Whether you call them omens, portends, or symbols, mankind sees omens in many places. So what is an omen?

“an occurrence or phenomenon (see PHENOMENON sense 1) believed to portend a future event “ ~ a definition of omen from Merriam-Webster

“Something that is considered to be a sign of how a future event will take place .” ~ a definition of omen from the Cambridge Dictionary

“Omens are a language, it’s the alphabet we develop to speak to the world’s soul, or the universe’s, or God’s, whatever name you want to give it. Like an alphabet, it is individual, you only learn it by making mistakes, and that keeps you from globalizing the spiritual quest.” ~Paulo Coelho

“Our character … is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.” ~George Santayana

“God has a prepared path for us to follow. We just have to read the omens he has left for us.” ~Paulo Coelho

“Factual information alone isn’t sufficient to guide you through life’s labyrinthine tests. You need and deserve regular deliveries of uncanny revelation. One of your inalienable rights as a human being should therefore be to receive a mysteriously useful omen every day of your life.” ~Rob Brezsny

“Sacred signs always come when your soul calls out in pain or joy.”  ~Lawren Leo

So you can see from these quotes that omens come from many times and many places.

In the play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, omens and portents manifest themselves, each serving to crystallize the larger themes of fate and misinterpretation of signs. Until Caesar’s death, each time an omen or nightmare is reported, the audience is reminded of Caesar’s impending demise. The audience wonders whether these portents simply announce what is fated to occur or whether they serve as warnings for what might occur if the characters do not take active steps to change their behavior. Whether or not individuals can affect their destinies, characters repeatedly fail to interpret the omens correctly. In a larger sense, the omens in Julius Caesar thus imply the dangers of failing to perceive and analyze the details of one’s world.

The ancient Roman Senate used Omens and Divinations in making decisions, as indicated by this quote from the book “Greece & Rome” by Paulione Ripat

The expression “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” supposedly evolved from getting up on the “right side”, which in turn grew out of the Roman belief that the left side was evil. The Latin word for “left” is “sinister” and first “footmen” were hired by Roman nobles to make sure guests entered their houses right foot first. According to some sources, breaking a mirror was considered bad luck as early as the first century AD in Rome, where Romans believed that mirrors could be used to tell fortunes and breaking them brought bad luck, which lasted for seven years because that was how long it took for the body to rejuvenate. [People’s Almanac].

The word “augury” comes from an ancient Greek and Roman religion that practiced studying the behavior of birds seeking omens of the future. The person who devoted himself to these studies to presage events was called an augur and his interpretation of these observations was called an auspice. From that word developed the term “auspicious” for a good omen or portend.

Dreams as Omens

“When God sends a message of warning through dreams and visions, he is not sending them to instill fear in your heart. He wants to avert the evil that could have happened and soothe your heart with profound peace.” ~Michael Bassey Johnson

Even in the Bible, we find dreams being studied to predict future events or explain current ones. Joseph (not the father of Jesus, a different Joseph) had a reputation as a dream interpreter and interpreted dreams for the Pharaoh of Egypt. Today, not many people put faith in dream interpretation, or in the idea that dreams can be omens of the future, yet such dreams still occur. Not all dreams are about the future, though, and not all provide predictions or any other kind of useful information. For example, it is known that eating beans shortly before going to bed is likely to produce scary, but irrelevant dreams. The thing to understand about dreams is that even when a dream foretells an event, it usually doesn’t mean you should interpret the dream literally. So dreaming that a friend is dying, likely means that you are suffering from an illness that you are not aware of. Also, something seen in a dream can be a good omen as well as a bad omen, though it may appear just the opposite in the dream.

Natural and Historical Events as Omens

Rare natural phenomena lend themselves to the idea that they are omens, and sometimes, they really are. An eclipse, solar or lunar, was often seen as an omen.  In many ancient cultures, an eclipse of the Sun was considered a bad omen that brings death, destruction, and disasters. For instance, in Hindu mythology, the deity Rahu is known for swallowing the sun and causing eclipses. The Greeks looked at a specific solar eclipse in 585 B.C. as stopping a war. The skies became dark and they thought they had better make peace or something bad would happen. Throughout history, lunar eclipses have been held to be responsible for lost battles and many other tragic events on Earth.

Throughout the mythology of different cultures, earthquakes were believed to happen because an animal, God, or man moved the Earth with such force that it shook the foundations of the world and caused tremors in the world of humans. According to Atlas Mythica, “Earthquakes are a spiritual symbol of great change and transformation, both good and bad, since your whole life, or part of it, is shaken apart. Earthquakes mean financial or health difficulties, failing relationships, or that your way of life is shaken away and replaced by a new one.

The Spanish encountered the Aztec Empire not as a bunch of lost cities in the jungle but as a living, breathing civilization. Before the arrival of the Spanish the Aztecs knew their control over central Mexico was somewhat tenuous and were always aware of the possibility of internal strife causing a political and social collapse.  In the days of Montezuma’s reign, at the beginning of the 16th Century and starting some ten years before the arrival of Cortés and his men, Emperor Montezuma was witness to 8 omens which supposedly foretold the end of the empire and his own death.  Because of these omens, there was an underlying feeling that the Aztecs were doomed.

Numbers as Omens

We have all heard of lucky seven and unlucky thirteen, but there is much lore about other numbers being omens. In recent times, many have embraced the idea of angel numbers, which are numbers that appear to us as messages from angels. These numbers include almost any sequence of the same digit appearing three or more times, or an ordered sequence. Examples of these angel numbers are 111, 222, and 12345.

