tornado warning

Tornado Warning – ND #115

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments
Ominous Arrival – ND #115

Tornado Warning

Happy very blustery first day of April. The post I started writing last night began with how we were under a tornado warning. Literally, here in eastern Pennsylvania, my cell phone began blaring a very abrasive sound and the words that popped onto the screen warned that I should immediately retreat to a cellar or basemen, or short of that, take shelter in a place devoid of windows or in the center of the house.

Karl was asleep on the couch, although the noxious noise did rouse him a little (although not enough to get up). The wind was wild and there was a lot of lightning, which felt ominous. (I can’t explain it, but it didn’t feel like a normal thunderstorm.) I was vigilant – monitoring the way the air felt and the way the wind sounded – and had already rehearsed in my head the tenor of voice I’d use to get Karl on his feet in a split second and how we would each scoop up an animal or two to get them into the cellar with us.

For about ten minutes, I kept saying out loud, “That doesn’t sound right.” I’d mute the tv so I could track the storm even better. And yet through it all, I kept hearing my own train of thought telling me there was no way we’d be hit by a tornado.

Guess I was wrong. (This was only a couple miles from our house.) Or maybe my intuition was right to make a plan in my head as to the quickest way to bolt into the cellar – in spite of my skepticism!

A Bouquet of Crocuses from the Spirits of the Land – Photo: L. Weikel

Had a Conversation

I had a little chat with the Spirits of my land today while I performed my EoP Biodiversity Process. It always warms my heart to have a heartfelt conversation with the Spirits of our land. I think it’s because I sense that it still surprises them to actually have a human paying attention to them and speaking to them with specificity, intention, and gratitude.

I’d hoped to have a new moon fire today, but it was far too windy. Maybe tomorrow. Just in case you haven’t yet given yourself permission to sit quietly and contemplate the opportunities you’d like to pursue (or perhaps even more powerfully, the feelings you’d like to bring into your life) over the next month and two plus years, you still have time. Everything doesn’t have to be set in stone by the moment the sun and moon conjunct each other. No, the energies of a new moon begin shortly before the astronomical occurrence and last for a few days afterward.

So I encourage you: get real with yourself. Have a think this weekend. How do you want to feel at the end of this month? What would you love to manifest in your life by June of 2024?

(T+115)

That Was Intense – Day 750

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Tornado Warning Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

That Was Intense

I don’t know about you, but my experience of this morning’s full moon awakened me out of a sound sleep. In fact, it woke both Karl and me up precisely 15 minutes before it reached its exact moment of fullness (4:30 a.m. ET). While neither of us are light sleepers, I rarely wake up at that hour – probably because I rarely turn my light off before 2:00 a.m. So I have no qualms declaring of last night’s full moon and penumbral eclipse: that was intense.

As far as literally viewing the darkening of the moon as it approached full immersion in Earth’s shadow at 4:42 a.m., I have to admit I was surprised by how brilliantly I felt the moon was shining when I stood at the window taking her in. I was disappointed that I couldn’t discern any evidence of our planet’s shadow falling upon her face.

Granted, clouds were scuttling across the sky at a fevered clip, but there were enough gaps between them to get a clear view of the moon. What I found odd was that I was actually awake to check it out. I honestly had no intention of trying to see the phenomenon, figuring I’d be comfortably enjoying REM sleep at that time.

When Karl realized I, too, was wide awake, he asked me why I thought we were both suddenly bright eyed and bushy-tailed. He had no idea what I’d written my post about. So we were both surprised when I checked the time and exclaimed that we were witnessing the moment of the full moon and darkest part of the eclipse.

The Heavens Opened

Once I paid homage to the celestial event that demanded our wakeful attention, I fell back to sleep immediately. But the next thing I knew, I was half dreaming, half imagining a waterfall cascading somewhere behind my head – only to realize it was rain pouring so hard and fast from the sky that the gutter above the window closest to my head was overflowing in a literal cascade.

Thus began a day of eerie silence, broken only by the pounding of rain at our windows and the rushing, roiling madness of the chocolate milk colored water racing along the creek bed beside our road.

Very few birds and no squirrels ventured outside. Karl and I both jumped when a Tornado Warning blared out of our cell phones advising us to take cover either in our cellar or a safe room in the center of the house, preferably with no windows. The sky turned a deeply unsettling hue of yellow-brown. Thunder rumbled ominously.

I tried to capture the sense of imminent potential danger posed by this front, but I have to say, I didn’t succeed. My biggest disappointment in the photo above is the fact that posting it in the blog robs you of the ability to press your finger to it to activate the ‘live’ feature. Because that is the weirdest part of all: when I press my finger to it, lightning seems to emanate from the trees in the photo. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It is not lightning from ‘outside.’ For the life of me, it looks like the trees are creating the lightning.

