We work towards the preservation and protection of Indigenous knowledge. Ikara is a retreat centre located in the southern zone of Costa Rica. We are the representative for the NGO EBOTA A MAGHANGA which is the cornerstone of The Universal Village of God - MBOKA A NZAMBE and its traditional hospital Le Don de Vie (The Gift of Life Hospital ) in the west. Mboka A Nzambe is a traditional village in Gabon that lives Bwete.
When you participate in Iboga treatment here at Ikara, which is your adopted introduction to mind and the beginning of liberation, you directly contribute to our spiritual brothers and sisters who are composed of lovers of culture and natural medicine. Ebota A Maghanga, with support from ikara, works towards sustainability of indigenous knowledge for future generations and for a better world built on the brotherhood of man.
IBOGA IS NOT IBOGA
Our Iboga is different to others as it has been spiritually prepared by King Adumangana. We bringle bois sacré with us from Gabon to Costa Rica. We know exactly where it has come from and who prepared it. The Iboga you buy from on the internet from Cameroon is not the same as the Iboga we deliver.. On a personal level we have had IBOGA from other places, from other branches of Bwiti. There is a difference. The Iboga is the first point of call and then from there we have it delivered within the framework of a traditional ceremony GHIENO A NZIAMBE (God's Mirror) from the First Nations People - The Babongo People. This is how it was originally intended and from this delivery you may experience the spiritual force of the originators of the culture. The angelic forces of the male spiritual world within the female biological world. Unity brings wholeness.
THE BRANCHES OF BWETE
We study one of the original branches of Bwete called Miobe. Our knowledge comes from the first nations Babongo people at Mboka A Nzambe. Mboka A Nzambe translates as the Universal Village of God. King Adumangana's vision is to preserve the traditions and knowledge of his ancestors. He is trained as a Nima in the original branch of Bwete call Di The mother branch of bwete ''DISUMBA DI MUO NA BATA". KUMA BWENZE is the only person from the west that has been welcomed into the MIOBE branch of BWETE in the traditional Babongo provinces..
NGANGA VERSUS IBOGA PROVIDER/FACILITATOR
Our NGANGA NA SOMBA, KUMA BWENZE is trained by King ADUMANGANA, his spiritual father, in one of the original branches of BWETE called MIOBE. MIOBE is a healing branch and it is devoted to traditional medicine from the forest. It is mainly practiced by the Babongo, Tsogho and Apindji peoples and it has its origins in the province of Ngounié. The MIOBE NGANGA helps restores the physical and psychic health of man through a series of treatments. It is one of the oldest and more traditional branches of BWETE and close to the mother branch of ''DISUMBA DI MUO NA BATA".
KUMA BWENZE is the only person from the west that has been welcomed into the MIOBE branch of BWETE in the traditional Babongo provinces.. Therefore our ceremonies are unique as each branch of Bwete works differently.
We are not Iboga providers, if you hear this term it is someone that has trained at Moughendas "village of the whites". We have been trained in the tradition of Miobe by the first nations people the Babongo, the originators of Bwete.. You cannot buy a degree in Bwete and act as an iboga Provider or facilitator which simply does not exist within the cutlure. period. anyone using these terms is delusional and a victim to a material orientation ie. business. and from this no spirituality can become and it is recommended that they should be avoided if one is to achieve a true connection to soul. The business men of Iboga are wordsmiths, plagiarizing information without an integration of the true knowledge beyond their words and when one is attuned you will see their offering is just that, a constant sales pitch of what they are and what they have within a material domain. One can watch them talk and how they talk carefully to see the bereftness of spirit. It is ego driven, ptotective and attached and from such, no Bwete spiritualism with Iboga can flourish sanely
If someone is offering Iboga alongside another psychedelic they do not understand Iboga, they are in fragmnentation and to counter this is to acknowledge its reality asd fact. They are trying to sell you something and cover more bases of potential interest If you are trained in and therefore ture Bwete, you are not permitted to offer other psychedelics and work in fragmentary methods which run counter to the Spirituality opf Bwete which is wholeness. Any offerings promoting such have not known Bwete, they are trained by Bifoun business men. A person cannot come to wholeness through the hands of a fragmentary delivery of Bwete and Iboga, the Nganga is exemplary withyin the still mind of the ever unfolding and bridges those that are n dis ease through fragmentatioin to the spirit world of wholeness.
