21 days of preparation for Iboga (way more actually, trust me Iâve been preparing all year!). But now for the time to go into acute body mind spirit preps. I will be focusing on unlocking my intentions and clarifying my mind, preparing my body physically with herbal medicine, diet & acupuncture, and fully activating my spirit through dream recording, body movement, and song. Each day I will post the focus on my preparation, and in 3 weeks I will disappear into the jungles for about 3 weeks. For me, the ceremony begins today in ways. The day I leave is New Moon (perfect) and the ceremony will conclude for me at the turning of the New Moon in July, just before my 27th birthday. The timing of the entire Initiation is beyond perfect. Iâve kept my day by day preparation blogs here, to have an example of what herbal medicine & plant medicine preparation can look like.
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21 days to go.
Preparation today involves herbs & supplements. Pre-Iboga I focus on particularly on:
- High strength Milk Thistle for liver support; the ibogaine is metabolised into its also potent & active metabolites by the liver, so it is important that this organ isn't too overloaded and working concisely. Liver disease is a exclusionary factor for Iboga.
- Magnesium in a bioavailable form such as this one; Mg Citrate. This offers cardiovascular support which helps strengthen and prepare the heart for the intensity to come! The wood is a strong heart medicine, and lengthens the heart's QT interval, which can become dangerous if the heart is prone to abnormal sinus rhythms or any medications & foods are also doing this at the time. Clear electrical communication throughout the cells and nervous system are also a plus with Iboga, and Mg being an electrolyte is integral for this.
- Gut mix: I use diatomaceous earth, psyllium husk, clay and Golden Seal. Please note Golden Seal will interact with Iboga, being a cytochrome p450 inhibitor. Substances that inhibit liver enzymes will also affect the breakdown of ibogaine. They MUST NOT be combined. I will stop using the Hydrastis soon. Having a clear digestive track, and regular bowel motions is an important preparation pre-wood. You don't want to be constipated and have the wood sitting in your bowels risking impaction. If you also have rapid & chronic diarrhoea it will be hard to gauge the dose that has metabolised. IBS and IBD can be exclusionary factors for these reasons. So that's today for me! Next week I'll stop the Golden Seal, for now it's helping to heal my guts as a potent natural medicine.
--------------------- 20 days to go.
Preparation today involves NOT DRINKING CAFFEINE>>> I find this helps! ALOT. Chai mmm based on rooibos, not black tea.
It's important to remove stimulants from the system pre-wood. And yes, caffeine is a stimulant. When you have the wood, you become acutely aware of how you have tuned your nervous system in general and especially the last month. The less sharp stimulation, the smoother the experience. And since Iboga is a jittery experience in itself, smooth is welcomed.
People become quickly addicted to caffeine, and also quickly desensitised to just how stimulating it is. Having caffeine with cardamon, ginger and gentle aromatics helps for sure. But ultimately, anything consumed daily becomes habit and the body relies on it for maintaining the baseline, to regulate the bowel, for energy and so forth. Best for occasional use only. I find the ritual of drinking a warm soothing morning cuppa something habitual and self-soothing and, hey, enjoyable in itself, so I use caffeine free chai as a replacement.
This has helped me to quit both coffee and caffeine now. Highly recommended. Rooibos is a herb form the South African plant Aspalathus linearis with a yummy earthy flavour and low tannin content. High in antioxidants it's said to lower blood pressure, help with stomach cramps, improve insulin response, and is good for the kidneys as a herbal medicine. https://www.freshchaico.com.au/câŠ/caffeine-free-masala-chai/
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19 days to go. Preparation today involves; tuning in with family. What's the deal? Why is it so important? Why is it so hard to walk away from? How does this relate to our mission on Earth to birth ourselves fully? For me, a major theme for this year is family. I've made a point of it in the preparation for Iboga; a plant that strips back your ego, and designed perceptions of self, down to the roots of your lineage to the real deal Self.
