Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves

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Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of
Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves, by 'A Highland Seer' This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves
Author: 'A Highland Seer'
Release Date: April 24, 2006 [EBook #18241]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEA-CUP READING ***

Produced by Ruth Hart

Transcriber's note: In Chapter V, I changed the spelling of "collecton" to "collection", in the Interpretation of Fig. 6, I changed "biry" to "bird", and in the Interpretation of Fig. 10, I changed "letteres" to "letters." All other spelling is unchanged.

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TEA-CUP READING AND FORTUNE-TELLING BY TEA LEAVES
By A Highland Seer
With Ten Illustrations

NEW YORK
GEORGE SULLY AND COMPANY
PRINTED IN U. S. A.

CONTENTS
Preface 11 I. Introduction to the Art of Divination from Tea-Leaves 13 II. Ritual and Method of Using the Teacup 25 III. General Principles To Be Observed in Reading the Cup 29 IV. An Alphabetical List of Symbols with Their Significations 39 V. Specimen Cups, with Interpretations 57 VI. Omens 66

ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1 61 Fig. 2 63 Fig. 3 65 Fig. 4 67 Fig. 5 69 Fig. 6 71 Fig. 7 73 Fig. 8 75 Fig. 9 77 Fig. 10 79

PREFACE
It is somewhat curious that among the great number of books on occult science and all forms of divination which have been published in the English language there should be none dealing exclusively with the Tea-cup Reading and the Art of Telling Fortunes by the Tea-leaves: notwithstanding that it is one of the most common forms of divination practised by the peasants of Scotland and by village fortune-tellers in all parts of this country. In many of the cheaper handbooks to Fortune-telling by Cards or in other ways only brief references to the Tea-cup method are given; but only too evidently by writers who are merely acquainted with it by hearsay and have not made a study of it for themselves.
This is probably because the Reading of the Tea-cups affords but little opportunity to the Seer of extracting money from credulous folk; a reason why it was never adopted by the gypsy soothsayers, who preferred the more obviously lucrative methods of crossing the palm with gold or silver, or of charging a fee for manipulating a pack of playing-cards.
Reading the Cup is essentially a domestic form of Fortune-telling to be practised at home, and with success by anyone who will take the trouble to master the simple rules laid down in these pages: and it is in the hope that it will provide a basis for much innocent and inexpensive amusement and recreation round the tea-table at home, as well as for a more serious study of an interesting subject, that this little guide-book to the science is confidently offered to the public.

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF DIVINATION FROM TEA-LEAVES
It seems highly probable that at no previous period of the world's history have there been so many persons as there are at the present moment anxious to ascertain in advance, if that be humanly possible, a knowledge of at least 'what a day may bring forth.' The incidence of the greatest of all wars, which has resulted in sparse news of those from whom they are separated, and produces a state of uncertainty as to what the future holds in store for each of the inhabitants of the British Empire, is, of course, responsible for this increase in a perfectly sane and natural curiosity; with its inevitable result, a desire to employ any form of divination in the hope that some light may haply be cast upon the darkness and obscurity of the future.
It is unfortunately the case, as records of the police-courts have recently shown, that the creation of this demand for foreknowledge of coming events or for information as to the well-being of distant relatives and friends has resulted in the abundant supply of the want by scores of pretended 'Fortune-tellers' and diviners of the Future; who, trading upon the credulity and anxieties of their unfortunate fellow-countrywomen, seek to make a living at their expense.
Now it is an axiom, which centuries of experience have shown to be as sound as those of Euclid himself, that the moment the taint of money enters into the business of reading the Future the accuracy and credit of the Fortune told disappears. The Fortune-teller no longer possesses the singleness of mind or purpose necessary to a clear reading of the symbols he or she consults. The amount of the fee is the first consideration, and this alone is