By Katrina Rasbold
There is little doubt that rain is essential to life. Without it, life would not exist on planet earth. In times of drought, not only do we suffer economically and ecologically, but we also suffer emotionally and spiritually. Most people require a healthy balance of water to dry in order to thrive. Since our bodies are composed of a high percentage of water, we naturally relate to the humidity and water around us. Many people, even those who do not swim, are drawn to the water and enjoy standing in the ocean or in a river, just to participate in the kinship that exists between humans and water.
The human spirit responds well to percussion and the rhythmic sound of rainfall and thunder tends to awaken a primal energy within us. The element of water is associated with emotion, so it evokes a number of different emotional responses in us when it falls all around our homes and our bodies. Water relates strongly to intuition, instincts, and psychic sensitivity.
In moderate amounts, rain soothes and gently cleanses, renewing the land and our spirits with it. In greater quantity, it carries away all that is weak and extraneous and soaks into the earth to fortify and renew the life it sustains. The energy of rain is effective for second chances and clearing away the old, extraneous debris from your life.
Working With Rain Energy
To cleanse a magical working tool, provided, of course, that is it water resistant, place it out in natural rainfall for a little while, visualizing that this gift from the heavens is washing away any energies you do not wish to have present in the tool.
When it is raining outside, do not overuse your left-brain if you can avoid such activity. It is sometimes a struggle to focus on analytic and academic matters when surrounded by water, which contains the full essence of right-brain experiences. If your schedule allows for it, use rainy days for divination and oracle reading, for daydreaming and napping to induce lucid dreaming. Write in your journal. Pursue creative tasks that do not involve heavy thinking and strategizing.
Run into the rain, arms outstretched, and imagine the drops are blessings raining down upon you. Blend into the energy of relief and nourished pleasure the earth emits as it soaks up its own form of mother’s milk. As you feel the plants and trees coming back to life again, feel the life soaking into you as you are reborn. Let the rain slide down your clothing and your body, carrying away with it what no longer serves you, sluicing it neatly away to ground into the Mother Earth.
Water is attuned to the west, the homeland of endings and successful completions. The west leads to the place between the worlds, where we slip through the veils that separate us from other dimensions. Like the dreamy, disconnected mental state we enter when we align with the power of rain, the west shifts our perception and takes us into our Higher Selves. Rainy days are wonderful for astral travel, Shamanic work, and meditation.
Amping Up With Thunderstorms
It is easy to see the male or female energies of meteorological events when we consider the elements they represent. Water and Earth are assigned female attributes in nature and Fire and Air are male. This means that wind, lightning, thunder, and high sun are masculine while rain, snow, and hail are feminine. Not only does a thunderstorm perfectly blend all four elemental energies, but it also perfectly combines and balances male-female energies.
A thunderstorm is the blank check of weather magic that we can use for very nearly any magical work, cranked up to high amperage. If the storm comes up unexpectedly, the magic is even stronger. A freak thunderstorm calls your attention to an important work and everything else should take a back seat for at least a few minutes while we honor the magic.
Working With Thunderstorm Energy
If you are comfortable going out into the storm and can do so safely, direct exposure will bring your strongest magical results. Otherwise, position yourself so that you feel as much of the storm as possible. Open doors and windows, turn off lights, and eliminate distractions in the areas such as computers, TVs, radio, etc. Allow yourself to focus on all of the sounds and sensations of the storm.
Count the breaths between the thunder and the lightning to gauge the approach and retreat of the storm. Let your energy build with the storm and diminish as the storm moves away from you.
As the storm approaches, send your mind out and find the heart of it. See it swirling and moving, alive with power and pulsing with energy. Reach into the heart of the storm and begin pulling it close to you. The more you become one with the energy of the storm, the easier this becomes. Create a symbiotic exchange with the storm wherein you give your energy into it and it pours its essence into you.
Close your eyes and let the storm flow through you. Become one with the wind and if possible, allow the rain to wash over you. Let the thunder blend with your heartbeat. Breathe very deeply and regularly, taking in the scents of the storm and the humidity and ozone it brings. Feel your skin begin to tingle as the energy flows through you and around you.
Direct the energy of the storm toward the prominent magical goal in your life. Feel the energy of the storm move around that goal. Externalize your goal and give it to the storm. Feel the release as it leaves you and goes into the heart of the storm. Let the storm work on it, infusing it with change and resolution. See the goal begin to glow and move as if it is alive. See it contort and change as the storm works on it.
When the storm begins its retreat and the intensity diminishes, release your connection to the heart of the storm and to the goal that you gave over to it. Slowly pull your energy back in and allow the goal to move away from you, knowing that it will come back resolved and perfected. Most importantly, do not revisit the goal for at least one full moon cycle (28 days). Let it go and let the storm do its work.
Katrina Rasbold is a professional Witch, published author, priestess, and editor of Green Egg Magazine. She and her husband, Eric, are the creators of the CUSP spiritual path and owners of Crossroads Occult. She and Dahlia Rose host the popular livestreamed video broadcast “Crossroads of Cognizance” most Thursday afternoons. You can reach her through www.katrinarasbold.com.