Reciprocity & Respect: Our Commitment to Bwiti Tradition

All of our medicine comes directly from the Missoko Bwiti village that we work with. It is traditionally grown, harvested, and ceremonially prepared by the Bwiti as it has been for centuries. This is essential for a number of reasons:

• It ensures the spirit of the medicine is respected and carried within the Bwiti tradition, of which it is a sacrament.
• It supports the Bwiti village, the people who have been its caretakers since the connection between Iboga and Bwiti began so long ago. It is said that you cannot have Bwiti without Iboga and you cannot have Iboga without Bwiti. At Root Healing, this is a core principle.
• This ensures that our medicine is always safe, spiritually potent, and fresh.

With that in mind, one last thing we would like to give our firm position on is this concept of Iboga conservation. There is this popular theory that we in the west need to step in and intervene in the conservation efforts of Iboga. From our point of view, this is a belief deeply rooted in colonialism and we do not support it. We trust our Bwiti family with the care of their sacrament which they have so generously shared with us. Root Healing does not support organizations created by people outside of Gabon, who believe that they should step in and “teach” or tell the Bwiti how to manage the conservation of their sacrament. While conservation is an essential and important principle, Iboga should always remain in the hands of the Bwiti.