The Call of the Wild, Befriending Nature - by John Lockley

Have you ever been moved by a particular smell, bird song or wild animal like a roaring lion that left you feeling alive?  The smell and sound captivated your senses and alerted you to something sublime and mystical on the edge of your senses. Or maybe you experienced a particular dream that had you gasping for air like a fish out of water. The dream gave you pins and needles, an electric shock down your spine, reminding you of something deeper beyond your understanding. The last frontier or unexplored space could be closer than we think; the space between waking and sleep or between each heart beat. That space could be as fleeting as a newborn’s wink or a fledgling bird’s first flight. Pay attention! You might miss it. Nature is speaking to us in a language of signs, sometimes obvious, sometimes allusive, but always changing. In our fast-paced digital era we are all being called back to nature, to ourselves and the world around us. Can you hear the wind in the trees? What is it saying to you? The answer to species extinction and deforestation resides inside each one of us. Between each breathe and silent pause is a whisper of promise and opportunity, to turn the tide of the destruction of nature.

In order to save nature, we need to first save ourselves.  We need to save ourselves from the overly domestic, sterile, and obsessive conditioning of the modern world that turns the earth into dirt and desecrates the land. In my travels around the world, I am often amazed to hear people talk about the weather as if it is wrong and can be controlled. It is either too hot, too cold, too windy, too snowy etc. How would the world look if we befriended the weather outside and we learned to smile at a rainy day and laugh nervously at a thunderstorm? Our relationship with weather is a wonderful metaphor for our relationship with nature. If we can learn to befriend weather outside then the next frontier is our inner weather of emotions like sadness, grief, anger and jealousy, that can turn a calm mannered person into a hurricane of unexpressed rage. This dynamic we are all familiar with, which can escalate to violence and even war.

The call of the wild is the call to the deepest part of ourselves, our human nature. In sangoma circles we speak about ‘Ubuntu Ubunzulu’, the depth of humanity.  Ubuntu means humanity.  During my lengthy sangoma apprenticeship my Xhosa elders explained to me that people are born human but they have to decide to be a human being. To be a human being means to listen to the wind inside us (uMoya), honour our ancestors (bones) and connect with the divine (Qamata). These teachings are deep and affect the human world as well as plant and animal. Ubuntu speaks about a circle, a human circle of interconnectivity based on our shared red blood and ancestors. After we connect with one another then we are more available to connect with the outer wilderness in the form of plants and animals.

The first step in our Ubuntu journey is about connecting with our ‘uMoya’ (spirit wind) and feeling how it emanates our flesh and bones through it’s relationship with our heart, the little drummer in our chest. In the traditional sangoma world we feel our heart beat as the drum that awakens our ancestors. As we energise our heart with the breath of life, our ‘uMoya’, then we feed our consciousness in a mindful way. The journey of befriending our inner Wilderness has begun; one step, one breath, one heart beat…

The next part of our human journey of listening to the call of the wild involves honouring our bones in the form of our ancestors. Whether you like your ancestors or not is immaterial. The work is about honouring the bones that gave us life. As we do this, we awaken the primordial and ancient part of us. Remembering our dead is a vital part of being human and an essential part of answering the ‘call of nature’.

Every human being has a moment of revelation or epiphany where they feel something deeper than their flesh and bones, something eternal, ephemeral or divine. Call it an experience of the soul, that part of us that survives physical death, our immortality. It is the wildest, most untamed part of ourselves. It is connected to nature in the rawest, most intimate way. I witnessed this first hand during sangoma rituals in the Eastern Cape when young initiates would accept their calling and this would often involve either tears of joy, uncontrolled shaking or a primal scream that loosened the layers of ordinary and extraordinary.  After we accepted our calling, the sangoma drum would usher in a hurricane of energy, of thunder and lightning rising to a crescendo on the waves of the community’s chants. I experienced my own calling in this way, where I had to answer to the ‘call of the wild’ inside me. It was and continues to be exquisitely beautiful, painful and challenging. Why? Because we are intimately connected to nature. As we wake up, we become profoundly sensitive and empathic.  As nature thrives, we thrive. As nature hurts, we hurt. This is the default of being a human being.

