Ancient wisdom from the Amazon and West Central

Africa
Giovanni Lattanzi
 
Scientific research and spiritual ceremonies

Kambo and Iboga are two of the most ancient medicines in the world.
Kambo belongs to the traditions of Amazonian tribes, Iboga to the
spiritual tradition of the Pygmies of the central African Jungles. Although
Iboga originated from the Pygmies it is most well known for its
sacramental use in the ​ Bwiti​religion from the Gabon. The first president
of Gabon, ​ Leon Mba​was a member of the ​ Bwiti​religion and defended
the use of Iboga and the ​ Bwiti​religion when Gabon was under French
rule. Since June of 2000, Iboga has been declared a ‘cultural heritage
strategic reserve’ by the Cabinet of the Republic of Gabon.
Kambo is the name given by some tribes of the Amazon to a specific
frog (​ Phyllomedusa bicolor​ ) and also to the secretion produced by the
skin of these frogs to protect themselves from predators. This secretion
is used by the natives of the Amazon as a sacred medicine within a
shamanic context where this frog is considered a sacred animal, an ally
which may communicate with the shamans through dreams or visions.
The traditional use of this medicine which is nowadays spreading all
over the world is therefore spiritual. Both Kambo and Iboga were almost
completely unknown to westerners up until only a few years ago but
now these are spreading rapidly throughout America, and more recently
in Europe and the rest of the world.
Research studies have been done on both Iboga and Kambo with the
majority of the studies focusing on iboga.​​ The results suggest that they
are doing more than just healing a specific disease: they appear to
enable a reset of DNA and of the electromagnetic field of the body
guided by the intention of the person, opening them up to a much more
fulfilling life. It heals on physical, mental and emotional levels, bearing in
mind that these categories are arbitrarily mind-made and may often
blend into each other on a deeper level. Both medicines also have
properties capable of healing specific diseases.
Kambo has been used for millennia by many tribes in the Amazon
(​
Matses, Katukina​, etc) to fight what they call: “​ panema”​or bad luck, in
order to save people from epidemic diseases, malaria, yellow fever, or
snake bites. It plays an important role in the preparation of hunters for
their magical hunting sessions in the rainforest (see Making Magic of P.
Gorman​). Alongside this, Kambo is used in the education of the young
people by providing discipline and improving their capacity to take care
of their social life. Kambo is the most powerful enhancer of the immune
system. The results are immediate: after the session a person has good
humour, energy, stamina, enhanced senses, the ability to focus,
improved health and an empty mind free from useless thoughts.

