Who we are

The Bassé Root Church is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to offering a sanctuary for the exploration and practice of the Missoko Bwiti tradition in the United States.

While Bassé Root is not a Christian organization, most of the laws and regulations in the United States are based on Christian ideology and terminology. Technically, what we practice at Bassé Root is a traditional spiritual path — not a religion. However, in order to tie in appropriately with the Christianized language of the laws of the United States, we call ourselves a church.

For members of Bassé Root, preferential access to limited-place events and Fire Circles (limited to four places per circle) are a given — meaning you’re much more easily able to craft your engagement with Bwiti into your life path at your convenience. Free and/or discounted opportunities for Bwiti-informed counseling and personal development coaching are also available to members — along with exclusive access to certain preparation and integration materials, as well as our bespoke cultural events that enable you to tap into the essence of the Bwiti teachings all year round.

Everybody can become a member of Bassé Root — by joining a Fire Circle, attending an event and/or making a donation. It is also possible to do all of these things without becoming a member, but you’ll receive exclusive access to Bwiti content, Fire Circle and event discounts if you join the Bassé Root community; as well as experiencing the joy of being able to tap into our Bwiti-inspired community itself (via a special Signal group and gathering events) — and we currently have a special compilation of offerings available for our first few major founder members.

Our Fire Circle keepers at Bassé Root are founder Ryan (Ghenigho) and Sarah, who are both Bwiti practictioner.

Ryan is an experienced Missoko Bwiti practitioner who has been extensively trained and empowered to share and act as a representative outside of Gabon. He is one of a select few who is empowered to pre-initiate both Men and Women into the tradition.

Sarah is an Interfaith Chaplain, Holistic Coach and Internal Family Systems Practitioner who was helped by Ibogaine and eventually was introduced to Iboga and the Bwiti tradition later in life.

Everybody can become a member of Bassé Root — by joining a Fire Circle, attending an event and/or making a donation. It is also possible to do all of these things without becoming a member, but you’ll receive exclusive access to Bwiti content, Fire Circle and event discounts if you join the Bassé Root community; as well as experiencing the joy of being able to tap into our Bwiti-inspired community itself (via a special Signal group and gathering events) — and we currently have a special compilation of offerings available for our first few major founder members.

At Bassé Root we are proud to introduce you to the Missoko Bwiti tradition — one of the oldest forms of Bwiti and the one directly associated with healing. All our offerings — from online and in-person events to specialized courses, resources and Bwiti-informed counseling — draw directly on the Missoko Bwiti tradition as it was taught to us by our family at the village where we were trained in Bwiti in Gabon. We do not combine Bwiti with any other other healing or spiritual modalities in our ceremonial offerings at Bassé Root — however, the wider cultural events we host may sometimes celebrate the overlap of Bwiti-inspired ways of living with other practices that promote nature connectedness, clarity of mind and overall wellness.

Having a personal relationship with Bwiti which is yours and nobody else’s is the birthright of everyone who comes to Bwiti and iboga — the sacrament of our Missoko Bwiti Fire Circles. Bwiti is an Oral Tradition, meaning that you’ll encounter the core Bwiti teachings in the way they are intended to be passed on — by word of mouth, around the campfire at one of our ceremonial Fire Circles. The way your introduction to Bwiti ripples out into your wider life will be totally unique — but tends to involve letting go of long-held narratives and limiting beliefs, shedding a lifetime of learned ideologies and self-protective behaviors, perceiving connections between physical and mental blockages and unreleased traumas, and identifying the healthy habits that you’ll do the best by yourself by forming. Approached with the right preparation and integration (— we’ll give you all the tools you need for a complete process, at Bassé Root — Bwiti is a masterclass in learning how to find yourself, and fall in love.

Yes. The Bwiti teachings, in their raw form, offer various ways of approaching life, and these can be applied by everyone to the life you already have. It is due to the simplicity of Bwiti that it can meet you where you’re at in your infinite complexity. The Bwiti teachings we offer at Bassé Root are not intended to be instead of your existing practices and/or religion — but rather to meet you where you’re at, helping you reconnect with your true essence so that you can take a steady vantage point to entirely explore all of your existing beliefs.

