The Cunning Farmer

Practical Geurgy, Chapter 7: Weather Magic

“The Voice of the YHWH breaketh the cedar trees; Yea YHWH breaketh the cedars of Lebanon”

 

“And you will stop the power of the tireless winds which sweep all over the earth

And destroy the crops with their blowings,

And again, if you wish, you will bring on compensating breezes.

And after a black rain you will produce a seasonable drought

For men, and after the summer drought you will produce

Tree-nourishing streams that live in the ether.”

Empedocles, fragment B 111

As we can see from this quote by the fifth century BCE pre-Socratic philosopher/ shaman Empedocles of Akragas, control of the weather has been a perennial concern of the magician. And perhaps no aspect of the life of the farmer is more vexing than coping with the vagaries of the weather. I have seen many of the ugl…