According to Italian scientist Vittorio Erspamer, nominated for a Nobel

Prize for his research on Kambo, this medicine is “a fantastic chemical
cocktail with a lot of potential in medical applications”, such as
tiredness, stress, burnout, depression, addictions, infections, allergies,
organs- and sexual insufficiency, cancer etc. It doesn’t work as an
external agent entering the body. Contrary to what some people think,
the contact with the secretion of this frog is not toxic for humans, one
doesn’t get ‘poisoned’. The secretion doesn’t even enter the body. The
peptides of this frog’s secretion interact with the nine receptors in the
brain connected with the essential human body functions: adrenal
cortex, pituitary gland, vascular circulation, gastric and pancreatic
secretion, blood circulation in the brain and in the blood vessels,
increasing the production of beta-endorphine, adrenaline and
adenoreguline, responsible for destroying viruses and bacteria in the
body.
While Kambo works mostly on a ‘physical, mental and emotional level’,
Iboga can be considered closer to a deep psychic reset, getting to the
root of an emotional block, opening up a person to a manifestation
process where they may experience their own essence and potential in
daily life. In Africa Iboga is considered a Sacrament and is used as a
sacred medicinal plant to heal all kinds of physical complaints, including
infertility in women and alcohol addiction. But from the shamanic
perspective this plant is mainly used mainly to get rid of ‘bad spirits’
which possess the person and are the deeper cause of their disease.
Iboga could be considered a Zen medicine - it helps one to become
more grounded and less emotionally reactive by increasing awareness
i.e. recognizing mental-emotional patterns from family and cultural
sources and conditioning.
Iboga helps us to know ourselves through a silent knowledge, a space
of stillness inside which manifests itself as the end of the stories created
by the mind, the end of the unconscious ideas about ourselves and
others. The word Iboga means “taking care”. Iboga takes care of us by
guiding us to end the unconscious beliefs, the limiting ideas about who
we are and what we can and cannot do as human beings. Iboga shows
us sometimes without mercy the shadows of our soul where there is a
need to bring light, love for ourselves, emotional stability and inner
silence. Iboga encourages us to look deeply at and transform our life
thanks to the power of intention and the willingness to practice
mindfulness in daily life . In the shamanic world ‘intent’ is a universal
energy present all throughout the universe, in its essence it is made of
light. When provided in a spiritual setting working with our intention is an
essential aspect of eating Iboga. It is not Iboga which heals you but your
sincere intention to change, heal and understand that lets you tune in to
the higher vibrational energy level of the Iboga. If your intention is not
clear and strong enough nothing and nobody will ever save you. Then
reading this book will only feed your unrealistic expectations that there
is something outside yourself that can fix your problems. Sometimes we
cannot make it by ourselves, that’s also a fact, but we can still choose to
humbly ask for help and support and look for the environment that fits
with our deepest aspirations, that helps us to feed our good ‘seeds’, our
potentialities and increasingly manifest our strengths. In my experience
and in the experience of others, Iboga works on an energetic level,
Iboga affects you as soon as your intention reaches out to the Spirit of
Iboga even before you have consumed the wood.​​ This can happen
through dreams or synchronistic situations in daily life. Even if in the last
few years scientific research has taken huge steps towards the
acknowledgment of new dimensions of reality which are beyond time
and space, these mysterious properties of the sacred wood cannot as
yet be explained scientifically.
When we are working with Iboga the questions to ask ourselves is,
“Which energy do I want to wake up with the help of my intention?” and
also ‘How much energy do I have to accomplish my task?” The sacred
wood will respond to us and show us how to make our intention more
clear, stepping out from the level of mind into the level of Spirit, the level
of Being, of Higher Intelligence, the creative energy of life, we may call it
God, that is present through the whole universe. The firm willingness to
stop thinking is crucial while working with the wood, it is the real
doorway to healing. The creative energy of the Universe in the Toltec
tradition is called Intent. Intent means God. In this context Intent is a
kind of Sacrament. The intent of being present in the energy beyond
thoughts is called ‘intending the intention’. This is the means by which
we no longer loose energy but can gather it and build it up. The same
creative energy that is in the Universe that over millions of years
allowed the reptiles to grow wings and fly, is in ourselves. According to
the Toltecs Intent is God in us. Intent is the capacity to send energy
beyond time and space, life and death. Intent is the power of prayer
which connects worlds, and heals. The Spirit speaks another language
than the mind, so when dealing with spiritual medicines like Iboga it is
crucial to listen carefully to the messages one receives. We have to
know (or ask the Spirit of the plant to let us know) what we really want,
what are our deepest aspirations. We can ask the Spirit of the plant to
show us what are the obstacles that prevent us from expressing our
human​potentialities. As we are dealing with a sacred experience,
respect and the willingness to ask our questions with sincerity and
humbleness are required. Hide-and-seek games with ourselves don’t
carry us far. Thanks to this deep psychic-emotional clearing Iboga often
helps us to gain exceptionally good health on the physical level that we
cannot reach with other shamanic medicines. We get fully in contact
with our bodies, with our awareness of the body.
Iboga is used mostly by people who are interested in a spiritual
unveiling in their lives, who are looking for a deep emotional healing or
who want to overcome addictions. In the province of the mind and
emotions Iboga can be considered a natural accelerator of
psychotherapy – a single nights Iboga session has been compared by
Daniel Pinchbeck to 10 years of psychotherapy. (1)

