Bwiti Shaman Interview & Iboga Media

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BWITI SHAMAN INTERVIEW

Welcome to the media section of the Iboga House website. Here you will find audio and video interviews with Bwiti Shaman, Moughenda Mikala followed by an in-depth text interview with details surround the Bwiti culture and Iboga. All content within this section is unique to Iboga House. It will give you insight into the culture and that of Bwiti Shaman, Moughenda Mikala.

Please scroll over the video to view other video titles. Also, make sure to come back frequently as new videos and audio will be added.

BWITI SHAMAN AUDIO INTERVIEW

February, 2009 (Courtesy: FuturePrimitive.org)

Runtime: 56 minutes.

Here's the original description for this audio interview:

Moughenda Mikala is a tenth generation nganga of the Missoko Bwiti sect from southern Gabon. At the Awakening in the Dream house in Mexico, Moughenda offers Bwiti iboga root healing and initiation. Bwiti, originating among the forest Pygmies, is a traditional African spiritual practice whose essence is ancestor worship and direct connection to God. The initiations relate to the five aspects of Missoko Bwiti: Ngonde (bwiti of visions and diagnostics), Mioba (bwiti of healing with plants and herbs), Bosuka (bwiti of knowledge of creation), Mabundi (bwiti of women), and Senguedia (bwiti of protection).

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BWITI SHAMAN INTERVIEW

October 2008, Sayulita, Mexico

An interesting insight into the mind and of Bwiti Shaman Moughenda Mikala…

What do you do and what is Bwiti?

I am a Bwiti shaman and healer. I work with different plants and herbs, mainly iboga, and conduct traditional ceremonies. I help people with many problems, ranging from physical healings and addiction issues, to psychological trauma, to soul retrieval and demon extraction. I also guide people through spiritual development and initiations. Bwiti is a religion, it’s a passage from childhood to adulthood, and it's a way to get in contact with the ancestors. Inside Bwiti you also find the healing therapy using iboga. That's what Bwiti is. It's a religion which started on Day One, with the Pygmies in the jungle, all the way back in Africa. They are the ones who later taught the people in the village.

Is that like Ancestor Worship?

Yes. We believe that the ancestors are the closest ones to God, and it’s easier to get in touch with God through them than any other way. We believe that the ones who are dead are never gone, and contacting them is the easiest and fastest way to get any answers whatsoever. We talk to them first and they transmit straight up to God.

You're from Gabon?

Yes, I was born and raised all my life in Gabon.

Until you came to the Americas?

Yes, I lived in New York City and then moved to Michigan.

What kind of work did you do?

I was a truck driver. I was driving the big rigs through well over 40 states. So I pretty much know your country.

What's the higher reason for a Bwiti healer to do this? What was your mission?

For my mission the Bwiti sent me here to spread the plant iboga. Because iboga is not just for African people, it is for the whole world, for whoever needs it. But of course it's difficult to find out about it, even using the internet. And it's kind of difficult for non -Africans: you have to be reconnected to the plant spirit. Actually, there are not intended to be any secrets about the iboga. It is not reserved for only Africans, it belongs to all of mankind. What might be secret is the Bwiti stuff, the rites. But once a person is initiated, there are no more secrets.

Is there a difference between ibogaine and iboga?

Ibogaine is an extraction from the iboga root. It works well for drug addiction and a certain level of psycho-spiritual work. However it does not have all the strength or total healing properties the root contains. Ibogaine is like the baby of iboga. Iboga is a totally unique plant with a very powerful spirit. It is used for all manner of physical, mental, and spiritual healings. It is also used for the initiations, it is the vehicle used to travel from the world of the living to the world of the dead and the spirits.

Who should be initiated? How does one arrive at the decision?

Bwiti at first was pure and African. We Masango Missoko from the south of Gabon want to explain the Bwiti religion and let people get help from iboga. We do all types of spiritual work. We serve anybody, all over the world who is called to Bwiti. If you are initiated into Bwiti you are going to discover many things about your life and the spirit world. So anyone can get initiated into Bwiti--as long as you can eat iboga. It is totally different than taking ibogaine. A capsule is easy to swallow! You have to eat a lot of iboga, the root itself, to be initiated, to become visionary. You have to be strong to become initiated.

Can you describe a pre-initiation?

