Let the Clouds Tell Your Fortune

The art of nephelomancy or cloud divination

Sep 05, 2024

Earth Sensory Perception is a subsection of Our Uncertain Future and represents a compilation of essays on animistic nature connections in the modern world.

NOTE: September’s Intuitive EcoWriting Workshop, Writing Transitions, is Thursday, September 26th 5-7 pm MT. Registration closes September 23rd. More info below.

When I was a child, I played a game, just like you, in which I watched for pictures in the clouds. I called them out, “I see an elephant,” and my friend would search to see it too. When she found it, she said, “Oh yea,” with a bit of awe because she didn’t notice it before I pointed it out. Quickly, she shouted out the image that she saw before it faded, and I was also surprised as it began to take shape in my mind’s eye. At once there was a simple cloud, and soon after there was an otherwordly landscape. Together we watched the shapes fade and transform as we searched for more.

It did not occur to me then that there was a reason my friend saw a hummingbird and I saw a house, sometimes in the same cloud. Our own psyches, drawing us closer to what we needed to see, our wild souls speaking to us in cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and nimbus.

Nowadays my game is a little different and I play it alone. It’s called cloud scrying or nephelomancy, a form of divination using clouds.

NEPHELOMANCY

On a day like today when the storms are slow to collect, congregate and disperse, all the clouds are arriving at once—the large arching rainbow cloud and the heavy gray endless cloud and fluffy white comical cloud, even the cloud illuminated with a sacred light. The life of a cloud is short lived in form but long lived in the collective, always pulling apart and reestablishing in a multitude of manifestations.

They are sovereign beings. They are not here for me, of course not. But they do hold messages for me. They will show me mirrored images that my psyche longs to form and dismantle. Or they may remain placid, still and unheeding. I have no say over the clouds. Yet if I watch them with my intention full of scrying for divination, the imaginal realm will open and let me in.

The unusual cloud curving open, informs me to stop the myopic nitpicking and widen my view. The westward winds swiftly sweep away an image of a dimly lit face shadowed with sorrow, and I sense my mood will as quickly fade. The cloud effervescent with sunbeams mirrors hope. Another cloud shaped like a woman flying and I feel myself long to soar.

ORIGINS

Is it so surprising that we might look to the clouds for answers? In Greek mythology, the gods lived in a cloud palace on Mount Olympus. In the Bible, Exodus 16:10, God's glory is described as appearing in a cloud. The practice of nephelomancy is thought to have been used by ancient Babylonian priests. Damascius, a 5th century CE philosopher, recorded an account of a famous nephelomancer named Anthusa during the reign of Emperor Leo I. In the 12th century, Theodore Balsamon, a Greek Orthodox canonist, described how people predicted events by observing cloud shapes at sunset. Cloud divination was extensively used by the Druids, who called it Neladoracht, and would ascend hills or mountains to consult the clouds when kings or queens wanted to glimpse the future.

Yes, we know the science of clouds too. 100 million water droplets of ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere condensed around tiny particles called condensation nuclei composed of sea spray, volcanic ash, fire soot, factory emissions, sulfuric acid and magical fairy dust. Clouds speak to us like a meteorologist suggesting the day will be sunny and perfect for picnics or for your safety, stay off the mountain ridge this afternoon.

WEATHER OF YOUR MIND

But science and forecasting aside, what brought you outside on this foreboding day and compelled you to stay and watch the sky? Is there a storm brewing in you? Or is a great transformation ready to take place? Do you feel the heavy burden of holding still and are you ready to explode with loud thundering cries, electric sparks of sudden movement or a downpour of emotion? These days, I welcome storm clouds for their mysterious designs instead of rushing for shelter.

Rabindranath Tagore in his book of poetry Stray Birds writes, "Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to shed rain or usher storm, but to give color to my sunset sky.” The lens from which you choose to view the clouds will color your divination, so come with a clear eye for clear knowing. Sunset clouds spill indigo ink and pumpkin orange, gerbera fuchsia and morbid grey across matte flat skies. I am entranced by the spectacle and forsee pure wonder. I divine a dark spaceship far off in the distance and wonder about times in the past when I’ve had feelings of alienation. Then I notice a yellow wisp of a finger blowing north imploring me to keep going. Soon the finger transforms into a hand, and I feel supported.

SYMBOLS

Of course, this is my own vocabulary. A bird or spaceship or turtle or woman’s face, mean something different to me than to you. You might have an entire culture of archetypal imagery that I am completely ignorant of. I can’t say. It is between you and the clouds. Nor is it for you to analyze. Sometimes an ice cream cone is just an ice cream cone, or sometimes it makes you think of the circus and that time you went with your sister and the clown scared you and your sister held you while you cried. We don’t seek a correct answer as much as we seek a heart sense.

The clouds will show you and you will know, or you will be okay with the mystery, because you are open and relaxed, with nothing to do but be outside communing with clouds.

HOW TO PRACTICE CLOUD SCRYING

Spend some time outside, preferably in a green space, relaxed and quiet, allowing yourself to organically enter a more liminal realm via energetic coherence with the nature beings around you.
Lay down and look up.
Soften your mind. Like the clouds let thoughts flow in and flow out without attaching.
Ask a question or set an intention. What answers are you seeking, or ideas are you contemplating? What issues do you need resolution for? Say it to the clouds.
Watch for a multitude of symbols: images, shapes, wind direction, pace of movement, colors, textures, size, transitions from one shape to another, altitude or distance from you. Any of these may hold meaning. Follow your curiosity. Notice what your mind latches onto.
Optional: write down or journal about what appears. Snap pictures of the cloud shapes to see what shows up in the photos.