Weather and Shamanism

The relationship between humans and weather is an old one, because in our ancient past, we and the weather were one - we shared galactic space with a vast primordial weather-front. Shot through with solar winds, buffeted by gaseous storms and pounded by meteoric showers, we know the moods and manners of weather intimately. This old relationship is a business of reciprocity.

The physical manifestations of weather are one of the last reverberations of the cosmic creative word. The astral body of Gaia is the collective emotion of the planet and its inhabitants - it is not the logic. Reductive thinking may affect this field, but it has no vocabulary to explain it. The great scientist, initiate and master-seer Rudolf Steiner said "We must see the earth, not as an isolated entity, but as embedded in a dynamic macrocosm and interpenetrating system of forces". His far reaching view into the spiritual realms shows our solar system to be a great cosmic entity. This is reflected in many esoteric traditions.

Our weather is becoming ever more extreme and the factors contributing to this upsurge in extreme phenomena are many and varied. The behaviour of weather seems familiar to us because we create microcosmic weather patterns, or moods, within our own lives. Small storms often behave as if they were a 'shock', or 'cramp', in the atmosphere. When a chain of cramps links into a spiralling organ, a major hurricane is born. In their excellent book on the sentient nature of weather, "Weather shamanism", Nan Moss and David Corbin point out that "Though the tornado can be powerful and destructive, it is also brief and local. The damage on a worldwide scale is minimal. What looks like chaos is control. It is control and management of energy, of wind and water, of thoughts and emotions. The spirits of weather are managing energy in a systematic way"... and to the question "How does a spirit of weather manifest its force in ordinary reality?" the answer is "Reciprocally. The spirit, the alive essence, takes it all in, all the cues and messages from earth - and gives it back" Storms want to touch down and make contact with the earth, and their awesome power always poses the question, "What is the eye of the storm searching for... and who is looking down the lens?"

So what does this all mean for us as individuals? Like the relationship between weather and humans, the answer is an old one. The answer lies at the working hub of all the major spiritual streams, it is born from the universal truth that every thought produces form at some level and each thought influences the shape of creation. The message is simply this: pay attention to the thoughts you are thinking and pivot them in the direction of grace, whenever and however you can. A simple directive, but so very hard to do.

The vast negative thought forms we have created over the millenia, shiver and shake in the earth's astral field, looming, hindering and worsening the potential outcome of astro-meteorological alignments pulsing into the earth. Yet, we have the power to transform and deconstruct these great, dark, forms, by detaching ourselves from the grip of judgement and vengeance, and by consciously spiralling our thinking into higher octaves of creativity - we know what we have to do and in our hearts we know this commitment cannot be forever postponed.

Whilst we are able to predict possible future trends in the weather, we cannot predict a certainty, there are too many variables and as Dr. Steiner said "It is a subject that leads to infinity". Many people have tried to create a definitive model for weather, one of the most famous being the celebrated mathematician, Edward Lorenz. He spent years working on a mathematical formula for weather prediction, but finally gave up, declaring that the weather was not an orrery. He is also famous for posing the question "Does the flapping of a butterfly wing in Brazil cause a hurricane in the Atlantic?". If the flap of the wing lines up with an out-breath from a certain planetary and zodiacal configuration, then I think the answer is almost certainly "Yes".