🦇 Honoring the Shadow and the Sacred Ancestral Echoes In Taíno tradition — the Indigenous lineage of Borikén (Puerto Rico) and the Caribbean — the bat is a revered messenger. Bats dwell in sacred caves, portals to the spirit world where the souls of the departed reside. When dusk falls, they emerge to feast on guava, a fruit believed to nourish the spirits of the dead. To the Taíno, the bat was a bridge between life and death, a keeper of the underworld’s wisdom, and a guide

Day 15 – The Sacred Art of Camouflage The Waxing Crescent Moon in Sagittarius rises tonight, carrying the spark of revelation and the courage to speak truth without apology. For me — a Sagittarius Sun — that truth is simple: We have survived by adapting our light. When colonizers tried to extinguish the faith and ceremony of the Indigenous and African peoples of the Caribbean, the Taíno and their descendants learned the sacred art of camouflage. Their deities took new forms,

Day 14 – The Alchemy of Sun, Moon, and Storm As the Waxing Crescent Moon in Scorpio rises, we enter the moon of awakening depth—the quiet flame after rebirth, where power begins to take shape. Scorpio energy asks us to look beneath appearances, to merge with what is hidden, to transform by remembering what is eternal. The Taíno cosmology held this same truth long before the zodiac we know today was ever mapped. Their spirituality wasn’t linear; it was cyclical, elemental, and

Day 11 – The Breath Between Roots and Stars As the final sliver of the Libra moon fades, the Earth grows quiet enough for the plants to speak. Their language is older than words, carried through scent, smoke, and song. For the Taíno Behique of Borikén, every plant was a being with soul and purpose. Cassava fed the body. Tobacco purified breath and opened communication with the unseen. Cacao softened the heart and invoked joy. Cohoba, the sacred snuff, carried the mind into h

Day 10 – Finding Calm in the Cosmic Chaos When the sky grows dark and the wind begins to hum, the world remembers Guabancex—((pronounced GWAH-bahn-seks) the Taíno Goddess of Storms. She is the whirling force of transformation, the embodiment of both chaos and renewal. To the Taíno, hurricanes were not punishments from the gods; they were sacred corrections—nature’s way of rebalancing energy. I was only five when I met that power firsthand. A hurricane swept through Puerto Ri

Day 9 – The Song That Never Stopped On humid nights in Borikén, the air fills with a sound that seems to rise from the soul of the island itself: “co-quí, co-quí.” To the Taíno, this was not just a frog calling—it was spirit speaking. The coquí was the heartbeat of the land, a living prayer that reminded the people they were never alone. Small but powerful, it sang through rain and storm, declaring survival with every note. 🐸 Born Ready Unlike most frogs, the coquí bypasses

Day 8 – From Survival to Communion As the moon wanes in Leo, her fire dims just enough for us to listen. This is the time when the body softens, when we stop running and begin receiving. The Taíno Behique — the healer and medicine keeper of Borikén — knew this balance well. Their plant allies were more than remedies; they were relationships. Every leaf had a song, every root a spirit, every flower a story of survival. 🌿 The Ancient Pharmacy of the Earth Cassava fed the peop

Day 7 – The Heartbeat of the Island Before words, before written prayer, there was the drum. For the Taíno people of Borikén, rhythm was sacred language — a heartbeat that spoke directly to the spirits. When the drums sounded, the people gathered, danced, and entered a shared trance guided by the Behique, who knew how to call the winds, summon the rain, and open pathways between worlds. 🥁 The Drum as a Spirit Vessel Each drum was alive. It was treated as a being with breath

Day 6 – Returning to Atabey’s Womb When the fires of the Aries Full Moon begin to cool, the Taíno path calls us home to water — to...

Day 5 – Listening to the Language of Stone When the moonlight touched the stones of Borikén, the Behique — the Taíno seer, healer, and...

Day 2 – The Words That Refused to Die When the Taíno people of Borikén spoke, they spoke not just for themselves, but for the land, the...

Day 1 – The First People of Borikén When we honor Hispanic Heritage Month, we often hear about language, music, or migration. But for...