Weather Magic, by Hilary Giovale
This is a true story of two friends: Prajna (Island Sister) lives in Kauai, Hawaii, and Hilary (Mountain Sister) lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. This story took place in April, 2018 and is a present-day synchronistic example of how women are being invited to relate to the waters and the weather during this time of climate change.
One night in April, an already rain-saturated island in the Pacific Ocean received an unprecedented 55 inch downpour in one night. Water poured and poured, washing out roads, creating huge sinkholes, destroying homes, flooding towns, and leaving some of the local inhabitants stranded – only able to be reached by boat when the sea was free of swells. And still for days, the rain continued.
At the same time, a mountain town was experiencing one of the driest years on record. The ponderosa pine forest was unseasonably dry and crispy from lack of moisture. Forest fire season had begun, early, and it would be many months until the summer rains arrived to offer much-needed Water to the land.
The island and the mountain were home to two sisters who shared one Heart: for their communities, for the well being of the land on which they each lived, and for Mother Earth.
One afternoon as the rain continued to pour on the island, the mountain sister walked into the dry, brittle forest near her home. With an offering in hand she began speaking to Water and to the spirits of the land, explaining the situation. Far too much Water was raining down on the island, creating devastation for the plants, animals, and humans; meanwhile Water in this high altitude forest was so scarce that the plants were struggling to continue living and forest fire threatened the homes of animals and people. She implored Water to travel across the ocean in this direction. Singing to Water, she asked it to arrive in a form that the land would be capable of digesting, in a way that would provide gentle nourishment and sustenance. In her mind, a picture emerged of the mountain covered with clouds and snow. As she communicated with Water, a cold wind suddenly sprang up, energetically rustling the dry leaves and traveling all around the sister in rapid circles for several minutes. When the moment ended, the mountain sister went home and checked the weather forecast. It was bone-dry for the foreseeable future.
The following morning, the island sister awoke early and began her daily meditation, praying for the people, plants and animals of the island that were now suffering in the aftermath of the flood. Immediately in her mind’s eye she saw her mountain sister singing in the forest, offering tobacco and swaying in prayer. Light touched their two hearts; it was as if their prayers were magnified and something magical was activated: swaths of energy and currents of weather were unleashed and started rushing between the mountain and island. She saw Water traveling from the island across the ocean, to the mountain. As she received this vision, a voice said to her, “This is what we have been waiting for, two open hearts who are ready to connect and help us to move the Waters. This is how it is done.” To the island sister, it all seemed so natural and effortless, as if the Earth herself sighed.
At the same time, in a time zone three hours away, the mountain sister looked up to see a dense cloud completely covering the mountain. The sky was gray and snow flurries fluttered in the air. Snow and rain fell throughout the day and following night, the first precipitation in many weeks. Simultaneously, the sun began to shine on the island for the first time in many weeks.
When the sisters spoke to each other about how their prayers had related to the weather they were awestruck by the unanticipated evidence of magic. As they wondered: “Could it really be…?”, both were filled with gratitude for the opportunity that had spontaneously arisen to serve as channels. Between them, there had been no plan to change the weather, and no verbal communication until the magic had done its work. There had only been their intuition, open hearts, and genuine desire to care for the plants, animals, and humans of their communities, working in collaboration with the universal intelligence of Water.
Hilary Giovale is a mother, dancer, filmmaker, writer, and community organizer who resides on the land now known as Flagstaff, Arizona. She lives an ongoing inquiry into healing our human relationship with the Waters of Earth.
