Manifest Rain - Think RAIN Now!

[[email protected]]

Lovely day - isn't it?

This can't wait for the print edition of my newspaper, the West County Gazette, scheduled to come out on February 12th. So I want to use YOU to hep me spread the word!

We need rain NOW! Let's see if we can make it rain!

Yes, it's quite wonderful - all this sunshine in the middle of winter. Makes me want to jump on my motorcycle and go for a ride to the coast. But seeing starving cattle in Argentina, wilting crops in the Central Valley of California, etc. It's not a pretty picture. Trees dying for lack of water creates HUGE fire hazards. It goes on.

I contacted local Native Indian tribes to see if we can put on a rain dance and what I learned is that Rain Dancing is more a Plains Indian tradition. Here, we celebrate the forces of nature and thank them for their gifts to our lives.

So I contacted Pagan faiths (thank you Sylvia for the suggestions and contacts) and they, too celebrate the forces of nature, turning of the seasons, appreciation for all the gifts our planet and universe bestow upon us. And I have to say, in both cases, they spoke to me of accepting our responsibility for this current state and hoping that nature crying for help will wake people up to the destruction we are committing to the very planet we live on. I get that as well! No water - use less. Bad air, clean up your act, etc.

In the mean time, innocents are dying. Innocents are paying the price for our transgression while we take showers, wash our hair and water our lawns. It's much like war where it's not the soldiers alone who die - it's the innocent civilians who go out with them.

So my mission is to manifest rain for the innocents.

I propose that we all start carrying umbrellas, wear rain boots, bring rain coats and slickers with us and use them as coats to keep us warm until it starts to rain - then keep it up so that we stay dry! Hey - what's the harm!?

I'd like to have an event, but that's an awful lot of work and could take too long to put together. We need rain NOW! So how about we just start wearing the gear - spreading the word for others to wear the gear and if we care to - gather together with drums and musical instruments and sing and dance for rain. Any where - any time. If we want to set a date, time and place to make it even more fun - let's do it.

Let me know how this is going and keep spreading the word.

Vesta Copestakes - [email protected]
www.westcountygazette.com

[SandBar]

we could just plan to play outside, perhaps that would carry rain to us. Perhaps a moment of focus for all of us.... thanks for bringing our intent for this Vesta.

Lovely day - isn't it?

This can't wait for the print edition of my newspaper, the West County Gazette, scheduled to come out on February 12th. So I want to use YOU to hep me spread the word!

We need rain NOW! Let's see if we can make it rain!

Yes, it's quite wonderful - all this sunshine in the middle of winter. Makes me want to jump on my motorcycle and go for a ride to the coast. But seeing starving cattle in Argentina, wilting crops in the Central Valley of California, etc. It's not a pretty picture. Trees dying for lack of water creates HUGE fire hazards. It goes on.

I contacted local Native Indian tribes to see if we can put on a rain dance and what I learned is that Rain Dancing is more a Plains Indian tradition. Here, we celebrate the forces of nature and thank them for their gifts to our lives.

So I contacted Pagan faiths (thank you Sylvia for the suggestions and contacts) and they, too celebrate the forces of nature, turning of the seasons, appreciation for all the gifts our planet and universe bestow upon us. And I have to say, in both cases, they spoke to me of accepting our responsibility for this current state and hoping that nature crying for help will wake people up to the destruction we are committing to the very planet we live on. I get that as well! No water - use less. Bad air, clean up your act, etc.

In the mean time, innocents are dying. Innocents are paying the price for our transgression while we take showers, wash our hair and water our lawns. It's much like war where it's not the soldiers alone who die - it's the innocent civilians who go out with them.

So my mission is to manifest rain for the innocents.

I propose that we all start carrying umbrellas, wear rain boots, bring rain coats and slickers with us and use them as coats to keep us warm until it starts to rain - then keep it up so that we stay dry! Hey - what's the harm!?

I'd like to have an event, but that's an awful lot of work and could take too long to put together. We need rain NOW! So how about we just start wearing the gear - spreading the word for others to wear the gear and if we care to - gather together with drums and musical instruments and sing and dance for rain. Any where - any time. If we want to set a date, time and place to make it even more fun - let's do it.

Let me know how this is going and keep spreading the word.

Vesta Copestakes - [email protected]
www.westcountygazette.com

[santarosie]

While you're at it, think snow!

Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming
Water Supplies In West Affected

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 1, 2008; Page A01
The persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West is caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns, researchers reported yesterday.

Using data collected over the past 50 years, the scientists confirmed that the mountains are getting more rain and less snow, that the snowpack is breaking up faster and that more rivers are running dry by summer.

The study, published online yesterday by the journal Science, looked at possible causes of the changes -- including natural variability in temperatures and precipitation, volcanic activity around the globe and climate change driven by the release of greenhouse gases. The researchers' computer models showed that climate change is clearly the explanation that best fits the data.

