Our elders and tradition:
In the early 1900s, when Lucio Campos Elizalde was young, ball-lightning struck him while he was farming in his field. He was in a coma for three years.
While in his coma, he traveled in the sky, learning from the ancient spiritual forces of Rain and Weather, the Animals, and the Seed People.
He received a vision. He saw that, in his lifetime, the Weather Beings would become agitated because the People would no longer perform the ancient ceremonies to strengthen the old relationships between human beings and Weather. He saw that he would become a granicero (weather worker, also known as quiatlzques) and that people from “the four corners of the world” would come to him. For each of them, a part of their soul would be Nahua, like him. He was to initiate them into the old ways, and then they would work to re-forge those ancient relationships between humans and Weather in their own lands.
In his 90s, after many decades of serving his region as a weather worker, healer, and communicator with the Popocatepetl volcano, this vision was fulfilled, and don Lucio initiated and trained many new quiatlzques (weather workers) from the four corners of the world.
Weather workers from across the world continue to be initiated into this tradition by don Lucio’s inheritor and our tradition elder, don David Wiley. He leads forward don Lucio’s vision, which is, in turn, the vision of this tradition’s legacy. Don David guides us in our work.
Read more of this story on our tradition’s main website.
Since our initiation in 2003, we have been learning, growing, practicing our work, and now we share the blessings of don Lucio’s legacy of abundant, balanced weather with our community.
That’s you!
Your participation completes the reciprocal cycle of giving and receiving that brings bounty to our Appalachian lands.