Some of the deepest and most profound moments of my life have been during sangoma ceremonies where the drums call our spirits home.  A sangoma intlombe or ‘trance dance’ is one of the wildest experiences for a human being, like extreme surfing down 40 ft waves or climbing Mount Everest. As I am dancing my heart beats over 200 beats a minute and my body is transported to another world. It is painful physically and then the wilderness speaks through the heart and the drum in a language beyond words…The energy of a sangoma ceremony builds as the drum and voices of the people merge with an electrical intensity that permeates the room. I often think of one particular ceremony years ago where I could feel the drum beat in the walls of the house.  Everything was pulsing, moving, swaying. We as a community of sangomas, traditional healers, township dwellers and human beings were saying “Yes” to connecting with our bones (ancestors), uMoya (wind inside) and collective community.  And we said “yes” with our voices, our feet and our hands. People were alive, and in that moment, time stood still and nature moved closer.  

Often our sangoma ceremonies would be greeted by literal thunder and lightning outside the ceremonial room. In these moments our elders would quietly exclaim, “Izinyanya zivumile”. The ancestors have agreed, or accepted our prayers. They have blessed us and opened our wild human journey to another level of consciousness, like another layer of the alchemical onion.

During my recent retreats in the Kalahari Desert with San Bushmen I was happy to experience the ‘shaking medicine’ or trance dance in the Bushmen way. The style of dancing is similar to my South African sangoma community. With the focus being on the feet and spine, the work is about shaking the spine in a reflexive, natural way. We have to get out of our heads and let the primal wilderness of our bodies speak in the language of rhythm. The trance dance is very simple and it starts with walking. I noticed my San tracker friends moving through the bushveld like dancers caressing the earth with fluidness and ease. With my own walking I touched the trance state whilst walking in a rhythmical way, listening to my body, keeping my spine straight and looking at the horizon. As I listened to the sounds around me, gazed at the horizon and brought the breath through my body, I experienced the ‘!Xum’ as the bushmen shared with us; that sense of electrical energy that moves the stars.

The journey of listening to the wind and answering the ‘call of the wild’ wouldn’t be complete without talking about the shadow, the ever-present and silent witness in our human world. As we dance, pray, and invoke our ancestors, our spine heats up. It is a physical experience. The heat of our spine also heats up our emotional body. In the sangoma world our elders caution us about expressing strong emotions like anger during ceremony. It brings to mind an old African saying that uninitiated men can burn the village down. Why? Because they can’t contain the wildness of human emotion. It seems like our world is running amok with uncontrolled emotions. The ubuntu journey needs to incorporate befriending our personal shadow. Each person is responsible for listening to their feelings. During ‘umsebenze’ or a sangoma ceremony, emotion is seen as a part of life. If people don’t feel anything then they are encouraged to approach one of the sangoma elders. Often strong and painful emotions are a sign that the medicine of the ceremony, of the dance, is working. In our modern world we blame incessantly, making politicians, leaders and other people responsible for our feelings. In an indigenous world this would be the mark of a child, adolescent or uninitiated person. A mature response is to allow the feelings to filter through the body, to nourish and condition the spine. This is alchemy, the medicine of transformation. Life initiates us whether we live in New York City or the heart of the Kalahari Desert. How do we respond to the trials and challenges of life? That is most important!  We are all called nowadays to walk like warriors, face the horizon and open our spine to the stars. When we do this with courage and love then anything is possible and nature is right there with us as a silent friend, lover and companion.

See published article in Odyssey Magazine, Summer Edition 2024.

War & Peace by John Lockley

There is chaos in the hearts of man. And our chaos spreads like a virus into the natural world resulting in species extinction and unimaginable environmental destruction. It’s hard to conceive of war on the level of World War One & Two with millions of deaths and untold destruction.  As we witness the recent war in Gaza and Ukraine, we are all called to ponder the question of ‘Why’? And is it necessary to resort to violence in order to be seen and heard? How can we fulfil our role as custodians of this planet and rightful guardians of the plant and animal worlds? It is clear that we need to face our own darkness and explore our inner shadows meticulously and be aware of what we might project onto people we perceive as other or different. In South Africa we have had many lessons around this from the last few hundred years since the start of colonisation, then apartheid and now democratic South Africa.

