Here's what I found in Wikipedia: Genius... In Ancient Rome, the genius was the guiding or "tutelary" spirit of a person, or even of an entire gens. A related term is genius loci, the spirit of a specific locale. A specific spirit, or dæmon, may inhabit an image or icon, giving it supernatural powers. Genius of the Weather may be a kind of genius loci; i.e., the spirit of the weather.