AD 008 Interview with John Lockley

Archaic Drum

At 18, John Lockley 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 shaman, within the same tribe of Nelson Mandela and Desmond TutuHe eventually 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 trained under difficult conditions in the townships of the Eastern Cape. He is unique in being initiated into three timeless traditions: African Shamanism, Yoga and Zen Buddhism, and also holds an honours degree in Clinical Psychology.