Press

Sangoma Lockley is a healing connector

This article appeared in the South African Daily News 25 Feb 2010

It features John working as a traditional Sangoma on a South African farm helping to bring healing after domestic upheaval.

JOHN Lockley is a sangoma. He is one of the few white men in South Africa to be initiated in the Xhosa tradition of sangomas. Ironically, Lockley, who also holds an honours degree in clinical psychology, does not like being referred to as a “white”… read more…Daily News 25 Feb 2010

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BBC Radio 4

John appeared as a live studio guest on BBC Radio 4 ‘Saturday Live’ with Fi Glover on the 5th September 2009.

Listen to the full interview here:

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Alternatively you can listen to the whole show on the BBC Radio 4 website.

After the Calling Dream

Feature article appearing in the ‘South African Newspaper’ in the U.K., 14th July 2009.

The article features John’s journey from the townships in the Eastern Cape to teaching ‘Ubuntu’ workshops to people in the United Kingdom.

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BBC Radio Oxford interview

The Jo Thoenes Afternoon Show, BBC Radio Oxford – June 03, 2009 (20 mins approx)

John discusses his journey to becoming a Sangoma and how it has changed his life.

Listen to the full interview here:

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With regard to this interview, John would like to make clear that as far as he and other Xhosa elders are aware, he is one of the first white men, in recent history, to become a fully initiated Xhosa Sangoma. However, there are reports of other white people becoming Sangomas in various indigenous tribes within South Africa.

Celebrity sangomas heed the call of ancestors

(The Times, South Africa – Sep 21, 2008)

Many educated, westernised South Africans are juggling the duties of a sangoma with their professional careers, writes Bongani Mthethwa.

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Ubuntu Workshops

(The Dreaming Butterfly, 2 March 2008)

A participant’s desciption of an Ubuntu weekend in the heart of Wales – ceremonies to ancestors, herbal lore and techniques, learning traditional healing dances and songs, and stories around the fire.

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“You cannot choose to be a sangoma”

(The Star, South Africa – March 23, 2007)

John Lockley was in trouble, he needed help. A man appeared in his dreams, telling him to find a Xhosa sangoma, but as a young white boy during apartheid, he didn’t know what this meant. When Jonathan Ancer asked him: “why not me?”, he replied…

Read the full article here:

Sacred Agreement

Sacred Hoop Magazine issue 59.

Pip Waller, medical Herbalist, shares the similarities she has found between the traditions of the sangomas of South Africa and the old ways of her home in Celtic North Wales

To read about the sacred relationship between people and animals please click on the following pdf.

Bridge of Reconciliation

Features article in the Sacred Hoop magazine, Issue ,56 2007.

In this article John talks about his Sangoma calling as a ‘Bridge of Reconciliation’, and his work as helping to bring understanding between white & black people in post-apartheid South Africa.

Healing through dance

(Galway Independent, 12 January 2005)

Anna King talks to traditional healer John Lockley about the healing power of dance (xentsa) and the art of divination (vumisa).

Read the full article here:

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