Search Tables Omens
0
193

Folk Omens and Portents

re-roll arrow re-roll arrow
d20 re-roll icon
export Export PDF

More Tables By

profile image

Matthew Bauer

Coins: The Money of The Land
6
Cults: Please Worship Responsibly
4
Cyberpunk Bar
4
Folk Omens and Portents
16
Gold Mining NPC
3
I want to play a game
14
Medieval Character Generator
3
Protective Charms and Lucky Tokens
8
RPG Roll for Plot
23

Featured Generators

Included Tables & Entries

Folk Omens and Portents Generator · 16 tables
Household Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents Generator · 6 tables
Household Signs Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d12 table · 12 entries
  1. If the keys of a careful housekeeper get rusty in spite of care, it means someone is saving money for you.
  2. A hot cinder jumping out of the grate signifies the coming of good fortune.
  3. If meat shrinks while boiling in a pot, it is a bad sign.
  4. If meat swells while boiling in a pot, prosperity is in store.
  5. The first cake taken from the oven should be broken, not cut, or all the rest baked that day will be soggy.
  6. Do not sweep dust out of the front door, or your good luck will be swept out with it.
  7. If a leaf of soot hangs in the grate, it announces the coming of a guest.
  8. If a rooster stands upon the threshold and crows, expect a stranger.
  9. If you neglect to close the lid of your teapot, a guest will come and have tea with you.
  10. If your tea-kettle sings, it is a sign of contentment in the home.
  11. If you wash your hands and face in water already used by someone else, it foretells a quarrel with that person.
  12. To break up your bread into crumbs at the table is an omen of coming poverty.
Mirror Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d6 table · 6 entries
  1. To break a looking-glass is unlucky, and the breaker will have bad fortune for seven years.
  2. If the looking-glass is willfully broken and thrown away, it has no effect upon one’s fortune.
  3. A distorted image in a mirror dipped in water means the sick are likely to die.
  4. A clear image in a mirror dipped in water means the sick will live.
  5. To break the glass over a friend’s portrait is a bad sign and often betokens that person’s death.
  6. It is ill luck to see your face in a mirror by candlelight.
Salt Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d4 table · 4 entries
  1. The overturning of a salt-cellar is looked upon as the breaking of friendship.
  2. To spill salt at table is unlucky.
  3. To change the spell of spilled salt, take a pinch and throw it over the left shoulder.
  4. To put too much salt into the food is proof that the cook is in love.
Knife Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d6 table · 6 entries
  1. It is unlucky to accept a knife from a friend without giving something in return.
  2. A penny is usually offered in exchange for a knife, though among some believers a pin is enough.
  3. To drop a knife on the floor means the coming of a visitor.
  4. Knife and fork should never be crossed at table, for they presage bad luck.
  5. To leave a penknife open after you are through with it is a sign of danger.
  6. To drop a knife so that it stands upright is a sign of coming success.
Candle Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d6 table · 6 entries
  1. A birthday cake should have as many candles as the person’s years; this ensures another year of happiness.
  2. When candle wax forms a loop like a handle, it is called a “coffin handle” and portends bad luck.
  3. Wax dripping down the side of a candle is called a “shroud” and foretells death to the person toward whom it points.
  4. A spark in the wick is called a “letter” and foretells good news.
  5. A knot in the wick, burning with a red glow, indicates the visit of a stranger.
  6. A wick charred but remaining over the flame is a sign of good luck.
Ladder Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Household Omens d4 table · 4 entries
  1. To walk under a ladder leaning against a wall is a sign of bad luck.
  2. To climb a ladder with an odd number of rungs is a good sign and leads to success.
  3. To be on a ladder with a pretty girl is a good sign and foretells matrimony.
  4. To fall from a ladder is an omen of ill luck and foretells a loss of money.
Plant Portents Inside Folk Omens and Portents Generator · 1 table
Plant Superstitions Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Plant Portents d6 table · 6 entries
  1. Quaking grass, also called maidenhair, brings bad luck if brought into the house.
