astroscopy

Noun

astroscopy (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) observation of the stars
   • That astroscopy, or the inspection of the stars, furnished practical aids to navigation and other pursuits from very early times, is not questioned; but astroscopy is no more astronomy than it is the science of electricity to watch the play of the lightning in the clouds.1856 October, “Blakey's History of Logic”, in The Methodist Quarterly Review, volume 38, page 517
2. Any of various systems of prognostication by means of the planets and stars other than astrology involving the zodiac.
   • If the signs of the times are read aright by those most skilled in such astroscopy, the Board will not long languish for the want of such medication.1870, The Chronicle - Volume 5, page 435
   • Moreover his astroscopy convinced him that the cause of all this was the fact that, many centuries before, the hill summit had been the site of Druidic ceremonies —black magic practices with a ghastly and evil ritual.1952, Reginald Cuthbert Greatrex Hancock, Memoirs of a Veterinary Surgeon, page 201