For those of us who study nature and have learnt to befriend the changing seasons we know that chaos is part of change and transformation. A thunderstorm brings lightning and rain. The rain nourishes the land and makes new life possible. In order to bring peace to our world we need to befriend our inner weather, and ride the storms of shadow energies involving turbulent emotions like anger and resentment. What do we do when these energies seek to overwhelm us? Attack another, ourselves or transmute them into something more productive? Anger is a powerful emotion that can help us transform the living fabric of society. But to do it effectively requires discernment and respect. First, we need to respect ourselves and not give in to our inner critic and when we find ourselves in conflict with others, we need to also hold a space in our hearts for respecting them. In martial arts from the far east like Karate in Japan, opponents begin and end their match with bowing to each other.

I recall a story of Nelson Mandela years ago who was televised in his meeting with the heads of the Palestinian and Israeli youth leagues. They asked him how he managed to create peace in South Africa. He was very matter of fact and recounted his talks with FW De Klerk in the early years. He said they would start each day shaking one another’s hands and having a cup of coffee together. During the course of the day, they would argue with one another and sometimes it would get quite heated. The Youth league presidents asked him if he ever felt like giving up. He said, “no”, because he and Mr FW De Klerk were aware that millions of South Africans were counting on them to find a peaceful solution. It wasn’t personal.  No matter how difficult their day was they would always say good bye in an amicable and courteous manner.

In order to understand Mandela’s diplomacy and humanitarianism we need to explore an important aspect of his journey. Many people might not be aware of Nelson Mandela’s personal journey around his struggle with anger and hatred over white rule and lengthy incarceration. He recounts his story in his autobiography ‘A long walk to freedom’. He said that one night before he went to sleep a voice said to him “Nelson your anger can kill you”. And when he woke the next morning he remembered this voice and the next thing he heard was “…you need to befriend the enemy”.  These thoughts were going through his mind when the white jailer unlocked his jail cell. All he said to him was, “what made you decide to become a jailer and join the correctional services?” The guard was a young white man and told Mandela he didn’t have a choice because his father died when he was only 15 years old and he had to get a job to help support his mother and four younger siblings. This shocked Mandela because he thought all white people were privileged. He realised in their discussion that he grew up with more privilege because when his father died when he was seven years old, he was brought up in the royal household of the Prince of the Xhosa nation. This enabled him to go to university and become a lawyer. He only knew apartheid when he was twenty-one years old. He asked the young jailer where he grew up. The man replied that his family have a farm in the Eastern Cape. Mandela was surprised and told him that he too was from the Eastern Cape. He then asked him in IsiXhosa if he understood the Xhosa language, and the young jailer replied “ewe, ndiyasaze isiXhosa!” Yes, I know Xhosa. And they finished their conversation in Mandela’s home language, isiXhosa. When Mandela became president of South Africa his young jailer friend was sitting next to him as they had become close friends over many years.

Traditional Zen garden

I took part in a traditional Zen Buddhist retreat in the early 1990’s in a temple in South Korea. The Berlin Wall had just fallen a few years previously resulting in the end of the cold war. There were many ex-soldiers on my retreat from East Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and myself from South Africa. We all meditated like soldiers with discipline and a hunger to find peace within amidst the trauma of our collective experiences. During the 100 days retreat we became like brothers as we sought to befriend our inner demons and the cold of a Korean winter. I had never seen so much snow before. Sometimes our Zen Master would usher us outside at ten o’clock at night to sweep the temple grounds before the old people visited the temple in the early hours. One particularly cold night as the Siberian winds ushered in fresh snow the Grand Master, Seung Sahn was giving a dharma talk. He finished his talk with asking us if we had any questions. Everyone was silent, and then a young Californian woman said, “what do we do when the devil comes knocking?” Seung Sahn replied in his jovial way, “Ahhh, the devil! Well, ask the devil if he would like a cup of tea.” In life we our constantly fighting and blaming the devil for all of mankind’s problems. His answer was a quintessential zen reply. Respect all of life, including the devil. It doesn’t mean we need to side with the devil, but rather take a pause, reflect, bow and listen. This brings to mind a traditional Zen Garden with stones and sand in harmony. Listening within brings about spaciousness.  As we meditate on the stones and the sand, we start to befriend the opposites of light and dark within us.  Nothing is wholly good or bad, light or dark. It is our reactions that make it so.