It is our mission to stand up for the true spirituality, this is our purpose to ensure the west hears the truth before we lose the only way that may truly heal us. The time is of the essence and their remains no time to have personal agendas, all must be exposed for humanity to become spirituality which is wholeness and under the present circumstances we are being moved away from the true knowledge throuhgg material agenda. All individuals must prevail by moving away from Iboga and bwiti business models. It is the only way.
BWETE or BWITI
BWETE is the name of the spiritual practice as originated by the Babongo people of Gabon. As we study with the Babongo people we spell BWETE as BWETE which is how they spell it in their native language. BWITI, is the spelling adopted by the French Colonists and it is also correct and we will use it occasionally. We have had people in the past confused by the spelling that they see
SPIRITUALITY HAS BECOME A BUSINESS
The modern plant medicine movement is watering down the true spiritual practices of the first nations peoples. Every man is a self proclaimed plant medicine facilitator with no training and their main motivation is capitalism whether they claim counter or not. What would the purpose of Bwete and Iboga be if it truly involves someone going to Africa from the west and paying for an initiation or fake training onkly to come back to the west and claim Nganga or sell Iboga? How does this make the indigenous of Gabon feel, truly? For in the west we only hear from the major commercialised business models of Bwete and Iboga, not from the true heart of Bwete. The forms of Bwete we experience today in west are deviant branches with fetishism and witchcraft as their underpinnings. Bwete is not Bwiti, this would be to say, that all things are the same. We musty be careful to assume the modern information of Bwiti in the west because outside of what we offer at Mboka A Nzambe and Ikara in the west there isnt an true outklet of free information fro those that ant to become whole and in so doing preserve the ancient knowledfge fromn the originators of the spiritualism. How is it that these agendcies have become the major sourve of Bwete information in the west? this has served to marginalise the first nations peoples by accelerating psychadelic tourism through appealing to the sick in the west. It is a business model period. There is money as the motivation so already we are fragmented and from this we cannot heal. It is with great pride that we present ourselves and our model based upon the sane use of the material world. Being an NGO which is a truly operational village steeped in the deepest of tradition and with us at Ikara being beyong material depenciues and attachment, we distribute our guests contributions throughgout our villages and only personbally assume what is required to cover our material expenses of living, which, must be completely simply. ie, not having an expensive retreat centre, high living standards, children of the west. etc. All contribtions are completerly cyclic and reciprocal which elevates spiritual development. This is Gods work and must be delivered cleanly, because souls are the cost, peoples lives are the utmost importance and any material interference cannot allow for the bridging of the two worlds to emancipate the individual into the realm of god free of confusion and reborn. How Iboga is beiong offered in the werst today is merekly taking a plant medicine and putting a patch on a sore.
Psychedelics have moved to the mainstream consciousness. They are being defined and constrained through the western fragmentary understanding of these plants and the driving energetic force is the material, business, money and seeking for a reward, profit, outcome or conclusion. Healing is the discovery of wholeness in God which becomes the individual.
SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SELF
Iboga is you. When seeking Iboga, seek a place where your identity can become. The identity for an Iboga retreat centre is an individualised idea, and the offering is one of encouragement towards the individual's identity. Do not give your individual vision away and become awash in the offerings that can be collectively reiterated in popular culture today. Become yourself through Iboga. Identity is about you. Seek your identity. The mechanics are far deeper than they seem. We offer Iboga in a retreat like setting but secured within a framework of spirituality, tradition, ethics, morality and truth. We do not influence your experience because the essence of Iboga dictates that true understand can only come from direct experience. We are there to assist but not to dogmatize your Iboga experience.
No one walks away empty handed, Iboga as it was always intended since time immemorial without straying will bring us to the love of ourselves once more. The dimensions to our healing wait and the ancestors anticipate your arrival. Free yourself with the ancient wisdom of Bwiti, learn the art of loving the self, to do this we need only seek Iboga as it was designed and intended. At Ikara, we are devoid of suggestion and work beyond the context, our knowledge is of process so others may come to self knowledge. We advocate the sovereignty of the self.