Rain Magic!

 

by Alanna Moore © August 2004.

 

Alanna is a geomancer and many other things, as well as the editor of geomantica, an e-zine on geomancy and other energy-based disciplines (see www.geomantica.org). This is a recent article by her, with thanks.

 

For our approach to rain-making, see here.

 

 

People have been developing rituals to induce rain for millennia. From the rain dances by the Hopi in southwest USA, to the beating of ceremonial rain drums in Ugandan rites, people have used similar methods to inspire rain to fall. With drought still malingering in many parts of Australia, it is perhaps timely to take a look at some of these traditions.

 

Water dragons
In China dragons have long been associated with water features in the landscape and also the weather, tides and water levels. Although fearsome adversaries, dragons were generally regarded as auspicious beasts, as protectors and guardians of treasures, waterways, clouds, winds, and Heaven itself.

To bring rain water dragons were said to fly up to the clouds. When harmony reigned, it was they who ensured the fertility of the fields and the prosperity of the people. But if a water dragon has been interfered with - havoc can be unleashed. Storms are said to be battling dragons, droughts are sleepy ones and floods are the dragon when wrathful.

Originally in the form of local water spirits that presided over lakes and rivers, dragons were regularly invoked in times of drought. The dragon dance that's still performed at Chinese New Year festivities, was originally a ritual of rain making. The dragon's image would also be taken out of the temples and paraded around to show the dragon the damage done and encourage precipitation. 1)

In the rain making rites of the Bronze Age Chinese, as well as in Indochina and Indonesia, ceremonial kettle gongs would be rung. Some kettle gongs in north Vietnam have been dated to 2,500 years of age. 2)

In China and many other parts of the world people would perform rain making ceremonies on mountain tops. In pre-historic Mexico the rain god Tlaloc was worshipped on the summit of Mount Tlaloc, a little east of Mexico City. The Aztecs used their astute astronomical observations (no doubt made on mountain tops too) to help predict the weather.

India
In Indian and Buddhist tradition kingship and rainfall were divinely linked. One of a king's roles was to invoke rain when needed. A righteous king would ensure rain in due season and if rains failed it was the king who got the blame. In order to maintain his position and power a king had to convince his subjects that he had the ability to produce rain.

In Sri Lanka the mountain at Mihintale and the rock at Sigiriya were two of the main centres of ritual worship where pre-Buddhist Sinhalese kings held their festivals, involving both rain-making and fertility. (The later Buddhist kings shifted their ritual focus from mountain tops to Boddhi trees.) 3)

England
There are delightful descriptions from the British Isles of rain making ceremonies where the playful frolic of ordinary folk was the order of the day. At a rain making rite at Gellionen Well, near Pontardawe, West Glamorgan, people danced on the green throwing flowers and herbs at each other, singing jolly old ballads and playing 'kiss in the ring'. The group leader would then go to the well and cry out three times "Bring us rain!!" Everyone then filled up bowls with well water and flung it around or took it home to sprinkle on the garden. Apparently it never failed to rain after such an event.

(A similar rite, where women danced and were splashed with well water, was performed to cure barrenness at some wells. At one such well the local parson was so outraged at the practice that he had the well filled in.) 4)

In Australia
According to Aboriginal lore the deity responsible for the balance of water in a region is it's local snake spirit. The term 'rainbow serpent' can refer to both the water elemental being that is a major culture hero who formed landscapes in 'the Dreamtime', and also to its lesser regional manifestations. Australian rain making rites and rainbow serpents / snake spirits have been integrally linked since time immemorial.

In the south west of Western Australia the woggal or wawgal / rainbow serpent was revered as the guardian of sacred landscapes. It was sometimes regarded as a healer, but it could also cause sickness and mete out punishment for broken laws. The powerful snake spirit was invariably described as feathered, finned, maned and or horny, Daisy Bates wrote in 1925, and was considered an arbitrator of life and death and "omniscient and omnipotent amongst the Bibbulmun" (tribe).

Residing in certain springs, pools, hills, caves, gorges and trees the woggal could also be an unfriendly and fearsome guardian spirit. The woggal's stations were 'winnaitch' ­ taboo, and any game seeking refuge in them was left unmolested. When passing near its home fresh rushes were sometimes strewn by people, or a piece of cooked meat would be placed at the foot of a sacred rock or on the edge of Woggal's pool, to propitiate it. 5)

Permanent water holes in arid zones were the pre-eminent homes of rainbow serpents /snake spirits and were places where rain making rites were held Australia wide, sometimes with several tribes participating. In some areas these inter-tribal ceremonies were important social events.

At Mutawintji National Park in western New South Wales large gatherings of Malyankapa, Pandijkali and Wiimpatja people took place. Initiation rites were held at Snake Cave, with nearby Mushroom Rock another religious site. Other places within the park were used for rain making ceremonies and were women's sites, oral history tells us. It is still a tribal meeting place, but too arid now for habitation. Petroglyphs there have been dated to be over 8000 years old. 6)

In the north west of the Northern Territory the Walpiri tribe have for many generations visited Mawuritji, near Lake White, where they have met the Kokatja (of Western Australia) and the Ngardi people for initiation and rainmaking ceremonies. 7)

In the south Kimberleys rainmaking ceremonies are typically performed at jila - sacred permanent water holes, home to snake spirits called pulany. Local pulany have the power to generate rain at any time should they be disturbed. It is to jila that men go to generate and control rainfall, by persuading the pulany to 'get up'.

It is from these jila that the knowledge of songs and dances relating to rain-making arise and are given to people in dreams. To induce rain - songs are sung and special body designs are worn as people dig the jila, in a prescribed way, throwing the mud out to attract the rain.

A senior rain maker /yiliwirri uses his power to placate the pulany or make them 'get up'. This is demonstrated in his ability to make winter rain, whip up thunderstorms and lightning, and divert storms or cyclones away from or towards particular areas. This can be also done in other areas where pulany reside, such as the sea. 8)

Down south in Victoria, Aboriginal rock wells were associated with rainbow snake Dreamings and rain making ceremonies. The Whroo area, south of the Goulburn River, was home to the Ngurai-illum-wurrung and Taungurong clans. The discovery of gold saw the township of Whroo established in 1850. Now abandoned, all that remains of Whroo is a rock