Whenever ‘space weather’ delivers something momentous, I seem to notice a similar event taking place in the earth weather, especially high winds when solar winds are about, yet no one really seems to be talking about this. Take right now, we are experiencing very powerful gusts of wind across the UK that kept me awake for part of the night and we also have a fast-moving solar wind passing close by, one that has been expected for a few days now since last week’s CME, and which apparently became something of a non-event last night as it ‘missed’ earth and ‘skimmed’  southwards (to quote spaceweather.com). Not for the first time, storm winds seem to have followed in the wake of this supposed non-event and yet no one seems to be connecting the two; and the same strong, blustery winds happened a couple of weeks ago when we had the G4 strength geomagnetic storm that happened in mid March (read more). It feels like each science specialism is only looking for their kind of outcomes but not any other – surely an impact on our weather system counts as an effect that is worthy of noting? Do space weather and earth weather scientists even talk to each other?

I particularly notice the potential linkage because geomagnetic activity and high winds can have exactly the same effect in my body; triggering a propensity for me to experience intense migraine headaches, the shrillest kind of tinnitus, unquenchable thirst, unsettled stomach and intense widespread pain across all of my muscles. Another comedy effect is I also tend to wake-up with mad super-ionised hair. Other people I know get headaches, my husband’s version is to experience mystery tooth and ear pain. I suspect it has something to do with an influx of very highly-charged particles entering the atmosphere, though I’m no scientist, but right now the howling wind feels like its expressing something going on in my cells!

Searching around the topic, I discovered that my very own University of Reading had a breakthrough with such a cross-over study, last year (read more here), when they found a link between space weather and lightning storms. Their breakthrough research marks, hopefully, a new step in the direction of such cross-over studies that look at the BIGGER picture rather than each specialism in isolation.

To quote Giles Harrison, head of Reading University Department of Meteorology, “In increasing our understanding of weather on Earth we are learning more about its important links with space weather. Bringing the topics of Earth Weather and Space Weather ever closer requires more collaborations between atmospheric and space scientists, in which the University of Reading is already leading the way”. Yay for Reading, is all I can say, as my body already knows there is a profound link.

So that’s my observation for the day as I settle down with some heat therapy and a large supply of water – I was going to meet up with a friend today but, like me, it turns out she has a headache 😉

While there is (clearly) a link between space weather and what we experience down here on earth, my intimate awareness of this has taught me that its not a bad thing or anything to be feared…in fact, it is like a giant cosmic invitation to step back and get out of fear…and the way it impacts my health depends on how I respond to this opportunity. A strange mixture of extreme exhaustion with a sort of heightened mental sparkiness that brings in huge waves of insight means that slowing down, to capitalise on these feelings, both serves the aching body the best whilst my creative flow has a field day. If I actually scrub my diary of all the human trivia and pull back from doing anything much at all, these can be the most creative days of all, generating loads of written and painted output and a silky-smooth feeling of being more relaxed and mellow in my human shape than on a normal day; its literally like taking a huge cosmic chill-pill!

Here’s an excerpt from my original Fibromyalgia blog about how I’ve come to notice how space weather affects me and the relationship I’ve developed with it:

I was already aware of how affected I felt by the Electro Magnetic Forces in my environment (and one of the first things to find a new home – no longermy home – was the cordless phone) but I steadily became aware that I was being affected by full moons, solar flares and geomagnetic storms, especially as Sun Cycle 24’s period of Solar Max got properly underway from about 2011. It got to the point where I knew that a solar flare had “happened” even before they announced it, and it mattered not whether the resultant CME was earth-bound, I felt it in my cells anyway. If this sounds all to weird, or piques your interest because it sounds like you, I can assure you there are thousands of us electro-sensitives around the world and refer you to a useful E-book on the topic – “How Solar Flares Help You Evolve” by Heather Carlini who has compiled data gathered from many of them (available from the Carlini Institute).

My super-sensitivity to EMFs, geomagnetic forces and other cosmic-unseeables, once I got over thinking they were life-threatening, became fascinating evidence that I am an energy body co-existing with other energy bodies in an energetic universe, helping me to enjoy an awareness of my profound relationship with the wider universe. I now love that I share experiences with the sun and moon at times of solar flares and shining-fullness, that my body responds to geomagnetic storms much the same way as the Northern Lights that dance colourfully around the earth’s axis points, the fact that I get to play the game of who will deliver the latest space weather report first – me or spaceweather.com (a site that is worth bookmarking) – because I can always tell when something has happened “out there”.  Owning up to these cosmic inter-relationships can be so empowering – you would be amazed how many of my otherwise healthy friends who suffer from occasional migraines had no idea that these often corresponded with days when the sun was at its most active! (Read more under the chapter Still Unwraping Endless Gifts from Fibromyalgia – a story of self-recovery).

The daily space weather forecasts can be found at www.spaceweather.com and The Space Weather Prediction Center.