Studies on Iboga rootbark and Ibogaine

Iboga and Ibogaine are not the same thing, contrary to what many
people believe. When I write about Iboga I mean Iboga root-bark. Iboga
root-bark is a part of the plant, while Ibogaine is one particular alkaloid
extracted in a laboratory. The Iboga plant belongs to Apocynaceae
family. Ibogaine represents just one of the 12 alkaloids present in the
Tabernanthe Iboga​plant. Other important alkaloids are Ibogamine and
Tabernanthine. Ibogaine (its chemical name is 12-methoxyibogamine),
is extracted from the Iboga root-bark and processed into Ibogaine
hydrochloride (HCL) crystals or liquid. Gabon, where the plant
originates, used to be a French colony for a long time. At the beginning
of the nineteenth century French doctors began studying the plant's
properties . Ibogaine gained exposure in the eighties after an accidental
discovery in 1962 by a young American heroin addict named Howard
Lotsof. To his amazement, he discovered that his withdrawal symptoms
had completely disappeared after one session with Ibogaine . He
recounts in an interview (Youtube: Ibogaine, Rite of Passages) how
having taken Ibogaine only once he was able to experience life again
without any fear. After his discovery, interest in Ibogaine started to grow
in the USA and in Holland.

In the USA in the eighties and early nineties studies on the Ibogaine
alkaloid were quite extensive ​in the USA​when NIDA conducted
pre-clinical and Phase I clinical trials. According to scientific research,
Ibogaine is considered one of the most important alkaloids present in
Iboga root-bark, especially regarding its ability to cure drug addiction​ .
The first extraction of Ibogaine from the plant was made by two French
scientists, J. ​
Dybowsky​and E.​ Ladrin,​ in 1901 who isolated a crystallized
alkaloid from the Iboga roots and gave it its name​ .​A full organic
synthesis of Ibogaine was achieved and patented in 1956 but it has not
been used because the process to produce it is too challenging and
expensive. Known as 18-MC this synthetic chemical has a molecular
structure that is almost identical to Ibogaine. Scientific research on
Iboga plant was carried out over the course of the nineteenth century by
French doctors resident in Gabon. The entire time, the doctors' interest
was focused exclusively on the effects of Iboga administered in low
doses, and was considered a tonic with a relaxing effect on muscles. A
high dose of the medicine was considered to be toxic and the ritualistic
use of higher doses in the African traditions was relegated to the world
of sorcery.

Written accounts of experiences with Ibogaine are fascinating (see

Daniel Pinchbeck, Ten years of Therapy in one night, The Guardian
(UK) September 20, 2003,
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1018003/posts​ ) and often
similar to those made with Iboga root bark. This similarity is due to the
presence of the Iboga plant Spirit which often appears to patients in
visions. Visions produced by Iboga root-bark and Ibogaine are not to be
confused with ‘hallucinations’, the former are connected with Rapid Eye
Movement 'REM' sleep.

The studies on Iboga and Ibogaine show there is no toxicity per se. The
French pharmacologist Goutarel in his ‘Pharmacodynamics and
Therapeutic Applications of Iboga and Ibogaine’ (French National
Scientific Research Centre)​e​ stimates that the toxicity of Ibogaine is
about the same as that of aspirin. The shavings of Iboga contain about
2 to 5 percent of Ibogaine: you would need a great many spoonfuls for it
to be dangerous’​ ​(Iboga, The visionary Root of African Shamanism).