"We've known for decades that the hydrology of the West is changing, but for much of that time people said it was because of Mother Nature and that she would return to the old patterns in the future," said lead author Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego. "But we have found very clearly that global warming has done it, that it is the mechanism that explains the change and that things will be getting worse."

Many in the West and the Southwest depend on the snowpack's springtime melt for power, irrigation and drinking water. When the snow fields melt earlier and more suddenly, dams are able to capture less of the water and must release more of it to flow on to the ocean.

"Our results are not good news for those living in the western United States," the researchers wrote, adding that the changes may make "modifications to the water infrastructure of the western U.S. a virtual necessity."

Although parts of the West have been hit by record snowfalls this winter, the data collected by the team showed that since 1950, the water content of the snowpack as of April 1 each year has decreased in eight of the nine mountain regions studied, by amounts ranging from 10 percent in the Colorado Rockies to 40 percent in the Oregon Cascades. Only the southern Sierra Nevada range did not show a drop.

The study is part of what has become a drumbeat of dire assessments based on reports of quickening climate change caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide from vehicles, power plants, industry and deforestation. Last week, the American Geophysical Union, a leading scientific group in the field, issued a warning that "Earth's climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming."

"Many components of the climate system -- including the temperatures of the atmosphere, land and ocean, the extent of sea ice and mountain glaciers, the sea level, the distribution of precipitation and the length of seasons -- are now changing at rates and in patterns that are not natural and are best explained by the increased atmospheric abundances of greenhouse gases and aerosols generated by human activity during the 20th century," the organization said, in its strongest statement to date on the subject.

Although the decline of the Western snowpack over the past few decades has been documented before, yesterday's study is the most definitive in assigning the blame to human-induced climate change.

Barnett said his team used computer models to assess what natural climate variability, sun spots, volcanoes and climate change could do to the snowpack. The climate-change model best matched the actual trends of the period from 1950 to 1999.

The chance that the model is incorrect, he said, is somewhere between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000.

"Given the amount of carbon in the air and the trends for future releases, we have to expect that conditions will get progressively worse for some time, no matter what we do now," he said. His team included researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of Washington and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan.

Researchers have also predicted that the Southwest is likely to get less winter rainfall as a result of the buildup of greenhouse gases. Because the region gets much of its water from the Colorado River -- one of the rivers affected by the reduced snowpack -- the already-dry area could be losing water from both of its main sources, Barnett said.

Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said the new study "closes the circle" in terms of understanding what is happening to the climate of the West.

"Almost all of the models we've seen in recent years show the area becoming warmer and more arid due to climate change, but the question was always whether we could believe them," he said. "Now someone has done the statistical analysis to connect the dots so they can say with real confidence that this is happening because of greenhouse gases."

[Lorrie]

I am going to go outside and spend about 3-4 hours washing, waxing, polishing the chrome, and detaling the out side of my car...

That otta make it rain!!

[SandBar]

there's a Rain Dance happening right here ....

The Dancing Healers -
Water Honoring and Rain Dance Ceremony
At
Ocean Song Farm and Wilderness Center

Sunday February 8th, 2009 3 pm - 10 pm


We are the dancing healers and we invite your presence as we join our minds and hearts together as one and move our bodies in celebratory prayer to call forth the rains. On a piece of land whose name, “Ocean Song,” evokes the spirit of water and music, let us gather ourselves and honor the life-giving and life-nourishing WATERS which sustain us all. In the spirit of thanksgiving, come sing and dance your offerings for the return of the rains.

The ceremony will be facilitated by Cho'Qosh Auh'Ho'Oh, a coastal native elder, and other members of the local community. Please come prepared to actively participate in the ceremony. There will be space within the ceremony to offer water inspired songs, poems, reflections, and dances. Children of all ages are welcome to come dressed as frogs, salmon, or other water-loving creatures.

Flow for the Day
3 pm Gather in the gardens
4-5:30 pm Ceremony (Part I) on Solstice Hill with Cho'Qosh Auh’Ho’Oh
5:30-7 pm Community potluck at the big barn
7-10 pm Ceremony (Part II) Fire circle, drumming, and more dancing!

*You are welcome to come for either part of the ceremony or stay for the entire evening. The second part of the ceremony will be less structured.

What to Bring
~ Good intentions
~ Instruments (rain sticks, wooden frogs, rattles, drums, etc.)
~ Offerings to the water altar
~ A small vessel of water from the land where you live
~ A potluck dish or beverage to be shared (bring a cup for drinking)
~ Warm clothes and rain gear (the ceremony will take place outdoors, rain or shine, so come dressed prepared for rain!)

Ocean Song is located at 19100 Coleman Valley Rd. (approx. 5.3 miles west of Occidental). Visit Ocean Song Farm and Wilderness Center for directions. Parking is located in front of the big barn.

For more details about the event or if you have a specific contribution to the ceremony that you would like to include, please contact Annie Klein at (707) 318-6948 or [email protected].

