Seven Years of Ancestral Bows in the Heart of Zululand

I have been teaching at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, South Africa, for over 7 years with my colleague Makhosi Nomusa who is the resident Zulu Sangoma. The BRC as it is commonly known, is in the heart of traditional Zulu land. We are the first sangomas or traditional african healers to be teaching at the centre. I recently wrote an article in the Odyssey Magazine Summer edition 2022 sharing some of the stories and teachings during these years.

My journey began with Korean Zen practice in the early 1990’s. I went to South Korea in 1992 and participated in a 3 month silent retreat. At the end of it I was invited by the late grand Zen master Seung Sahn to become a Zen monk and join his “monk army”. I declined because I felt the call to become an african dancing monk instead. Click below to read the full story.

We will be leading our 8th retreat at the Buddhist Retreat Centre next year 2023 from the 27th - 30th Jan. Our ceremony is called ‘The Way of Ubuntu’. Ubuntu means humanity. It involves a circle of interconnectivity, starting with ourselves and spreading into the the plant and animal worlds. The focus of the ceremony is helping people to re-connect to their soul or umoya, the part of us that does not die, followed by our Ancestors and the natural world. As we do this we connect to the tree of life. If this speaks to you then join us.

Dancing with Ancestors - John Lockley

I was recently interviewed by Sarah Kirton from MysticMag about my sangoma journey and the role of a sangoma.

John’s current primary focus is ‘rewilding’ people and helping them connect to their bones, to their blood, to the earth and to their ancestors. John runs nature-based wilderness retreats in one of the oldest places in the world, the Kalahari in Botswana.
The retreats are called Dreams and Tracking in the Kalahari with the focus on educating modern man – it is what John refers to as ‘Indigenous Medicine for the Modern Man’. The focus is to help people connect with their indigenous roots, earth and nature. It involves tracking skills, animal communication and interspecies communication – dreams and connecting with ancestors.
Working alongside Bushman trackers, one will learn how to forage for medicinal plants and animals the way our ancestors and forefathers once did hundreds of years ago.
This is a retreat that is open to anyone with a deep love of nature, Africa and the wilderness. The Kalahari is one of the wildest places left, not only in Africa, but on Earth.

- John, where did your journey begin and what is a sangoma?

I have written a book called Leopard Warrior which describes how I became a sangoma. Like many traditional shamans, my journey to becoming a sangoma started before I was born.
A sangoma is a traditional South African shaman. It is a Zulu word which means the one who connects to the drum and the chant/song. When we sing, drum and dance, we connect with the spirit world and then we are able to get a sense of how to help and heal the community. We are the chanting monks of Southern Africa.
One cannot decide to become a sangoma, one is called – either through dreams or illness (Twasa). I was ill for seven to ten years. The illness affects your body physically and can be quite debilitating. However, there is also a strong psychic component involved where you dream about the future, receive messages from the spirit world and are shown what is happening to people you don’t know and how to heal them etc…
One first has to accept the calling and then find a teacher who can apprentice you, help heal you, and bridge the psychic or spirit world with the physical world. Accepting the calling starts the healing process from the twasa. Due to the political circumstances in South Africa at the time, I was only able to access a teacher well into my illness (after 7-10 years).

- Are our Ancestors and Life force one and the same thing?

They are very similar but my answer to your question is no. Our ancestors are our roots that sustain us and give us life. Our ancestors are connected to the life force because they too are fed by life and by the earth.

- Is it your belief that all our Spirit Guides are in fact our Ancestors, and what is their defined role, if any?

There are three groupings of spirit guides in the realm of ancestors: your mother’s people, your father’s people and the third, adopted ancestors. Here, one may have an experience or dreams of spirit guides from diverse cultures.

- What influence do animals have on your work of healing the past?

Animals help connect us to our humanity and empathy. Whether it be a pet or wild animal, once you love an animal, you are connected to the powers of empathy and compassion. Once you are connected to this, healing can take place.
Each experience is unique and contextualized depending on what culture and background a person comes from. In saying that therefore there is no standard symbolism when it comes to interpreting visions or apparitions of animals in dreams.

- What do you offer your clients and do you have a defined purpose?

It depends what people are searching for. Generally, people from the West look to access their spirit and soul and to work with their ancestors. In this case, I would work with divinations and throw bones. I also run online training courses in helping people to connect to their wilderness or to the wild spaces inside of them.
To achieve this, they learn how to work more mystically with their dreams as opposed to psychologically. They learn to feel the magic, mysticism and synchronicities of their dream life and how it mirrors and maps their waking state. Like a tracker in the bush, I teach them how to engage with their dreams like tracks in the sand. How does the dream reflect our life and vice versa.
The work I carry out in the indigenous or traditional world (in the Eastern Cape, South Africa) is a bit different because most people are already connected to their ancestors and their indigenous roots. There we perform ceremonies involving singing and dancing to strengthen our ancestral connection. Like a strong tree, the roots have to be watered.

John and his Xhosa elders after his sangoma initiation in 2007



Interview with Raghu Markus on the Mindrolling Podcast

I was recently interviewed by Raghu Markus on his Mindrolling Podcast about my new book 'Leopard Warrior'. I always enjoy my interviews with Raghu. We spoke about his friend and mentor, Ram Dass, as well as other spiritual masters. We covered some key areas such as the qualities of a spiritual teacher, the rhythm of truth, finding our center and connecting with our Dreams.

Please listen for an animated discussion and a few chants and guided meditation. 

 

"Honouring our Ancestors" with John Lockley & Michael Stone

I was happy to join Michael Stone on the 21st August for his monthly 'New Moon: Planetary Call to Action' Webinar. Many people around the world experienced a solar eclipse. We found this auspicious because of our themed talk. In many ancient cultures around the world the sun was (& still is) perceived as the first ancestor, the source of all life. 