Ibogaine was available in pharmacies in France up until 1971 as 8 mg

tablets pharmaceutical product - named ​ Lambarene​- and was mainly
prescribed for enhancing sports performance. Lambarene which was
available in the French market for around 40 years was advertised as a
physical stimulant indicated in cases of greater than normal physical
and mental effort by healthy individuals. In the seventies, Lotsof
patented several applications of Ibogaine in the USA because it was not
possible to patent a plant or a natural product. He patented Ibogaine for
multiple therapeutic applications: as a detoxifying cure for alcohol,
opiates, amphetamines and many other substances. He had to obtain a
patent for each Ibogaine application, as this was the only procedure
acknowledged in the USA. He patented therapeutic applications of
Ibogaine because it had the potential to be approved by the FDA,
whereas a natural plant runs into problems with standardization. He was
very dedicated to this goal of having it approved as a pharmaceutical.
Even though he had the patent, he did not succeed in having Ibogaine
legalized in the United States, where even today Iboga is still on the
narcotics list next to heroin and cocaine. NIDA, the official body
responsible for the legalization of medicines in USA, ​ strongly objected
to this cure, a cure in the form of a substance they considered
“psychedelic”.​​funded the preclinical (animal) and Phase I clinical (human
safety) trials. NIDA withdrew support for the research for several reasons,
including litigation between the researchers (namely patent conflicts between
Howard Lotsof and Dr. Deborah Mash).​​As far as​​pharmaceutical
companies are concerned, till now they have been unwilling to support
research. In the United States of America treatments with Ibogaine are
not lawful. To get an Ibogaine treatment USA addicts have to travel to
Costa Rica, Mexico, or to some European countries where Iboga and
Ibogaine are lawful, or where at least there is no law against their sale
or use. ​being carried out only under medical supervision in specialized
clinics​
.
According to scientific research,​Ibogaine’s structure relates it to
serotonine, which is naturally produced by the brain as a
neurotransmitter of calm and well-being, and to dopamine which is the
neurotransmittor of pleasure and happiness. Ibogaine acts on the
cerebellum, the seat of control for learning of movement. Ibogaine has
an noticeable effect on the limbic system of the brain, a part of the brain
which ‘generates need’. Out of this ‘need’, compulsive automatic
thoughts and emotions, or compulsive behavior patterns arise creating
eventually addiction, and veiling the natural human condition we usually
share in our childhood.

An investigation into Ibogaine was conducted in the eighties by

American psychiatrist C.M. Anderson (Harvard Medical School) on
patients affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, states of
emotional and behavioural disturbance caused by traumatic events
such as wars, aggression or child abuse. According to Anderson’s
research, the state of awakened sleep caused by Ibogaine is
comparable to the state that a fetus passes through during half of its
growth period. This state, called “active sleep”, is defined by a strong
flow of waves typical of REM sleep. These waves make the
reintegration of traumatic memories possible thanks to the alternation of
psychopathological dynamics between the left and right hemispheres of
the brain. This regained balance between the two parts of the brain
frees behavioral patterns characteristic of the drug addiction. The
activation of the REM waves by taking Iboga root-bark or Ibogaine may
cause a ‘waking dream state’, during which one receives instructive
replays of his/her life which led to their life situation, and may help to
recognize and let go of old patterns.

In the long history of scientific research on this subject damage to the

brain has never been found.​​It is also well known by researchers and
users that Iboga is not addictive. On the contrary Ibogaine and Iboga
rootbark perform a reset of the brain, returning it to its original state in
the same way a computer is freed from a virus. This scientific
explanation resonates with the ​ death-rebirth​experience of a person
initiated​​
in the original african sacred ritual.

There is much evidence that Ibogaine works on physical, emotional,

mental, and spiritual levels. On a spiritual level Ibogaine can help
people to overcome their identification with thoughts. On an
emotional level Ibogaine has helped many people deal with
depression and anxiety. People often report confronting their
deepest fears and gaining freedom from them. Ibogaine has helped
many people to get rid of addictions such as to alcohol, and food,
but also addictions related to to compulsive behavior such as
compulsive shopping, work, internet use and sex. On a physical
level there are reports that Ibogaine has helped people with almost
all kinds of physical ailments. There is evidence that Iboga helps
with chronic pain and fibromalgya. There is one report of Ibogaine
helping a woman with severe multiple sclerosis’ (Ibogaine
explained, Peter Frank).

