Jeudi: Weather-Wise

 

An over the top weather event can be one of the most terrifying things a person can experience, particularly if that person is an adult with kids.  And I’m not necessarily talking about cataclysms such as hurricanes, major earthquakes or floods.  Sometimes the seemingly little things are even more worrisome: long droughts, high winds, ice or sand storms, blizzards.  We don’t think about these things the way we think about the really big wallops of weather, but maybe we should.  They can be just as much trouble; arguably perhaps more because they don’t bring the “disaster relief” that more terrible disasters do.

We’ve had quite a bit of nasty weather in my neck of the woods over the last eight weeks.  Far more than normal snow has combined with high, warm winds that bring about a freeze-melt-freeze cycle which is not only irritating but dangerous.  We had one school closure and a number of power outages not to mention worries about falling trees and stable roofs.  It got to a point where it was time to take action, and that is where a little bit of magick was in order.

Throws, as they are known in hoodoo, have been a big part of magickal practice probably since the dawn of time.  Because most workers of magick have been – and probably still are – ordinary people who can’t afford to waste a lot of what they have, sacrificing something to the elements is a powerful way to entreat them to do your bidding.  Thus a stone, water, some herbs, a coin, locks of hair, pieces of clothing and so on were thrown to the wind, over the shoulder, into running water or onto a fire with a thought or a spoken petition for a specific result.  Done with intention, this simple working can be very effective indeed.

So, when the brutal weather got to me, my family and my neighbors, I gathered up my anger and frustration into a rational petition: calm the winds and stop the sleet.  Repeating this like a mantra in my head, I opened my magickal cupboard and grabbed a handful of equal parts dried basil and sage.  I then went out onto my front porch and, calling out my request, let the herbs fly into the miserable breeze.

Basil is an all purpose jinx breaker and is strongly believed, particularly in hoodoo, to remove all evil from any place that it has been.  Sage, of course, has a long history of purifying the air in many magickal disciplines.  Two easy to acquire and familiar herbs, along with concentration and intention, did the trick.  As of this writing those warm, nasty winds are only slightly more than a bad memory.

Be creative, be sincere and, with a little practice, the art of “throws” – which we will revisit on more than one occasion – will become second nature.  Bonne chance ~

Header: In the Wilds of the North by Ivan Shishkin via Old Paint