Numerology.com says: “In Numerology, every number has a unique vibration and meaning. From our Life Path number to our Birth Day number to our house number, the vibrational frequencies of numbers hold powerful significance in our everyday lives. Because numbers are everywhere, our spirit guides use them to communicate with us. These divine signs have a special name: angel numbers.” Here are some examples of omens from angel numbers according to the same source:

• Seeing the 111 angel number is your opportunity to create the future you desire, so make it count!
• When you keep seeing the 333 angel number, you are being called to recognize your life purpose.
• The 444 angel number indicates you are on the right path, even if you don’t know it yet.
• The 777 angel number is one of the most spiritual and sacred numbers of all. If you’re seeing this over and over again, it’s a message that a spiritual evolution is upon you.

In China, the word for 4 sounds much like the word for death, so the Chinese consider it an unlucky number.

Sometimes an omen can be a combination of a number and an object, such as a three-leaf clover being meaningless, but a four-leaf one meaning good luck. And in England, seeing one magpie is a bad omen, while seeing two is an ill omen.

Animals as Omens

For many people over many centuries, animals and animal parts have been considered omens or portents of the future, It might be the sighting of a flock of birds or an albino animal that is seen as an omen. It might be something as simple as a woolly bear caterpillar predicting either a mild or rough winter ahead. And even the Weather Channel bothers to show us the weather predictions of a Groundhog each year. Using a groundhog to predict the weather is uniquely American, but it was copied from the Germans who studied badgers or hedgehogs to foretell the weather.

The Etruscans believed that the will of the gods was manifested through signs in the natural world. The patterns made by flying birds were read for auspicious signs. The word auspicious was originally used to describe a favorable flight of birds. Lightning and thunder were read for symbols of good and bad luck. The future was divined by observing the direction of thunderbolts. Roman leaders called on Etruscan soothsayers to direct lighting bolts at the Visigoths.

According to the Etruscans, a hen could be used as an oracle. A circle was drawn on the ground with 20 parts, corresponding to letters in the Etruscan alphabet, with pieces of grain in each sector. A sacred chicken was placed in the middle and foretold the future by forming the letters for words by pecking at the grain in the letter’s sector.

Centuries ago, Germans believed that a dream about a mare was an omen of something bad about to happen. From the German “nacht mare” we get the modern term “nightmare” for a scary dream, although not necessarily one that is an omen of the future.

An owl, like many other nocturnal animals, is considered by popular tradition to be an animal that brings bad luck, and many hope that it never starts singing on their roof because according to popular superstitions, it announces misfortunes or even the death of an inhabitant of the house.

In ancient Italy, it was noticed that the shining eyes of black cats frightened horses at night. For that reason, black cats began to be seen as bad omens. However, this is not the case all over the world, because there are some countries, like Japan and Scotland, where owning a black cat is instead a good habit as a sign of prosperity. The English also believe a black cat is good luck and a black cat is often featured on British greeting cards.

Celestial Omens

The first thing I think of with regard to celestial omens is Astrology. It has been around for thousands of years and is believed by many to predict many things about a person by looking at the position of the stars, moon, and sun at the time the person was born. Comets, asteroids, and meteors are often considered omens of future events, good or bad. In Cosolargy, our books of prophecy list many omens to watch for to mark the coming of future events. Here are a few quotes on omens from Cosolargy’s books:

“Mark thee well the dates of the Omens and the Appearance, The Rebirth, The Birth, The Avalanche, The Passing, The Birth of the Sun of Righteousness, The Appearance in the Sun, The Manifestation of Darkness, other appearances, and the giving of the Prophecies.”

“And know that from the date of the giving of this prophecy to the peoples of the lands of America, the heavenly bodies shall begin to be aligned together for the new birth of which I speak, and prophecies shall be given one for each of the seven years until the Year of the Reed.” ~Jamil Savoy

“And many signs and omens shall be given unto the Community.” ~Jamil Savoy

Summary

Omens (pronounced ˈ oʊmən) have been with us throughout the ages and probably always will be. What are considered omens or portends change with time, but the basic idea remains. Studying omens is so common that many synonyms for the word exist, including: portend, harbinger, forerunner, foretell, auspice, prognostication, forewarning, precursor, and more. The study of the etymology of those words could be fascinating. Nearly any event, number, or object can have prophetic significance in some times and places.

The ancient Roman Senate used Omens and Divinations in making decisions, as indicated by this quote from the book “Greece & Rome” by Paulione Ripat

The expression “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” supposedly evolved from getting up on the “right side”, which in turn grew out the Roman belief that the left side was evil. The the Latin word for “left” is “sinister” and first “footmen” were hired by Roman nobles to makes sure guests entered their houses right foot first.According to some sources, breaking a mirror was considered bad luck as early as the first century AD in Rome, where Romans believed that mirrors could be used to tell fortunes and breaking them brought the bad luck, which lasted for seven years because that was how long it took for the body to rejuvenate. [People’s Almanac]

Books on Omens and Predictions

Signs, Symbols & Omens: An Illustrated Guide to Magical & Spiritual Symbolism by Raymond Buckland 

How to Read Signs and Omens in Everyday Life by Sarvananda Bluestone

The Short History of Dark Omens and Harbingers of Misfortune by T. J Schrader

Omens of Adversity: Tragedy, Time, Memory, Justice by David Scott

Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection by Harold Bloom 

The Mystical, Magical, Marvelous World of Dreams by Wilda B. Tanner

The Complete Book of Dreams: A Guide to Unlocking the Meaning and Healing Power of Your Dreams by Stephanie Gailing