Oneirophrenic Iboga and REM dreams: waking

dreams and lucid dreaming

Ibogaine has been used as additional support to psychotherapy by

psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo who documented his work in his book ​ The
Healing Journey.​ He studied Ibogaine and as first researcher termed it
oneiroiphrenic​or lucid dreams maker (from the Greak ​ oneiros,​ dream,
and ​phren,​ Spirit) as opposed to ‘hallucinogen’. Ibogaine’s effect on the
brain can be understood by its capacity to induce a dream state which is
actually the same as the dream state during the REM sleep. Ibogaine
can bring a person into such a dream state while still awake, or can
provoke a state called ‘lucid dreaming’ which is a different kind of
dreaming than the way we usually do. People who undertake Iboga or
Ibogaine treatments often report having ‘visuals’ of past experiences. In
some cases experiences of ancestors or other people from the past are
re-lived or witnessed. ‘Visuals’- which can be also called ‘waking
dreams’, as opposed to hallucinations, don’t alter your vision or your
capacity to recognize the sensorial reality. ‘Hallucination’ is a word that
seems to explain everything but in fact doesn’t explain anything. It only
gives a feeling to the people who use it that they know what they are
talking about while they know nothing. In the Mexican shamanic
tradition of Don Juan, reported by Carlos Castaneda in several of his
books, ‘visuals’ are essential aspects of a practice called ‘recapitulation’.
These ‘visuals’ have been compared by the people who experience
them to movies that play in the mind, while the capacity to recognize
‘reality’ is not compromised as it is during so-called ‘hallucinations’.
While what common sense considers a ‘hallucination’ totally lacks
meaning, the same cannot be said of ‘visuals’ which are rich in meaning
for the person who experiences them. In the same way certain
meaningful dreams have the capacity to solve problems in a creative
way and improve and deepen the quality of our life. Similar to ‘visuals’
provoked by Ibogaine, certain kind of dreams have the capacity to
process past experiences, make new connections, unlearn harmful
behaviors and learn new positive behaviors in a way that is not
accessible to our common waking state of consciousness. This is
mostly heavily spoiled by cultural conditionings and lack of lucidity and
awareness. Once in the waking dream state a person can consciously
learn new attitudes more quickly than in the normal conscious state.
The visual aspect of an Ibogaine session is often crucial to overcoming
addictions and in transforming emotional-mental patterns rooted in fear.
Lucid dreams are an essential aspect of the shamanic practice in the
Mexican Toltec tradition. They call it ‘the second level of attention’, the
level where lucidity has the power to heal. In this context lucid dreams
have been used for several purposes: receiving teachings from spiritual
teachers and/or ancestors, to know which medicinal plants someone
need in order to heal, and to enter into different dimensions of life that
according to shamanic knowledge are as real as our daily experience of
reality.

Agnes Paicheler writes: ‘Up to now, researchers have concentrated

their studies on Ibogaine. The study of the chain of reactions that it
produces in the brain has paved the way for a new approach to
understanding the complex interactions between the different systems
of mediating neurotransmitters for emotions, information, and learning.
This African plant may well lead to important discoveries on brain
functions in general and drug dependency in particular.’ (​
Iboga, The
Visionary Root of African Shamanism’)​.
High and Low-Doses Administration of Iboga
There are yet few competent administrators of Iboga and Ibogaine in
Europe, but their number is rapidly growing. Due to the intensity of the
experience self-administration of high doses is not the way to use this
sacred medicine. Due to the profoundly spiritual nature of this medicine,
initiation, preparation and intention are incredibly important to achieve
good results. When talking and reading about the administration of
Iboga rootbark and Ibogaine, most people think that high-doses are
always implied. Actually Iboga can be also used in an effective way in
low-doses, called microdosing. In this book you can find some articles
about the results of my research on microdosing Iboga in a spiritual
setting which differs from the common way. The main difference is that
the sacred wood is not ingested as a allopathic medicine with a passive
attitude, ‘take a pill and everything will be ok,’. In a spiritual setting one
has to take responsibility of the healing and approach it accordingly as
an opportunity for self-investigation.​​ One of the core issues which keep
human beings experiencing themselves as separate is control,
especially control of others. Our desire for control is, ultimately, our
unwillingness to be awake (see ​ Adhyashanty,​​ Emptiness Dancing)​.
There are many people – especially addicts- who project the same
expectations of allopathic medicines onto Iboga and Ibogaine, believing
that these will magically put everything in order, like a sort of stop-gap
medicine. To actively want to be healed, as well as taking full
responsibility for it, is an integral part of working with Iboga and of the
healing process that is set in motion by the sacred plant.

