The Way of the Leopard: Listening to Ancestors in Times of Change w/ John Lockley - Fire Tenders Gathering 2025

Drawing from his Xhosa and Swazi Sangoma lineages, John shares how to listen for the guidance of your ancestors in uncertain times. Through story, prayer, and simple practices, he shows how dreams, signs, and the natural world can reveal the path forward and how ancestral connection can strengthen your heart, restore belonging, and help you walk with courage. John Lockley is a fully initiated and ordained Sangoma, or African shaman, in the Xhosa and Swazi lineages of South Africa. Apprenticed for ten years under his teacher MaMngwevu, who first saw him in a dream, he received the name Ucingolweendaba, the messenger or bridge between cultures. John is the author of Leopard Warrior and the audio teachings The Way of the Leopard from Sounds True. For more than seventeen years he has led Ubuntu and Way of the Leopard retreats around the world, helping people reconnect with indigenous African medicine, the Earth, and their ancestors. He holds an honours degree in Clinical Psychology, has practiced Zen meditation for more than thirty years, and was recently honored by his Xhosa community as an elder sangoma in recognition of nearly three decades of walking his calling.