Many people are speaking about the war in Ukraine and Gaza while the hidden war against animals and nature continues unabated. As humanity fights with one another and with issues of power, powerlessness, wealth and poverty, the natural world is dying. What can individuals do? As a traditional South African healer or Sangoma the answer is simple; we need to connect to our own ‘Ubuntu’ (humanity). This involves befriending our ancestors and our inner demons or conflicts. Ubuntu is a circle and speaks about the importance of all of us to hold hands and embrace our collective humanity. In traditional Xhosa and Zulu culture every human being is seeing as being related when you go back far enough. Why? Because we all have red blood and this blood or life force is transferable from person to person regardless of creed, culture or skin colour. We are the natural guardian and custodians of planet earth. We have an unassailable duty and responsibility to all of life on earth. The animals and plants are counting on us to respect life. And when we look closely at the natural world, we see the teachings of mutual respect and understanding shining back at us. Plants are wonderful teachers and demonstrate unconditional love in their offerings to the world of medicinal plants that spread healing and harmony.

In order to heal our world, we need to look into the past and see how our ancestors dealt with chaos, whether environmental or man-made. We are lucky in Africa to still retain a connection to our distant past.  Southern Africa is thought by many anthropologists to be the birthplace of mankind. Our ancient ancestors are thought to be a small band of hunter gatherers or San Bushmen that inhabited the coastal regions of South Africa. They left their mark with numerous rock art paintings highlighting their incredible spiritual and tracking talents. They are the spiritual ancestors of current sangoma or African shamanic lineages in Southern Africa and represent what is possible when we connect to our spirit through trance dancing, plant medicine and following the tracks of animals in the sand. We are part of nature and in order to heal our environment and prevent species extinction we need to learn the language of nature.

I was on a recent ‘Dreams and Tracking retreat in the Kalahari Desert’ and I was speaking to one of our Bushman trackers about healing and dreams. In my experience as a sangoma I have encountered many people who are not remembering or connecting to their dreams. As we walked through the bush together, hundreds of kilometres away from modernity, I asked him if he could recommend any plants that can help people to remember their dreams and connect to their ancestors. The reason being, as a sangoma we believe that as people connect to their dreams and ancestors then they connect to their ‘Ubuntu’ (humanity), and balance and harmony is returned to the circle of life. The Bushman tracker walked past a shrub, stopped, and broke a piece off and placed it in his mouth. He then smiled in a gentle way and told me about this plant. He said that this particular medicinal plant was very powerful because it can heal conflict in the community. If people are struggling with one another in the community, they bite a piece off and spit it on the ground between them. This will help reduce the conflict and spread harmony. At this time the Ukraine war had just started thousands of kilometres away. The bees were going about their business pollinating flowers, and an interesting flock of birds were gravitating around a nearby bush speaking in the language of nature that we were trying to understand.

One of the Bushman elders started to speak in an animated way with the young tracker and they were pointing at me. The elder then approached me and asked me if he could participate in my ‘shrine tent activities’. He had heard about this white sangoma and wanted to see what I do. I was overjoyed and said, “yes of course, join anytime”. Every year on my Kalahari retreats I create a shrine tent for 7 days in the bush. It is a place where I teach people ‘inner tracking skills’; in particular how to connect to ancestors, dreams and ‘ubuntu’, the circle of life. The next day the Bushman elder called Gqikau joined our shrine tent with about 10 or more of his family/ community members. I beat my sangoma drum and we danced and sang together. I explained how I teach people how to pray in the sangoma way and then we all prayed together. It was a beautiful blend of different languages and cultures. The birds took a flight closer to see what was going on. The bushman band said that people visit them from all over the world but never tell them about their lives only asking many questions about them and how they live. They said they were curious about modern people and how they experienced life. I thanked them for their comment and then we went around the room and each retreat participant gave their name and where they came from in the world. People listened to one another. We then spoke about what was happening in the world, and one of the bushman ladies said the biggest problem she has noticed is that people are becoming selfish, they don’t want to share.  We compensated for this by listening deeper and bridging our ancient and modern worlds.

