Telling Fortunes By Tea Leaves | Page 2

to have been used in China
from very early times, tea was not brought into Europe until about the
middle of the sixteenth century. For many years after its introduction
into this country, tea was far too costly to be used except by a
comparatively small proportion of the population. It has, however,
proved its extreme usefulness as a means of divination, as well as its

merits as a beverage, for close upon three centuries.
It is a very favourite method with the Highlanders, where it is
customary for the "guid wife" to read in her cup of tea at breakfast the
events she may look for during the day. Simple though they may
probably be, there are to be seen in the tea-leaves, a letter, a parcel, a
visitor, a wedding, and so on. It is said that no Highland seer would
take money for making prognostications as to the future. This, no doubt,
is one good reason for their powers as clairvoyants.
It is a misfortune that clairvoyance should ever have to come into the
material necessities of money transactions, as it tends to mar the clear
vision.
It is said by some that tea-leaves can foretell the events for twenty-four
hours only. As clairvoyance has no restrictions as to time or space, I
cannot see how it can be thus laid down as a fact that it is limited to
man-made laws of time! Certainly there is much evidence of the "tea
leaves" being capable of foreseeing events of an important nature at a
considerable distance ahead.
One of the most difficult points in interpreting visions of clairvoyance
is the time element; simply because time, as we know it, does not exist.
The intuitive faculty is needed for any accurate definition of time, so
important to us in our present conditions, so absolutely unimportant to
the subconscious self. Let us decide at once, then, that divination by
tea-leaves may, and often does, extend to a further vision than that of
the twenty-four hours. Much depends upon the methods used.
Our individual past, quite apart from the arbitrary laws of heredity,
makes the road of our future. Possibly this may account for the curious
fact that in dreams the setting is often in childhood's surroundings,
while the dream itself is obviously of the present or the future. This
shows how the first beginnings of the event which is to come were
brought about. It is somewhat like unwinding a cotton reel!
There are, no doubt, some who look upon the tea-leaves merely as a
form of amusement, and who entertain their friends in that way. Well,

it is a harmless amusement, and is often useful at a very dull tea party!
But for those who take it seriously, and regard it as one of the many
means of divination, it will be treated with the respect due to such
matters.
As in other forms of divination, so with the reading of the tea-cup, a
great deal depends on the seer. Those who are naturally clairvoyant will
read many events and scenes in the cup which would be passed over by
others not so gifted. Even without this "clear sight," however, the
tea-leaves may be read by anyone who has learned the principles and
the symbolic meanings given in this book. With a certain amount of
intuition and imagination, the tea-cups may be most successfully used
to reveal the future.


CHAPTER II
PRACTICE AND METHOD
A wide, shallow cup is the best kind to use for tea-leaf
divination--white if possible. A narrow cup adds to the seer's
difficulties, as the tea-leaves cannot be plainly seen. Small cups, too,
are objectionable for the same reason, and a fluted cup is even worse. A
plain, even surface is required, with no pattern of any kind, as this has a
tendency to confuse the symbols. Indian tea and the cheaper mixtures,
which contain so much dust and twigs are of no use for reading a
fortune, as they cannot form into pictures and symbols that can easily
be distinguished.
Those who desire to have their tea-leaves interpreted should leave
about a teaspoonful of tea at the bottom of the cup. It should then be
taken in the left hand, and turned three times from left with a quick
swing. Then very gently, slowly, and with care, turn it upside down
over the saucer, leaving it there for a minute, so that all the moisture
may drain away.

Some divinators of the tea-leaves insist on a concentration of the mind
during this turning of the cup, as do many cartomantes whilst the cards
are being shuffled; others prefer the mind to be as far as possible free
from any definite thought or desire, simply allowing it to dwell on such
abstract subjects as flowers