Folklore & Thunderstorms

reply to post by Charmeine


The storm has a host of different names, depending on what culture you're a part of.

The most obvious of the storm-lords is Thor, the Norse god of thunder, who wields the hammer Mjolnir, which he uses to crush the bones of the Jotun who threaten the humans, the Aesir, and the Vanir.

Another popular thunder-deity is Zeus the Greek god of lightning. Zeus achieved his power by overthrowing his father, Cronus. However, Zeus was also once trampled and imprisoned by Typhon, the Tartarian monster representing a host of things: mountains, the sea, wind, etc. So, Zeus' battle with Typhon was sometimes said to relay the violence of storms.

Some lesser-known storm deities include Enlil and Marduk from Babylon. Both of these deities were warriors, who also ruled over the kingdom of the Gods at various intervals. Enlil was typically a wrathful, vengeful, aggressive storm-lord responsible for floods and destruction, while Marduk was the benevolent storm which created the then-miracle of crop growth.

From the rest of the Mesopotamian cultures you have deities like Adad, and Iškur who were both dualism deities, representing the life-giving nourishment of the seasonal storms, as well as the destructive potency of the seasonal flooding due to the overflowing of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

In the Levant, land of Canaan and Turkey, you have the deity Ba'al, who was a storm-and-vegetation god. He was so prolific that he overthrew the sea-serpent, and his own father, El, to seize the throne of the gods. He was honored throughout Anatolia as the Lord of Storms, the God of All, the Conquerer of Death, and as a demon slayer. Ba'al-Hadad, Ba'al-Sapon, and various other titles bare his name. He even shows up in the Bible, as a false-god, but then again Yahweh never liked competition.

In Native American cultures you have the enigmatic Thunderbird, a monstrous bird made of thunder and lightning, which is said to be capable of great beauty, terrible destruction, as well as the giving-and-taking of life. The Natives believed in both a spiritual, and a physical, incarnation of this majestic beast.

There are a whole cart of other storm-related beings and deities and forces. The storm will either be benevolent or harmful depending on how you approach it's fierce power.

~ Wandering Scribe

S&F Op!

Unlike most people, I have always been terrified of storms! I cannot go to sleep during a storm at all! While everyone else in the house is snoring away, I'm lying with my eyes wide open feeling that "bad feeling" you described, Charmeine. I have always been sensitive to "spirits", so maybe I'm picking up on something, I don't know. I do love to watch lightening, though, as long as it doesn't get too close.

I don't know of any folklore to offer you, but I can relate to the uneasy feeling you said you had during the storm.

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


Thank you for the info - I was trying to find some reputable websites to post links to, you beat me to it. I've always loved Greek Mythology. The Japanese also have their own stories. I think like you said every culture has their own beliefs.

@sled I still love storms...not sure why so many people have a fascination with storms. Maybe it's the energy that it creates or as someone said earlier, maybe it's the power and awesomeness of nature that captivates us.

For whatever reason, the storm the other night was ... different. Darker. Definitely an intense night with very little sleep!!!

Couple of videos from the storm. First one is 24 minutes long from youtube, poor quality but you get the idea.



www.youtube.com...

poor saps stuck in their car
www.youtube.com...


www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by Charmeine
Couple of videos from the storm. First one is 24 minutes long from youtube, poor quality but you get the idea.



www.youtube.com...

poor saps stuck in their car
www.youtube.com...


www.youtube.com...

edit on 13-7-2012 by Charmeine because: (no reason given)

That was an intense storm! And the thunder DID have an evil, eerie sound to it!

We had one similar where I live last week. I was out driving in it! It knocked out the power in the town where I work, but it came back on soon after. Cloud to ground lightening, raining so hard you could barely see the road!

My sister lives about 20 minutes outside of Columbus, OH, USA. They had a severe thunder storm a couple of weeks ago that knocked out their power for about a week! It was on the all the network news channels about the destruction it caused in that area. She had to go stay with her daughter until her power came back on. They have lived up there for many years, but she said they have never experienced a storm like this one!

The weather definitely seems to be more intense this year all over the place!

reply to post by sled735


I feel sorry for the poor girl stuck in her car. I can't imagine how scary that would be. We didn't have any hail where I live but the lightning was impressive. I thought for sure it would hit a house or two it was so low!

We're supposed to get another storm tomorrow, will have my camera handy. Stupid of me not to stay up and record it the other night.

Originally posted by Charmeine
We're supposed to get another storm tomorrow, will have my camera handy. Stupid of me not to stay up and record it the other night.

I hope you stay safe during the storm. I'll check back tomorrow. Getting late. Think I'll call it a night. Have a good one!