Yeah…today was a weird day. And just think – it was only the first day of ‘eclipse season’ 2020.

Full Moon (before bed) 30 Nov 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-361)

Tornado Alley – Day 199

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments
Deluge in the backyard – Photo: L. Weikel

Since When Did We Move to Tornado Alley?     

This afternoon’s weather was wild. We started receiving alerts this afternoon that moved beyond tornado ‘watches’ to full blown tornado warnings. It’s eerie to be told to ‘take shelter immediately’ when you live in eastern Pennsylvania.

We’re not in Kansas, Spartacus. And it’s weird to feel like we are!

Within minutes of receiving the alert via my cell phone, the skies rapidly turned dark gray/green and the rain cascaded from the sky in a deluge. It was startling how quickly our back yard went underwater.

Then the hail arrived. The size of large marbles, they pounded on our metal porch roof.

Non-Stop Thunder

But the strangest thing of all, which I was not able to capture even in a video, was a low, rumbling, non-stop thunder. And when I say non-stop, I mean that it just kept going and going and going – for at least a couple minutes.

It was the oddest thing. I kept thinking I was hearing things; that perhaps I was experiencing an auditory hallucination that simply sounded like it was non-stop thunder, but was actually just a strange way the pouring rain was impacting our slate roof. Or our front porch roof.

But no. Not only did I go outside to try to get a better bead on the origin of this strange thunder (only to sense that it was not coming from any rain impact with the house at all, but rather was coming from some distance south and a tad west of us). It was at a decibel level, though, that I could not capture with my iPhone (not to mention that the rain was simply so loud itself that it was drowning everything else out).

I was excited to see a good friend post on Facebook that she, too, had heard this odd non-stop thunder. I just wonder what it was.

Funnel Cloud Spotted

Later this evening I saw that what appears to be a substantial funnel cloud was spotted in Warrington, PA. I doubt that what I heard was emanating from there (that’s pretty far away from us), but I cannot say for sure.

I am grateful that my home and animals are all OK – and as far as I know, no one else sustained damage or injury either.

This was definitely intense. I hope all of you are safe and sound.

(T-912)

Tornado Watch – Day 198

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Cloud Bank – Photo: L. Weikel

Tornado Watch? Warnings?

Just last Sunday a tornado touched down only a few miles from our home.  It was the first tornado to land in Bucks County in 22 years.

When I left Medicine in Balance earlier this evening, I was bowled over by the wet blanket of dank air that draped over my shoulders as soon as I walked out of the air-conditioned building. It felt like I was walking through warm, musty soup. Looking south, I saw massive thunderheads building.

As I slid into the driver’s seat of my car, I reached into my purse and pulled out my cell phone, switching it from ‘silent.’ My cricket signal for text messages chirped within seconds – a text message from Karl alerting me that our area was under a Tornado Watch until 10:00 p.m. this evening.

It’s Still Wild Out Now

While I am the first to admit that I love wild weather, especially thunderstorms, I also readily acknowledge the unsettled, prickly, hair standing slightly on end feeling that comes with precipitous drops in air pressure that accompany such major storms. It’s a little exciting and scary.

My drive home was highlighted by gorgeous lightning displays. Massive cloud banks flickering pink with slate blue outlines were mesmerizing. The telltale zig-zag of chain lightning also warranted top billing in tonight’s show. Indeed, even as I sat pondering what I might write about tonight, my attention kept getting grabbed by the relentless flashes of light visible through our windows.

We have our whole house fan on and despite that, even as I sit here now, I can hear rain falling from the sky in sheets – but across the road, in the field and trees. All of a sudden the air being pulled in by the fan is 15 degrees cooler. And our wind chimes are crankily clanging one single note; it’s as if they’re stuck in a single-minded, close-loop state.

What Was It I Picked Today?

I’m reminded of the Medicine Cards I chose on my day: Grouse/Raven. I was so preoccupied with my client, and then the other responsibilities of my day that I hadn’t given them a single thought throughout the day.

The key words for Grouse are ‘Sacred Spiral.’ And the pertinent aspect of this card that I was reminded of just moments ago is this:

“…The sacred Spiral is also one of the oldest known symbols for personal power. When you think of Grouse medicine, visualize a whirlpool or even a tornado, for the Sacred Spiral will take you to the center. The spiral is a metaphor for personal vision and enlightenment. Many initiates on Vision Quests pain spiral on their bodies and believe that the Great Mystery will favor them with visions of power and purpose because of this symbol.”

Not sure if there’s any connection here. Or if there’s any significance or message whatsoever. Probably not. But hey – tornadoes are showing up in my life. I’m even being told to watch for them. I’m hoping they start bringing bright flashes of illumination to me and my perspective on my life. I’m craving some new insights.

(T-913)