Xhosa Sangoma Medicine
From time immemorial the medicine person’s job was to help the community reconnect with their ancestors and thus find their vision and soul’s purpose. For it is well known that all people come to earth for a particular purpose and when that purpose is realized then there is tremendous healing for both the living and the dead. We are all intricately interconnected with our forefathers, for it is their blood running through our veins. In South Africa we talk about ‘Ubuntu’ humanity and how we are all intricately interconnected. Ubuntu involves a circle whereby each person forms part of their community. ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.
In order for us to realize the hope of our Ancestors we need to ‘wake up’ to the blood in our veins and reconnect with our dreams.
About John Lockley
JOHN IS ONE OF THE FIRST WHITE MEN, IN RECENT HISTORY, TO BECOME A FULLY INITIATED SANGOMA IN THE XHOSA LINEAGE OF SOUTH AFRICA.
He was born, in 1971, into a divided Apartheid South Africa, with the mark of the sangoma on his face – a band of white birth skin around the eyes. At 18, John was serving in the South African army as a medic (during the war with Angola in the 1980s) when he had a strong, prophetic dream calling him to train as a Xhosa sangoma. He immediately began to suffer from the thwasa, a severe period of ill-health that is inherent in all ancient shamanic cultures which can only be cured through apprenticeship to a shamanic teacher. Because of the restrictions of Apartheid (which ended in 1994) it would take John seven years to find a Xhosa teacher. During the early days of his calling he trained as a Zen student under renowned Zen Master, Su Bong, completing an intensive three-month kyol che in a Buddhist monastery in South Korea. He was then invited by the Grand Master Dae Soen Sa Nim to join his “monk army”, but the strength of his sangoma calling drew him back to South Africa.
John with his teacher, Mum Ngwevu and her husband.
Eventually, post-Apartheid, John met Mum Ngwevu, a well-known Xhosa Sangoma medicine woman, in one of the poorest townships in South Africa. She had foreseen his arrival in a dream and began his 10-year apprenticeship, giving him the initiated name Ucingolwendaba, meaning messenger or connector between people and cultures.
John now splits his time between South Africa, Europe and the U.S.
For more info visit http://www.johnlockley.com/. Find out more about John’s work and read first-hand accounts from John’s students and clients worldwide.
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Thank you so very much for sharing your time and wisdom with us John. I especially want to acknowledge your genuineness, and the respect that you carry and put forth regarding the sacredness of the ways of the Sangoma. And thank your for the invocation that you so graciously offered to all who were listening <3