RAINDANCE

 

RAINDANCE

By Christopher Nyerges

Books by  Nyerges, and the schedule of his classes, can be seen at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com

 

This is a shortened version of this Raindance story which appeared in the book, “Searching for the Meaning of Life in the City of Angels” by Victor Woodenturtle, a big book that you can obtain from Amazon.

 

 This is the story of something that happened almost exactly 40 years ago, during the ending days of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.  In recent discussions I have had about this with friends and associates, I was told that had I done this today, I would have been harshly criticized for “appropriating” native culture. I wonder. See if you think that this session I had with the children was in any way disrespectful or inappropriate.   

 

 

At 1 p.m., Tuesday, August 14, 1984, I conducted a "rain-dance" ceremony with approximately 20 children in the day camp sponsored by the City of Pasadena’s recreation department.  By 5 a.m. the next morning, the L.A. area was bathed in a heavy and unseasonal rain.  Was there any connection between the rain-dance ceremony and the rain?

I'd told many friends of the Tuesday rain-dance and I was receiving calls first thing Wednesday morning.  "It's raining!! It's raining!!" I was excitedly told.  "The children are going to be shocked."  I was first shocked, then pleasantly surprised.   This was the middle of August, after all, when the rainfall nearly always measures zero inches.

Would it have rained anyway?  Or was the rain-dance -- without my conscious knowledge -- part of a larger drama that was being played out?  Was the rain like the "final curtain" for the special dispensation of weather for this world-wide "gathering of the tribes" we call the Olympics?

On Wednesday afternoon, I called Dr. George Fischbeck, who was a local television meteorologist.  We’d met before, so it was easy to contact him.  During our telephone conversation, he told me that he noted a storm off the California coast at 7 p.m. Tuesday.  By Tuesday evening at 11 p.m., he knew that rain would fall, but not where.  Due to winds that arose, the rain moved further west and north than he expected. 

Dr. Fischbeck believed there was no connection between the rain-dance and the rain, discounting the ability of what he called "prayer" to affect the weather.  Still, Fischbeck told me that he recognizes and respects the sacred nature of the Southwestern Native American dances, having lived among the New Mexico Native Americans for two years as an anthropologist.

So, what are the "real causes" of weather changes?  Weather ­forecasters don't address this since they only look at the forces as they operate, without knowing root causes.  They factually speak of cold and warm air masses, and clouds moving eastward as the earth rotates.  I have come to the realization that our thoughts are real forces, and that we do affect the weather (consciously or ignorantly) with our thoughts, thinking, and emotions.

I reviewed Tuesday's events in my mind in order to reconstruct what -- if any -- effect the rain-dance may have actually had.

Tuesday was to be the last day I'd be working with some of the children, so I had a few special activities planned.  Starting at about 12:30, we began by sampling edible wild plants, and practicing Indian sign language.  Then I introduced the children to a plant called buffalo gourd which is used for making soap.  I demonstrated wetting a few leaves and vigorously agitating them between my hands.  A thick green froth quickly resulted.  Each child made soap with the buffalo gourd leaves, enjoying this new gift from nature.  After we all cleansed our hands, we returned to our circle.

I had hinted earlier that we'd do a rain-dance ceremony.  A few of the children were now asking with voices of eager anticipation, "When will we do the rain-dance?"  Once all the children were seated and quiet, I told them we'd begin.

 I removed my hand-made clay pipe from its container, filled it with a mixture of tobacco and white sage, and carefully lit it.  Once the pipe was smoking well, I stood in the center of the circle and blew smoke to the six directions – the four cardinal points, as well as the sky, and the earth.  I explained to the children that I was offering respect and thanks in an attitude of humility.  The children watched in awe -- they'd never seen anything like this before.

 Next I passed the pipe around the circle for each child to take a puff.  Each child nervously puffed on the pipe.  I explained to the children that this sharing -- this communion -- was a sign of our friendship and unity.  A few of the counselors cautiously looked on and just smiled, reminding the children to not inhale.  In retrospect, I could tell they were a bit uncertain about the fact that I was letting young children smoke a pipe.  A few counselors even looked about to make certain no parents or directors were approaching.

 Once we concluded the pipe-passing, I directed half of the children to dance in an outer circle, while the other half clapped their hands.  We reversed directions a few times, and then I led them in a simple rain chant.  Finally, we let up a cheer for rain.

 "Is it really going to rain?" a few children curiously asked me.

 "Of course," I replied with the innocence of a child.  "It’ll rain within a few days."

 I'd not checked any weather patterns, nor had I planned the rain-dance until that Tuesday morning.         

 Though it rained hard early the following Wednesday morning, there was only a drizzle by the time I arrived at day camp.  Several of the children who had participated in the rain-dance looked at me quizzically that morning, and I could tell they wondered if our rain-dance of the previous afternoon had any connection to the rain.   Several of them came up to me with their questions and comments.

 A few yelled out, "We made rain! We made rain!"  I quickly pointed out that "we" didn't make anything.  Rather, our request was answered.

 A few children asked with open, wondering eyes: "It rained from our rain-dance, didn't it?"  "Yes," I told them.

