About Iboga

            To begin to comprehend something incomprehensible, one doesn’t try to look directly at it, but rather zooms out to allow the field of whatever is being observed to open and an impression to emerge.  Iboga is one of these quandaries, and so to begin to paint a picture of it we can imagine the Planet Earth, continents dividing from one mass to open up to the world as we know it now, puzzle piece petals of continents with the Atlantic Ocean at the center.   Tracing the horizontal midline of the equator we find the two largest Rainforests on Earth, the Amazon Basin in South America to the left, and the Congolese Basin in the heart of Central Africa to the right, two pieces of the same whole drawn apart from one another.  Both of these rainforests are vital to the health of life on this planet, just as both of these rainforests are themselves prolific pharmacies. 

            If we look to the Amazon Basin on the left, the most holistically powerful medicine we find there is Ayahuasca, which is ingested as a tea made up of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis bush leaves.  If we look to the Congolese Basin on the right the most holistically powerful medicine we find there is Iboga or Tabernathe iboga, a shrub whose root bark is powdered and ingested.  The quintessence of either of these plant medicines on the left is Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and on the right Ibogaine, the worlds two most powerful entheogenic alkaloids.  There is a Yin/Yang or Lunar/Solar polarity that is embodied in these two master plants on the left and right sides of the world.   Whereas Ayahuasca has a more feminine quality to its way of doctoring, Iboga is more masculine. The first has a tendency to be indirect and circumspect, phantasmagorical and impressionistic, and opens the feeling body.   The later is more often direct and to the point, clear and literal, and allows one to know and feel truth directly.   Summing both plants up in such a reductionistic manner is however, not the totality of either.

            So what then, is Iboga?  The tree of knowledge of good and evil, a truth serum, a multidimensional ontological classroom, a habit pattern disrupter, a mind mirror that illuminates ones subconscious processes, a sacrament that defines and unifies primordial space and radiant luminosity, a complete medicine.  All are possibilities, and it is what it is for the one imbibing it.  On the most basic level Tabernathe iboga is a perennial shrub that is native to the Central African rainforest.  It is thought to have been first used by the Babongo Pygmies who were traditionally nomads of the Congolese Basin but now mainly reside in Gabon. In the Tsogo language the word Iboga means “that which takes care of”, and that’s exactly what this plant does; it takes care of that which needs taking care of, and it does so with a tenacious perseverance unmatched by any other plant medicine.  It is a long journey when one ingests Iboga in larger quantities, which can range anywhere from 12-18 hours in it’s peak, tapering off over a period of a number of days, and staying in ones organism both physically and spiritually, working for months afterward.  The part of the plant that is ingested is the inner root bark as it contains the highest amount of active alkaloids, which are numerous. 

            From the Pygmies, Iboga found its way into the Bwiti tradition, which is a tradition that spans central Africa through numerous different tribes.  What Bwiti is cannot be encapsulated so easily as it is many things.  The word Bwiti itself means emancipation.  It is a school of life, a path of connecting with, understanding, honoring and healing our ancestors, a university of the forest that shows us how to live in a good way with the natural world and each other.  It is a way of reckoning the dualistic qualms of relative reality and understanding directly the underlying unifying essence of ultimate reality. The common Bwiti saying “nous sommes ensembles” or “we are together” encapsulates this principle. It is a tradition that one can only enter and know through initiation and direct experience.  Bwiti in its myriad forms is characterized by the ingestion of iboga in a communal setting, livid dancing through an all night ritual and the music of the mongoungo(mouth bow) which has a masculine quality, and ngombi (harp) which is feminine in nature.  Bwiti is neither masculine or feminine, but both, as is Iboga. 

            In the western world Iboga Is most commonly known for its incredible ability to cure opiate addictions.  Ibogaine, the main active alkaloid responsible for this action, has a complex effect on the brain by affecting the activity of several neurotransmitters. By increasing dopamine levels and blocking N-acetylcholine receptors, the alkaloid can restore the normal biochemistry of the brain and reduce the symptoms of addiction.  By increasing serotonin levels in the brain, Ibogaine also improves symptoms of depression and anxiety.  It has also shown to be effective in treating PTSD.  Ibogaine has a profound ability to rewire the brain which in part can be explained by its activation  of several neurotrophic growth factors: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), and Glial Cell-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) all of which have neuroprotective and neuro-remodeling effects. The combined effect on the various nerve growth factors is likely the key to the long-term effect of Ibogaine on addictions. BDNF might also stimulate the formation of new neurons in parts of the adult brain that still retain stem cells.  Iboga is also a potential treatment for autoimmune diseases, especially showing potential for the management of Parkinson’s, stroke, brain injury and Multiple Sclerosis.  There is also evidence from scientific studies showing that Iboga may have antibacterial, antiviral and anti fungal properties.

            Iboga also provides a strong detoxification of the mind/body/spirit.  Nausea and vomiting may be a part of the cleaning effects of Iboga although that is not experienced by all.  The heart pumps the blood at very high rates throughout the experience, as though one is running a marathon, and at other times the heart rate is almost imperceptible.  As there is so much action of the heart going on, the liver is also working a lot as it is in charge of filtering the blood pumping through the body and detoxifying it.  Iboga is perfectly safe and very beneficial for the body, so long as there has been proper medical tests for the heart and liver prior to ingesting larger amounts of the Wood.  It is a prerequisite for this work to have an EKG and a liver panel to ensure that working with Iboga is right for each individual.  If one comes into working with Iboga with a lot of fatigue this medicine will make you rest in order to restore your energy levels, and if one comes in with good energy levels, they will come out the other side with more vitality. 

            Looking at the medicinal properties of this plant on a more psychospiritual level, we could say that part of why Iboga is so effective at curing opiate addiction is that Iboga is the opposite of a dissociative, which is what opiates are.  Dissociation is one of the main human reactions to trauma.  The root of addiction stems from trauma and there are many ways in which we are all addicts of one thing or another: shopping, social media, sex, food, distraction in one form or another, etc.  Iboga is an associative medicine that desolidifies our internal structures and brings one into direct contact with what is happening on the inner level. It shines a luminosity through the mind/body revealing unconscious processes and unpacking the origins and repercussions of our unwholesome habit patterns.  It has the power to unearth long forgotten deep woundings, bringing them to the light of awareness, allowing for the possibility of metabolizing these experiences, the possibility of becoming more whole.

            Alongside the display its radiance reveals, Iboga opens the dimension of space, allowing for whatever is passing through the lens of awareness to be witnessed in a more objective, less fixated way.   This points to the quality of plasticity that this plant medicine affords which lends the capacity to look directly at that which has been negated, and take the full measure of the current situation of ones life.  Iboga also has a primordial quality that is somewhat ineffable. Often it is experienced on the physical level as quality of weightiness or gravity.  Iboga can cause temporary ataxia which can make movement difficult due to dizziness and lack of coordination of the body.  At the same time this plant is also a very powerful stimulant that turns on ones inner light of noticing.  These temporary effects are a part of this medicines action of softening the ground of our habituated tendencies and rooting one down below the surfaces of themselves, breaking open that which has been covered up and bringing it to the light of awareness.  This could be also pointed to by imagining the iboga tree itself, half its form above ground half below.  The part of the tree that is ingested is the part below ground, which elucidates its character signature of shining light into the darkness of our psyche.