Presentiments are strange things! and so are sympathies; and so are signs; and the three combined make one mystery to which humanity has not yet found the key. I never laughed at presentiments in my life, because I have had strange ones of my own. Sympathies, I believe, exist…whose workings baffle mortal comprehension. And signs, for aught we know, may be but the sympathies of Nature with man.
– Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre, Chapter 21. Jane speaks about her superstitious beliefs. She explains her thoughts on presentiments, sympathies and signs, which are all part of the human mystery. Echoing pagan beliefs, she draws the link between signs and nature. Signs are events or objects that foreshadow a future event. Presentiments are premonitions.