Tuesday, 19 January 2016

UPG and Weather Magic

Yesterday, in a group I admin, someone posted looking for others to help them with controlling the weather.  They rambled on about jet streams and that we're doing it unconsciously anyway, why not make conscious changes.  It also became clear that we weren't talking about holding off rain for an outdoor wedding, we were talking about working on a global scale.

Aside from all the obvious "Why would you?" and "That's above my pay grade" type responses, there were also the expected smile, nod and back away slowly.

I'm sure we've all met someone who claims and possibly even believes that they can affect the weather on a grand scale.  One chap I met a few years ago, rang me to tell me that he was responsible for the fine weather we had last week and seemed to honestly expect me to thank him and show some kind of homage.  Most of the time, it falls under the heading of UPG - Unverifiable Personal Gnosis - they may be sure their work created that change, but there is no way to prove it and it is therefore impossible to know whether they did it or whether it's pure fantasy.

Thing is, this question and the initial discussion came just before I went out to milk my cow.  As I slogged through the cold rain and mud to my leaky milking shed, it occurred to me that this is the wettest Summer I can remember.

Last Summer we had a crippling drought.  We couldn't mow lawns for fear of hitting a stone and striking a spark, it didn't really matter because they dried out so much that they didn't grow enough to be worth mowing for a whole year.  Animal feed and hay was like gold.  Local farmers were destocking to the point of sending their prize breeding animals to the freezing works.  This Summer was expected to be worse, with a prediction of a 95% chance of the worst El Nino Summer ever recorded.

I've had several friends from normally wetter parts of the country tell me they were working to send their nuisance rain down to our part where the drought was making national news.  And the last few weeks have been mostly notable for the rainfall.  Sometimes it's just light rain - the good sort that soaks into the ground and sometimes it's heavy downpours, but there has been more rain than dry weather.

It is possible that the last six months of drought predictions were wrong, or something in the natural weather patterns changed drastically - so drastically that the East Coast is getting all the rain expected for the West Coast, but part of me finds it terribly unlikely.

So at what point do I go from thinking of weather magic on a grand scale as being delusional fantasy and start being more impressed by their skills?  How could I know that it is their weather magic and not the combined prayers of thousands of farmers?  Is there any way to tell?

Thoughtful Blessings





Debbie

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