156 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard
Many forms of sympathetic magick have been
applied to weather working. As I explained in 1.5.4:
“Auras: Cloud Busting,” large-scale weather working
should not be done casually, as there can be unfore-
seen consequences. If you have a large group work-
ing together, you can use the techniques of “Auric
Cloud-Busting” from 1.5.4 to clear the sky, or to push
a weather front away from your area. Or, conversely,
to pull one toward you, if you know it’s out there
somewhere.
The most famous weather spell is: “Rain, rain,
go away; come again some other day.” I’ve used this
one very effectively with several thousand people all
linking hands and chanting together with serious in-
tent. But if the rain does then go away, eventually
there will come that other day, and it might not be one
you choose! So to balance the equation, you should
pick a day you want it to rain, and say the counter-
spell: “Rain, rain, come today; wait no more another
day.” Sympathetic magick for weather work simply
consists of trying to reproduce on a small scale what
you want to happen on a larger scale. One effective
technique is to lay out a large map of the area you
wish to affect. If you want rain in a place, sprinkle
water over it. If you want sunshine, use a mirror to
reflect a spot of sunlight there.
In serious weather working, the most important
thing is to know the prevailing weather patterns for
the area, and what factors might be affecting them at
the moment. Shifting of the jet stream, El Ninos, a high-
pressure build-up over the Pacific Ocean, a hurricane
forming in the North Atlantic, a cold front moving down
from the North Pole—all these elements need to be
taken into consideration. Fortunately, with weather
satellites and the Weather Channel on television, this
is much easier for us now than it was for our predeces-
sors! In Medieval times, it was believed that a Witch
could raise or calm the winds by throwing a rock over
one shoulder, tossing sand in the air, burning sage
leaves, whistling, or speaking appropriate incantations.
Of these, whistling up the wind remains a common
technique. My own favorite tune to whistle a wind is
“They Call the Wind Mariah,” from the 1969 movie
Paint Your Wagon, with Clint Eastwood.Traditional American rainmakers during the 1930s
used fireworks (simulating lightning, and making
smoky clouds) and sprinklings of water, such as you
can do with a lawn sprinkler or a garden hose set on
“spray.” A smoky fire (using green leaves) will simu-
late clouds, and a dry, non-smoky fire will simulate a
hot, sunny day. Rain sticks (a long hollow tube with
many nails driven all the way into it, with some gravel
inside and capped at both ends) are popular for rain-
calling, as are rain dances with lots of loud drumming,
simulating thunder.
Here’s an old sympathetic magick rainmaking
spell: Boil water in an iron cauldron or kettle over an
outdoor fire. When the steam is rising to the sky, stir
the water with a stout wooden rod, then wave the rod
through the steam, and strike it three times hard on the
outside of the pot, loudly calling each time to the sky:Hither, cloud, and loose thy flood!
Whither, drought, let rain come out!When he was a kid, my son Bryan was an excel-
lent young Wizard. He developed his own system of
Magick using stones, which he would collect based
on their appearances. To use one, he would simply
place it on his altar and say a little spell of intention.
Among these was one he called a “snow-stone” be-
cause it had white snowflake patterns all over it. One
snowy December, when Bryan was around 11, he stuck
a snowball in the freezer. The following April, on a
sunny day, he came home from school and informed
us that he had decided to make it snow, as there hadn’t
been any snow since Yule, and he wanted to play in
the snow. Moreover, he had told his friends he was
going to do this! He got out the snowball and placed
it in a bowl on the altar to melt, with his snow-stone on
top of it. The next day there was a blizzard—in mid-
April!—and they had to close the schools.Sympathetic Magick for Schoolwork
Try this yourself: Choose which subject in school
seems to be the most challenging for you at this time.
Find the appropriate color, stone, tool, and other items,
and make a small altar dedicated to this subject. Focus
on how you wish to succeed: getting an A on a test or
an essay, etc. Quiet your mind and charge the stone as
you visualize your success. Keep the stone in your
pocket to focus you on your success while taking the
test, writing the essay...Lesson 6. The Laws of Magick
Magick can either be seen as a purely internal pro-
cess, or it can include influences and connections with
outside entities, ghosts, gods, or Spirits. Either way,
magick operates along its own internal systems of rules
Olaus Magnus, Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus 1555 and logic, just like physics and mathematics. OnceCorrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 4 6/10/2004, 4:01 PM