Aeromancy
Aeromancy is divination that is conducted by interpreting atmospheric conditions. Alternate terms include "arologie", "aeriology", and "aërology".
Practice
Aeromancy uses cloud formations, wind currents, and cosmological events such as comets, to attempt to divine the past, present, or future. There are sub-types of this practice which are as follows: austromancy, ceraunoscopy, chaomancy, meteormancy, and nephomancy.History
Variations on the concept have been used throughout history, the practice is thought to have been used by the ancient Babylonian priests, and is probably alluded to in the bible.Damascius, the last of the Neoplatonists, records an account of nephomancy in the 5th century CE, during the reign of Leo I:
Cultural influence
In ancient Greece an air-diviner was called aeromantis and the practice was called aeromantia.The ancient Etruscans produced guides to brontoscopic and fulgural divination of the future, based upon the omens that were supposedly displayed by thunder or lightning that occurred on particular days of the year, or in particular places.
Divination by clouds was condemned by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:10 and 18:14 in the Hebrew Bible. In contrast, english christian bibles typically translate the same hebrew words into "soothsayers" and "conjurers" or the like.
Johannes Hartlieb classified aeromancy as one of the seven "forbidden arts", along with necromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy, and spatulamancy. It was condemned by Albertus Magnus in Speculum Astronomiae as a derivative of necromancy. The practice was further debunked by Luis de Valladolid in his 1889 work Historia de vita et doctrina Alberti Magni.