There are contraindications of the usage of Iboga root-bark and

Ibogaine, in relation to the cardio-vascular system. Iboga root-bark and
Ibogaine should be avoided in high doses if the persons have serious
problems with their heart or blood pressure (high or low) because during
the consumption of high doses of the substances, the rhythm of the
heartbeat and blood pressure levels can vary. In cases of chronic
disease, heavy breathing problems and psychiatric issues Iboga can
help, but it should be administered with much care. High dosages in
these cases can be risky. The risk is, for instance, that it can provoke a
severe asthma attack or a temporary psychotic crisis. When these kind
of issues are present low-dosage treatments would be much more
appropriate. When Iboga and Ibogaine are administered for healing
drug addiction it is critical to refrain from the use of any drugs,
methadone or similar substances for an extended period before and
after the cure. Especially the combination of Ibogaine with these
substances during the treatments has proved fatal in few cases.
However, this is still a much lower figure than the number of deaths
linked to substitution of drugs as methadone and subutex, suicides
committed by patients taking anti-depressives, and even lower
compared with the thousands of deaths due to addictive drugs
themselves.

According to the new method that I describe in this book, one who
wants to work with the wood​​ doesn’t attend an Iboga ceremony as a
start but mostly as an end point, that means only when one is ready for
such an experience. A preparation–which may take months- is
necessary. For safety reasons I don’t allow a person who is still taking
drugs, methadone or medicines similar to methadone on daily base to
work with Iboga root-bark. In many cases attending a ceremony on high
doses is not necessary.

Treatments of drug addicts with high doses of Ibogaine has till now
been provided mostly in clinical settings. In 1994 Deborah Mash
professor of neurology at the University of Miami, a pioneer in this field,
received authorization to conduct experimental treatments with Ibogaine
to addicts. In 1996 she set up a treatment program with precise medical
surveillance equipment. She opened the Clinic of Healing Visions where
at least more than 150 patients have been treated. Mash’s team and
other doctors involved in this project were in agreement that at the level
of therapeutic doses, Ibogaine is not neurotoxic. Previously professor
Mash had presented her results of testing Ibogaine on monkeys, where
also no cerebral toxicity appeared. Another interesting development in
this field is the possibility of curing people addicted to methadone with
Iboga or Ibogaine in low-doses. I’m not familiar myself with this
approach, since I myself don’t work with Ibogaine, but I know of it from
doctor Thomas Corbin, who worked in the team of professor Mash and
is researching in this direction.

Iboga is known as “a drug that beats drugs”, but to those who are
familiar with it know that a recreational use of this substance is totally
impossible. The definition of a “drug”, meant as a “hallucinatory
substance”, has proved to be reductive and misleading in defining
Iboga. Iboga is in fact an ‘entheogen’ that works in a very different way
than any other entheogens, for instance Ayahuasca and Peyote. In its
own way, Iboga is a very peculiar planet in the universe of Master
Plants. The visions created by Iboga refer to the present life of the
person involved and sometimes to their previous lives showing
experiences lived by their ancestors​ .​These visions and dreams are
always meaningful. However, healing processes often happen without
any visions, though there is an increase in the possibility of having
insights and meaningful dreams showing the direction which the
spiritual healing process is taking. There is nothing recreational in the
usage of this shamanic medicine, and for this reason it has never found
an audience among lovers of psychedelic trips and euphoric drugs. This
could also be a reason why the American beat generation's prophets
completely ignored it. So, contrary to recreational substances, Iboga is
used to make a quality leap in one’s life in order to achieve serious
internal growth or to heal one’s emotional wounds. There is an
important difference between what are socially considered narcotics and
drugs, and entheogens like Iboga. Entheogens don’t create addiction.
On the contrary they can help to quit addictions. Dopamine stimulant
drugs, such as cocaine, methamphetamine and heroine, damage the
brain by reducing the growth of white matter and diminishing the volume
of the grey matter. On the other hand, as recent scientific research is
confirming more and more (see Gabor Mate’, In the realm of hungry
ghosts) entheogens improve the immune system, facilitate the brain to
recover their natural functions and produce dopamine and serotonine.
While addiction to cocaine and heroine provokes a loss of learning
capacity, a diminished ability to make new choices, acquire new
information, or adapt to new circumstances, the same cannot be said
about the use of entheogens.