John and San Bushmen elder Gqikau on retreat in the Kalahari desert in 2023

At the end of our ceremony in the bush I offered Gqikau one of my sangoma fabrics which I draped over his shoulders. At the same time, I noticed a vulture flying towards us, low, almost touching the trees, and then flying over our heads. This was a wonderful sign, as vultures often represent transformation. Sangomas view them as powerful healers, with the ability to transform poison and negativity. This was a realisation of a vision I had for many years, of ancient and modern people sitting around a fire revisioning our humanity.

Excerpt from Odyssey magazine article, summer edition 2023-2024, Click here to view.

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.

Traditional Zen garden

At the end of our ceremony in the bush I offered Gqikau one of my sangoma fabrics which I draped over his shoulders. At the same time, I noticed a vulture flying towards us, low, almost touching the trees, and then flying over our heads. This was a wonderful sign, as vultures often represent transformation. Sangomas view them as powerful healers, with the ability to transform poison and negativity. This was a realisation of a vision I had for many years, of ancient and modern people sitting around a fire revisioning our humanity.

Excerpt from Odyssey magazine article, summer edition 2023-2024, Click here to view.

Mindrolling Podcast - Finding your Edge

I was recently interviewed by Raghu Markus on his Mindrolling podcast. We had a powerful conversation that touched on important global themes pertaining to Energy & Ancestors, Dream Tracking & Inner Apartheid. These themes affect not only our human world but also the animal world. We touched on other conversations we have shared in the past or with the BeHereNow Network such as Rewilding modern humans, Decolonizing the mind and Healing Hungry Ghosts. Please follow the links to continue the conversation.

Raghu was a long time student and friend of Ram Dass a pioneer of consciousness in the US and a well known yogi. Raghu is the executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation, an organisation dedicated to preserving the teachings of Ram Dass and his teacher Neem Karoli Baba.

Inner Apartheid & Tracking Animals

Raghu invites john to share on the apex of conservation, reWilding back to nature, and returning to our roots as humans one with the land. To begin, John explores the concept of apartheid (separation) from the spiritual vantage of humankind’s current disconnection from nature. Through this lens, he explains how tracking—following the signs of animals, other beings we love, or even our dreams—can help us tune into the true essence of who we are.

“We each harbor apartheid within ourselves because we are so separated from our true self.” – Raghu Markus

Raghu & John talk nature, dreams, & reWilding modern humans, on Ep. 304 of Mindrolling

Endangered Species // Dream Tracking (14:14)

Speaking to rate of extinction on the globe, Raghu invites John to share on the most endangered species in the world – Pangolins. From here, John offers methods and perspectives on how we can start our day in connection rather than discursive thought, simply by grounding ourselves and our awareness in nature, our fellow humans, and the world around us. Next, John reflects on how Sangoma dream tracking is similar to the vibrational state of devotional mantra chanting from Krishna Das.

“Tracking your dreams means being mindful of the dreams you have at night and then noticing how those dreams are informing your life.” – John Lockley

For more Raghu & John on decolonizing the mind, tune to Ep. 355 of Mindrolling

Learning From Animals // Finding Our Edge // Energy & Ancestor Meditation (35:35)

After sharing about a mystical octopus tracking adventure, John explains how the retreats he runs help support the bushmen and trackers indigenous to the lands being visited. Next, Raghu steers the conversation to how we can learn to live with discomfort by mindfully observing animals. John explains how we can tune to this flow by “finding our edge” – facing our discomfort, spiritual poverty, and disconnection from our humanity. To close, John leads a resonant meditation and chant.

“The lion finds its edge through facing its discomfort. And we have to find our edge as modern human beings through facing our spiritual poverty.” – John Lockley

John Lockley explores the realm of the hungry ghosts, on Ep. 104 of the Guest Podcast

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

Ubuntu in the New South Africa

Ubuntu Retreat 2022 at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, South Africa. Sangomas practicing Ubuntu around the ceremonial altar.

