Grenada, Moon Lines & The End of an Era
As we talked about before, from my traced knowledge, I have no known ancestral ties to the Caribbean. Spirit be saying I do lol, but this is what I’m going off of. I had various trips lined up to learn more about carnival throughout the Caribbean to experience our ancestral knowledge of dancing and masquerading, but things went left when I was called to Nigeria.
All hope was not lost, though! I was still able to squeeze in a trip to Grenada to play mas as my year of travel started to wind down. A new adventure was starting to make room in my reality, so my nomadic lifestyle with only two large suitcases to my name was no longer suitable.
Grenada sits on my beloved moon line.
The moon in our birth chart is an intimate, ever-changing energy. I have a grand water trine in my chart and am a water baby by nature; water calms my spirit in ways nothing else can, which is why, in continuing this conversation around where is home, I find that home is wherever the water is. It’s where water sits comfortably in the air during a hot, humid day. It’s where the rush of the river can be heard before seen.
They say moon and water placements embody intuitive and psychic energies, so as someone who once upon a time sat on a beach with a lover under a full moon expecting a romantic evening but ended up channeling his dead father and holding space for him to release the grief and guilt sitting in his chest… it's safe to say I didn’t know what to expect for this trip that was supposed to be centered around enjoyment.
I made up my mind that the best preparation really was just pouring into my spiritual hygiene, so I was not caught slipping in an environment in which island ancestry was being conjured through dance, music, and endless libations.
I also really love how Tayannah Lee McQuillar illuminates in her Hoodoo Tarot that the moon is more so associated with masculine energy, compared to how the West views the moon through a more feminine lens. I, too, am exhausted with how the terms masculinity and femininity have been perverted and become just another pipeline to traditional/conservative systems, but I still appreciate the nuance of the conversation. For example, yes, our womb cycles sync up with full and new moon cycles, which play a big part in why we consider the moon a feminine force, but the whole process of menstruating can be manipulated and expanded when male fluids enter the chat.
In the same way that the ocean expands and contracts in tandem with the moon cycle, it reminds me of that scene in The Matrix Reloaded at the Zion Rave. The way we perceive duality is a push and pull between forces, no matter who holds the identity of said label. We see how duality has consistently shapeshifted over the years, like with the color pink and how it was originally made for baby boys, as well as the Democratic and Republican parties' ideologies being flipped post-Civil War.
Oof, Nona Gaye <3
The moon is a fluid dance, inviting us to confront our emotions, ground our nervous systems, so we can be curiously open in how we navigate the changes outside of our control.
So in Grenada on my moon line, that’s what we did - we danced.
Trip Highlights
This was my first carnival experience, and I’m not Grenadian, so I have zero feedback or opinions about my experience. I just deeply appreciated being able to take part in cultural libations like:
Endless Fetes - there is an overwhelming amount of parties and events going on from sunup to sundown throughout the island.
Roti & Oil Down - need I say more?!
Jabb J’ouvert
If you’re going to participate, make sure to arrive when it’s still dark to see the magic intended around this event. The history and impact of this event were my favorite part of the whole week, and I’d definitely do it again. 10/10.
Monday Mas
This was a beautiful opportunity to see more of the locals who came out to celebrate during the holiday. We saw babies and families enjoying themselves at restaurants while on the road.
Pretty Mas
After my photoshoot, I was SO sure I did not want to take my ultra-sized backpack on the road. It was overstimulating and I knew if I wanted to enjoy the road for a good and LONG time, carrying that backpack was not the vibe lol. My Grandmother, who has been my biggest champion in traveling and seeing the world, was over the moon with the resulting pictures, so I’d say mission accomplished.
Operating on island time is always an opportunity to slow down and experience the rhythmic cycles of the forces around us, so I am deeply grateful to Grenada for being the last stop in my year of travel.
The moon is such a beautiful teacher in what power we are able to master in the dark when we stay fluid and aware of what’s needed in the environment around us. That power was embodied in maneuvering Mexico and its afro-indigenous traditions and history. It was embodied on a quiet Friday evening as Bomba drummers played and sang endlessly, facing the ocean on the outskirts of San Juan’s historical epicenter. It was embodied when I sat alone in Luquillo’s mountains during a Category 5 hurricane at 1 am as the wind furiously whipped outside with only a candle that burned throughout the night.
It was embodied when I woke up in the middle of the night in a sweat, because my time in Los Angeles with my 90-year-old Bigmomma entailed her needing our hotel room to be 80 degrees, which was technically STILL not warm enough to her liking. But what Bigmomma wants, Bigmomma gets lol.
It was embodied in Colombia, as we paraded the streets during the witching hour with the drums leading the way towards our joy, movement, and the ever-present resilience to connect with our roots.
I am still learning how to embody the dream and clairvoyant energies that our ancestral practices in Nigeria gave the name Egbe, which supports us as we navigate the spiritual realm in our sleep.
My Sagitarius sun and stellium be getting my cancer moon into all types of situations that really take discernment and sharpened spiritual/mental tools to process. I ain’t never scared to make the jump, AND I’m most definitely going to cry along the way if needed or once it’s safe to do so. It’s called duality baby.
Final Thoughts
Astrocartography is a tool that can be used to give context and additional language to our travel experiences. The land be speaking, and when we take time to understand what it’s saying, I believe it sets the foundation for true conscious travel, land acknowledgment, and safety practices. We were born with specific energy that can be interpreted through astrology and our birth chart, and seeing how that energy vibes with the energy of different land masses can help us understand why popular travel destinations don’t quite hit the same when we experience them firsthand. It can also validate our intuition when making big decisions about moving or traveling.
I’m deeply grateful for this past year of travel and how it allowed me to grow in my relationship with my Ori and my ancestry. I will NOT miss carrying everything I own with me as I travel, but I’m not complaining about the serious gains from lugging suitcases up flights of stairs and in overhead bins. In terms of what home means now, I was surprised to be one of the ones heading the call to stay in America, let alone the South. Friends and colleagues gained in this travel industry over the years are finding safety abroad as politics for Black folks once again grow increasingly asinine, and I must admit that the majority of this summer home was spent grieving that false sense of safety moving abroad would’ve given me. Yes, the false sense of safety. We know that imperialism is a global issue, and moving to a different location still comes with the responsibility to show up in communal care, no matter where you go.
Throughout the last year, a friend and I talked often about James Baldwin's idea that all safety is an illusion and how authenticity is the only thing we can rely upon. To be honest, I often found myself deeply missing America’s nuanced version of Blackness, even with enjoying the various forms in which Blackness has evolved within the diaspora according to the history of the land it’s attached to.
My ancestors’ blood, sweat, and joy built this country, and I look forward to a lifetime of immersing myself in the practices that sustained them through the best and worst of times, as I have a feeling that, unlike what we see around us right now, there is so much goodness on the way if we continue to dream and remember it so.
Until the next adventure calls,
Janiece Ifasooto