A Tall Dark Stranger in Your Tea Leaves?

If it weren’t for nomadic gypsies, we wouldn’t have Tasseomancy to forecast a tall, dark stranger coming to us at afte
oon tea-time. The gypsies brought the art of tea leaf reading from China in the 1800s, and it has been used as a fun way to divine the future ever since.

Reading tea leaves is a bit like interpreting a Rorschach Inkblot Test – everyone gets something different out of the shapes they can see. But if you follow these basic guidelines you’ll get an insight on how to do a tea-leaf reading for yourself.

First of all, scatter some China tea leaves into a teapot to make your brew. Do not strain the loose leaves as you pour your tea into a white, broad-rimmed cup.

Focus on your life as you drink the tea – problems you are facing; dreams you want fulfilled; questions you want answered. Leave a little bit of fluid in the bottom.

Swirl the cup three times clockwise as you repeat a wish, then turn the cup upside down onto a saucer. If there is too much fluid you may need to strain it with a napkin first so that the tea leaves don’t wash away.

Give the leaves a couple of minutes to dry, and you are ready to do your reading.

Turn the cup over and have a look at the patterns from all angles of the cup. Look for simple images first, such as shapes, letters or numbers. Triangles, for example, represent good karma, squares raise the need for caution and circles are the harbinger of great success.

Once you’ve disce
ed the simple images, let your creativity take over and apply names to other clumps of leaves. You might see an anchor (or is that a fallopian tube?); a bat (or a butterfly?); a kite (or a vanilla slice?). Listen to your intuition to glean what the object really is and what it means.

Some good omens include an acorn (financial success), an airplane (a journey), an anchor (stability) an angel (good news) or an apple (prosperity). Some bad omens include ants (tedious work), a down-tu
ed arrow (bad news), or a dagger (back-stabbing). There is a comprehensive list of symbols and their meanings at http://tasseomancy.com/symbol.htm

The position of the images that emerge represent timings. The closer they are to the rim, the sooner the event is likely to happen. Anything sitting on the very bottom is likely to occur in 12 months time. Objects on the left of the handle may represent a past event. Look carefully and you might see those gypsies coming!