Calendar of Events

Blessing our Ancestors and Nature through Rhythm, Song and Dance 

You are invited to an evening talk and weekend workshop with John Lockley, senior Sangoma in the Xhosa lineage of South Africa. 

John Lockley is an ancestrally trained and initiated South African Shaman. He is one of the first white men in recent history to become a fully initiated Sangoma in the Xhosa lineage of South Africa – the tribe that gave us Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.

Friday evening offers a first hand glimpse at the deep and rich Xhosa way of viewing your life. You will participate in ancient song and rhythm as you are transported in a Xhosa ceremony of introduction.

The weekend workshop will involve transmitting the ancient Xhosa teachings of ‘Ubuntu Ubunzulu’ which means the depth of humanity. 

It is widely believed in Xhosa and Nguni culture that people become human through their connection with other people. Through sharing, togetherness and helping one another we constantly rediscover and recreate ubuntu, our humanity.

The workshop will involve taking people on a journey towards the ancestral world using songs, rhythms, trance dancing, storytelling, prayer as well as a blessing ceremony using medicinal plants. The sangoma becomes a messenger or a bridge between people and cultures. They channel the ancestors using the ancient tool of storytelling to explain certain spiritual/ancestral ideas, thereby showing people how to connect with their ancestors, spirit guides, nature, Great Spirit, themselves and each other. Dreams offer very strong guidance from the ancestors; therefore there will also be a focus on dreamtime.   

Join us at the beautiful Roundhouse for the weekend. $330 includes: retreat and workshop fees for both the Friday evening talk and the weekend workshop; sleeping accommodations for Friday and Saturday nights at the beautiful RoundHouse in Colrain, MA; six delicious meals (Friday night dinner through Sunday lunch). $10-30, sliding scale, for the Friday evening talk. 

Want to just get your feet wet? Join us Friday evening at 7PM for John's talk. Sliding scale $10-30. Come early at 6PM and join the weekend workshop participants for dinner. Dinner reservations required. Registration for the talk highly recommended.

John will be available for private divination sessions on Monday. 

To register please contact Julie Bete at (802)251-0552 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

For more information about John Lockley and his work go to http://www.african-shaman.com