Ubuntu is an old South African word meaning ‘humanity’. I just completed my 7th year of Ubuntu retreats at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo. The numbers of retreatants have steadily grown over the years. I felt priveliged to teach the old teachings of Ubuntu that was taught to me through my Xhosa sangoma apprenticeship. My Xhosa elders speak about ‘Ubuntu Ubunzulu’, the depth of humanity teachings. It starts with the individual person. We are all born human, however the elders say that we have to make a decision to become a human being. In the isiXhosa & isiZulu languages they speak about ‘umntu, ngumntu, ngabantu’. A person becomes a person through other people. As we listen to one another and engage with acts of kindness, consideration and empathy we feed our human family and ourselves.

Ubuntu is a circle of interconnectivity beginning with the human world and stretching into nature. The more harmonious and balanced the human world the more opportunity we have to help our non human families, animals and plants. The Ubuntu circle stretches upwards into the future with our current actions affecting the next generations, and it also stretches backwards in time to our ancestors. In South Africa we have many words for our ancestors, abazali bam (our parents), abantu badala (the old people) and one of my favourites, amathambo (bones, representing our bone people). There is an implicity responsibility to remember and honour our ancestors. As we do this we strengthen ‘isidima’ or dignity, facilitating a deeper sense of ‘Ubuntu’ and the interconnectivity of the human and non human lives on our planet.

I recorded a few of these teachings whilst leading the 3 day retreat in Ixopo at the Buddhist Retreat Centre. Please click the links below to access the youtube videos.

A discussion on the 3 jewels of Buddhism vs traditional Ubuntu practice in South Africa.

A talk on developing an Ubuntu practice with emphasis placed on Dreams, Ancestors & personal responsibility.

Dreams and Tracking Retreat in the Kalahari Desert 2020

I have just returned from my first Dreams & Tracking retreats in the Kalahari Desert. The experience was incredible. I worked alongside Alwyn Myburgh and his safari company ‘Matsebe Safaris’. We lead 3 retreats over a 6-week period.

The focus of our work was to teach ‘African indigenous technology’. I focused on the ‘Dreaming’ component which entailed teaching people how to connect to their Ancestors, Dreams and working with African medicinal plants. Alwyn taught the ‘tracking’ aspect of the retreat. This involved intuitive tracking, interspecies communication and learning bird language. We split our teachings into 2 or 3 hourly segments depending on the weather and animal sightings. Each morning we would wake at 6am and start following the animal tracks at 6:30am. 

We tracked lion for 6 weeks and on the final week we managed to see them, all seven of them, which I felt was very auspicious. Our Bushmen trackers reckoned that they had never seen human beings before. The Kalahari Desert is renowned for large open spaces, hundreds of kilometers of unspoiled wilderness and one of the wildest most desolate places left on earth. We chose the Kalahari Desert to do our retreat because we wanted people to experience the ‘Garden of Eden’, nature untouched by man! A hard task to accomplish, but we did it.

We hosted about 22 people with diverse backgrounds from medicine, dentistry, IT, teaching and the healing arts. It was a life changing experience for all of us. Here are what some of the people said.

Testimonials

I have never felt the tranquility nor peace I experienced with our team of trackers in the Kalahari. Thank you, John and Alwyn.

Nelson De La Cruz

 (Dentist from the US).

The most transformative retreat I’ve ever been on.

Krista Nielsen

 (Teacher from Hawaii).

We will continue our Kalahari retreats next year 2022 in Feb & March. For bookings/ Enquiries please email Beverley reservations.origins@gmail.com.

Please see my interview (below via you tube link) with Mitchel Clute from Sounds True on their FB community ‘Shamanic Path’ page.

Energy Magazine review

Why Shamanism Now? 2 Interviews with the great Christina Pratt

I had the opportunity to join, Christina Pratt, for the first of her series of Society of Shamanic Practitioners sponsored shows. Here you can listen to both of the interviews I made with her.

Click the link below to listen to the two episodes!

http://whyshamanismnow.com/guests/lockley-john/

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. 

'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.

Tags John Lockley, Leopar Warrior, Positive Nights, Paul Congdon, Dublin, Powerscourt Theatre, Spirituality, Mindfulness, Shamanism

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?

Leopard Medicine in the USA

I have just arrived in Fairfax near San Francisco for my seventh USA tour. My first tour was in 2009. I was called by the spirit of the black bear, renowned by the Cherokee as the guardian of the herbal medicine realm. And again last week I dreamt about this mystical creature, further inspiring me for this new tour.

