Leopard Warrior

September 11, 2017
In his enchanting debut, spiritual healer Lockley shares his journey of becoming a sangoma (healer) in the Xhosa lineage of South Africa. Lockley begins with his life as a solider and medic in South Africa at the end of Apartheid. Though he found his work healing soldiers rewarding, he felt he could do more by helping people in a spiritual way, which led to Lockey taking an apprenticeship with diviner MaMngwevu. During their first meeting, MaMngwevu conducted a divination session that showed Lockley his future is in spiritual medicine; she also revealed she had a dream the night before about a foreigner entering her life. In traditional South African healing circles, the leopard is sacred, and part of Lockley’s training included becoming like a leopard: he was told to always be moving, and to always be vigilantly keeping watch—this way he would be able to detect holistic patterns that go unnoticed by those with a narrow focus. In addition to learning how Lockley transformed his life, readers will learn about the ceremonies and initiations he went through to become a sangoma. This will be of interest to those who want to learn more about the spiritual ways and religious ceremonies of ancient South African cultures, and how those ways are still being lived out today.