Telling Fortunes By Tea Leaves | Page 6

of the voyage.
The male sex holds aloof and leaves us to "perform these follies." Some ascribe it to man's superiority. Or as briefly summed up by a delightful member of their sex, who when declaiming against the possibility of the future being made visible, said, "With all apologies to you, I must say I am not so profoundly stupid as to believe in these things; it cannot be anything more than rot."
It is remarkable how such protests die away when clairvoyant evidence, either by cards, tea-leaves, or other means, has accurately predicted some event of the distant future that at the time appeared absurd and impossible of happening.
Woman may lawfully claim superiority with regard to her intuitive faculty, and thus she is well equipped for exercising her divinatory powers.
Who need be dull or bored when the language of symbolism remains to be learned? Perhaps I should say, studied; for completely learned it can never be, seeing that fresh events are constantly occurring in the world, and new symbols appear representing each.
There are few things more fascinating than personal discovery, and those who become students of divination by tea-leaves, or cards, may safely be promised a taste of this pleasing sensation of achievement. It is limited to the few to discover the marvels of radium, or the discomforts of the South Pole, but a fragment of their glory is shared by those who find new evidence of the far-reaching knowledge of symbolism.


CHAPTER V
SOME HINTS FOR DIVINERS
REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF PROPHECY BY THE TEA-LEAVES
"For a man's mind is sometimes wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in a high tower."
To those of an inquiring or doubting turn of mind, there may arise the very natural question as to why one shaped tea-leaf should mean "a hat" and another "a table." It is useless to point out that these objects are perfectly represented by the leaves. That is of no practical satisfaction. The simple fact that each language has its alphabet, its spelling, and its words, which must be learned before there can be any reasonable understanding of it, seems the best and obvious reply.
Symbolism is a wide subject with many branches. Who can expect to master even its alphabet in a moment? To those who cannot accept the symbols in the tea-leaves on the authority of past experience, reaching over several centuries, I would recommend a careful study of their cups for, say, three months. Let them make notes of such signs as appear and beside them place their meanings and predictions.
At the end of this time, compare all that has taken place with these notes, and I think there will be no further lack of faith in the tea-leaf symbols.
Before very many years have passed the language of symbolism by cards, tea-leaves, crystal gazing, etc., will probably be almost universally understood. The day will undoubtedly come when it will be accepted as naturally as the English language, and we shall cease to worry ourselves as to the why and wherefore of it all.
It is important that those who are learning the art of divination by tea-leaves should realise the necessity for consistently attributing the same meanings to the symbols. Do not be tempted to change their interpretation for what may seem a more probable, or pleasant, prediction for your client. It is a fatal mistake.
Remember that you are dealing with conditions and events of the future which are outside the limited knowledge of the normal mind, whose power of vision is limited to physical sight.
A simple instance of what may occur, should you thus change the meanings of the symbols, will suffice to show the folly of such a practice.
A consultant comes to have her "fortune read." She is known to you personally, and you are aware that she is anxious to hear a hopeful report of someone dear to her who is ill. The tea-leaf symbols are obstinately unfavourable, and display ominous signs of forthcoming sorrow. If you gloss over this fact completely, and predict a rapid recovery from the illness, what becomes of your client's faith in the power of foretelling the future? Certain it is that the symbols would be right in their verdict, and you would be wrong.
It is usually easier to prophesy smooth things rather than unpleasant facts, but to do this in the face of obvious contradictions will lead to disaster in foretelling the future.
Divination by tea-leaves or cards has the candour to be frankly disagreeable when necessary. This is one great argument in favour of its unerring truthfulness. There is no means by which symbols may be coaxed into proclaiming false statements.
The most practised clairvoyant may occasionally make mistakes in her reading of the symbols, but no genuine seer should ever deliberately give a wrong interpretation of them to please her