Thunder Gods

The cult of the thunder gods has been of great interest to me for years. I stumbled into the realm of thunder mythology during my these work on mobile/kinetic architecture. As a group the thunder gods, around the world are an interesting bunch. They share a common group of symbols and characteristics. As a rule, a thunder god weilds a thunder weapon... an axe, a trident, a hammer. Anything struck by one of these weapons is immediately considered sacred by followers. Moreover, if you can collect the axe or stone used by the deity to strike the object or ground, this item will provide powerful protection from any of the forces of evil at work in the world. SO how do the thunder gods relate to architecture? Well through lightning rods, of course. Lightning rods are a very interesting architectural element... Since lightning used to be a major concern for farmers whose entire year's work could be destroyed with one well aimed lightning strike, appeasing the thundergods was a major concern.

Protecting architecture from lightning is an ancient pursuit. It is also a highly charged spiritual concept for nomadic peoples. The lightning strike at it's most rudimentary level is the connection between the earth and the sky. In China and Japan it is a dragon, in Central America: a feathered serpent. The phenomenon of lightning connects heaven and earth. Architecture's (and humanity's) domain has between the two since we started walking upright and lightning has been a part of our relationship with the earth and with the sky. One of the basic architypal images from the torot deck is the lightning struck tower which represents change. The inference being that lightning strikes what will not change and destroys it. During my thesis I wasn't designing towers... change was an essential compnent of the designs and they needed to embrace the thunder gods. All the designs were lightning rods in one way or another... drawing energy to them and channelling it. Making the ground they stood on temporarily sacred.

If the nomad embraced the thunder god and the settler sought to appease it, then how would my theoretical technomad come to terms with it. Well, they already had... we have a new cult of thunder gods among us already. It's not so awe-inspiring as the midnight lightshows put on during a storm, but the thundergod surrounds us and in many ways makes the technomad possible. Almost everything you touch on a daily basis is infused with the energy of the thunder gods. Instead of lightning rods on our barns we have surge protectors on our computers. We still live in fear and awe of the pantheon of thunder and lightning deities.

We've domesticated the thunder god. It's infusion into our lives has ushered a dramatic flux into our day to day activities. Everything it touches shimmers with activity. Thus, any architecture that embraces impermanance and flux must pay homage to the thunder gods, either overtly or subliminally. This is especially important if the program of the mobile/kinetic structure is creative in nature. The thunder gods are, almost without fail, also fertility gods. Creation and generation come hand in hand with their destructive power if they are channelled properly. Inspiration can come as a bolt from the blue as easily as destruction. Many cultures believe that the thunder god's return heralds a reckoning for evil doers. The northern European cultures believed that the thunder gods scared away whitches, the aboriginal "lightning man" Namargon struck down evil doers as he passed over. However the lighhtning strike can also be a blessing. Poseidon struck the earth in Athens with his thunder weapon and gave the ancient greek city a spring, a harbor and powerful navy.

One may suspect that the bolt from the blue is intrinsically neutral. Bringing neither good nor evil to the person on the business end of that bolt. It is the target's challenge to channel the energy successfully or be destroyed. Lightning's associate with the serpent is no accident. Transmutation is the stuff of artists and shaman whether it is the poison of the serpent or the fire of heaven. The man or woman who can pass through the danger and emerge transformed is a powerful entity. The task requires resiliency; that which cannot rebound from the blow is struck down and is not rebuilt. Thus kinetic / nomadic architecture was not meant to stiffly stand up against the forces of the world, but to bend and flow with them. They were not meant to be pillars but buoyies... strange attractors...

And so the thunder gods are a strange attractor in themselves. A universal symbol of the power of change and rejuvination and creation. A spiritualization of modern technology. The deus ex machina made real. The ghost in the machine. A spark of divinity.