After honouring & celebrating the passing of my granddad this weekend, today has been a wash of love and gratitude to family. I'm just reflecting on the feeling I am embodying in a kind of raw way. Super emotional download, definitely triggered something deep as I got teary, yet blissed throughout.
<3 deep and big from my heart today.
Listen here: Ancestry & Iboga --------------------- 18 days to go. Preparation today involves; MUSIC!
Singing is essentially all my body wants of me right now. mmmmm
Ode to Iboga; a chant I wrote over a year ago for an instrument I didn't yet have access to. I do now thanks to my new shruti box. Here is [part thereof] a dedication to the great spirit that animates all life.
I have acquired, on this journey.
I have acquired a self, on this journey.
More than I can carry.
Once I know it served me;
thank you for your teaching.
Now it's time to leave me...
Watch here:Ode to Iboga
--------------------- 17 days to go. Preparation today involves; đ„„đ„„đ„„ COCONUTS! (Any excuse really, the 2nd most divine Earth food, after Cacao of course mmmmmm).
It's important to have an over-abundant electrolyte count pre-wood. Why is that so incredibly important? As in life-saving level important..
Electrolytes are minerals with ionic charges. For us great apes this includes Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Bi-carbonate, Chloride, and Phosphate. These charged up constituents regulate the electrical charge of the fluid in and around cells, & therefore regulate the flow of nerve impulses from brain to body, from cell to cell. Electrolyte osmosis through the body; the flow of ions in a liquid medium. Drinking too much water that is deficient in electrolytes will actually pull minerals from the body to maintain balance.
Iboga inhibits Potassium, Calcium and Sodium channels. If you are deficient in these minerals this increases your risk of a cardiac arrhythmia as the bodyâs muscles need all 3 of these minerals to contract. The heart is a big muscle, relying on your intake of minerals to prevent weak or excessive contraction aka a heart attack. So not to fear!
Coconut saves the day as a natural medicine.
You can turn around a low electrolyte count in just 3 days of AGGRESSIVE supplementation. So Iâm drinking 1 a day now. Plus using this as an excuse to eat more coconut oil, coconut butter and flesh where possible. Food of the Gods.
Did you know you can use fresh coconut water in an emergency drip as IV fluids as itâs sterile inside that nut! However the potassium levels are quite high so this is last resort blood; some people have died and had negative side effects as itâs not identical to blood plasma. Still kind of cool. đ„„đ„„đ„„đ„„ âŁïžâŁïžâŁïžâŁïž --------------------- 15 days to go. Todayâs preparation involves; Not freaking out that I miscounted and lost a day. Okay after not freaking out. Gardening!
I live off plants and herbal medicine, in gratitude for the abundance they offer me, and anyone who honours them actually they donât mind as long you as respect their needs. Plants are so freaking cool & easy going that they essentially grow themselves with just a bit of this and that. Turning such a small thing, a cutting, a seed, into a huge something, which then seeds into sometimes hundreds of plants. Thatâs some good profit margins there. Plus offering shade to conserve moisture, carbon and nutrients into the soil, food & medicine for eaters of plants.. Okay enough about how much I love plants.
In my reality, I may not have any pets (well I do have a duck that refuses to acknowledge my authority & has kind of disappearedâŠ) or children. But I do have a tonne of plants. In the ground. In pots. And going away is always a stressor in regards to HOW TO KEEP THE PLANTS ALIVE. Iâve gotten a lot better as the years ripen. I now have automatic watering systems in place, but as the seasons change, and water levels, itâs a work in progress. Too much water, too much sun, what if a wind hits how much faster will they dry? Fortunately I watch the plants day in and day out, seeing how they are responding to the life force. And have a pretty good idea as to what time it is in my little plant world. Plant medicine and the natural world is how I map time passing.
Hereâs to not coming home to dead bodies of botanical friends.
But if so, just plant more gardens.