There is a quote by bell hooks that I think about often: “Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.” I like to think of my spiritual journey as beginning back in 2015 when I built my first little altar with nothing more than a white candle and a bowl of water. But really, it began with me going to church with my grandmother as a young child. Though I didn’t know it at the time, church was my first introduction to the communal healing power of singing and dancing and sermons that seemed to rattle the stained-glass windows.

Nowadays, I see church as a point of reference, and despite the harm it has caused some of us, it is an embodiment of spiritual healing as a communal practice.  In a time of great isolation and doom scrolling, so many of us are in desperate need of “church.” Not in the literal sense, but rather the experience and the fellowship that has occurred in the Black church specifically for generations. The Calling: a Hoodoo Homecoming, facilitated by Jeida K. Storey and Xolani, is providing a space for just that.

This event “— taking place on April 13th in Durham, North Carolina — is intended to be “a day of ancestral remembering, spiritual renewal and communal connection and ritual.” Wearing many hats, including that of a mother, diviner and mystical midwife, Storey regards the event as a way for Black folks to reclaim our ancestors’ long tradition of spiritual gatherings:

“We called it homecoming because we always think about the ways that our ancestors gathered, whether [it was] before they were trafficked here or while they were enslaved on plantations. . . they would gather at the end of the night to be with one another, to tend to one another. They would gather in churches [and] later praise houses at the water, at the tree. . . and so that is why we’re doing this. We’re calling it coming home because we want everyone to come home to themselves [and] to their traditions.”

Over the years, Hoodoo and other African diaspora religions have become more visible thanks to the internet. This has allowed folks who never had a name for some of the spiritual practices they grew up with to recognize the power and resilience of their ancestors. The reclamation of Hoodoo, especially, has been a safe haven for folks who have either left or been turned away from the church. Xolani, a Queer rootworker, diviner and educator, wants this event to be a place where everyone feels welcomed and affirmed.

“What I hope people gather from this is that the community that you have dreamt of, the things that have been stuck in your imagination, are actually real. You can have Black people who praise God for your being exactly as you are. They’re going to honor your pronouns. They’re going to honor your story. They’re going to honor where you are in your life.”

This event is a labor of love, but in their own spiritual lives for both Storey and Xolani, it is also a joy practice. With a wide grin, Xolani expresses that sentiment:

“I think the joy comes again from once I do this work and then I meet somebody on my path, I meet somebody like Jeida and I get to rejoice and I get to be glad and I get to share this work because I’m not doing ritual just for myself. What’s the point of doing it just solely for myself? There is none. So the joy is when I see the ripple effects and I see my blessings coming to me in the form of people, in the form of community, in the form of love.”

In addition to being in line with what bell hooks has taught us about the importance of healing in community rather than isolation, this event comes at a tenuous time in American and, quite frankly, world history. We have been witnessing unspeakable violence in Gaza for over 100 days. Folks are desperately trying to uplift Congo and Sudan and Black folks all over this world who are struggling against imperialism. As much grief and despair as we see expressed online, it is also thick in the air of our everyday lives. Times like this are when we need community the most—to remind us this fight for a free world is a collective effort.

The Calling: A Hoodoo Homecoming is a part of that collective effort. We can’t pour from an empty cup, but we can pour into each other and create something beautiful. Storey and Xolani are bringing this event to life with that in mind. For anyone reading this, their message to you is, “you need to be there. You need to be in that number.”

Sales for this event end on April 10th, so get your tickets today!