Despite jet lag (an 8 hour time difference) and a terrible cold from London, I feel optimistic and excited about this year’s journey to the United States. My teachings will focus on helping people to connect to their ancestors and the natural world. I will use plant medicine (non-hallucinogenic) and dream work to facilitate these workshops, retreats and public talks.  And for passion and inspiration I will use rhythm in the form of African dancing, drumming and chanting to enliven the spirit and open the hearts of all who attend.

I call my work ‘the way of the Leopard’ because the Leopard is one of the main totem animals for us (Sangomas) in Southern Africa. The Leopard represents pure instinct and encourages us humans to listen to the wind, our hearts and the world around us.

As I went to sleep last night I was disturbed by a sound on the roof. It was loud and disruptive, like cracking rocks. When I investigated I was delighted to see a mother deer and her fawn scampering under the trees. I then awoke to the sounds of hawks flying overhead and crying to one another. I took these signs to be good omens, indicating that the land was accepting me. Then I went to the nearby ‘Best Buy’ store to buy a sim card. My new no had 777 as part of it’s sequence. My lucky numbers! This sealed the deal. I’m sure my US tour will be a huge success!

 Tonight I will be speaking for the first time in Oakland, near San Francisco. I will be joined by my assistant Seyta Selter and Kimberly Conner, a multimedia journalist from New York City, who will be documenting my work to share with people interested in natural medicine. Kimberly recently spent some time in South Africa working for one of our prestigious newspapers, the Mail & Guardian. She fell in love with the country and its people and was called to write a piece on the Sangoma culture. I feel honoured to help her with this task.

If you would like to join me tonight or take part in one of my events in the US please click here for more information about my US tour.

In Blogging, Events

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.

John in Japan

Whilst attending Buddhist ceremonies in Tokyo and surrounding areas I was delighted to find that I remembered some of the Heart Sutra (important Buddhist chant), and my spirit danced to the rhythmical cadence. I felt 'in sync' and in rhythm with the people. My translators and guides affirmed this by praising my flexibility and saying that it felt like I was Japanese. This warmed my heart. 

After spending 18 years studying Sangoma medicine (African Shamanism) in my homeland, South Africa, it felt like a return to my spiritual roots, practicing in Japan. This helped affirm my conviction in our common human roots and how all spiritual disciplines are pointing in the same direction i.e. nature, transcendence, harmony and peace.

Japan is a wonderful mix of modern (Western) and traditional (Japanese) culture. Tokyo is by far the most serene and peaceful capital city that I have worked in so far. As I walked from my apartment near the French and German embassies, I experienced a sensory overload from my toes to the crown of my head. The heat was almost physical and it felt like I was walking in the karoo (semi-desert)  in South Africa during a mid summers day.  My ears were filled with the sound of cicadas chirping in a feverish way. They are called 'semis' in Japanese and only live for 24 hours. This seemed to encapsulate the intensity of their spirits, and made me appreciate the gift of life while I meandered through the streets of Tokyo.

Traditional Shinto temple

I was struck by an ancient Shinto temple shouldered against the side of the road only minutes away from my new home. People stopped and bowed reverently. Life stood still. I approached the temple and felt a sense of awe and serenity like I experienced in many old Buddhist temples in South Korea. A lion sphinx like creature stood guard as you crossed over the threshold and entered the temple grounds. Apparently it is suppose to be a fox. The night before I dreamt about a large fox in red that seemed to welcome me and 'opened the road for me'. My Japanese translator and friend said this was a good sign. The fox represents the spirits of nature in the Shinto faith and is highly revered as a guardian spirit.

I was shown how to clean my hands with water before approaching the shrine. People wash both hands in a mindful way and take a sip of water. The water fountain bubbled up and appeared in a shrine like structure with wooden cups used to collect the water. The cups had ancient Japanese writing inscribed on them and the surrounding water fountain. We then walked up a short flight of wooden steps clapped our hands and bowed a few times. This was to summon the nature spirits and bowing demonstrated humility. I watched people standing in stillness around me while they prayed quietly and focused their awareness on the shrine ahead. We bowed again, clapped and turned away from the shrine and left the temple grounds.

