Are You A Spiritual Salt Eater?

Salt shows up in religious practices across the diaspora. From warding off negative energy to healing, salt is a powerful spiritual weapon. It even shows up in the Bible over 40 times, symbolizing value, purification, and loyalty. But there’s another property of salt that can help us heal.

Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Salt Eaters” explores what it means to be truly healed and well in a world where being Black carries a multitude of emotional and social obligations. We have been conditioned to believe that praying, forgiving, and moving forward – regardless of what happens to us – is righteous and healing. But Bambara offers a different healing perspective.

Barbara says healing comes from allowing our spirits to eat salt. This means that instead of judging ourselves by mainstream standards, we instead lean into our cultural identities to find healing. So what does this mean in practice?

It means those healing practices such as eating, dancing, and laughing are good for us. But above all, it means that we center our Blackness as a holy existence. Our spiritual salt is leaning into who we are as Black people, no matter what is said about us. It means we are enough just as we are.

Look in the mirror. Smile at yourself. Close your eyes. Affirm: my existence in this world is God’s love in action.