From a spiritual perspective healing is never an individual matter.

Everything is related with everything else. Some people carry more than
others the consequences of the ignorance they have faced in their
family and society, often their suffering is connected with a pain which
goes through a line of generations. From a spiritual perspective the
sacred wood is not just a medicine such as the ones we may buy in
pharmacies. It’s a spiritual plant that lets us see that our healing is also
and necessarily the healing of our family and our society.​​ From the
spiritual perspective of the sacred wood healing ourselves is also
healing our ancestors. Therefore in a ritual setting we eat the wood
expressing the mantra ‘for all my relations’, to affirm the deep meaning
of the collective healing we want to achieve.

The application of Iboga and Ibogaine to heal drug addictions has been
discovered only in the last 30-40 years in the western countries, where
this problem is deep-rooted and still growing, The tendency nowadays
in clinical settings is to avoid administering high doses of Ibogaine all at
once, and for safety reasons to split the administration into two or three
doses. The administration of Iboga on addicts was unknown originally in
Africa where Iboga, the ‘sacred wood’ is considered a Sacrament that
connects with the world of the ancestors in order to be reborn in a
spiritual life. That’s the reason why the Bwiti call themselves the true
Christians and affirm that ‘in the church you speak about God, with
Iboga you live with God’. It is a fact that Gabon- where the Bwiti is one
of the national religions next to Catholicism and Islam- is the most
stable country in West Africa with the least criminality.

Kambo in combination with Iboga root-bark

I was initiated into both Kambo and Iboga and I am the first ceremony
facilitator (usually called ‘curandero’ in South America) who uses a
combination of both. My application of Kambo before providing Iboga
rootbark is similar to the use of certain plants before an African Bwiti
ceremony. Receiving a kambo session the body is clean through the
purging of toxins, the mind becomes calm and focused. Kambo makes
the physical process which is initiated with the consumption of Iboga
more manageable. I find it also important that the person prepares for
some months with kambo and Iboga on low-doses, whether the person
is in a good health condition or not.​​Previous experiences with
entheogens, vipassana or zen meditation, or other serious healing
practices definitely make a difference for the person to be ready to
attend an Iboga ceremony on relatively high doses.​​ The aim of such a
combination of Kambo and Iboga is above all spiritual: it helps people
overcome ego-bound problems, the identification with the mind, patterns
and belief systems which damage themselves and others. It helps to
manifest their talents and human potential in everyday life and
eventually to achieve a better health condition. An important aspect of
Iboga administration is the development of self-confidence, not to be
confused with ego reinforcement, but on the contrary the confidence of
self that grows as the ego- an illusory entity- gradually falls apart.
In my own way I have developed methods of applying Kambo as well as
administering Iboga. The application of Kambo is done following the
Meridians as defined by Chinese medicine. Iboga is generally
administered gradually in low doses for weeks or months and possibly
in combination with Kambo, following the guidelines of what I have
called ”Low-Dose-Iboga-Administration”. In the case of providing Kambo
sessions to methadone’s users, Kambo -which has no contraindications
for them - prepares them to receive Iboga on low doses by improving
their health condition and dramatically reducing their withdrawal
symptoms​ .​This gradual approach of providing Iboga and its
combination with Kambo represent the major differences in my
approach to that of other administrators.

References
1) Ten years of therapy in one night, Daniel Pinchbeck.

2) Iboga, The Visionary Root of African Shamanism, Mallendi, Ravalec

About scientifical research on Iboga chapters see 14​
th​
(​
How Iboga
actually works​) and 15​ (​
th​
How Drugs and Iboga act on the brain​).

3) The healing journey, Claudio Naranjo.

4) Adhyashanti, Emptiness Dancing.

5) Ibogaine explained, Peter Frank.