We spoke about 'Ancestors' and how important it is to honour them for gifting us with our life.  The listeners asked some interesting questions. It was quickly apparent how traumatized people are by family history, focusing on the sadness, grief or bad behaviour of ancestors making it difficult for the present generation to stand with dignity. During these discussions I felt called to remind people that we are honouring the shining essence of our ancestors, their khanya (shining) or consciousness that they have passed on to us. We honour this part of our ancestors because this is how we come to 'be' in the world. It is too easy for us to fall into stories whether good or bad.  

I loved speaking alongside Michael. He shared another perspective on the importance of honouring our Ancestors that I found elightening and refreshing. I learnt a great deal from this dialogue with him.

To listen to the discussion please click the Sound Cloud link below. 

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'Leopard Warrior' talk in Dublin at Positive Nights

I spoke at Positive Nights with Paul Congdon in Dublin recently about my upcoming book, 'Leopard Warrior'. It was a wonderful night. I received a warm welcome and the people seemed to enjoy my talk. It was important for me to speak from my Mother's original home, Dublin, where it all began for me many years ago. It was in Dublin along the coast on DunLaoghaire peer that my Mother dreamt of Africa. She had a vision of African elephants calling her. The vision was so strong that she felt compelled to listen and travel to Africa. As she said to me years later, "she wanted to witness African elephants in the wild before it all goes..." Hopefully that won't happen. But the wilderness of Africa is under threat by poachers. The only way for this to stop is for there to be more awareness and education about the wilderness and how important it is for each person to reclaim their own wilderness, the landscape of their soul. This is part of my journey, and I was delighted, humbled and very grateful to kick off my world book tour in my second home, the lovely and enigmatic Dublin City. 

 

John Lockley – a traditional African/Irish Sangoma (shaman) from the Xhosa tribe of South Africa – spoke to Paul Congdon at Positive Nights in Dublin on the 31st of August 2017. In this wonderful interview John covered a variety of subjects, including his early life in apartheid-era South Africa, how he came to accept his Sangoma calling, and the importance of dreams. John’s new book ‘Leopard Warrior,’ which describes his incredible journey, will be released later this year.

Way of the Leopard Teachings

My ‘Way of the Leopard’ teachings are an answer to my question, “how to help people who don’t come from a traditional shamanic culture, to connect with their vital essence, their humanity, and discover their calling in the world?  And how to use traditional shamanic teachings to help the everyday person?”

It was inspired by my traditional sangoma apprenticeship as well as Zen training and general life experience.

Most of us have problems and anxieties either voiced or kept silent. A key part of these teachings is to encourage the individual to ‘feel’ their emotions and physical body. Our gifts or abilities are connected to whatever we are struggling with.  ‘Every crisis creates an opportunity’. To connect with our inner power we need to breathe into our shadows, those unacknowledged parts of ourselves.

I do this through encouraging people to feel their heartbeat. To breathe deeply into their pulse, and accept themselves completely. Sometimes this is scary for people, but the results are always invigorating. After a few minutes of breathing and feeling their pulse I teach people how to move and shake their bodies in a vigorous and dynamic way. This has the potential for building up an incredible amount of heat. The heat is what helps to transform us, giving us energy, positivity, vitality and eventually personal freedom.

Let’s say someone is full of anxiety because they are in a relationship that doesn’t make them happy, and they are unsure about whether to break up with their partner. I teach a few simple breathing exercises and stretches and then an awareness of the hearbeat. Once we become centred around our beating hearts we connect to something dynamic, solid, and the ultimate bass drum. Often people say they can’t feel their pulse. In these cases I get them up dancing and shaking. I bring in a few simple African chants like ‘umama wam’ (my mother) and ‘umoya wam’ (my spirit). When it is done with a particular heartbeat rhythm it is deeply moving and invigorating. People laugh and sometimes cry. We all sit down and everyone feels their heartbeat. Once the heart is free to express itself freely unhindered from thinking and anxiety it gives us images and impressions, helping us to navigate our lives. The person with anxiety about their partner might need to move more, think less and feel their heart deeply, and over time in my experience, the answer always comes in a clear way.

Our hearts connect us directly to the natural world and our own strength.  Our hearts speak in the language of mysticism, images, colours and impressions. We stimulate our hearts through happy movements and then listen to it’s song.  It is always unique to each individual, loaded with possibility and creative potential.

The Leopard teaches us how to REST and STALK our spirit. Resting involves listening, the most radical form of mindfulness. And stalking involves complete concentration, searching for our spirit and what makes us feel alive. 

Are you ready to dance and shake your body and listen to the drum in your chest?

 

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African Zen in Japan

I recently had the good fortune of being invited to Tokyo to lead retreats and give private sessions. My first introduction to Japanese mysticism and spirituality was at the age of 18 when I immersed myself in studying Soto Zen, a branch of Japanese Buddhism. I was taught how to clear my mind, find calmness in my breath, and energise my body through the beauty of nature. The teachers were kind and strict. I learnt the beauty of spiritual discipline. Now 20 years later I find myself full circle, back in Japan, and this time I was given an opportunity to give back to the Japanese people whose spiritual culture had inspired me years ago. 

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Listen up for John on the Mindrolling Podcast!

Later next week, John's recent interview as guest on the Mindpod Network's Mindrolling podcast, with Raghu Markus and David Silver will be released!

John, Raghu and David talk about John's dynamic mindfulness work and his trip to the US. Raghu and David both have long histories working with spiritual leaders and are collaborating on this wonderful podcast featuring mindfulness teachers and current topics in modern Buddhism.