Escaping Heroin: An 18-Year-Old's Ibogaine Ceremony (PHOTOS)
Jeffrey Arguedas and Gabriela Téllez
Grace Bergere bathes near the fire in Costa Rica before taking a flood dose of ibogaine. Filled with ancestral flowers and prayer leaves, the ritual bath uses the "generosity of the forest" to protect the Bwiti initiate, referred to as the Banzi (in this case, Grace).
Jeffrey Arguedas and Gabriela Téllez
Christine Fitzsimmons, the medical director at IbogaLife, coats her face in ceremonial paint. Red (for blood) representing women, and white (for semen) representing men.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
Common throughout West Africa, ritual baths follow the snake bite concept—if you inoculate yourself with the leaves of the forest, it can't hurt you.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
An altar of feathers, candles, and African rattles serves as a centerpiece. The rattles, called tsokais, are an integral part of the ibogaine ceremony, allegedly helpful in stabilizing the heartbeat of the Banzi.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
Michael McKenna, a facilitator at IbogaLife, places a red parrot feather on Grace. In Bwiti, it is believed that this feather helps ward off negative spirits.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
Dimitri Mugianis (leader of the ceremony) prepares his thoughts before. A Bwiti initiate and healer, he trained in Gabon, Africa, where original Bwiti ceremonies are still performed.
Jeffrey Arguedas and Gabriela TÃÂéllez
Mugianis offers prayers to the elders before the ceremony begins. Once Grace takes the final dose of ibogaine, she will be hallucinating for close to 36 hours.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
Before the ceremony, the Banzi is just entering heroin withdrawal. Roughly 30 minutes after ingesting ibogaine, her symptoms have disappeared.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela TÃÂéllez
Bobby Payne, the director of IbogaLife plays the jaw-harp mougongo. Usually played by males, it is an improvisational instrument often used in Bwiti ceremonies.
Jeffrey Arguedas and Gabriela Téllez
As the the drug begins to set in, Grace sees images of herself below the earth, coming up through the dirt, and becoming a seed.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
In the second phase of visions, she's likely to see images from her childhood—and hopefully, underlying reasons for her addiction.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
Luceano Colonna, a former addict who is currently the director of Harm Reduction Project, observes Grace's ceremony. Colonna has taken ibogaine multiple times.
Jeffrey Arguedas & Gabriela Téllez
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