If you are from Southern California you will smile with amusement at a reference to the dreaded Santa Anna winds. These refer to some high speed, and sometimes dangerous wins that blow from the mountainous areas of the inland to the coast. Most people that are not from California, do not realize how mountainous the state is. I spent a few weeks in Texas, and by comparison if someone from Texas were to drive across California, they would be amazed at the rapid change in elevation from sea level to mountains as high as 10K+ feet. As pressure builds in the interior and the mountain areas, the winds come rushing down into the valleys and that usually starts in October time frame.
The Mediterranean sea is a unique area of the world, as being a large body of oceanic water surrounded by inland regions. Which means that these types of wind phenomena, like the Santa Anna winds, occur in basically every direction. They all have names, and some of them are common language you hear from time to time. For example you might hear of the Mistral, which is the NW directional winds that blow across the sea. The focus for this blog is the Gregale winds, which is a particular strong wind that blows NE through the islands of the Western Mediterranean, specially Malta. This causes rough times at sea for mariners and for those that inhabit the coastal regions.
This phenomena has been occurring for many millennia and every society has named them in one way or the other. The ancient Greeks names this same wind, the Euroclydon. This has shown up in literature many times, most famously in Moby Dick and the Bible. You will remember this wind is the cause of the Apostle Paul’s shipwreck the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. These references and the cultural impact has transformed this into more of a symbolic meaning. The thing that fights against you when you are trying to get a particularly important message out, or transform your life in someway.
This wind, which primarily blows in the Winter months, is like what seems to affect me during the same months. It is always the same cycle. Summer ends, fall comes, then the holidays, then new years. I get a brief bump in enthusiasm and then the winds come. The struggle is always real from January to April. I never really noticed this until I started keeping a journal everyday. The cycle become more obvious. It is as if the sun was impacting my mood. Well, I learned that this is a condition that is well known in certain behavioral science circles. Just saying, if you experience a similar thing, nothing is wrong with you, it is a natural cycle.
Maybe I should just hibernate for 3 months! Just joking, but I know what my viking ancestors would do. They would prepare for their next big conquest. They would hunker down, eat lots of meat, party, hang out inside, sleep a lot and then come spring – hit the seas looking to conquer once again. Maybe there are lessons to be learned there! Valahala! I am coming.
Guy Reams
