Leopard Warrior

Leopard Warrior is the journey of an Army medic from Apartheid South Africa to Korean Zen temples and Sangoma ceremonies. It is a powerful tale of how a white South African found meaning and a spiritual homecoming as a priest and healer in the Xhosa lineage – the tribe of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu – and of how the ancient peoples of his land are now actively seeking representatives from outside to bring their wisdom to our troubled societies.

John Lockley’s account travels from long term illness and loneliness in youth, through apprenticeship and initiation via Buddhism, African spirituality and Irish inspiration to the Xhosa wisdom of dreams, ceremony, spirits and ancestors and introduces us to the Way of the Leopard, a joyful and life full journey into the ages old heart of Africa; while also showing us the importance of understanding and listening to our own blood and bones on the journey we take now.

It shows how the Shaman, by walking the liminal spaces, disperses the shadows between ignorance and wisdom; the wisdom of the heart, the dream, the creativity of nature and, to use an African expression the author teaches us, our shared ‘ubunzulu bobuntu’ our depth of humanity.

This is a remarkable first book telling a unique story, the story of one man’s search for the ancestral spirituality of his country; a search many might think difficult, if not impossible, due to cultural, racial and political differences. That he succeeds is proof that these differences are not so deep, proof that belief and true guidance can build bridges between people and proof of the wisdom of those deceptively simple words – ‘we all have red blood’.

Book Details:  John Lockley. Leopard Warrior. Sounds True (1 Dec. 2017). ISBN-13: 978-1622039036

Review Details: Leopard Warrior was reviewed by Martin Pallot, sub-editor of Indie Shaman magazine and published in Issue 39.

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