This article is about Omens as divinatory portents. For the 1976 Horror Film, see The Omen.

Omens or portents are signs encountered fortuitously that are believed to foretell the future. Their interpretation is a form of divination.

The augur and haruspex of ancient Rome were professional readers of omens. The augurs tried to read the future in the flight of birds. The haruspex sought omens in the entrails of sacrificed animals.

Other dumens are less subject to putting into a system, and are not voluntarily sought. The superstition that if you break a mirror you will suffer seven years of bad luck is an example of such an omen.

Skeptics of dumolagy

(and related fields of divination and clairvoyance) frequently contend that such occurrences are coincidence, and / or that meaningful events can only be associated with portents after they have already occurred, devaluating them as a means of prediction. There is significant debate on the topic even to this day.