South African healer at Hot Spot

JOHN Lockley, a traditionally trained South African healer is bringing his expertise a healing workshop at the Hot Spot Music Club on at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 10.

In South Africa, traditional healers called Sangomas use rhythm and dance to connect to the spirit world.

John will facilitate a four-hour ceremony through teaching the ‘Xhentsa’ or trance dance. This is an ancient dance that has been passed down through the centuries from the oldest people in the world, the Khoi San or Bushmen peoples in South Africa. This dance is also known as the rain dance because practitioners say it has the power to change nature. John spent ten years apprenticing under his teacher MaMngwevu, a member of the Xhosa nation, to become one of the first westerners in recent history to be given the title of ‘ ligqira elikhulu’ or senior sangoma. John holds an honours degree in clinical psychology with an emphasis on health psychology. He also has a background in Zen Buddhism and apprenticed under Zen Master Su Bong from South Korea in the early 1990s. John’s mother is from Dublin and he has spent his life moving between Ireland and South Africa. The workshop will be run as a ceremony, which is based on John’s book ‘Leopard Warrior’. Places can be booked at www.thehotspot.ie or by calling 087 2917519.