 However, I was surprised at the lack of comments from others, especially since so many other day campers, counselors, and parents had viewed (or heard of) the rain dance.  The general "ho-hum" response was an example of rationalizing away "Miracles" to the very end.  A mid-summer rain dance and a "freak storm" the next day are not your usual occurrences.  Though it is impossible to ”prove” such connections, I felt in my heart that our rain-dance “prayer” was answered.

 In an attempt to find the science in our rain-dance, I identified at least five important elements. 

1.  We washed ourselves before the ceremony.  

2.  We "requested" rain in an attitude of humility. 

3.  We shared the pipe of unity and friendship. 

4.  We sang, chanted, and danced our rain ceremony, not "by the book," but with feeling and innocence. 

5.  The ceremony was conducted by children young enough to still be uncorrupted by the limitations imposed by adult minds.  They had never been told that they couldn't invoke rain.  I believe that their innocence and lack of prejudice was a key factor in the apparent success of our rain-dance.

 I also reviewed my personal life to attempt to find clues.  A personal state of humility seems essential; also, one should never claim that such ability (i.e., to successfully invoke rain) is "mine," as if the "secret" is some personal power.

In my subsequent research, I filled a thick file on rain ceremonies from different Indigenous people of North America.  I also gave a few lectures on the topic, attempting to crystalize what I had discovered. Invoking the rain is still practiced today by many peoples.   Among the North American Indians, Rolling Thunder occasional­ly invokes rain by use of a curious method (which involves a stink bug) described in a biographical work called Rolling Thunder by Doug Boyd.

Sun Bear, founder of the Washington-based Bear Tribe, describes rain-making in chapter 17 of his Path of Power.  He writes, "The powers that I feel closest to in my medicine are my brothers, the Thunder Beings.  When you're strong and centered in your medicine you can tune into the elemental forces.  You can lock into their energy and have them respond to you, and the process is not the mysterious act of a magician.

"I've worked with my brothers, the Thunderers, for a good part of my life.  When a storm is rolling in, I go out and welcome them.  I offer up my pipe sometimes, and can feel their energy surging into me... When people ask me how I make rain, I simply tell them that I don't make it.  This is the truth.  I ask for it.  If it is meant to be, it comes.  I know that it is not good to try to use the elemental forces to bolster your own sense of power.  I only ask that the Thunderers work with me if it is for the good of Mother Earth, or our relations upon her."

After discussing many of these elements of the rain-dance, my mentor said to me, “Here is THE key to keep in mind:  The essential ingredient in rain-making is personal attitude.  It is inac­curate to state that `asking for’ or `praying for’ rain is effective.”

After much discussion, I could see why it is a blessing that most of us do not know we have such power over nature's elementals.  We are protected by our ignorance since most of us would be irresistibly tempted to abuse such a power.  The built-in safety factor is that such "power" in unavailable until one is ready.  Certainly, the willful manipula­tion of nature would mean the unleashing of dangerous forces by the unprepared dabbler.  Plus, it would seem that there would be a tremendous karmaic effect to anyone who is improperly tampering with nature.

After our discussion, REW pulled out a Tumbleweeds cartoon from the Sunday newspaper.  “Why did this cartoon about a rain-dance just coincidentally appear in the paper, on the first Sunday after our rain-dance?”  He handed the paper to me.  The cartoon depicted the small medicine man saying, "But..." as a giant beast-like tribesman sits in a canoe in a perfectly dry river bed.  The medicine man dances frantically as a helper pounds on the drums.  When they fail to produce rain, the giant picks up the medicine man by the throat.  "Where cloud juice?" he demands.

 “Why did this specific Oracle come in the form of an Alert and Warning at this precise mo­ment?” REW asked me.  I wasn’t sure.   “Through humor,” he told me, “we were given a hard lesson:  Publicize that you possess power -- whether to make rain, to change weather, or whatever, and the  selfishness of the animal-nature will attempt to use you, control you, abuse you, and make you an instrument of its bidding.  This can manifest through other people, or from one of your own baser personas.”  He then asked me to interpret the cartoon, based upon this broader perspective.

The cartoon depicts a captive "rain maker" being coerced by the willful desires of the Beast (i.e., the animal-nature).  The captive (and ignorant) "rain maker" is forced into untimely activity solely to provide pleasure for the beast.  Perhaps it was vanity that paved the way to the "rain maker's" captivity by leading him to believe that he himself was actually able to "make rain."  This would then pave the way to his captivity, since vanity glamourizes. 

“This is a common pitfall among adepts and their apprentices,” REW further explained. “Once they experience mastery over nature's elementals, they cannot resist the temptation to advertise as `magician for hire.’  Even when they do not advertise, others try to exploit them.  This pattern, and its results, have been depicted in numerous television shows, such as "Phoenix," in which Bennu must hide from those who seek to use him; "Kung Fu," where Caine is often being sought out to be used in some way; "Superman," and many others.

[FOR MORE ON THIS TOPIC, GET THE BOOK "SEARCHING FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE IN THE CITY OF ANGELS" BY WOODENTURTLE FROM AMAZON]