Hurricane Dorian: Democratic presidential candidate hopes ‘power of the mind’ can protect US

'Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea'

Marianne Williamson's spokesperson said the tweet was a metaphor (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Marianne Williamson, a Democratic presidential candidate, offered an unorthodox suggestion for dealing with Hurricane Dorian - using “the power of the mind” to will the storm elsewhere.

The storm has devastated much of the Bahamas, where the official death count currently stands at 20 but is expected to rise as search efforts continue.

Nearly three out of every four homes on Grand Bahama are underwater, according to authorities.

The storm has largely spared Florida, but it is forecast to come much closer to the US coastline, with Georgia and the Carolinas in its path.

In a now-deleted tweet, Ms Williamson, an author and one-time spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey, suggested that visualising the storm’s retreat could be an effective way to change its course.

“The Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas ... may all be in our prayers now,” Ms Williamson tweeted, according to images posted by several Twitter users.

“Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea; it is a creative use of the power of the mind. Two minutes of prayer, visualisation, meditation for those in the way of the storm.”

Ms Williamson’s campaign later explained that the tweet was not intended to be taken literally.

“It was a metaphor,” her spokeswoman Patricia Ewing said. “When others speak of prayer and the mind it’s considered profound, but Williamson is held to a different standard. Because the comment led to confusion it was replaced.

“Everyone please pray for the people of the Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. May the peace of God be upon them, may they and their families remain safe and their hearts be comforted as they endure the storm.”

Ms Williamson herself tweeted a response to Yashar Ali, a journalist who had earlier posted an image of the deleted tweet along with the message: “Marianne Williamson has deleted this tweet”.

Ms Williamson replied: “Since you obviously want to debunk, counter or mischaracterise anything I do, would you like to have an honest and fair public dialogue? Since I’m neither crazy, irresponsible nor dangerous, I would appreciate the opportunity to counter the caricature.”

The presidential candidate has previously drawn attention for some of her outside-the-box ideas and language, including her use of the phrase “dark psychic force” during a Democratic debate in July.

She is not the first presidential contender to reportedly offer a novel way to combat hurricanes.

Late last month, Axios reported that Donald Trump had suggested repeatedly to Homeland Security Department and other officials that they explore using nuclear weapons to disrupt hurricanes that were heading towards the United States.

The US president has denied making such a suggestion.

The Washington Post