The art of affecting and controlling the wind, rain, hailstorm, snow, or even the ever-so-intangible thunder and mist, with spells and rituals is extremely old. Examples of such practices can be found in almost every ( If not every ) of the world’s traditions, religions and magickal systems.
From the
sacrificial offerings to the Tethys , an ancient Greek Titaness deity, to the
water swirling in a freshly dug up small
pit in the ground, weatherworking methods spun the globe , as invaluable pieces
of cultural heritage, and they still do, although to a bit lesser amount. We
have to thank all sort of misinformed, and clumsy practitioners for that,
parroting all over the World Wide Web, how weather witchery is fantasy,
distancing therefore the newcomers from the magickal history, and heritage, and
watering down the knowledge. Alas, not even spirituality is immunes to such
insipid things as trending and misinforming. That being said, one of the main
reasons for composing this little article, is to let people know that weather
magick is nothing less effective than Your love spells, banishing spells, money
spells, divination, or any other
magickal methods for affecting the world around us. Unlike what You will
hear on occult related social networks ( at least predominantly ), it’s not a
thing of fictions, it’s genuine magick.
And article like this… it’s really only befitting
for the weather whimsy season that
spring is J
History of the
weather magick and rituals
One of the very
early written information on weather magick, comes from Herodotus, a V century
Greek historian, as noted in his “History of the Persian wars”, he mentions
sacrifices made by magi to conjure the winds. Empedocles, also mentions
controlling the elements of the storm. By the XVI century, the weather working
was equally alive and prominent, which we can attest even from the literature.
For example, this section from the
Shakespeare ‘s notorious “Macbeth” shows the three witches boasting
their weather working skills ( among other ) :
“Second Witch
11 I'll give thee a wind.
First Witch
12 Thou'rt kind.
Third Witch
13 And I another.
First Witch
14 I myself have all the other,
15 And the very ports they blow,
16 All the quarters that they know
17 I' the shipman's card. “ [1]
11 I'll give thee a wind.
First Witch
12 Thou'rt kind.
Third Witch
13 And I another.
First Witch
14 I myself have all the other,
15 And the very ports they blow,
16 All the quarters that they know
17 I' the shipman's card. “ [1]
A demonologist
from the early XVII century (Francesco Guazzo ), in his work “Compendium Maleficiarum” asserts that witches can
control rainstorms, hail, and “with
God’s permission” even the lightning.
Two extremely popular phenomenon of the weather magick, that have been practiced
since the antiquities, and are well recorded, are so called “whistling up a/the
wind” and “wind knots”.
Gerina Dunwich, a renowned occult books
author notes this in her “Exploring spellcraft” :
“ In the 12th century, Sumner wrote in Last Will and Testament, “In Ireland
and in Denmark both, Witches for gold will sell a man a wind, which in the corner of a napkin wrapp’d, shall
blow him safe unto what coast
he will.” “ [2]
According to the
same source ( Dunwich ) The “Irish times” magazine published a story on
the alleged witch who sold magickal wind knots, well into 1814th .
The wind knots,
are a magickal charm, created ritually, on some elevated, windy place ( such as
mountaintops ) by “catching”, or
trapping the wind into a piece of fabric, or even a rope, by tying three knots,
while speaking befitting words of power/incantations. Such charms were often
sold, to the sailors and fisherman,
for it was widely held that undoing these knots will release the wind, creating
anything from soothing wind to power the ships, to winds storms which could
sink the ship. Different traditions may
also accentuate some specific aspects of the ritual, such as specific
sailor knot which was used in trapping the wind, or the rule that the hair must
always be unbound when doing this.
 |
| A man, selling wind knots to the sailors, woodcut |
Whistling up the
wind, is a practice that pertains in Paganism, nature magick and superstitions
even nowadays. Doreen Valiente speaks of people who are naturally gifted to
“whistle up the wind” in her “Natural magic”, and this is in fact a widespread
belief, not just in Europe, but also among some Native American tribes, and even
in Philippines. Whistling is believed to
encourage the wind to start blowing, and to empower it, strengthen, If need be.
However, it’s widely held to be a risky endavour, as it was oftentimes hard to
predict the outcome, let alone control or remedy it. Hence why it’s so ill-advised
to whistle while on ships, even nowadays, for the sailors are superstitious,
and might make you walk the plank If You do it lol. Or more likely demand,
terrified, that you stop with your attempts to bring about demise for all who are on the ship.
Even nowadays,
some witches and people who are “gifted” to whistle up a wind, will go to the
seashore, and whistle for the wind, sometimes swirling a piece of seaweed above
their heads, in clockwise direction.
For those who were
not gifted with the talent to whistle
up a wind, there were other methods,
such as making whistles from Alder tree ( Alnus spp. ) , or swirling lengthy
wooden blades on a string, called bullroarers above one’s head [3]
Even the Christian
religion, which arguably condemns, but certainly does not glorify magickal
practice, had in past resorted to the
rituals and masses to affect the weather, especially in times of great need, during
extremely dry periods, or to halt a threatening storm.