The first step is to ask the spirits if the person is ready to be initiated. The pre-initiation is a death of the old self and the rebirth of a new one. It is an introduction to the spirit of iboga and the spirit world and is necessary to complete before the full initiation. It is a step on the path of self-mastery. To begin, the initiate is painted with a special pigment from forest. They are dressed in a traditional sarong and adorned with feathers. They begin to eat iboga at the beginning of the ceremony. As the night progresses, more iboga is ingested, and I begin to sing traditional songs to call the spirits, who accompany you on your journey through the initiation. During the night you will look into a mirror and see visions with your eyes open. You will have clear insight into personal blockages and problems, and can connect with your ancestors and lost loved ones. Deep healing from past trauma can also be received.

Can you describe the full initiation?

It is a long process to take the wood. It starts with a master or father of the Bwiti determining the readiness of the banzi, or initiate. It may take a lot of training and preparation to become ready for initiation. There are separate women's rites and men's rites. We start in the afternoon and go to the jungle. We perform a symbolic bathing or cleansing on the banzi. You're given a new name there. We give you the first dose of iboga. We come back to the home at sunset. But already you are not yourself anymore. While we were in the forest the people in the village were working on the temple, preparing it for the initiate's transformation. Everything starts at eight o'clock. The mougongo--a pygmy bow instrument--will start the music for the occasion. We give you more iboga, begin to really feed it to you. About two hours later you begin to work with the mirror, it is going to start to change for you. Sometimes we put designs on the mirror. We have techniques to find out how much iboga you have to eat. We can tell by touching a certain part of your body, we can know how far along you are already. The mougongo is playing to push you, to keep you on the road. There are two types of people. One takes a long time before he starts to see. Others start to see more quickly. Because the vision, it's not like when you take ibogaine. With ibogaine you're seeing with your eyes closed. Bwiti initiations are 100 percent different because you cannot dream, you cannot close your eyes. You're just sitting up with your eyes open, looking in the mirror. When you get your vision, it comes like a movie. It might take you back 50 thousand years ago! Yes! You're going to meet your parents, your ancestors! Each of them will come to you and introduce themselves and say their names. You see it all right there in the mirror. It will be all night long, and you're not going to be tired. But you might be uncomfortable in the stomach, and you're going to be throwing up, and I mean throwing up a lot. By the next day you'll have seen all your visions. By six in the morning if we think that you didn't really see your ancestors and get what you came for, it's got to be done again, only this time double. We want to make sure you see everything. We go again and again in the process, until the desired vision is seen. We conclude by taking you back to the river. Now we give birth. We must cleanse for the last time and enter the world. You never look back. Anybody initiated into Bwiti might become a healer if they want to. When you master Bwiti you are deeply connected with all the spirits. You start to learn the Bwiti language--the codes; there are codes in nature, codes to illustrate the spirits. Once you know this language you are a free man, and you won't get sick so easily. In Gabon, Bwiti practitioners are not eager to go to the hospital because we have all the healing inside of us. Illness can't really take us because we have iboga in our body. We're in control of our selves.

How old were you when you tasted iboga, and how did it shape your path?

I first started when I was eight years old. Just a little bit of iboga, but it was hard. Next when I was twelve, with my Grandfather. But my big time, my initiation, was when I was fifteen, when I took on everything. I became nganga, a shaman and began healing people. Bwiti has been in my family for decades. I wasn't in a rush to get initiated, but I could feel that it would sweep me away, that it was in my blood. After becoming nganga I was initiated four more times. Missoko Bwiti is like a plant with five different roots. One root is Ngonde, which is the Bwiti of the visions and the analysis of the human body. It is how we screen people for treatment. Bwiti of Miobe is the mastery of the plants and trees of the jungle. The Bwiti Bussuka is the one in charge of teaching the knowledge of the universe. Mabundi is the Bwiti of the woman. Senguedia is the Bwiti of protection and demon extraction. I was initiated into all five traditions, learning to speak to the distinct spirits of the different paths. As each person has different needs in their healing, different spirits must be called. If you know each tradition, you will know all the possible spirits to call.

So the plan is to do Bwiti initiations and healings for people in North America?

Yes. I have just built a temple in Mexico, and they do any type of spiritual work. I have begun to do psycho-spiritual journeys and pre-initiations, and look forward to sharing my tradition with the global community.

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