Shamanic Teachings of Southern Africa: Dreams, Ancestors & Nature Spirits

Join sangoma (African Shaman) John Lockley for this six-week online course – a guided journey into the ancestral wisdom, dreamwork and elemental practices of traditional South African shamanism.

In traditional South African shamanism, the spiritual journey begins with invoking our ancestors and spirit guides. Over six weeks, John will lead you through the core practices of this ancient tradition – connecting with ancestors, tracking dreams, befriending the shadow, working with plant medicine, meeting the water spirits, and building a daily spiritual practice of your own. As John says: "This course is an invitation to rediscover your soul through a new way of seeing nature, ancestors and dreams."

What to expect

Each week combines guided meditation, teaching and group discussion, with practical rituals and techniques you can take into your daily life. You'll be invited to reflect openly – on your relationship with your ancestors, the parts of yourself you find hardest to accept, and the symbols and synchronicities that emerge as your practice deepens. By the end of the course, you'll have a personal toolkit of simple, grounded practices to continue your spiritual journey.

This 6-week online course includes:

• Guided practices to invoke and connect with your ancestors and spirit guides
• Techniques for dream tracking, helping you identify and interpret prophetic or teaching dreams
• Shadow work and ritual, including how to build a personal altar for integration and self-compassion
• An introduction to plant medicine, using common household plants for healing and protection
• Guidance on connecting with water spirits and elementals as a source of transformation

Who is this course for?

This course is for anyone drawn to ancestral wisdom, dreamwork and shamanic practice — whether you're new to this way of working or already walk a spiritual path and want to deepen your connection with nature, spirit and self.

Book now to begin a six-week journey back to your roots – reconnecting with your ancestors, your dreams, and the natural wisdom that lives within you.

Shamanic Teachings from Southern Africa course syllabus

Week 1 | Energising your Roots: Connect with Your Ancestors

• In traditional South African shamanism the spiritual journey begins with invoking your Ancestors and spirit guides. John will lead a guided meditation to the realm of our forefathers, our Ancestors.
  • Participants are encouraged to discuss how they feel about their own ancestors and what their current relationship is like with them.
  • Discover ways of connecting with your blood and bones. In many cultures, they form the gateway to nature spirits.

• Benefits: Participants will begin to cultivate a deeper understanding and awareness of the lineage that has shaped their lives. Through learning how to honour ancestors' participants will have an opportunity to strengthen their life purpose and improve their spiritual self-esteem.

Week 2 | The Art of Dream Tracking

• Dreams are a gateway between our waking life and spiritual experience.
  • Learn how to understand your dreams and develop a relationship with your spirit. Our dreams are constantly teaching us and beckoning us to go deeper. How can we listen more deeply to the quiet murmurs of our soul?
  • John will teach the three levels of dreaming and how to identify prophetic or teaching dreams that help us navigate our soul's path. As we track our dreams to deeper levels of clarity, so we learn also to track our waking lives and develop the capacity for experiencing more soulfulness.

• Benefits: Develop greater intuition, self-awareness, and insight into recurring life patterns.

Week 3 | Befriending the Shadow – Working with Fire

• To connect with our ancestors and nature spirits, we need to connect with our own wildness, the shadow lands of our spirit. This often involves befriending our shadow, those unexplored or alienated parts of ourselves.
  • Participants will be encouraged to look at parts of themselves that they don't like or aspects of their ancestral history that they might be ashamed of.
  • John will guide folks on the importance of creating a personal 'altar or shrine', with a white candle in the centre. This serves as powerful medicine to help integrate the shadow and empower the individual.

• Benefits: Personal growth happens when we befriend those parts of ourselves that we would rather avoid. We develop self-compassion when we learn to accept ourselves.

Week 4 | Plant Medicine for Healing & Protection

• For centuries medicinal plants have been used by traditional healers and shamans for healing and protection.
  • In this class John will discuss the importance of using medicinal plants to cleanse the body and create a protective filter for deeper dreaming and spiritual work.
  • John will focus on non-hallucinogenic plants. He will explore common household plants like lavender, rosemary, dandelion, mugwort, to name a few.
  • Participants will learn practical techniques to harness the power of these plants through a simple ritual in their home.

• Benefits: A renewed relationship with the natural world based on reciprocity, respect and deeper listening. This has the opportunity to increase calmness and grounding that can support your everyday life.

Week 5 | Connecting with Water Spirits, Mermaids & Elementals

• Water is the essence of life. In many traditional shamanic cultures water spirits are seen as the foundation of a spiritual or mystical practice.
  • In South Africa all sangoma initiations involve going to the sea, river, lake or body of water, to pray and ask the water spirits for blessings.
  • John will share some ancient stories about mermaids from South Africa and Ireland. Are these merely stories and part of human folklore, or is there something more to these beings than modern people realise?
  • Participants will be guided to the world of water and taught how to develop a deeper relationship with the water elementals.

• Benefits: Learning new ways to work with water as a source of initiation and transformation.

Week 6 | Developing a Daily Practice

• John will discuss the core practices needed to develop a personal shamanic practice.
  • Core practices to harness one's energy and open our consciousness:
    • Heart-Beat meditation and stillness practice.
    • Percussion or drumming practice to journey to the world of the ancestors.
    • Dream work and journaling to track your spiritual journey.
    • Learning to follow the symbols and synchronicities that develop once your practice gains momentum.

• Benefits: Participants will leave the course with a collection of simple practices, grounded in stillness, with an opportunity to cultivate deeper wisdom and spiritual awareness.

Meet your tutor, John Lockley

John Lockley is a fully initiated sangoma (healer and shaman) in the Xhosa lineage of South Africa, having spent ten years in apprenticeship with the tribe that gave us Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. He is the author of Leopard Warrior and The Way of the Leopard, and is recognised internationally as a teacher of indigenous African shamanism, dreamwork, ancestral healing and ceremony.

Entry requirements

• This course is open to all.
• To enrol on this course, click 'BOOK NOW'.
• If it is fully booked, click 'REGISTER INTEREST' for updates.
• It is important that you read these 11 Course Agreements before your first class.

What to expect:

Live online with replay

This course runs live online, and attendance is required to get the most from it. Classes will be recorded for those who miss an occasional session, with a maximum of two missed classes per participant – each participant is entitled to two recording links only, and the course will not be available as a full replay. Please don't book this course if you're unable to attend the live sessions. See our terms for more information.

Previous participants say:

"I really loved the course with John Lockley. It felt very special. He was very engaging and inspiring in the way he taught his teachings."

"I loved his drumming and singing as it was a unique way into the meditations."

"This is my 3rd course with John Lockley and I would definitely do another."

"John is extraordinary teacher. It was a privilege to study with him. Would love to continue learning under his mentoring."