Reading Tea leaves, or Tasseography/Tasseomancy to give it it's proper formal name, is an art of fortune telling that dates back to medieval times when European fortune tellers would use tea leaf formation in the readings they gave to predict what may lay in store for the enquirer.
As somebody with a great interest in divination (the art of fortune telling) I am always keen to try new methods, over the years I've tried my hand at many fortune telling techniques including crystal scrying, pendulum dowsing and bibliomancy - but reading tea leaves was a new one for me.
My partner bought me a set called The Cup Of Destiny for my birthday recently, and I thought I'd share what it taught me about tea leaf reading and how I got on...now whether you believe in this kind of thing or not is not up for debate, each to their own and all that!, I am merely sharing this as a bit of fun - not something to be taken too seriously!
The Cup Of Destiny kit includes a very pretty teacup and saucer, along with a book telling you how to use it and an index of various shapes you might find in the tea leaves and how to interpret them.
I assumed when I saw the cup included that the symbols and section of the cup would be relevant in the art of tea leaf reading itself but that's not actually the case at all - the sections and illustrations on the cup and saucer are an entirely separate fortune telling game to be used with the Cup Of Destiny only and have no relevance to the ancient art of tea leaf reading.
Therefore if you want to try the Cup Of Destiny go ahead, but you certainly don't need it to read the tea leaves - any simple tea cup and saucer will suffice!
To begin with, you simply need to make a cup of tea!
A leaf tea is necessary, but you mustn't strain the leaves as you would usually do as obviously these are an essential part of the process! It's considered best to make a pot of tea and pour yourself a cup from it, so that you don't end up with too many leaves - I didn't do this as I don't have a teapot and I ended up with rather a lot of leaves which made it quite bizarre to drink...but at least gave me plenty of leaves for a reading after!
You then need to sit somewhere quiet and drink your tea...You should sip it slowly and use the time to calm your mind, unwind, switch off a little from whatevers going on around you...and if you have any specific questions in mind that you'd like to be answered, now is the time to mull over them.
You should leave a little liquid in the bottom of the cup once you're done...
When you've finished your tea and left just a little, take the cup, swirl the liquid three times and turn it over onto the saucer - dumping out the excess liquid. Leave it for around 7 seconds or so, before turning it back again.
And there you have your tea leaves ready to be interpreted!
Tea leaf reading is a personal and subjective process - everyone will see something different and we are likely to interpret what we're seeing in the leaves based on what is currently happening in our lives or the matter at hand, therefore YOU are the most qualified person to read your own tea leaves.
If your cup has a handle, start there and read the leaves in a clockwise direction. If your cup has no handle, begin reading from the 12 o'clock point.
Make a note of the first symbol you see in the leaves as this is the most important - this represents your own dominant character or someone near and influential to you or the situation.
The cup should be mentally divided into three sections - the rim (above the tea level when you first poured your tea), the base (the level of liquid that was left in the cup before you tipped it out) and the middle (The section between the rim and the base).
Make a note of any symbols you see and whether they are located on the rim, middle or base of the cup and whether it is directly next to another symbol.
Symbols you see in the rim represent someone or something occurring currently.
Symbols in the middle represent the immediate future - usually the next fortnight or so.
Symbols in the base represent the long term future or the ultimate answer to your query.
So what symbols do you see?
Here is a LIST of symbols you may come across and how they are usually interpreted.
So what did my own reading tell me?
I saw a large leafless Tree figure as my first symbol, and this was located in the middle of the cup. I also saw a bird in the base of the cup.
The large leafless tree represents family, which means that they were central to my query - more specifically it represents a family conflict which is 100% what my query had been about!
The bird I saw I likened most to a parrot shape, and the meaning of this is beware of idle gossip - this was in the base of my cup so was the ultimate answer to my query - without giving too much of my query away I can say that this makes perfect sense to me and is certainly advice I will heed!
I had a lot of fun experimenting with the tea leaves, and will no doubt use them again in the future.
Have you ever tried tea leaf reading or fortune telling? As always, I'd love to hear from you!
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