[Yubajeff]

Rain is good, but washing your car with water isn't. I was recently sold 2 spray cans of Carnuba Wax based car wash at the gas station in Monte Rio. This is a completely waterless method. It was quick and easy, and my RAV4 has never looked so clean, including expensive car wash joints, home washing, or quicky gas station drive throughs, all of which waste yet more precious water. I bought 2 cans for about $20. My filthy car cleaned up nicely using what felt like about 25% of one can and some old rags. Newspaper would probably work too. That makes it economically competitive with the gas stations, and its more convenient for me, and better exercise too. The product had very little toxic odor, and seems to sprays a heavy liquid that localizes nicely where you aim it, unlike many home cleaning aerosol sprays with respirable particles. I passed on the offer of a free spray gun attachment: it literally looked like a black revolver! I don't yet know where to buy my next fix. I didn't see it at KMart yesterday.
It is called: FW1 Racing Formula Cleaning Wax
Web site is: RGS LABS FW1 Fast Wax Waterless Formula
While I'm plugging good causes, please listen to Omar Sharriff, the best bluesman on the planet. He is also a wonderful, friendly downhome genius who I met in Nevada City, at the Crazyhorse Saloon.You can hear his MP3s, and download one of his albums Read my brief review there. I intend to update his wiki entry as well.
For Omar clips and downloads, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?...arriff&x=0&y=0 you might need to sign on to Amazon.com first.
Support our musicians;musicians support our dancers and together we hold our planet together. World music fusion may be our best hope for worldwide peace and harmony (Rastfarians wouldn't lie).
Omar is 70 years old. We don't live forever as unique incarnations, although if time is bidirectional I might recognize you coming down (but I won't remember your name).
Yubajeff

I am going to go outside and spend about 3-4 hours washing, waxing, polishing the chrome, and detaling the out side of my car...

That otta make it rain!!

[wulfworks]

Actually, some pagans are very much into "weather keeping" and working with the elementals and nature devas to promote harmony and balance in nature. In fact, the environmental movement in California was spearheaded by Ella Young, a prominent pagan who sought to protect our forests through political and magical means.

Having lived in Sonoma county for over 30 years, I can say that our mid-winter sunshine is not at all unusual. We often get most of our rain in February and March. However, I am concerned that our water reserves are getting low, so I am also hoping for a wet spring.

I know it is possible to influence weather, particularly if you get many people focused on the same goal, but if you are coming from a place of fear, you cannot create anything positive. It is very important to look at your motives for holding a rain dance, or whatever ritual you choose. If the motivation is love for trees, or frogs, or water, then your energy will be aligned with the greatest good of all. But if you act out of fear of running out of water, you will only ensure a greater lack of water, or some other disaster.

A rain dance is a magical ritual. When you use magic, you must be very clear about what you are doing. Nature WILL respond.

[Peace Voyager]

Hey Waccos

I recall a post to some lists a short while back, calling for a rainmaking dance in Sebastopol. It was not long after that that it did rain, although it was light. I wondered if there would have been more, had more folks joined it.

I'd love to see someone turn this into an actual scientific experiment.

Rain on!,



Colleen

[Photoguy]

Here's a rain song to help,

[Sara S]

But there isn't a gas station in Monte Rio, is there?

Sara

Rain is good, but washing your car with water isn't. I was recently sold 2 spray cans of Carnuba Wax based car wash at the gas station in Monte Rio. This is a completely waterless method. It was quick and easy, and my RAV4 has never looked so clean, including expensive car wash joints, home washing, or quicky gas station drive throughs, all of which waste yet more precious water. I bought 2 cans for about $20. My filthy car cleaned up nicely using what felt like about 25% of one can and some old rags. Newspaper would probably work too. That makes it economically competitive with the gas stations, and its more convenient for me, and better exercise too. The product had very little toxic odor, and seems to sprays a heavy liquid that localizes nicely where you aim it, unlike many home cleaning aerosol sprays with respirable particles. I passed on the offer of a free spray gun attachment: it literally looked like a black revolver! I don't yet know where to buy my next fix. I didn't see it at KMart yesterday.
It is called: FW1 Racing Formula Cleaning Wax
Web site is: RGS LABS FW1 Fast Wax Waterless Formula
While I'm plugging good causes, please listen to Omar Sharriff, the best bluesman on the planet. He is also a wonderful, friendly downhome genius who I met in Nevada City, at the Crazyhorse Saloon.You can hear his MP3s, and download one of his albums Read my brief review there. I intend to update his wiki entry as well.
For Omar clips and downloads, go to:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?...arriff&x=0&y=0 you might need to sign on to Amazon.com first.
Support our musicians;musicians support our dancers and together we hold our planet together. World music fusion may be our best hope for worldwide peace and harmony (Rastfarians wouldn't lie).
Omar is 70 years old. We don't live forever as unique incarnations, although if time is bidirectional I might recognize you coming down (but I won't remember your name).
Yubajeff

[Hot Compost]

there's also a lot of little things we can do to save water.

e.g., keep a 5 gallon bucket in the bathroom, and use bath water to flush the toilet and as a source of mostly-clean water for the kitchen (depending on whether or not you use soap when you bathe.)