Can We All be Rainmakers?
The Zulu say:
He who brings rain,
brings life.
The ancient art of rainmaking was once
practiced all around the world. It represented the sacred relationship between
humans and the Divine. The deep connection between Earth and cosmos, an innate
and intimate understanding of the elements, and the essential nature of
the universe.
It wasn’t something extraordinary to be
able to communicate with the cosmic force and command the elements. It was
natural. This relationship kept the Earth in balance and through sacredness and respect for the Earth and the
Divine force, maintained harmony and the right order of nature.
Connection to the Elements
To understand these sacred traditions is
to understand the extraordinary sacred connection Indigenous people have with the land. That
intuitive understanding and knowing about life, which gives them knowledge of
where water is,
weather patterns, animal behavior, and the messages nature is giving them.
Having lived in cities for so long, many of us have lost this understanding and
connection to the natural world.
Shamanic rainmaking ceremonies are
thousands of years old and were once practiced all around the world. A man or
woman who had a gift or predisposition to rainmaking would be trained for many
years, developing skills and a deep relationship with the elements and weather.
Rainmakers were taught the practice from a young age and it was often seen as a
calling, much like a medicine woman or seer.
What can we learn from these rainmakers and is it
possible we can all become one, in some way?
African Rainmaking
In Africa, the rainmakers were considered to be
rainmaking priests and priestesses, and some African tribes even had rainmaking
clans.
A ‘rainmaking’ center, where African
shamans would call on the gods to send rain, was discovered in Southern Africa
by archaeologists in 2013 while investigating rock art. Researchers confirmed
the hilltop sacred site of Ratho Kroonkop was full of evidence of rain control
fauna. It is believed that the San people used this site to conduct rituals for rain and that when farmers came to the
area they would hire the San shamans to call on the skies to open up.
Researchers say the shamans would have climbed up the hill through the fissures
in the rock, and then lit fires to offer animal remains to the gods as part of
their ceremonies.
Maurice Iwu, Nigerian professor of
pharmacognosy (the study of medicinal plants) in his Handbook of African Medicinal
Plants, says that the process of rainmaking is complicated and
differs enormously from place to place.
The Igbo people burn
sacred herbs and call on the rain god with broomsticks: the Koma rainmakers
live in caves and restrict their drinks to milk, and only drink water publicly
to initiate rainmaking ceremonies
He says rain falls when the ancestors and gods are
pleased.
Rain is viewed as a
sacred and phenomenal gift from God, the most explicit expression of God’s
goodness, providence and love. This important herald of creation serves as a
first sign (droughts and flood) of the anger of the creator. Rainmakers
represent the people’s contact with the blessings of time and eternity, a link
between humans and the Divine. The rainmakers do not rely exclusively on their
spiritual powers; they are well versed in weather and environmental matters and
may spend long periods of apprenticeship acquiring their knowledge.
Indigenous Australian Rainmaking
In the moving and beautiful movie Putuparri and the Rainmakers, the rainmaking
tradition of the desert dwellers of the Great Sandy Desert – some of the most
arid country on the entire planet – documents the ancient rainmaking practices
of the Australian Aboriginal people.
We are shown a small wet spot, which was once the
waterhole cared for and inhabited by the inland tribes before they were
forced off their land by the white cattle station owners.
When a rainmaker, Spider, comes to the
spot forty years after he left his birthplace, calling to the spirit of the
waterhole, Kurtal, and cleans out the spot, the clean fresh water bursts straight up, filling the waterhole
once more. He does a rain dance, communicating with the spirits of the land,
and then tells everyone to clear off fast. They drive away and an enormous
lightning storm quickly approaches, drenching the parched red desert earth.
Anthropologist Daniel Vachon, who joined one of the
expeditions to their desert homeland in the Great Sandy Desert, shared his
experience:
They had literally
made rain in one of the driest parts of Australia and they were known as the
rainmakers.
