entheogen

Have you ever heard of Bwiti? Bwiti is one of the official religions of Gabon and practiced in western equatorial Africa. It is a Catholic sect. It incorporates animism, and ancestor worship, and Christian dogma into a syncretistic belief system. One of the major components of the Bwiti religion is the use of a psychedelic, dissociative root bark from the plant Tabernanthe Iboga. The Bwiti believe the use of Iboga promotes rapid spiritual growth, stabilizes community and family structure, and also use it for healing.

According to Bwitist genesis the root was discovered by the Pygmy tribes deep in the jungle and then shared with the with the neighboring people. It is quickly gaining followers in Gabon's struggle to create a post colonial identity. Bwitists do consider themselves Christians, even more so then traditional Catholics. Nengue Me Ndjoung Isidore, former supreme court Magistrate of Liberville, says this of the religion:

The Catholic church is a beautiful theory for Sunday, the iboga on the contrary is the practice of everyday living. In church, they speak of God, with iboga, you live God

So what is this godly plant exactly, and how does it work? Iboga is a jungle shrub that produces an orange fruit in pairs. Its roots contain Ibogaine which is a strong hallucinogenic that is also found in the plants V. Africana, and T. Undulata.

Ibogaine was first sold to the western world in France, beginning in the 1930s in 8mg tablets advertised as a mental and physical stimulant. It was semi popular among post WWII atheletes but eventually was taken off the market when the sale of Ibogaine was made illegal in 1966. Ibogaine was classified as a Schedule I drug by the FDA in the late 60s.

The chemical has since been proven to fight addiction well, and has been very successful in Heroin treatment. It boasts an 80% success rate, but research is slow due to the controlled nature of this substance.

Traditional use: In Bwiti religious ceremonies, the root bark is pulverized and swallowed in large amounts to produce intense psychoactive effects. In Africa, iboga root bark is sometimes chewed, releasing small amounts of ibogaine to produce a stimulant effect. Ibogaine is also available in a total alkaloid extract of the Tabernanthe iboga plant, which also contains all the other iboga alkaloids and thus has only about half the potency by weight as standardized ibogaine hydrochloride

Modern use: Currently, pure crystalline ibogaine hydrochloride is the most standardized formulation. It is typically produced by semi-synthesis from voacangine in commercial laboratories. Ibogaine has two separate chiral centers, meaning that there are four different stereoisomers of ibogaine. These four isomers are difficult to resolve.

Synthetic: A synthetic derivative of ibogaine, 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), is a selective α3β4 antagonist that was developed collaboratively by the neurologist Stanley D. Glick (Albany) and the chemist Martin E. Kuehne (Vermont).^[43] This discovery was stimulated by earlier studies on other naturally occurring analogues of ibogaine such as coronaridine and voacangine that showed these compounds also have anti-addictive properties.^[44][45]

Iboga trips have two main phases. First is the visionary phase which has been described as Oneirogenic. This means it is dissociative and dream-like. It is a totally immersive psychedelic experience similar to Ayahuasca and DMT.

The second phase is the introspective phase, and is responsible for many of the therapeutic uses of the substance. It is during the introspective phase that users are able to conquer their fears and fight addictions. The combined effect of the two phases leads people to analyze their memories, life experiences and issues of trauma to help better over come them.

From the Erowid experience vault:

After my first dose I began to hear a buzzing/ringing noise in my ear. It would get louder and louder and eventually the buzz would get very high pitched. The treatment center is on the ocean so the waves crashing started to sound very very different. I can't explain the sound. 

Then I closed my eyes and I was able to see as if my eyes were open. Eyes open or closed, what I saw was the same. Next, I saw my own face. It would come towards me and pass by. I saw weird shapes, and was even looking at a little round spaceship that was in a maze. I was able to completely control which way it moved. The coolest thing I noticed was that every hallucination I had, I had complete control over it. If I wanted to see a specific person, I can just think of them and they would appear. 

The way I felt was not good. I had a horrible stomachache, my legs were restless, and I couldn't sleep. Another patient who was doing the treatment at the same time as me had no stomach problems, so that must mean that everybody just reacts differently to it. It must have been from not having had food for so long. I couldn't stop moving around and if I was under blankets I was too hot, and without them I was freezing cold. Eventually I forced myself to stay still for about 20 minutes, feeling pain everywhere, and I realized I was drenched in sweat. I took off my shirt and blankets till I dried off. 

I moved over to the next bed, which was dry. I would constantly call the nurse complaining about my stomach problems and eventually they gave me a cocktail of drugs to ease it. It helped a bit. I couldn't tell if I ever slept, if I did they were short little naps. I remember I wanted to watch tv on my laptop or iphone so I closed my eyes and there it was, I was watching tv on my laptop. I noticed that the better my memory of something, the more vivid and real it was. I watch tv on my laptop a lot so I was clearly able to see it. 

The trip was intense. Eventually I went into extremely deep thinking and realized how peaceful human beings must have been when we first came to be, requiring no money, job, war, and all other problems we've created for ourselves over time because we want more and more. Compare the beginning of humans when we needed no money to live, people simply enjoyed earth. Today, we have poverty, war, need to work our asses off, deal with stresses, have to fit in and be accepted, and realized then that over time things are just getting worse and worse. Then I realized our own greed and need for more will eventually be the end of us. We literally have nuclear weapons, ready to destroy the world, which is unnecessary. We are way more self-conscious and insecure than we used to be, and it made me feel like we are pathetic. 

I remember being in space and being able to travel to other planets, and also to earth, but in the beginning of time. I also saw my youth, and realized how long I've been alive, and how much longer I have to live. I realized how long an hour really is if you think about it, and how much longer a day is than an hour, and a year than a day, and so on. I began to question how the FUCK we can stay happy for our whole lifespan under these conditions, and why god would make our lives so long. Then I realized that god solved the problem by giving us the gift of happiness. He has the power to change the amount of happiness we receive from any given situation, and he has gifted us by being able to attain happiness from simple things like eating food, being with friends, and so on. 

I feel like the trip is essential to keeping me clean. As I write this its been 3 days after ibogaine and I feel no desire to use at all. While I tripped, I would realize exactly why I started using, and I would prove to myself, logically why to never do it again. I would realize what I've lost in my life from using. For me, I realized that using drugs depleted me of the gift that god gave me - to attain happiness from a certain situation. For example - I have a view of the ocean from the balcony in my room. Its literally on the beach. When I first arrived, I looked out at it, and said to myself 'oh, an ocean.' I just recognized that it was there, but felt no emotion from it. Others would look out and say 'oh how beautiful it is!.' 

The trip ended the next day around 12pm when I fell asleep until 6pm. I woke up still feeling the physical effects but not tripping. I lay there for hours and eventually was given sleeping meds. 

Ibogaine is a schedule I drug. I do not recomend anyone to bring this drug into the U.S. Consumption and possession of this drug are legal in Mexico and much of Africa.