Space Hurricane
On self-reflection and weather metaphors
Recently I read a Time Magazine article on weird weather terminology. I was on the hunt for the right words to help me describe some of the big feelings I’d been navigating (even though said feelings could probably have been summed up with a simple “I need a holiday”). When I stumbled across the emerging vocabulary of interstellar weather patterns (courtesy of climate change), the link for me was clear — life metaphors! 1
Shelving for a moment my fatigue and overwhelm, I dove into learning about the meaning behind the name of a spectacular, cyclone-like aurora first described in a 2021 multi-institutional scientific study called a space hurricane.
In 2022, researchers shed more light on where and how these “celestial phenomena “rain” down electrons as they rotate around a central eye…and can spin for eight hours rather than mere minutes.” Essentially, for a changing earth that needs care, Space Hurricanes “give us a greater understanding about our planet’s relationship to the sun” as this “new type of aurora highlights another highway that solar particles can ride and transfer large amounts of energy into Earth’s system.”
Leave it to Mother Earth, always raining down the learning and life metaphors we need. Growing up we listened to Tom Cochrane on vinyl, so I know it’s true that life IS a highway…and I love reframing as a way of thinking to bring about new and necessary insights. So, give me all the well paved 407s please, because this kind of Space Hurricane energy is what I need to keep writing and teaching and creating.
I believe that we are all in a complicated relationship with the sun, and each other, and ourselves. If there is a weather metaphor that is working for you this summer, or if you’re inspired to search one out, I’d love to know what it is. Learning to be Good Enough one storm at a time.
Of Note: There are lots of wonderful poems to further explore weather and emotions, like “Hurricane” by Langston Hughes and “Storm Warnings” by Adrienne Rich