The New York
times, from the February of 1989. published and article dealing with one
such draught “incident” in Italy, on
which occasion the Roman Catholic priests included an old, rarely used prayer
for bringing rain in the mass. [4]
In the Orthodox
Christian Church, “The Great Book of Needs” or the “Euchologion” ( prayer and ritual book for the clergy ),
contains official Christen prayers , which are to be recited, in cases of
prolonged and threatening draughts to bring up the rain. People who live from
agriculture in Balkan peninsula, will even nowadays, request from their
local ministers to read these prayers,
If their crops get “under the weather”, for example during the summer, excuse
the pun.
In remote
villages of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia,
even nowadays there are folk
ceremonies/festivities, basically the rain dances, with young women dancing,
and singing rain calling folk incantations, without clothes, covered instead
with plants, leafs and flowers. This custom is referred to as “Dodola” ( also
Dodole, Dudulya, and few other variations ) , as is one young women, or a girl,
who is anointed as leader, and leads all the other girls, from house to house,
singing the songs, and getting water poured on her, by people. This dance, was
believed to ensure plenty of rain thorough the year, or to end the draught, if performed when the need has risen. It's not too much unlike the Native American rain dancing .
Some
interpretations link the Dodola dances to the Slavic pagan deity, wife of
perun, called Dodola, who was believed to cause rain, while milking her cows. These ceremonies have actively been done in
Macedonia up until 1960. [5]
Magick and
spiritual work to conjure the wind
Some common
methods of conjuring the wind, were already discussed earlier in this article.
However, there are few other, practical methods that are of interest.
Weather magick
makes use of brooms, though not so much the broom in the traditional sense,
even though, ordinary cleaning broom, or the witch’s ritual broom may certainly be used as well.
It’s rather a very small broom, or technically speaking a bit larger herb
bundle, made from specific herbs, which are regarded as auspicious and helpful
in this particular type of spiritual magick. And the best choice for conjuring
the wind, is certainly the Scotch Broom plant ( Cytisus scoparius L. ) .
So, in order to
conjure the wind, a person can get some branches of the Scotch broom, tie them
up in a bundle, and head over to some elevated, less frequented place, such as
hilltops or mountaintops, or even forests. Upon reaching a favorable place, one
should simply wave the broom over their head, or “stir” the air with it in
clockwise direction , while chanting appropriate words of power, for example:
“To stir the air,
and wind to raise,
I call you
sylphs, I give you praise,
A breeze, or
gale, or even more still,
With Broom and
You, I cause by will!”
Should you found
that what you’ve conjured is more than what you can handle, tradition suggests
to simply burn the Broom You’ve used and place the ashes into a whole You’ve dug up, and then cover it
with ground.
Magick and
spiritual work to conjure the rain
During one
particularly hot summer, without rain, the Sicilian people have felt so
threatened, that they could not think clear. They took the Statues of the Saints
and placed them outside the Churches, and removed all the fancy decorations and
embellishing from the statues, and even threatened the “statues” with lynch, If
the rain does not start falling soon.
Or so the story goes, anyway.
Yet what may seem
as irrational behavior on the first sight, is merely an aspect of Christian
folk magick ; as practiced among Catholics in some parts of the world. They
threaten the Saints, or rather, images ( statues most often ) of them, flog
them, or turn upside down, or even threat asking for something specific. This is
almost exclusively done in situations of dire need, but that does not make it
any less sacrilegious and unsettling, though, in my humble opinion that is.
A more
“appropriate” Catholic Christian spiritual-folk practice, to conjure the rain
in times of draught include washing the Statues of Saints in bodies of natural
water, while devotedly praying for salvation
in form of a timely, nourishing
rain. As mentioned before, Orthodox Christians read specific prayers instead,
whereas the Catholics would probably consider such prayers “unfit” as part of
official Church services, masses or rituals.
Witches, and
other kind of magick practitioners, on the other sides have always had quite a
few methods which have been ( and still are ) popularly used to conjure the
rain. Some are simplicity itself, at
least in terms of casting the spells, physically, but may require a
strong, intention, and genuine need. As is the weather , volatile and unsteady, so are the effects of weather
spells cast on whim, or just for the
sake of trying out.
One spell calls
for gathering Sage leaves, after the sunrise, in the early morning, and then
digging a deep hole and burying them inside.
According to the very spell, when the leaves decay the rain will come.
[6]
Another popular
method is, again, like in the case of wind conjuring with a broom.
Usually made for the Heather plant ( Calluna vulgaris L . ) , which is
dipped into a water, or stricken over a
river ‘s surface, and then shaken above the head, or on all the four
corner, to sprinkle/asperse some of the
water from it. This was commonly done, followed by incantations.
Heather is
considered a plant of rain and mist, and was in the “old times” mixed with
Henbane and Fern and burnt as an incense to conjure the rain. [7]
Throwing Sesame,
or Rice seeds in the air, or even ( a more recent variation ) throwing some on the map of the area,
sometimes followed by the words of incarnations, is believed to draw the rain, from sky to the
land.
