Review: Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams by John Lockley.

Review: Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams by John Lockley.
Published by Sounds True.

John Lockley’s Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams is a book which seems both timely and timeless in equal measure.
Today, a person from a non-indigenous tribe speaking for those who have a direct blood relationship to a cultural and spiritual tradition is often looked upon with suspicion, if not openly challenged. Importantly, the author is sensitive to his role as being one of the first white sangoma priests and acknowledges that there is a heightened awareness around the topic of potential appropriation without due training.

The early chapters in this work detail Lockley’s experiences growing up in South Africa at the end of apartheid and his confusion as he is drawn to his sangoma calling. 

And yet despite being a white man in South Africa at this volatile time, it was the Xhosa tribe themselves who had been waiting for and trained Lockley.
Through his teacher, MaMngwevu , the author discovers that it was the ancestral spirits and voices of the Dreamtime who reached out and asked him to fulfil his own difficult part in remaking a spiritual bridge and bond in order to carry the message of Ubuntu to the world.

There are certainly parallels between Lockley’s life story and the journey of many shamans the world over, no matter the location or tribe. Some of the primal identifiers consist of transformative illnesses and initially world-shattering experiences. There are also the life lessons that come from being a witness to brutality and cruelty only to watch as a simple gesture or unexpected act of compassion demonstrates that higher knowledge always finds a way through.

Yet, many others have been able to say that they have been personally changed by such experiences. It is a whole other journey to decide to accept and embark upon the often thankless task of bringing that same wisdom to a world that may not want to hear it.

Lockley is a self-effacing writer and there are many times within the book where the reader will feel humbled themselves by the tests and circumstances he has come through. They will also see, by looking deeply, that many of the characters that Lockley encounters seem to have almost archetypal profiles in both their individual personalities as well as their timing and arrival in his life.

The various stages of his spiritual development sometimes play out like the foresight and planning one might associate with a great temple; the stark strength and regimen of Buddhist practice representing the walls and structure, then, later, the seemingly predestined architecture of the sangoma priesthood instigating an individual personality and function. The coming together of such traditions may initially seem strange to some, yet Buddhism itself stems from older, shamanic traditions so perhaps it is no surprise that Lockley is able to draw from both.

The author writes at one point that the world is in danger of a “crisis of forgetting” and this is what Ubuntu tries to rectify by helping us remember.

‘A person becomes a person through other people’ is one Xhosa proverb which reminds us of this.
Indeed, the reader can’t help but be struck by how Lockley draws our attention to the eternal relationship between the communal and the sacred, the place for the individual within the tribe and the call to remember that we all belong.

As well as his own personal insights, Lockley explains many of the ancient rites and esoteric symbolism of the Xhosa people and the sangoma priesthood. As with all sacred traditions, of course, there are surface interpretations and higher paths and deeper truths for the initiated only including prophecy, divination and healing.

On a personal level, I was struck by the tantalising links between this tradition and many ancient Irish sacred places and symbols. Irish stone circles, like the Xhosa kraal, have often been linked to cows which are also sacred to the Xhosa, for example. (Boleycarrigeen stone circle being one circle in Wicklow whose name actually translates to ‘The grazing field of stones.’) 

Boleycarrigeen stone circle. Co. Wicklow. (c) David Halpin.

Another fascinating parallel is the practice of ancestor veneration and the importance of both our roots and our future generations in the history of sangoma mysticism. Many ancient Irish temples, such as Newgrange and Knowth, also seem to compel us to remember both where we come from and where we are heading in the cycle of life.

Lockley details how, until the arrival of Christianity in South Africa, it was seen as better to approach God, or the Great Spirit, through speaking to ancestors first, rather than directly instigating contact with the highest deity. He goes on to explain about the practical wisdom of this tradition as well as the animistic links to other world indigenous systems. Personally, I noticed some intriguing matches between sangoma and Tengrism as recently written about by Kevin Turner in his book, Sky Shamans of Mongolia.

In this context, Lockley himself points out that there are phonetic similarities in words such as umbilini, a Xhosa word for a spiritual energy that moves through the spine, and kundalini, an ancient Sanskrit word describing the same energy.
Looking at the recent mythological work of Dr. Michael Witzel and the fact that the world’s oldest ritual icon is a sculpted serpent revered by the San people, perhaps we should not be so surprised at African roots for our spiritual vocabulary.

Later, the symbol of the snake returns when Lockley writes of his time in Ireland and how he was drawn to connect his Irish heritage to African mysticism. He offers some intriguing suggestions regarding indigenous Irish shamanism and a possible outgrowth into the area of traditional Irish music. Indeed, there is a long-held acceptance that the links between Druids and poets blur considerably the closer one looks.

Although the book is a courageous and inspirational story it would be a mistake to overlook the authenticity and conditions required to follow the path of this type of indigenous shamanism. The author describes the purpose of blood ritual and the respect and awareness required for such strong magic, as an example. There is also a real commitment and discipline required in order to study and use medicinal and hallucinogenic plants when required.
The sangoma way is not a weekend retreat with a certificate at the end!

Leopard Warrior, then, is a book as much about personal growth as well as an introduction to African mysticism. Towards the end of this unique work the author provides some practical exercises as well as a list of books for further reading.

Lockley has written an intriguing introduction to this spiritual path and the book is highly recommended.

Leopard Warrior: A Journey into the African Teachings of Ancestry, Instinct, and Dreams by John Lockley.
Published by Sounds True.

Purchase Leopard Warrior Here.