  2. If mandrake is turned up in your garden, burn it at once, for some believe it causes blindness if looked at too long.
  3. To pick flowers before they are full blown is said to cause a stye.
  4. March marigolds will cause drinking habits if looked at too long.
  5. If poppies are held to the eyes, they are believed to blind you.
  6. Primroses should not be brought into a house where there are laying hens, or the chickens will not hatch out.
Creature Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents Generator · 5 tables
Bird Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Creature Omens d12 table · 12 entries
  1. Owls are unlucky birds; their hoarse and repellent voice is a bad omen and means coming disaster.
  2. The screeching of owls is supposed to foretell plague or other calamities.
  3. To have a raven fly into one’s bedroom foretells disaster.
  4. Robins are lucky birds, and it is bad to kill one.
  5. The cuckoo is a bird of bad omen if it enters one’s home.
  6. To hear a cuckoo cry in the woods is a good sign.
  7. It is a bad sign to have no money in your pocket when you hear the cuckoo’s first cry in spring.
  8. A white bird or a crow flying against a window by night foretells a death in the house within a year.
  9. A robin flying into the house brings good luck.
  10. Magpies are read by their number: one for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for a birth, five for silver, six for gold, seven a secret that dare not be told.
  11. It is unlucky to look into an owl’s nest.
  12. It is a bad omen to kill a swallow or a wren, or to take their eggs.
Insect Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Creature Omens d8 table · 8 entries
  1. It is unlucky to kill a spider; if you wish to thrive, let the spider stay alive.
  2. A spider’s web encountered on the road should not be disturbed.
  3. A little red ant crawling into the pocket brings money.
  4. Crickets are considered harbingers of luck, though in some countries the contrary is believed.
  5. To kill a red ant brings rain.
  6. Bees swarming on a house means that someone will die there.
  7. If you see a black snail, throw it over your head for luck.
  8. To kill a toad will make the bees swarm.
Bee Lore Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Creature Omens d8 table · 8 entries
  1. When putting bees into a new hive, knock three times on the old hive and tell them, or they will sting you.
  2. If anyone dies in a house where bees are kept, they must be told, or they will stop gathering honey and die too.
  3. In some places the hives are turned around when a member of the family dies, otherwise the bees will also die.
  4. By watching the hives on Christmas Eve, people claim they can tell from the bees’ humming whether the holiday will be joyful.
  5. The size of the swarm and the behavior of the bees prophesy good or bad crops.
  6. If a hive of bees dies out, it is a sign of a coming bad harvest.
  7. To be stung by a bee, if not followed by swelling, is a sign of coming fortune.
  8. If three bees alight upon you at one time, your plans will meet with success.
Animal Portents Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Creature Omens d12 table · 12 entries
  1. Rats leaving a house are believed to foretell death.
  2. A cow lowing three times in your face is believed to foretell death.
  3. A shrewmouse running over your foot is believed to foretell death.
  4. Goslings hatched in May bring no luck to the owner.
  5. It is unlucky to bid a price for an animal not for sale; the animal is apt to die within a month.
  6. To covet another’s beast will bring you bad luck.
  7. If a pig is killed while the moon is waning, it will be unprofitable and the bacon will shrink in the pot.
  8. A gray horse brings good luck; spit on the little finger and rub it on the horse, and money will come to you.
  9. If you see a young spring lamb with its head toward you, it means good fortune.
  10. It foretells bad luck if rats gnaw your clothing.
  11. A pig appearing to a traveler is a good sign; a sow with a litter denotes a successful trip.
  12. A hare crossing a traveler’s path is a sign of bad fortune, though a white hare is a good sign.
Dog And Cat Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Creature Omens d8 table · 8 entries
  1. The howling of dogs has always been considered a sign of coming disaster.
  2. The howling of dogs is believed to presage death, especially in houses where someone lies ill.
  3. When dogs tremble and wallow upon the earth, it is a sign of wind and storm.
