The aethyric winds are the power behind the sails of a Shiftship
The analogy for the topology of the aethyric winds is that of a 4 dimensional ocean. The currents, eddies and gyres of the 3 dimensional oceans of most Euclidian-base worlds are a reliable model for the Shift-tides.
It is established that the winds react to other winds, to other bodies within the Shift and also to the Darkness of other universes which may be semantically close by.