Cloud

Cloud is read as something forming but not yet arrived — water in a state before it commits. Clouds are Water held aloft. Traditional reading asks whether they are gathering or dispersing, which is the difference between approaching and receding.

Natural features are read by state and conditions. Cloud is read as something forming but not yet arrived — water in a state before it commits. Traditional readings look at whether it is calm or disturbed, near or distant. Cloud below you rather than above is a widely reported variant, read as something still forming that you have already risen past.

Sources read cloud by shape and by movement rather than by darkness, and a cloud that holds its form is treated as the notable case. It is grouped under Water (水) in the five-element system.