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[Hugh Lovel is the author of "A Biodynamic Farm"
and is considered an authority on the subject of subtle energies
and life forces in agriculture. According to indications given
by Rudolf Steiner, subtle energies may be categorized into four
grades: Warmth Ether, Light Ether, Tone Ether (sometimes called
"Chemical"), and Life Ether. For a fuller explanation
of the ethers, see The
Nature of Forces. For a general introduction to Biodynamics,
see Biodynamics:
A Science of Life and Agriculture.
There's a strong correlation between stagnant, (polluted,
deadened) etheric conditions and the lack of thundershower activity.
As Rolling Thunder, the Shoshone, observed, it is considerably
more difficult for rain to precipitate when the atmosphere is
polluted. When you see a brown haze on the horizon, look out.
If all you see is a thick, grey haze it's not good but not quite
so bad as brown. When you see thunderheads build up to puffy,
towering heights until in mid to late afternoon they show very
dark bottoms, you're in for thundershowers.
Lightning and thunder are not what our physical scientists
commonly imagine. I've heard it explained that lightning results
from discharge of static electricity due to clouds passing over
the earth and building up charge. That's errant nonsense, however,
since static electricity only builds up under dry conditions.
The clouds DO pass over the earth and DO build up charge,
however. Since they are (when they have well-defined boundaries)
able to accumulate etheric charge they pick up free warmth and
light ethers as these rise up into the atmosphere over the course
of the day. They turn these free (Steiner calls them "dead")
ethers into live or bound ether, which is stored in the cloud
and which attracts the moisture and also the ozone and other free
radical pollutants (e. g. chlorinated and flouridated hydrocarbons,
nitrous gasses, etc.)
The ozone tends to vitalize and break down the chloroflurohydrocarbons
just as it does in the upper atmosphere during polar spring, and
this cleanses the atmosphere and intensifies its life qualities.
Life attracts more of the same. So as warmth ether builds up in
the clouds it attracts so much more warmth that the whole collection
suddenly condenses into light.
Flash! goes the lightning as the precipitation of warmth
manifests as a dendron-like crackle of light. And since this phenomenon
does not affect just the warmth but also the light ether condensing
into tone (chemical--remember those chemical reactions I just
mentioned) there follows a crack and roll of thunder. Note this
is not just a crack of thunder but also a roll, sometimes an extended
roll.
The extent to which the thunder rolls is dependent on how
much light ether is condensing into tone ether. Last night, for
instance, we had thunder that rolled and rolled, almost without
cease. Very little lightning, however. A few weak flashes, but
great rolling, rolling rumbles.
The atmosphere today was just about free from brown (note
that brown haze indicates pollution.) Yet there was plenty of
grey haze from the ozone, and towering, puffy thunderheads even
though they were moving away rapidly to somewhere else and taking
the ozone haze with them. Bright stars tonight and it didn't rain.
Anyway it must have elsewhere, and these are all healthy etheric
phenomena, though in today's age they aren't commonly observed
closely enough nor understood rightly.
Those who think substance rather than life force is the
prime mover aren't going to make the right observations, and they'll
come up with something like the static electricity explanation
instead.