Ailuromancy

Ailuromancy as Aeromancy:

This is a form of Zomancy (seeing past, present, future via animals) also thought of as being related to Theriomancy and some may refer to it as Felidomancy. Zoomancy is thought to be related to predicting future events by using animals where as Ailuromance is specific to using the actions of cats. This is also connected to Aeromancy as the cats movements are used to predict weather.

Ailuromancy interprets the behavior of cats to predict weather patterns and is thought to come from the early Egyptians as cats were highly regarded by them.

Using Ailuromancy:

It has been said if a cat's tail should turn toward a heat source it indicates a likely change in the weather likely to be a heavy rain or could be a hard frost depending on the season. It has been said if a cat curls up, with its for head touching the ground; it could indicate an upcoming storm.

History:

The cat has a long history of being associated with the occult and witches in particular. In the history of cats association with the occult leads back to ancient times of Egyptian deity history with Bast being a cat headed deity and the Roman deity Diana being associated with cats. Somewhere in history, cats were thought to hold the souls of those that had.

One form of divination thought to have been practiced by early Egyptians as a means of inducing prosthetic dreams was to create a magical tablet and place it inside the mouth of their recently deceased black cat. On this tablet, the practitioner would write in inquiry as well as the deities name. The tablet would be washed with a solution of myrrh. After this, the person was thought to see the answer in a dream.

Superstitions:

Superstitions involving cats can be found all over the world. Some places say if a cat follows a person it means that money will come to the person.

On the relationship front, it has been said that if me and dreams of a cat and the cat scratches him the person he is involved with is likely spiteful. Using the same situation if a woman has the same dream and scratch it is thought that she has a rival. While growing up, I heard the superstition that if the black cat crossed your path you have bad luck or want to die.

Some lore states seeing a white cat can be lucky in and of itself and that both white and black cats can bring luck. While we all know of the superstition that if a black cat crosses your path its said to indicate bad luck, some places hold if the cat crosses your path from left to right, it could be good luck.

If a black cat is pet with the grain of the hair along its spine, it's said to bring good luck where as if the reverse is done, it's said to bring bad luck.

Sources:

Book pg 11

http://www.occultopedia.com/a/ailuromancy.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailuromancy

http://books.google.com/books?id=9RwdcbWJVcUC&pg=PA3&dq=Acultomancy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g7ZCU4ueMdC1sASYj4GwBQ&ved=0CDkQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=Acultomancy&f=false

http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/d/divination/types.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_divination