John Lockley: Sangoma

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon

Religion, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2017

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

John Lockley is a traditional healer, or sangoma, from the Xhosa lineage in South Africa, the same tribe that gave us Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He runs "Ubuntu" (humanity) workshops worldwide, helping people connect to their ancestors, the earth, and one another. His mission in the Western world could be summed up in the Xhosa word "Masiyembo"—involving a profound remembering of the human spirit. As John says, "When people can remember their dreams and connect to their life purpose, then their true vocation surfaces; namely being in service and acting as guardians to our planet." With Sounds True, John has published Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, John speaks with Tami Simon about his startling journey to becoming a sangoma and what he learned while caught between two cultures in apartheid-era South Africa. They speak on what it means to honor one's ancestors and how life takes on a new richness with that practice. Finally, John sings a blessing song called "The Great Spirit," inviting listeners to share in its calling. (69 minutes)

Transcript

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0:00.0	This program is brought to you by sounds true.com.
0:04.0	At sounds true.com you can find hundreds of downloadable audio
0:08.0	learning programs, plus books, music, videos, and online courses, and events.
0:14.3	At sounds true.com, we think of ourselves
0:17.2	as a trusted partner on the spiritual journey,
0:20.2	offering diverse, in-depth, and life-changing wisdom.
0:24.0	Sounds True.com, guest is John Lockley. In 1990, during the beginning
0:47.2	of the end of apartheid, John Lockley, a young white medic in the South African army had a powerful dream.
0:56.0	The dream, which he describes as a calling, began his extraordinary odyssey beyond the barriers of race, culture, and belief into the world of the shaman.
1:08.0	What sounds true, John has written a new book called Leopard Warrior, a journey into the African teachings of ancestry,
1:18.5	instinct and dreams, where he shares the remarkable story of how he became one of the first modern white men in recent history to become a fully initiated
1:30.6	Songoma, a traditional priest and healer in the Cosa lineage of South Africa, the tribe of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
1:40.0	In this teaching memoir, John introduces readers to what he calls the way of the
1:47.0	leopard, a shamanic path for awakening our intuition and connection to the spirit world.
1:54.5	In this episode of Insights at the Edge,
1:56.7	John and I spoke about the difficulty of being caught
1:59.9	in the middle of two cultures in the midst of apartheid and the rarity of being asked
2:06.4	as a white person to become a tribal songoma. We also talked about John's calling illness and how it affected him and the suffering he has undergone that has seemed to be part of his life path and healing gifts.
2:22.0	We talked about why we need to honor our ancestors and how to do it and how
2:28.1	honoring our ancestors changes us and finally John shared with us a blessing song called The Great Spirit.
2:37.0	Here's my conversation with John Lockley. John you are a songoma which is very unusual a white man who is a traditional priest and healer in the
2:58.8	Cosa tradition of South Africa. What does it mean to be a Sangoma?
	...

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