Another popular
method is to dig a hole in the ground, pour some water in it and stir it. [8]
Some sources insist that one must stir continuously with a finger, and if they
get tired, other person may take over, but the stir motion must not be
interrupted, until the rain starts. [9]
Some other schools of thought claim that the same method may be done by digging
up a small hole with a knife, pouring water in it, preferably rainwater, and
then stirring with the knife, while invoking the rain. One may chant something
along these lines, as they stir:
“Nereids, and
water nymphs,
Water spirits
and air sylphs,
Raise now high,
and fly around,
Tear the
clouds, bring rain to ground!”
A popular belief
in Europe suggests that If one desires to bring about rain, they should pour
water through a sieve on a stone. Ideally, not just any stone, a Fae’s stone,
or Folk’s stone, which are large stones believed to be inhabited by or sacred
to the Fae or Fairies. But You are going to have to try really hard to find one
of those outside the Ireland and Scotland.
In which case, a consecrated stone, used for Your spiritual works only,
or even better for conjuring rain only will do.
Ritual to conjure
the mist
I have written
this particular ritual, some time ago, but I’ve never used it myself. Some
friends have though, and they have
reported good results.
It’s simple. Hold
a piece of Ametrine in one hand, and a lit blue-yellow candle in another.
Chant:
“To conceal and
hide, and wrap in mist,
I invoke air
and water; combine and twist,
Spirits of Air
and Water, from far and wide,
Conjure mist
and fog, bring them by my side!”
Alternatively,
one could try pouring some water in a ceramic/aroma lamp, mixed with dried and
powdered Heather plant, and as the fumes rise, invoke the fog.
Visualizing fog
and mist filling one’s head/mind, is said to effectively render powerless people to penetrate and read mind
of one who’s using the simple technique.
Magick and spiritual work to protect from, and
banish, the storm
Storm is a
destructive and formidable force. One to be feared of, respected, harvested,
and perhaps most importantly, protected from.
Protecting from the bad weather is the whole idea behind weather
divinations and meteorology.
People have used
all sort of herbs and charms to protect from bad weather.
Houseleek, St
John’s wort, and Feverfew are among the best choices to protect from lighting. Particularly the Houseleek, which is said to
be the most powerful charm against the thunders and lightings.
Rowan tree planted in front of the home, and Elder tree
behind the home, are said to also confer safety from electric atmospheric
discharges. Very powerful is a nice sprig of Mistletoe hung on the front door.
Nettle and Oak
tree’s wood, are carried on one’s behalf, as charms against the lightning.
A sharp object,
such as knife, an axe, or a pair of
scissors , pinned in a ground, at the edge of one’s property, is
according to the widely spread superstition, a way to break the upcoming wind,
hurricane, tornado, or storm, split it , and spar your home of it.
Blue Chalcedony,
as well as Heliotrope stones were used to protect from bad weather, and even
help control in, in the “old times”.
[10]
The "Malleus
Malleficarum", suggestes reciting the following to halt a storm:
“I adjure you, hailstorms and winds,
By the five wounds of Christ,
Arid by the three nails which pierced His hands
and feet
And by the four Holy Evangelists, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John,
That you be dissolved and fall as rain!”
Also, three
hailstones would be, in turn, one after another thrown into a fire, while
reciting the Our Father prayer and the Angelic
salutation, to achieve the same result,
finished by reciting Gospel of St. John, and saying: “By the words of
this Gospel may this tempest be stopped!” [11]
In
Austria, there’s a custom of throwing wheat, outside the window, to hinder a storm magickally. The belief probably arises from the notion that
storms are embodiment of some lower level evil spirits, that due to their obsessive compulsive nature get
interrupted, and distracted by
seeds thrown on ground.
NOTES: This article was written and composed by myself, so If You wish to use any part of it elsewhere online, feel free, but add credits: Shadow of the Shadows magick place, Shadow-333@hotmail.com or a direct link to this post
CREDITS AND REFERENCES:
[1] Retrieved from: http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/T13.html
[2] Quoted from: “Exploring spellcraft” pg. 136th New Pages books, 2008th, by Dunwich, Gerrina , used here for
educational and informative purposes, without any ill will
[3] According to: http://www.otherworld-apothecary.com/articles/weather_witching.php
[4] More about it here: http://www.obsidianmagazine.com/Pages/whistle.html
[5] According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodola
[6] “Witches potions
and spells”, 57th page, Kathryn Paulsen, 1971. Peter Pauper Press
[7] According to the
: “Cunningham’s encyclopedia of magical
herbs” , by Scott Cunningham, Llewellyn publications
[8] According to the
source listed under [3]
[9] According to the
source listed under [6]
[10] According to the
Judy Hall, as stated in various of
her books on Crystals
[11] According to the same source as under:
[2], on 138th page
IMAGE CREDITS: First image is from http://etinspires.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/storms.jpg , digitally edited for the use here, by myself, used for illustrative and explanatory purposes without any ill will
The second is from http://www.inst.at/trans/17Nr/4-5/images/4-5_donecker_clip_image007.gif Likewise, this image is also used for illustrative and explanatory purposes, without any ill will
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