Peter Ó Gamhna first contacted me a few months ago, to share his experiences with the free guided meditation “Meet a Guide”. He found himself talking to an entity that identified himself as Apollo… but who seemed a bit “distant” and definitely did not take on Apollo’s classic appearance! Since then Peter’s journey with meditation has been a remarkable one, and I encouraged him to write it up so that we could share it with you here. Meditation isn’t for everyone, but for myself and many others, it’s been an amazing path!

Hello,

My name is Peter Ó Gamhna. Jeff has given me the wonderful chance to write a guest post for his highly successful blog, one which I have eagerly accepted. I’m going to be discussing visualisation meditations, sharing my experiences and thoughts with you the reader – it is my hope that in doing so I might inspire a few of you to give it a try yourself, or simply satisfy your curiosity about the matter. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the second half of my interview with Esmerelda, a local practitioner of weather witchcraft. You can read the first half here, along with the very lively discussion in the comments. I want to thank everyone who’s contributed their thoughts; there has been a lot of great conversation about the ethics of weather working, its plausibility, and whether it’s actually dangerous. Esmerelda addresses these issues more in depth in this half of the interview.

When did you first think you might have this talent? What finally convinced you that it was real?

I have always been convinced that the weather forecasters didn’t know what they were talking about–after all, in my experience, they are rarely right more than a third of the time. It turns out this is not a common assessment of their competence…

But I didn’t figure out what I could do until the summer of 2006. I was very skeptical; after all, it was just a coincidence that the parched Midwest got rained on right after I was deeply saddened to see the fields of dead corn as we drove there. After much soul-searching, I was open-minded enough to conduct some little tests. I spent that September trying things out, and they worked better than I could have possibly imagined.

Here’s one thing I did: School was going to start in a few days, and I found out that there was going to be an outdoor assembly. But, because of a budget shortfall, the school had not rented a tent. They could have held it inside, but it really would not have been the same, as there would not be enough room for the parents who needed to attend. And it was Pouring! And the forecast called for it to continue pouring for the rest of the week! Six straight days of rain. I tried to change it, but didn’t really know how. So, the night before, I sat and relaxed and pleaded and prayed to the powers that be to bring sunshine to the children for their beautiful assembly. By 7am, the rain had stopped. The clouds slowly but surely started to clear, so that it was sunny at 11am, just in time for the 11:30 assembly. All of the parents were quite surprised, because they were so sure that it was going to keep raining for the rest of the week. It was thrilling! Read the rest of this entry »

One of the things that makes the Druid Journal 2008 Almanac unique is the section on weather magic — theory and practice. I am no weather magician myself; I got my information from Esmerelda, a witch who has had great success with it. In fact, she sometimes finds that she can’t avoid affecting the weather! Esmerelda contributed a large section of the introduction, as well as weather maps and average temperatures and precipitation for the US throughout the year, all of it essential for the responsible practice of weather magic.

This is the first of a two-part interview with Esmerelda. In this part, she discusses what weather magic is, how you know you might have a talent for it, and the limits of its influence. In the second part, she’ll go over her personal history with it, its ethical considerations (which are very important, as you can imagine), including its potential to influence global warming, and other tips on effective practice.

What is Weather Witchcraft?

In general, weather witching is the practice of changing the weather for a specific place and time. Once you are good at it, the only limit you have is your own imagination. It’s a lot like what Yoda said about the Force: “Size matters not.” Making a strengthening hurricane 1000 miles away fall apart is no more difficult than making the local temperature drop 3 degrees.

If I am relaxed and centered, and make a positive, well-formed request, I generally see results within 48 hours. How do I reach my relaxed state? Rolling my shoulders and closing my eyes, then taking a deep breath, can work just about anywhere. But more effective for me is a nice hot shower (with more shoulder-rolling and deep breathing). Or a candle and a cup of herbal tea.

Let me give an example. Read the rest of this entry »