The Moon Within: List 3

by Aida Salazar
Eleven-year-old Celi faces the challenges of growing up, including crushes, changing relationships with friends, and honoring her family obligations and heritage.

This list covers "Full Moon"–"Last Quarter Moon."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3
25 words 21 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. disarm
    make less hostile; win over
    I am disarmed, my laughing slows
    but the happy orange warmth
    for Iván doesn’t leave my chest.
  2. flail
    thrash about
    Iván turns to Marco and flails
    his arms at him too.
  3. rig
    arrange the outcome of by means of deceit
    I rig it by writing:
    Iván
    Iván
    Iván
    Iván
    in all four slots of possible husbands.
  4. rut
    a settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape
    The African tradition of the drum
    helps heal mental illness, problems of any kind
    the layered rhythms they provide
    soothe the brain with left and right brain communication
    and ignite the body to stir out of its rut
    from any place it might be stuck.
  5. register
    enter into someone's consciousness
    Papi keeps talking...
    but I don’t register any more words.
  6. concoction
    any foodstuff made by combining different ingredients
    maybe one of her herbal concoctions
    will make him better.
  7. scorn
    look down on with disdain
    My fingers go straight to my chewing teeth
    and when I arrive Mima scorns,
    Celi, las manos.
  8. devious
    characterized by insincerity or deceit
    Mima reaches over and gently swats my
    hand out of my mouth, knows
    that maybe I’m thinking
    something devious.
  9. steep
    let sit in a liquid to extract a flavor or to cleanse
    She gathers fresh herbs from her summer garden
    manzanilla, ruda, flores de romero, albahaca
    and from her herbal medicine pantry
    dried calendula, tila, lavender flowers, and arnica
    puts them all in a cheesecloth pouch
    in what looks like a giant tea bag
    to steep in my bath.
  10. defiance
    an act boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    An angry defiance continues to rise within me,
    No, Mima!
  11. chrysalis
    pupa of a moth or butterfly enclosed in a cocoon
    We don't know if it hurts a butterfly
    as it hatches from its chrysalis.
  12. banter
    light teasing repartee
    As I dress into my pajamas
    Juju walks into our room
    begins his banter of facts.
  13. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
    I don’t see that
    Mima and Juju
    are both standing
    at the door witnessing
    with Papi
    the closest I have ever
    come to clarity
    lighter and
    as unstuck
    as I could ever be.
  14. simulate
    reproduce someone's behavior or looks
    I reach out to the screen.
    We try to simulate our handshake.
  15. realm
    a domain in which something is dominant
    In the East, the realm of Tlahuizlampa
    the element of fire
    where passion, illumination, and energy live
    we lay candles.
  16. revere
    regard with feelings of respect
    And North, Mictlampa
    we revere the air
    our spirits, the truth of our spoken word
    and so we place a bell, a feather, a twig of sage.
  17. illuminate
    make lighter or brighter
    Coyolxauhqui comes back in bits
    every single night
    illuminating the sky little by little
    until all of her broken pieces
    become one.
  18. gourd
    container made from the dried shell of a large, round fruit
    As my last offering to my moon altar
    I lay my first doll, Alma, inside an open gourd
  19. invoke
    summon into action or bring into existence
    When I ask why,
    Mima reminds me that Coyolxauhqui
    has bells on her cheeks
    and we honor her by only invoking
    those sweet sounds.
  20. incense
    a substance that produces a fragrant odor when burned
    Yeya, our elder,
    smudges each with copal incense smoke
    before we enter the circle.
  21. perseverance
    persistent determination
    Marco Xochihuah,
    especially, these flowers are your beauty, your strength,
    your perseverance and purpose.
  22. replenish
    fill something that had previously been emptied
    Indigenous ancestors created a space
    called moon time
    where women
    could replenish, create, dream, and rest
  23. tinge
    color lightly
    I’m in awe by how
    the red- tinged silk of the water
    easily swishes
    through my fingers.
  24. lull
    make calm or still
    The smell of freshly turned dirt
    fills my nose with a lulling safety.
  25. translucent
    allowing light to pass through diffusely
    Translucent light glistens
    around my hands
Created on Wed Mar 31 14:34:54 EDT 2021 (updated Thu Apr 01 16:07:50 EDT 2021)

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