Japanese Shintoism and Sangoma Practice

The Japanese Shinto tradition is very similar to the Sangoma tradition in Southern Africa. As Sangomas we revere our Ancestors in terms of the 'Izinyanya', meaning the 'silent hidden ones' or spirits of nature. We have intricate ceremonies in the forest, near the sea, lakes and rivers where we pay homage to the spirits of nature in all it's forms. The same spirit of reverence and awareness is seen by Japanese people who practice the Shinto faith. 

Sangomas always honour their blood ancestors who act as guardians and gatekeepers to the spirit world.  The same could be said for the Shinto faith, which is one of the oldest traditions in Japan and most people practice it alongside their Buddhist faith. It rests on honouring one's ancestors and nature spirits. I found this incredibly similar to my own Sangoma practice.  My Japanese clients and workshop participants had no problem understanding my speech about honouring ancestors and nature spirits.  A number of them experienced powerful healings and dreams from the ceremonies they attended with me. My only advice or 'indaba' (spirit news or message) to them, was to remember their ancestors and the old traditions of their people. In this way It felt surprisingly similar to back home in South Africa, where I say the same thing to my countrymen from different Sangoma lineages. Modernisation is wonderful in making our lives easier through the use of mobile phones and computers. However, we have a responsibility to also be mindful of where we come from and remember our spiritual traditions. 

Japan and South Africa are two areas in the word where ancient Shamanic earth honouring traditions are still alive and thriving; largely unbroken for hundreds of years. This is in stark contrast to other parts of the Western world like Europe and North America. One of the fastest spreading illnesses in the Western world is depression which speaks about soul loss. Traditional earth honouring cultures can teach all of us how to remember our humanity through revering the earth and one another in a subtle, beautiful and mindful way. 

I look forward to returning to Japan again next year and to continue my world tour teaching people how to reconnect with themselves, one another and nature. There is so much life out there, from the sounds of the 'semis', to the swimming khoi, and eager faced young babies. When we breathe it all in, pause and breathe out slowly, there is no end to the wonder of this world. 

John.

More photos from Japan...

Upcoming travel...

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. 

Subscribe to Mindrolling here to listen on itunes.

African Zen - 'Ubuntu' in Action

Ixopo BRC

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I just completed another retreat in Ixopo at the Buddhist retreat centre. We danced, sang, drummed and prayed. I was overjoyed to be joined by the Zulu cooking staff who helped keep the rhythms sweet and joyful. It is always such an honour for me to be able to share the wisdom of Sangoma culture with people. The Sangoma people of Southern Africa are equivalent to the Buddhist monks and nuns in the Far East. After my time in South Korea in the early 90's studying Korean Zen under the late Zen Master Su Bong, I discovered a number of similarities with my Sangoma colleagues in South Africa. The similarities involved an emphasis on prayer, humility and connecting with the divine through chanting.  This included working together as a team, putting differences aside for the common good. In this way we all help to realise our ‘Ubuntu’, our humanity, and thus also our spiritual direction.

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I was delighted to see the dedication of fellow South Africans to learn about Sangoma traditional culture. This is the future, and it gives me great hope. We had a number of elders with us who were over 80 years old. One of them said to me that this weekend retreat at the BRC in Ixopo was ‘a wish come true’ for her, and she quietly said that she had wanted to learn about Sangoma traditional culture her whole life, and now she had. She was very happy. This warmed my heart and inspired me to continue sharing the beauty of South African traditional medicine.

I will be back at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo again next year from the 15-17th January 2016, and I welcome all South Africans to join us.

John Lockley April 2015.

In Blogging Tags African Zen, Buddhist Retreat Centre, Ixopo, John Lockley, Sangoma Medicine, Ubuntu

African Dreamtime- An Intro by Sangoma, John Lockley

John introduces his series of African Dreamtime webinars and goes into connecting with ancestors.

In Videos

Archaic Drum Podcast Interview

Two interviews with James Benton on the Archaic Drum podcast. John talks about his journey to become a Sangoma and the importance of his life work.

Follow Your Gift and Share it With the World

Read the latest newsletter about Finding your Gift and Sharing It With the World.

• Finding your Gift and Sharing It With the World.

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