Natures power is awesome. I love getting out in thunderstorms and photographing the action. Here is a portal opening in a storm rendered in a collage of lightning pictures from 2009. I give you Portal Cx4.

reply to post by groingrinder


Thank you for sharing! Have you done any touch ups to the photograph because I swear I see the face of a doglike animal attached to large body with arms...

Supposed to be another hot day here but ending with a good storm. Here's hoping I can catch something on tape!

Fellow storm lovers should appreciate this.

In June of 2001, my ex and I were in Omaha, Nebraska.
(the Central Plains get some incredible storms)
On this particular morn, we awoke around 5AM to constant thunder. It was a weekday but we both had the day off.
We were laying in bed and noticed after about 15 minutes that the thunder was indeed constant.
It was the kind of 'lazy' slow rumble that you hear off in the distance.
At about 6AM I remarked that "It's never NOT thundering!" We turned on the local news, and the meteoroligist (sp?) was showing a radar image of a super-cell thunderstorm where apparently three separate storms somehow combined to form an absolutely giant slow moving storm. The "perfect storm"!

The radar image showed a single storm that stretched from eastern Iowa about a third of the distance across Nebraska, and well up into South Dakota. The weather guy even remarked about the thunder being constant.
The thunder finally tapered off around 11AM. We experienced at least 6 hours of absolutely constant thunder.
I've searched the web for info on this storm with the non-stop thunder. I guess it was overshadowed by the tornadoes and hailstorms that same summer.

I found this vid. This is exactly what it was like. The constant "slow-rolling" thunder. This youtuber says their storm lasted 'at least an hour'.

reply to post by ColeYounger


That is amazing- thanks for sharing it.

It went on like that for 6 hours ???!!! Were there cloudbursts of rain with it ? As you said, so many fascinating things get under-reported in the news, particularly on days when so much is going on.

Thanks again for sharing that. I love the rumbles.

reply to post by seaside sky


It was gently raining all morning. It wasn't a 'violent' storm by any means. The whole thing was kind of subdued. It was actually peaceful. (if a thunderstorm can be peaceful!)

OKay the storm has been going on about 30 minutes or so. I got ten or 15 minutes of lightning, not much thunder tonight. Unfortunately the eye of the storm is too far away. So I'm going to stay up a bit longer and see what happens. Stay tuned for a video tomorrow folks.

Very LOUD thunderstorm going on here right now! Making me very nervous! The thunder is so loud... it's right on top of us. Lights flickering.... I may have to get off here, but I hope I get this posted first. I'd be out there filming it for you guys, but my audio doesn't work on the video part of my camera. I don't think it would be very wise to be standing at the windows right now anyway!

reply to post by sled735


I haz sad face now. For whatever reason when I uploaded the vids onto my computer, the picture turned completely black and hardly any of the lightning showed up on film. I guess it must have been too dark for my dinky little camera. Piss me off too because I got some good shots of lightning!!

Folklore and Thunderstorms: God of Thunder A photo collage.

This doesn't have anything to do with thunderstorms, but driving home this morning there were clouds in the sky shaped just like the United States... even had Florida sticking out at the bottom!!! AARRRRGGGGHHHH! And I didn't have my camera with me!!!! The sun was just coming up, casting a pink haze over it! It was beautiful, AND I MISSED GETTING IT ON FILM!

I usually always keep my camera in my car, but never see anything. But of course, when I take it out, and don't have it with me something AMAZING, once in a lifetime type of things shows up!

I know how you feel, Charmeine! I'm mad too! Let's just all get mad!

Let it out: AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh............... that feels better.

I could have sworn it was like I felt an electric charge in the air right before a loud crack of thunder popped over my head tonight. Then shortly later the storm grew much bigger. I eventually sat back and relaxed and felt colder. I grabbed a blanker and dozed off. Woke up with another or the same storm outside having grown much larger. Looked online and noticed the local temperature had dropped to 70. I like those temperature drops. Now I feel a bit warm again and I still hear thunder 2 hours later. Sometimes I imagine I have traveled to alternate realities during these storms or have other strange dreams. It does seem a bit strange sometimes when I doze off and notice the storm at my location shows a solid circle on the radar image. That does not happen very often.

Before I fell asleep, it felt like something touched me but I could not see anything. No idea what that was. I was wondering if an electric charge could feel like someone touched me.

reply to post by zysin5


I do hear what you are saying. I read an article today about northern lights / auroras and how they produce sound. I love the rumble of thunder and the crackling of lightning. I can almost hear it as I watch some of the powerful bolts. I think everything produces sound in some way....I'll add more on this later when I've collected my thoughts.