Indigenous Australians cared for the
land in ways we can only imagine today. They understood how to live in deep
harmony with nature and to
care for country so it flourished, and rainmaking was part of this.
Later in the movie, on finding his
grandfather’s home country’s waterhole polluted, Putuparri says that
country is like a lost soul with nobody to look after it. This moving statement
could be applied to the whole planet right now. We are not taking enough care
of the Earth and
everything is out of balance. We need to return to the old ways and listen to
our Indigenous brothers and sisters who know the right way.
Native American Rainmaking
Among the best known examples of weather modification
rituals are North American rain dances, which were performed by many Native
American tribes, particularly in the South West area of the country.
It is believed that the Native Americans
often tracked and followed known weather patterns, and also offered to perform
rain dances for settlers in return for trade items. In particular, the
feathered masked rain dance of the Zuni people of New Mexico has been well
documented. These dances were passed down by an oral tradition. While
these indigenous dances
may look like ornate ceremonial practices, they were performed as potent
rituals. The rain dance is performed to bring rain and growth to the land
and the crops. When the land is dry and rain is needed for the plants, they
dance and play instruments so they can wake up Kokopelli, the God of fertility
and rain.
Asian Rainmaking
Wu Shamans in ancient China performed sacrificial
rain dance ceremonies in times of drought. They also acted as intermediaries with nature
spirits who were believed to control rainfall and flooding.
In Thailand, there is a curious tradition of the cat
parade, a ritual used when rain hasn’t come for the rainy season, where Thai
farmers bring a female cat in a basket and join a parade through the village.
Water is splashed on the cat when the parade goes through someone’s house. It
is believed the cat’s meow, when it gets wet, will bring rain.
Beyond the Legend
So is rainmaking only the stuff of
legends and shamans? Or can we
all learn to harness our own energy and positively influence the planet around
us? In the world of modern materialistic science, nobody is supposed to be able
to make rain. And yet people are. Even non-shamans are making rain.
American Matt Ryan, coined ‘the
rainmaker’, claims to be able to bring rain. He has been hired over the years
by farmers to bring rain.
I know how to go
about making rain. The first is the shamanic or spiritual way. It uses
intention, prayers, medicine objects, ceremony to help an individual connect
with an unseen force of nature that produces clouds, rain, thunder and
lightning, winds and other weather phenomena.
Matt Ryan learned from Sun Bear, who he reveres as a
rain man of the first degree.
The weather seemed to
follow him where he went, and there were many, many instances as he traveled
the country for years. Not that it was grey and rainy wherever he was, but that
if rain was needed, it would come. He broke many droughts just by arriving.
Other aspects of the weather, such as the wind, gentle breezes or strong blows,
seemed to mirror his needs. And there were a few thunder and lightning shows I
was very lucky to see.
Sun Bear said that he worked with ‘the Grandfathers’ –
an invisible, spiritual consciousness, a being of sorts; one that worked with
humans and the weather. He said they’d been doing it for thousands and
thousands of years.
You Are a Rainmaker
The art of rainmaking is still practiced
today in a few places in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and wherever some
knowledge of the old way remains.
While these indigenous rainmakers were
all trained and had a talent for rainmaking, we can all affect the weather. I
remember hearing my teacher Amma, the hugging saint, speak at a retreat some years
ago. She emphasized the need for us all to deal with our anger and fear, and to remain peaceful as much as
possible, as she warned she could see dark clouds of anger and fear around the
planet; causing disharmony and disruptions in the natural world. She told us
that excessive anger from humans was causing natural calamities, like
earthquakes and floods.
So, in a sense you and I are rainmakers
too, and we have a responsibility to our planet to live in a peaceful way, in harmony with ourselves and
others. This is one of the best ways we can each contribute to the health of
our planet and its future. Make sure your words, actions and thoughts bring
peace to all you meet and you will be supporting peace in the world.
Fonte:
http://upliftconnect.com/ancient-indigenous-rainmaking/
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