Energies attract

I traveled to Argentina in April 2023. One of my favorite parts of this trip was visiting the Iguazú Falls on the border with Brazil. Every second person I met through my friends in Buenos Aires insisted that I should go visit the waterfalls, so I planned for a long weekend there, taking my time exploring both sides of this world heritage site.

Have you ever met a far-future version of yourself in another non-famous person? Someone who made you think, “This is how I’m going to be when I’m their age.” I met a lady on a boat ride on my third day exploring the waterfalls, and I felt this form of instant familiarity.

What I recognized in this lady was a specific flavor of freedom, different to the kind associated with a twenty-something solo female traveler. It was an earned freedom, carried by a woman who lived a heavy life but had decided to rid herself of the emotional baggage. I thought about this as I saw her into the wind, unflinching against the mist and laughing without reservation. Words fail me here, but you can sense when someone’s had an eventful life—you know what I mean? Maybe freedom isn’t the right word to describe what I sensed; it was weightlessness. Her weightless presence and the pure joy that radiated from her on our rollercoaster boat ride have left an impression on me.

I was born under a Waning Crescent Moon, the last phase before the New Moon. This Moon phase is about rest, shedding, and release to prepare for a new cycle. Reading into the meaning of this phase helped me make sense of some experiences: how I’ve interacted with people and experienced events that felt fated, even though I had trouble believing in fate. How sometimes I just know things, the way I know that part of my life’s purpose is to shed what weighs me down—a belief that has no origin other than my own intuition. Intuition is a gift I share with others in this Moon tribe.

When I encountered the weightlessness in this lady, it felt like confirmation of a path I wasn’t on yet. We bumped into each other again after we got off the ride. My Spanish was at the level of a good tourist, so we were at the mercy of gestures and facial expressions. To describe our coincidental meeting, she said, “Las energías se atraen,” while making an exchanging motion with her hands, circling and drawing an organic shape that resembled a lopsided figure eight.

Energies attract, I interpreted.

At the time, I was still keeping my esoteric interests at arm’s length. I’d discovered astrology young—beyond just magazine horoscopes—but the pull of the non-mystical world kept me from fully embracing it. I judged these interests quietly, the way the world judges what it cannot see or quantify through hard facts. We’re afraid of what we cannot understand.

Fast-forward to now, and I’m actively exploring the intangible, energetic world. I feel committed to releasing burdens that are not mine but inherited. Maybe this lady was born under a Waning Crescent Moon as well; I’ll never know. I forgot to ask for her name. All that remain are an impression and a picture of us on the boat, hair wet and faces frozen in a smile that captures the sentiment of our shared experience.