A Fun Experiment Goes Right

Back when Hurricane Sandy was barreling towards the East Coast, hell bent on destroying Jersey, I was in Baltimore. She passed over me on October 29, 2012, and around 6:00 PM Eastern, at the height of the storm, I was out on my deck conjuring up the forces of the lightning, thunder and rain, flexing my Gents-for-Jupiter-trained Jovial muscles to play with the storm... and to try a fun witchy experiment: Tying up the storm in knots.

I carefully bound the forces of hurricane Sandy, two knots on one end, three on the other for a total of five knots, in five strips. As I bound the forces into the strips of cloth, I chanted and prayed, calling on the Forces of Jupiter and the powers of Chaos Sandy represented and manifested through Our Lady Eris. I wove the forces into the talismans, explaining to them that when they were released, they would release the full forces of the storm into whatever result the unbinding magician might desire.

Then I tied them together into a cat o' five tails, put them away, and promptly forgot all about them.

Last Tuesday, Harper Feist, author of the Adyton of Pythia blog, was telling me about her concern for the dryness in her home state of Colorado and the threat of fires to her friends, family, and land that she loves. I lived in Denver in my teens and early twenties and still consider it home, no matter where I end up. You can imagine I was concerned when she brought it up.

Later that day, Frater Ashen Chassan F∴N∴F, a fellow Gent for Jupiter and author of the blog A Magician's Workings, posted a request for prayers for rain and the movement of lots of water in his home state of Colorado, and I quipped, "Too bad we don't know any rain gods!"

The next day it occured to me I could send him one of the strips of cloth (which I still need to do, note to self), and then on Thursday afternoon it occured to me that hey, it's Thursday, Harper and I and Frater Ashen are all Gents, we should just do a combined rite together to bring rain. Also, Frater Ashen is the one who made my ebony Trithemian wand, so I had an easy way to link the magic I did to his efforts. Harper and I also share a bond with Colorado that would draw us into affinity in this work, and it seemed that we could pull off a pretty powerful rite working together in harmony.

And then there were Four

I floated it by her, Harper agreed, and so we arranged group rite.

I was in Baltimore visiting my kids at the time, and so the Planetary hour rolled around my part of the world first. I performed the Gates rite, conjuring Tzadqiel and speaking the Orphic Hymn, and then I put my own part of the plan into action.

I had decided to work with one of the strips from the storm, releasing the forces contained into the manifestation of massive amounts of moisture into the air above Colorado. I wanted the moisture in the air to move where it was most needed, and so conjured Paimon, Elemental King of the Air to direct the forces released.

I asked Tzadqiel to oversee and administer the forces of the rite to ensure no one was harmed as a result of the Work, to aid Paimon in directing the forces of the storm, and to weave together the combined rites of Harper in Florida and Frater Ashen in Colorado. As I spoke the words weaving together the magic of my rite, the rite of Harper, the rite of Frater Ashen, the forces of the current of the Gents for Jupiter, and the spirits we each worked with to bring the desired result in harmony and grace, I saw the forces we conjured pooling over an image of the map of Colorado, and flowing into the atmosphere to bring about the requested results.

I'll let them tell their stories themselves, but the next day Frater Ashen posted that it was raining in Colorado. Harper found an article about a surprise rain shower and the increased humidity aiding the hard working fire fighters in containing the fires that had threatened her home and her people. I was totally thrilled.

I don't do weather magic often because I think it's dangerous for ignorant people to mess with things like climate. Incarnate humans don't have a very good track record when it comes to impacting the climate. It was the series of coincidental references to the need for rain, the convenient magical links we shared, and the presence of a storm in a strip of cloth that convinced me this would be ok.

Also... I really wanted to see what happened with those knots. I'm in Florida during hurricane season now, and will have many opportunities to get some more storms in knots over the next couple of years, so... yeah. I really appreciated the opportunity to test it out.