  4. A black cat without a single white hair is lucky, particularly if it comes to you unsolicited.
  5. If you start out on new work or the hunt and a black cat crosses your path, you will be very lucky in the undertaking.
  6. If you try to coax a black cat to come and it runs away, you will be disappointed in your results.
  7. To kill a black cat is very unlucky and means misfortune for a year.
  8. The meowing of a black cat at midnight is a bad omen and foretells a death.
Weather And Sky Portents Inside Folk Omens and Portents Generator · 4 tables
Sky And Moon Omens Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Weather And Sky Portents d8 table · 8 entries
  1. To walk under a rainbow is unlucky.
  2. To be out in a sunshower is good luck, and whatever you venture in that hour will be successful.
  3. Thunder and lightning are lucky or unlucky according to the direction from which they come.
  4. An uneven number of thunder reports in quick succession will bring luck.
  5. Thunder from a cloudless sky is an indication of luck.
  6. To begin a journey or important work in the last quarter of the moon is bad, and the venture will fail.
  7. The Friday on which the new moon first appears is a bad day, and Sunday is equally unfavorable for a full moon.
  8. The new moon’s first appearance carries a different omen according to where it is seen. See supplementary table: New Moon Position
Rain Signs Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Weather And Sky Portents d20 table · 20 entries
  1. Small fleecy clouds of “curdled” appearance indicate neither long wet nor long dry.
  2. Long streaky clouds indicate fair weather.
  3. Thick bands of clouds across the west indicate stormy weather.
  4. A “weather breeder,” a fine warm day out of season, foretells bad weather in the near future.
  5. Streaks of light radiating from clouds behind the sun foretell rain.
  6. “The moon on her back holds water in her lap.”
  7. A halo around the moon indicates rain.
  8. If the evening star is in front of the moon, look out for rain.
  9. When a guinea fowl or peacock calls, prepare for rain.
  10. The call of the green woodpecker is a sign of rain.
  11. Rooks gathering in large numbers and flying in a circle foretell rain.
  12. Shooting of corns or the aching of an old wound foretells rain.
  13. When the cat scratches the table leg, sneezes, draws her paw over her forehead in washing her face, or frisks about the house, it is a sure sign of rain.
  14. When crickets chirp louder than usual, rain is near.
  15. When a rooster flies on the gate and crows, rain is near.
  16. When a dog eats grass, rain is near.
  17. When snails are abundant, rain is near.
  18. When robins sing high in the tree, the weather will be fine; if they sing low down, rain will soon follow.
  19. Sea gulls on land bring rain.
  20. Early mist indicates a fine day.
Weather Proverbs Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Weather And Sky Portents d8 table · 8 entries
  1. “Wind in the east is good neither for man or beast. Wind in the west suits everybody best.”
  2. “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.”
  3. “If in February there be no rain, the hay won’t prosper nor the grain.”
  4. If a cat lies in the sun in February, she will creep under the grate in March.
  5. “When the oak comes before the ash, summer will be dry and mash.”
  6. “Cold May, short hay! Leaky June, plenty of corn!”
  7. Warm October means a cold February.
  8. Snow that lingers will bring more snow.
Comets And Shooting Stars Inside Folk Omens and Portents / Weather And Sky Portents d6 table · 6 entries
  1. It is unlucky to engage in any new business during the continuation of a comet in the sky.
  2. Children born during a comet will have a difficult time of it and are subject to sudden death.
  3. When a shooting star flashes across the sky, wish for money and you will be sure to get it.
  4. A sick person seeing a shooting star will recover within a month.
  5. If you set out on a voyage at night and see a shooting star, your trip will be successful.
  6. Lovers seeing shooting stars and wishing for health, wealth, or happiness will have their wish gratified.
Supplementary Tables · 1 table
New Moon Position d4 supplementary table · 4 entries
  1. On the right-hand side, it betokens good luck.
  2. Directly in front of you, it denotes good luck till the end of the season.
  3. Behind you on your left, it is a bad omen.
  4. Through a window for the first time, it indicates bad luck.