3. Aeromancy: Even the Old Testament warned against looking to nature to predict the future, but still, people have continued to do so for thousands of years
Even before the birth of any formal religion or codified beliefs, mankind has sought to find meaning in nature. Aeromancy is the belief that atmospheric conditions, including wind, clouds and thunder can be studied and used to predict the future. According to ancient sources, the priests of the Babylon would consult the wind and use nature for divination purposes as early as the 10th century BC. The practice of aeromancy is also mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible – for example, the Book of Deuteronomy says Moses admonished his followers for practicing it – though from the Middle Ages onward, the Church branded the belief un-Christian and banned it.
In ancient England pagans would regularly consult the weather and other elements of nature, believing this way they could see what lay ahead. One common belief, for instance, was that hearing thunder to the east meant that bloodshed was looming. Similarly, if there were high winds around the Winter Solstice, it was believed that a king or other ruler would soon die. Even today, some ancient beliefs persist, for instance people seeing red skies at dawn as an omen of bad times ahead.