I just finished watching Tiffany Haddish Goes Off. If you are not familiar with it, she and three close friends travel to Africa. More specifically, Cape Town, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. I must admit that my first reaction to it was honestly a mix of curiosity and suspicion. Initially, it was not clear where they were headed on the continent and why they were going. Folks say Africa forgetting that it consists of 54 countries rather a singular momolithic  place.

However, in spite of my initial hesitation, I have been a fan of Haddish. And, I am more so after following her as she goes off on what is ultimately a pilgrimage to Africa. One that is healing and restorative. I appreciate her willingness to be vulnerable and open enough to go on this journey and to share it. It became evident early on in the series that part of her intention was to challenge the negative stereotypes that far too many Black Americans seem to still have about the continent. Haddish goes, or the editing, takes us to a moment, where she fails to get a laugh in a Cape Town comedy club. That deeply uncomfortable moment seemed to reinforce her commitment to see Africa far more clearly. And, Haddish’s moment of discomfort also reminded me of what it felt like for me to recognize on more than one occassion that while we are connected as folks of African descent our experiences and points of view can be quite unique and differnt. But, in lieu of focusing on those differences, Haddish appears to accept that they exist. And, she is willing to learn what she can in the meantime.

Yet, beyond Haddish’s clarifying comedy faux pas, what was the most compelling for me about their journey was the time she and her day ones spent with healers. As a heritage and healing practitioner, I have hosted folks who have been hesitant to consider or engage spirit in the way that Haddish and her friends do. Specifically, through divinations or readings and more direct healing interventions, including spiritual baths, plant medicine and offerings. Which are all practices that require us to be open to being connected to our ancestors. As well as a willingness to clear the blocked energy that is the result of spending so much of our lives protecting ourselves, bracing, weathering and wishing for a true sense of safety, security and belonging. Blocked energy that Haddish seems to clearly recognize in some way is tied to the way that she uses humor to navigate and negotiate pain, hurt and discomfort. Hers and others. As a deflection that at one point I sense was rooted in seeking safety, security and belonging tied to acceptance by others and the affirming approval that making others laugh offers her.

Initially, Haddish and her friends find their way to two Zulu sangomas, as healers are called in South Africa, in a township near Cape Town. Their visit is significant in part because the township is far different from their luxury accommodations. But, Haddish and her girls do not scrunch up their noses, say ewe gross or attempt some form of charity. Instead, they stay open and curious and seem interested in meeting the community and seeing a glimpse of their lives. Eventually, that means allowing their hostess to take them to the sangomas, Xoliswa and Lukholo. And, while I do not know what was edited out in post production, I appreciate their willingness to remove their shoes and wrap themselves from the waist down to show respect for the h

sacred place they are entering. A respect and an openness that extends to them sitting on the ground below the sangomas who are seated above them to receive their respective divinations or readings from Xoliswa whose insights are translated by Lukholo to Haddish and her friends. Including the one sister who acknowledges that her Christian beliefs make it very challenging for her to consider these spiritual practices as something other than demonic.

Interestingly, at this point in the series, Haddish herself is not able to be fully read as she is blocked energetically. Yet, she is self-aware and insightful enough to recognize that this blockage is tied to a lifetime of self-protection. This, Haddish’s incapacity to be read, is something that Eddy and I recognized immediately. Over the course of our time hosting heritage and healing experiences in Senegal for Black folks that integrate culture and contemplative practices, we have had a few folks come to us who could not be read until they where cleansed. At Ton Ton’s in the Fatick region of Senegal, this meant that before he could see or divine these individuals they were directed to a bath back behind his home. And, while most of our guests have spiritual baths or cleansings of some sort, these particular folks needed one that was unique. One that cleansed or washed away some the blockages that made them hard or impossible to see before they could receive a divination or reading. They like Haddish came to us clocked in armor, armor not necessarily like Haddish’s, that expressed itself as self-importance, aloofness, arrogance and pretense in most cases. They did not come fully prepared to surrender, let down their guard or crack open. Or observe Ishvara Pranidhana, which refers to our willingness to surrender to and trust the divine or spirit. In other cases, we have had folks who were open to the divinations and the sacred bath but deeply challenged by what was revealed. For some, the challenge and discomfort came from being told what they in many ways already knew to be true. For others, the challenge and discomfort came from the way the cleansings were conducted. An unwillingness to get their hair wet or struggling to finding themselves under the sun buck naked taking a bath in a rudimentary open air stall. Near a donkey or a horse or chickens.

The first time Eddy took me to have a divination along with a sacred bath, I failed to remove my underwear and the marabout told him that I had not followed instructions. I was shocked and amazed. What was amazing was there was no way he saw me with his eyes as I had complete privacy and he was in the midst of reading our guest while I was sent to do my bath. It was in that moment that I understood that what we were doing was real.

To Haddish’s credit, she arrived to Africa open and ready even though it took a bit more effort and work on her part. She was intent on allowing her ancestors in to speak to her, to support her and to be part of what is ultimately a healing journey. In fact, she was insistent that she wanted to hear from and connect with them.

And it that openness that allowed her to persist. To find another healer who could allow her to cleanse in a way that was similar to what Eddy and I offer our visitors. In fact, it is in Zimbabwe where we see Haddish and her friends, after being permitted to enter the sacred split rock, collectively receiving a cleansing using both water and smoke. Which occurs at the same time as each of them receives a brief read from Lawrence, one of the two healers holding space for them.

Further, Haddish is afforded the opportunity to be tended to alone by the sister healer who offers her a divination using bones and a healing treatment where Haddish’s ancestors are invited in to support her and to guide the healer to the places in Haddish’s physical body where energy must be addressed, shifted, moved, released and more. It a beautiful exchange to witness. Between the healer and spirit. And, the healer as intermediary and Haddish, who surrenders and fully trusts the healer and the process. It is quite powerful to see someone like Haddish being open to these practices and to be sharing them in such a public way.

Elder writer Alice Walker tells us that healing means putting the heart, courage and energy back into our bodies with our own culture(s). We understand Walker’s reference to energy to be a way to name spirit and life-force. Divinations and the other traditional practices that Haddish is introduced too are akin to what Eddy and I introduce our visitors to because spirit, what Walker names as energy, is essential to our capacity to heal. Energy that is recognized in yoga via the koshas and chakras. Or meridians in traditional chinese medicine.

Eddy and I are invested in holding space and serving as guides for Black folks who are willing to come to Africa like Haddish. In ways that go well beyond being tourists who never connect with the people or the spiritual practices that connect us with our ancestors. We are committed to serving as intermediaries, interpreters, translators and guides who assist those we serve with making meaning and continuing to understand the divine guidance and insights they receive and the energy healing they experience. Opening to spirit is one of most important ways that we can restore our connection to our heritage so we can heal. Spirit is key to a true sankofa experiene that recognizes SOUL as a transformative healing resource that reflects the cultural sensibilities in the African diaspora.