African Ethnobotanicals has put together an interesting and informative presentation for a series of talks consisting an audio-visual presentation including-

• slide-show
• lecture
• Bwiti music samples
• discussion and Q&A session time
• video clip & possibly workshop

on all aspects of the Bwiti initiation ritual into Iboga, the plant itself, Ibogaine, methods of use in therapy and so forth (see below for details of content).

For those interested in helping facilitate, a synopsis can be sent out (by email) of what will be presented and what is needed, as well as putting you in contact with others in your immediate area (please include your country and city in your reply).

This will be of interest to all those at the leading edge of what is the new revolution- the understanding of the subtler and more powerful tools that nature has provided us with, and the ways in which to harness those to best effect. The idea of learning from ancient peoples' sacred knowledge and applying that in healing therapies in methods that are newly developed synergies of western undersanding and traditional esoteric knowledge, is now moving into new territory. Plants like Tabernanthe iboga and Banesteriopsis caapi (Ayahuasca) are coming to the broader public's attention and if used correctly may provide an answer to some serious planetary ails.

Of interest to:

This talk will be of interest to psycholosgist, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, other related therapists, alternative healing practitioners, herbalists, homeopaths, medical people in general, botanists, anthropologists, addicts themselves, addict treatment centres, related social workers, entheogen people, plant people, ethnologists, anyone who has anything to do with opiate addicts, spiritually inclined people, music people, newagers, pharmacists, pharmacognocists, botanists, anthropologists, ethnobotanists and anyone in anyway involved in addiction treatment. , It is of interest to a great spectrum of intelligent and open minded people everywhere. Especially those who can see which way the future of healing needs to go.

Please contact us for this info:

(remember to mention your country & city in the reply)

Defining the beauty, respect and sacredness with which the Bwiti treat this plant is critical in allowing westerners a perspective on combining healing and spirituality. There is an immense healing potential in this plant and educating and informing those in the direct arena of addict treatment of the necessary procedure is the first step towards helping those who need it. Recognising the seige which the rainforests are now under through logging and resource exploitation, and seeing the significance that the loss of plants like this and others will have on mankind is crucial. The merging of science with spirituality, physics with metaphysics is imminent, and the recognition that the tools for this leap of understanding can be found in the compounds newly emerging from the rainforests, is afoot. Becoming aware of the subtlties in the planet around us and the gentleness and sacredness of the realms of higher awareness, is setting the foundations for a change for the better.

A knowledge and understanding of the rituals of just one group of people out a whole planet of people - the Bwiti, and their sacred plant Iboga- can set in motion a quiet revolution. That revolution being the recognition of our own innate spirituality as reflected by this group of gentle, peaceful and loving forest-people.

Feel free to circulate and network this information.

Phone:++27832678324

Fax ++27823041564

Email: ethnobotany@iafrica.com

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/8030/index.html

Postal: African Ethnobotanicals, PO Box 55033 Northlands, 2116 South

Africa

• its use in its crude form by the Bwiti, Mitsogo, Pygmy and others,
• it's use in its purified alkaloid form in various settings
• it's use as a potential tool in psychotherapies,
• it's ability as an addiction interruptor,
• descriptions of the fundamentals necessary for facilitating an addiction interruption therapy (setting, procedure, diet, dosage, preparation, caregiving)
• my experiences of my own Bwiti initiations,
• the experiences of people I have taken to have be initiated by the Bwiti,
• a comparative description of my Ayahuasca experiences in Peru in 1988 and my recent Iboga experiences, (both in traditional settings)
• comparisons between Iboga and Ayahuasca and other entheogenic plants,
• general ethnobotanical talk on African traditional medicine,
• parallels between Buddhism and Bwiti and a description of the Bardo states as experienced through Iboga.
• description of how the iboga operates to allow people to escape their addictions: the mechanisms involved (including peritnant quotes from those who have undergone this).
• difference between treating people with crude form and extract/ alkaloid isolate form
• treatments of South African heroin addicts to date (descriptions, recordings and images) with rootbark form
• it's reported use by non human primates (gorillas/chimps) and the implications thereof on cognitive evolution