What is Augury?
Augury is a form of divination practiced through the observation and interpretation of natural phenomena—primarily the flight patterns, calls, and feeding behaviors of birds—to ascertain divine will regarding proposed undertakings. Though the term is sometimes used broadly to refer to any omen-reading, augury meaning in its most precise sense refers to the formal, state-sanctioned divinatory practice of ancient Rome. Rather than predicting the future, augurs sought to determine whether the gods approved or disapproved of a specific course of action, especially political or military decisions. Birds were understood as messengers between earth and the divine realm, their movements across the sky carrying signals of cosmic approval or warning.
Origins & Lineage
Augury has Proto-Indo-European roots and predates the Roman Republic itself. The practice likely originated among pre-Roman Italic peoples and was influenced by Etruscan traditions, though Roman augury appears to be largely indigenous to Latin culture, attested in the Iguvine Tables and among other Latin tribes. According to Roman tradition, Romulus and Remus settled their dispute over where to found Rome through augury: Romulus saw twelve vultures to Remus’s six, granting him divine favor to establish the city on the Palatine Hill in 753 BCE.
The College of Augurs (Collegium Augurum) was among Rome’s oldest and most prestigious religious institutions. Tradition attributes its founding to either Romulus or Numa Pompilius, with an initial membership of three patrician priests. By 300 BCE, the Ogulnian law expanded the college to nine members (four patricians, five plebeians). Sulla increased the number to fifteen; Julius Caesar to sixteen by the late Republic. Membership was lifelong and conferred through co-optation, later (from 103 BCE) through popular election from candidates nominated by college members.
Bird divination existed in other ancient cultures: the fourteenth-century BCE Amarna correspondence mentions an “eagle diviner” sent from Egypt to Cyprus. In Greece, the practice was called ornithomancy and featured prominently in myth—Calchas served as bird-diviner to Agamemnon—though by the archaic period, hepatoscopy (liver inspection) had largely replaced bird augury in prestige. Celtic druids also practiced augury, as Cicero notes in De Divinatione, mentioning the Druid Divitiacus who made predictions “sometimes by means of augury.”
How It’s Practiced
Roman augury was highly formalized and ritualized. The augur first established a templum—a sacred space demarcated in both the heavens and on earth using the lituus, a curved ceremonial staff. This defined the observation area where signs would be read. The augur stood facing south, dividing the sky into quadrants. Signs appearing from the left (east) were generally favorable; those from the right (west) unfavorable, though vultures—the most auspicious birds—could overturn these conventions.
Augurs observed multiple classes of phenomena: (1) celestial signs including thunder, lightning, and meteors; (2) the direction, speed, and manner of bird flight; (3) the feeding behavior of sacred chickens kept for this purpose (pullarii); (4) the movements and sounds of quadrupeds; (5) fortuitous occurrences such as stumbling, objects falling, or ominous words spoken during the ritual.
Vultures furnished the strongest omens, considered sacred and subject to protective taboos. Eagles, ravens, and owls also held significance. The augur’s interpretation followed complex, standardized rules based on species, flight direction, number of birds, vocalizations, and context. An auspicium (the actual sign observed) was valid only for one day or the duration of the action in question. No major public act—election of magistrates, passage of laws, declaration of war, founding of cities, or convening of assemblies—could proceed without favorable auspices.
Cicero’s De Divinatione (44 BCE) provides the most comprehensive ancient source on augural practice. He distinguished between technical augury, which could be taught as a disciplina (skilled discipline), and inspired divination received in ecstatic trance.
Augury Today
As an official Roman institution, augury declined with the Christianization of the Empire, condemned as pagan superstition. However, contemporary spiritual seekers have revived bird divination in several forms. Neopagan and polytheist reconstructionist communities, particularly those focused on Roman (Religio Romana), Celtic, and Hellenic traditions, have restored augury as a living practice based on historical research and textual sources.
Modern practitioners typically adapt augury to personal rather than state purposes, seeking guidance on life decisions by observing local bird species. Some integrate it with nature-based spirituality, animism, and bioregional awareness. Workshops, online courses, and local study groups teach bird identification, observation techniques, and symbolic interpretation frameworks. Contemporary augurs emphasize ethical observation—watching birds in their natural habitat without disturbance—and developing intimate knowledge of local ecosystems and seasonal patterns.
The practice has also influenced popular culture, appearing in fantasy literature, role-playing games, and contemporary divination systems that blend ancient methods with modern symbolic vocabularies including tarot, astrology, and intuitive development.
Common Misconceptions
Augury is not fortune-telling in the modern sense. Ancient augurs did not claim to predict specific future events but rather to discern whether the gods approved of a proposed action at a particular moment. The practice was consultative, not prophetic.
Augury should not be confused with haruspicy—the examination of animal entrails, particularly the liver, which Romans learned from the Etruscans. Though both were forms of Roman divination, they employed different methods and, by Cicero’s time, augurs had largely adopted haruspicy for public divination, though the office and title remained.
Bird augury was not universal or standardized across cultures. Roman augury, Greek ornithomancy, Celtic bird divination, and indigenous American practices each developed distinct symbolic systems, species associations, and interpretive frameworks, though they shared the core belief that birds mediated between human and divine realms.
Finally, despite its religious authority, augury was subject to manipulation and skepticism even in antiquity. Cato famously remarked, “I wonder that a soothsayer doesn’t laugh when he sees another soothsayer,” and political figures sometimes used augural interpretation to serve factional interests. Philosophical critics questioned its rational basis while acknowledging its cultural necessity for maintaining cosmic order (pax deorum).
How to Begin
Those interested in learning augury meaning and practice should start with observation. Spend time in a consistent outdoor location—yard, park, or natural area—noting which bird species appear regularly and which arrive rarely. Learn to identify local birds by sight and sound using field guides like the Sibley Guide to Birds or regional equivalents. Understanding baseline behavior makes anomalies—potential omens—recognizable.
Read primary sources: Cicero’s De Divinatione (available in Loeb Classical Library translation) provides the most detailed ancient account. For contemporary practice, explore resources from Religio Romana communities, modern Druid orders (OBOD, ADF), and neopagan teachers who have researched historical methods.
Develop a personal relationship with the practice gradually. Formulate clear questions before observation sessions. Record what you see in a journal, noting date, time, location, weather, species, behavior, and your interpretation. Over time, patterns and personal symbolic associations will emerge.
Consider studying ornithology, ecology, and animal behavior to deepen understanding of the birds themselves—their migration patterns, seasonal behaviors, vocalizations, and ecological relationships. This grounds the practice in reverence for the creatures as beings in their own right, not merely symbolic messengers, honoring both ancient wisdom and contemporary ecological awareness.