Toad in the garden
A toad in the garden drinks through the skin of its belly, taking in moisture from whatever ground it sits on, a reminder to ask what you soak up from your surroundings. Sicilians believed keeping a toad brought the house good fortune.
What it may mean
A toad never drinks the way you do. It sits on damp soil and takes water in through a thin patch of skin on its belly, so whatever it rests on, wet earth or dry dust, clean ground or treated lawn, ends up inside it. The ground it chooses decides how it fares. That is a striking thought to carry back into your own days. You soak up the places and people you sit with most: the tone of the office, the news you scroll before bed, the friend who lifts you or the one who drains you. So when you find a toad under your flowerpot, ask what you have been sitting in, and whether it is the ground you would choose.
Depending on how you saw it
Hiding under a flowerpot by day
By day, toads stay dug into cool, damp spots under boards, stones and pots, and emerge at night. They know exactly where they recover. Where is your own damp, shady spot, the place where you get your strength back?
A toad trilling on a spring night
Male American toads give a long, steady trill from shallow water in spring, sometimes holding a single note for half a minute. It sounds like a phone left ringing. What steady signal have you been sending for a while, and is anyone near enough to hear it?
Toads on the road after rain
On wet spring nights, toads head for their breeding ponds, crossing roads and driveways in numbers. Some towns close roads for them, and volunteers carry them across. What risk are you willing to take to get back to the place that matters to you?
Puffing up when picked up
A frightened toad swells itself with air and may release a bitter fluid from the glands behind its eyes. It makes itself bigger and less pleasant to hold. When you feel cornered, how do you puff yourself up, and does it work?
Why it happens in nature
Toads have dry, bumpy skin and spend the day hidden in damp soil or under boards and pots, coming out at night to eat insects, slugs and worms. They do not cause warts; the bumps are skin glands, and the large ones behind the eyes make a bitter fluid that deters predators. Toads take in water through their skin, especially a thin patch on the belly.
What folk beliefs say
Sicily
In Sicily, keeping a toad was believed to favor the household with good fortune. Killing one was a sacrilege, because the toad was thought to be a powerful fairy under a curse.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 712. View the page
Persia (Iran)
In Persia, a toad coming out of its hole foretold rain.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 711. View the page
British Guiana (Guyana)
In British Guiana, large toads coming into the doorway meant an enemy was at work against you; sprinkling the toad with salt was said to defeat the plan.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 712. View the page
To reflect on
What have you been soaking up from the places and people you sit with most?