Iboga — how a deadly ritual from Africa became popular in the West

Modern man is very greedy for the exotic. At the same time, he is often attracted to things not just unusual, but also extreme. Iboga is a ritual of the pagan religion Bwiti, originated in the jungles of West Africa. Today he has a lot of fans in Europe and the USA who are ready to risk their lives for the sake of unusual sensations and new emotions.

Experts believe that the iboga ritual, contrary to the myths created around it, is not thousands of years old at all. It appeared in the 18th century, when the African tribe of Mitsogo fled from European slaveholders from the coast to the interior of the continent. Migrants met Pygmy tribes in the dense forests of the Congo. It was they who told about the iboga bush, the bark, wood and leaves of which help to communicate with spirits.

Soon a whole cult arose around this plant, called Bwiti. It became very popular in West Africa, and the ritual of eating ibog turned into a rite of initiation for boys. After a while, everyone was allowed to take part in the action, including women.

The religion of Bwiti is based on the principles of animism. Her followers believe that everything around a person has a soul, and the world is inhabited by many spirits. Among them, ancestral spirits occupy a special place, helping descendants with sacred knowledge. The hallucinations experienced by Bwiti adherents after consuming ibog, in their opinion, are communication with the subtle world.

Translates "bwiti" as "deceased" or "dead". At the same time, the word does not apply to all the dead, but only to the ancestors. Tribes practicing the iboga ritual claim that without such initiation, communication with the ancestors is impossible, and therefore access to their knowledge and patronage.

Nowadays, the iboga ritual has spread far beyond Africa. He has a lot of fans in such civilized countries as the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden. Strange as it may seem, but the use of parts of the plant with a hallucinogenic effect is associated with ... the fight against drug addiction.

No one knows for sure whether the ritual is effective as therapy or it is a marketing ploy. Scientists have yet to investigate the effects of ibog on the human body. Only one thing is known for sure — a lot of sufferers go to Africa every year to undergo the initiation ceremony of the Mitsogo tribe.

During the ritual, a person needs to eat a lot of iboga. The consequence of this is severe poisoning with all the ensuing circumstances. Diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness accompany the participants of the ritual long after its completion. The Bwiti priests don't see anything wrong with that. In their opinion, iboga is a supermind that teaches a person the secrets of life and death. Hallucinations caused by the use of wood parts are called nothing else than "divine visions".

But the passage of the ritual is not a simple and not a quick thing. Shamans prepare everyone who wants to join the sacrament of Bwiti for about a month. A new adept is taught the basics of religion, and also taught to meditate. All the time of preparation it is necessary to adhere to a special diet.

Like any other strong psychoactive substance, iboga can cause unpredictable consequences. Most often these are irreversible processes in the nervous system. There are many cases when the use of a hallucinogen ended in the death of a person. But there are no confirmed cases of healing from alcohol or drug addiction by the rite yet.

Those who take part in the iboga ritual are at great risk. Judge for yourself — the process is led by African shamans who can't even read. It is also worth considering that in case of an unforeseen situation, it is unlikely to get emergency medical care. The action takes place in remote villages in the jungle. It remains to add that parts of the iboga plant and the substance ibogaine extracted from them are prohibited in most Western countries. Those who try to import them into the territory of Russia also face criminal liability.