If you’re too busy for Bwiti, you’re going to love Bwiti. If you’re at all familiar with Bwiti already, you’ll recognise that it’s about doing less, better — more than picking up any distinctive actions in particular. There’s nothing to remember to do, no new gear or gadgets to get and no need to adapt your work/life balance, household, job or healthcare routine (if you have one). The thing about Bwiti is that your inclination towards new, healthy habits will be instinctive — and we at Bassé Root will help you personally shape it — so you’ll more than likely find your lifestyle modulating of its own accord. Rest assured, the heart-led organicity with which any changes of this nature happen means there’s never any need to worry about being too busy.

Everybody can practice the Bwiti tradition. At its essence, Bwiti is simply a set of teachings on how to live, and these boil the art of living down so that it can be approached as simply as possible. A partner or parent — for example — who is engaging with the Bwiti tradition will find that they are automatically approaching day-to-day living with a clarity that ripples into the interpersonal, and how they go about what they do in general. This means it’s highly likely that you’ll be instinctively practicing elements of the Bwiti tradition already — mostly in sweating the small stuff less — if you’re around someone who is. That being said — the best, most authentic way to encounter the Bwiti tradition is to be personally introduced, in the right way to the teachings themselves, by joining one of our Missoko Bwiti Fire Circles. We hold these at least twice per month, all year round — and for most people, that’s where your Bwiti journey begins…

Iboga — in the form that you will encounter it, as the sacrament of Bassé Root — is a dry, sand-coloured, woody powder with a bitter, woody taste. It is the second layer of root bark from the Tabernanthe Iboga shrub, which is harvested, stripped and dried by the Bwiti ahead of ceremonial use. Iboga contains many different alkaloids (chemical compounds which have psychoactive properties when ingested by humans) — of which the most culturally well-known and scientifically researched is ibogaine. A crucial difference between the iboga sacrament used in all traditional Bwiti Fire Circles — compared to using an extracted preparation of ibogaine — is that the many different alkaloids present in iboga work together in synergy when the sacrament is ingested. Whole-plant engagement makes for a more totalistic and wide-ranging healing experience.

The iboga root bark that is our sacrament at Bassé Root comes directly from the village of our Bwiti family in Gabon, where it grows in the wild, sustainably before it is ethically sourced and ceremonially prepared. Always knowing the origin of our sacrament — down to the exact land it was grown on, as well as how many years the bark matured before it was harvested — feeds into the connection we cherish to the spirit of iboga at Bassé Root. This contributes to a ceremonial experience that is simply impossible when iboga has been commercially farmed.

The Missoko Bwiti tradition was kept a closely guarded secret for thousands of years, before deciding mere decades ago to begin sharing its teachings with the world. In this inclusive spirit, Bassé Root welcomes everybody over the age of 21 to our Fire Circles, as long as you enter into our screening process and fulfill our safety requirements to attend.

Everybody who seeks to attend one of our Missoko Bwiti Fire Circles will be invited to a full mental and physical health safety screening, to ensure you can approach it feeling secure. Please note that this is in addition to and not instead of the preparations we will lead you through to ensure you are feeling emotionally and spiritually prepared for your Fire Circle. Your safety screening will involve:

• A health intake questionnaire, to screen for the possibility of medication usage and/or conditions which are contraindicated for iboga;
• A full follow-up consultation call with our Fire Circle keeper Ryan (Ghenigho)
• EKG; these should be prerequisites at every organization working with the sacrament iboga. We may required liver test and blood tests depending upon the health intake responses.

Additionally, we always do a fresh ekg and brief health check on arrival.

Ryan is also trained and certified in Basic Life Support and Missoko Bwiti traditional safety measures.

We keep a defibrillator, first aid kid, and supportive Bwiti remedies onsite.

Yes. Everybody who comes for a Fire Circle to Bassé Root needs a current EKG and must update us on any medications, supplements they are taking.

Yes! The Bwiti tradition is for everyone — and the Bwiti themselves usually have a full iboga experience only once in a coming of age ceremony, and then only ever again if they need to course-correct their life, e.g. after a major life event or to overcome bad habits. At Bassé Root we offer cultural activities including events (online and in person) with social guests, seasonal activities to connect with nature and Bwiti-informed coaching / counseling all year round — and every activity except our Fire Circles themselves is open to all members, with no need to safety screen or use the sacrament.