Word.ws English Dictionary

Bwiti

Bwiti proper noun: a syncretistic religion and spiritual discipline practised in Gabon and Cameroon.

Proper noun

Bwiti

  1. A syncretistic religion and spiritual discipline practised in Gabon and Cameroon.
    • Bwiti has not yet appeared in the United States and thus has not made a request for a religious exemption for its consumption of iboga. Clearly, Bwiti would satisfy criteria for a bona fide religion in the context of drug use (or “nondrug” use).2007, Margaret P. Battin, Erik Luna, Arthur G. Lipman, Paul M. Gahlinger, Douglas E. Rollins, Jeanette C. Roberts, Troy L. Booher, Drugs and Justice: Seeking a Consistent, Coherent, Comprehensive...
    • Under the influence of iboga, the Bwiti initiates are able to communicate directly with an assembly of dead ones—a chain of ancestors.2009, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene Dobkin de Rios, page 85

Noun

Bwiti (plural Bwiti)

  1. An ancestor or other religiously relevant figure, especially one appearing in a drug-induced vision to an initiate of the Bwiti religion.
    • To enter the Bwiti religion initiates must see Bwiti, the Ancestors. The only way to see Bwiti is in the altered state of consciousness induced by Iboga, the sacred plant entheogen utilized by Bwiti followers.2007, Christina Pratt, “Bwiti”, in An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, Volume One: A-M, page 75
    • The initiate falls to the ground in a stupor after drinking the iboga brew. The Bwiti then is supposed to reveal itself under diverse and macabre forms.2009, Marlene Dobkin de Rios, The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene Dobkin de Rios, page 85

Examples of Bwiti in a sentence

  • In West Africa, iboga is most often used as a sacrament of initiation in the Bwiti religion.2010, Stephen Gray, Returning to Sacred World: A Spiritual Toolkit for the Emerging Reality, page 297:
  • Bwiti is a new religious movement found among the Fang and Metsogo peoples of Gabon in equatorial West Africa.2013, Des Tramacchi, “6: Entheogenic dance ecstasis: cross-cultural contexts”, in Graham St John, editor, Rave Culture and Religion, page...

Forms of Bwiti

pluralBwiti

Origin of Bwiti

From Fang (Bantu) Bwiti.

Questions about Bwiti

What does Bwiti mean?
Bwiti means a syncretistic religion and spiritual discipline practised in Gabon and Cameroon.
How do you use Bwiti in a sentence?
In West Africa, iboga is most often used as a sacrament of initiation in the Bwiti religion.
What part of speech is Bwiti?
Bwiti can be a proper noun or a noun.

Words near Bwiti in the dictionary

  1. BWER
  2. BWERs
  3. BWG
  4. BWI
  5. BWIR
  6. Bwiti
  7. BWM
  8. BWMs
  9. BwO
  10. BwOs
  11. bwoy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Bwiti (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Bwiti.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bwiti. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.