Rain

The saintly abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) likened rain to the vital energy of the soul, which makes the body flourish and "keeps it from drying out, as the rain moistens the earth. For when the rainfall is moderate and not excessive, the earth brings forth new life. But if it is inordinately heavy, it destroys the earth and drowns new shoots. From the soul there emanate certain forces to vitalise the body, just as rainwater with its moisture vitalises the earth..." 

Hildegard also compared tears and rainfall. "The spiritual person is so shaken with fear of the Lord as to break out in tears, just as clouds draw their water from the upper reaches and pour it forth as rain" thus the gift of repentance irrigates, fertilises the soul, "washing sin away."

Ancient cave paintings reveal that in the civilisations of southeast Africa rain was symbolised by a snake coming down from heaven, a creature maybe linked with lightning as well. In other contexts a gigantic horned snake appears to have stood for rainwater. And in many ancient cosmologies clouds were thought of as reservoirs of rainwater, waiting to be split open by thunderbolts.

   Rain is nourishment for the earth and is known as the water of life. Rain takes many forms and can be anything from a gentle sprinkling and light watering of the earth, up to a torrid downpour and possible flooding; life giving on one hand and potentially death dealing on the other. Rain is a very serious affair, especially wherever water is scarce and/or crops are growing. An example of this is the world famous Native American rain dances, created to induce rain. 

   Rain drops can symbolise heaven's tears and the accompanying lighting can be seen as heaven's anger. For example, thunderbolts were the favoured weapon of Zeus. Rain is a symbol for tears, sorrow, anger, cleansing, renewal, forgiveness and more usually on a heavenly, worldly or very large sort of personal scale. Slang terms/phrases such as: "Don't rain on my parade", "Save it for a rainy day", and "It's raining cats and dogs”. From these slag phrases, it would seem that rain is more of an annoyance factor than a life/death matter.