The interior of the tea-cup when it is
ready to be consulted will exhibit the
leaves scattered apparently in a fortuitous
and accidental manner, but really in
accordance with the muscular action of the
left arm as controlled by the mind at whose
bidding it has worked. These scattered
leaves will form lines and circles of dots
or small leaves and dust combined with
stems, and groups of leaves in larger or
smaller patches: apparently in meaningless
confusion.
Careful notice should now be taken of all
the shapes and figures formed inside the
cup. These should be viewed front different
positions, so that their meaning becomes
clear. It is not very easy at first to see
what the shapes really are, but after
looking at them carefully they become
plainer. The different shapes and figures in
the cup must be taken together in a general
reading. Bad indications will be balanced by
good ones; some good ones will be
strengthened by others, and so on.
It is now the business of the seer—whether
the consultant or some adept to whom he has
handed the cup to be read—to find some
fairly close resemblance between the groups
formed by the leaves and various natural or
artificial objects. This part of the
performance resembles the looking for
'pictures in the fire' as practiced by
children in nurseries and school-rooms and
occasionally by people of a larger growth.
Actual representations of such things as
trees, animals, birds, anchors, crowns,
coffins, flowers, and so forth may by the
exercise of the powers of observation and
imagination be discerned, as well as
squares, triangles, and crosses. Each of
these possesses, as a symbol, some fortunate
or unfortunate signification. Such signs may
be either large or small, and their relative
importance must be judged according to their
size. Supposing the symbol observed should
be that indicating the receipt of a legacy,
for instance: if small it would mean that
the inheritance would be but trifling, if
large that it would be substantial, while if
leaves grouped to form a resemblance to a
coronet accompany the sign for a legacy, a
title would probably descend upon the
consultant at the same time. The meaning of
all the symbols of this nature likely to be
formed by the fortuitous arrangement of
leaves in a tea-cup is fully set forth in
the concluding chapter; and it is
unnecessary therefore to enlarge upon this
branch of the subject.
There are, however, several points of a more
general character that must be considered
before it is possible to form an accurate
judgment of the fortune displayed. For
instance, isolated leaves or groups of a few
leaves or stems frequently form letters of
the alphabet or numbers. These letters and
numbers possess meanings which must be
sought in conjunction with other signs. If
near a letter L is seen a small square or
oblong leaf, or if a number of very small
dots form such a square or oblong, it
indicates that a letter or parcel will be
received from somebody whose surname (not
Christian name) begins with an L. If the
combined symbol appears near the handle and
near the rim of the cup, the letter is close
at hand; if in the bottom there will be
delay in its receipt. If the sign of a
letter is accompanied by the appearance of a
bird flying towards the 'house' it means a
telegraphic dispatch: if flying away from
the house the consultant will have to send
the telegram. Birds flying always indicate
news of some sort.
Again, the dust in the tea and the smaller
leaves and stems frequently form lines of
dots. These are significant of a journey,
and their extent and direction shows its
length and the point of the compass towards
which it will extend: the handle for this
purpose being considered as due south. If
the consultant is at home and lines lead
from the handle right round the cup and back
to the handle, it shows that he will return;
if they end before getting back to the
handle, and especially if a resemblance to a
house appears where the journey line ends,
it betokens removal to some other place. If
the consultant be away from home, lines
leading to the handle show a return home,
and if free from crosses or other symbols of
delay that the return will be speedy:
otherwise it will be postponed. The
occurrence of a numeral may indicate the
number of days, or if in connection with a
number of small dots grouped around the sign
of a letter, a present or a legacy, the
amount of the remittance in the former, the
number of presents to be expected, or the
amount of the legacy coming. Dots
surrounding a symbol always indicate money
coming in some form or other, according to
the nature of the symbol.
It will be seen that to read a fortune in
the tea-cup with any real approach to
accuracy and a serious attempt to derive a
genuine forecast from the cup the seer must
not be in a hurry. He or she must not only
study the general appearance of the
horoscope displayed before him, and decide
upon the resemblance of the groups of leaves
to natural or artificial objects, each of
which possesses a separate significance, but
must also balance the bad and good, the
lucky and unlucky symbols, and strike an
average. For instance, a large bouquet of
flowers, which is a fortunate sign, would
outweigh in importance one or two minute
crosses, which in this case would merely
signify some small delay in the realization
of success; whereas one large cross in a
prominent position would be a warning of
disaster that would be little, if at all,
mitigated by the presence of small isolated
flowers, however lucky individually these
may be. This is on the same principle as
that by which astrologers judge a horoscope,
when, after computing the aspects of the
planets towards each other, the Sun and
Moon, the Ascendant, Mid-heaven, and the
significator of the Native, they balance the
good aspects against the bad, the strong
against the weak, the Benefics against the
Malefics, and so strike an average. In a
similar way the lucky and unlucky, signs in
a tea-cup must be balanced one against the
other and an average struck: and in this
connection it may be pointed out that
symbols which stand out clearly and
distinctly by themselves are of more
importance than those with difficulty to be
discerned amid cloudlike masses of shapeless
leaves. When these clouds obscure or
surround a lucky sign they weaken its force,
and vice versa. In tea-cup reading, however,
the fortune told must be regarded chiefly as
of a horary character, not, as with an
astrological horoscope, that of a whole
life; and where it is merely indulged in as
a light amusement to while away a few
minutes after a meal such nicety of judgment
is not called for. The seer will just glance
at the cup, note the sign for a letter from
someone, or that for a journey to the
seaside or the proximity of a gift, or an
offer of marriage, and pass on to another
cup.
It should be observed that some cups when
examined will present no features of
interest, or will be so clouded and muddled
that no clear meaning is to be read in them.
In such a case the seer should waste no time
over them. Either the consultant has not
concentrated his or her attention upon the
business in hand when turning the cup, or
his destiny is so obscured by the indecision
of his mind or the vagueness of his ideas
that it is unable to manifest itself by
symbols. Persons who consult the tea-leaves
too frequently often find this muddled state
of things to supervene. Probably once a week
will be often enough to look into the
future, although there is something to be
said for the Highland custom of examining
the leaves of the morning cup of tea in
order to obtain some insight into the events
the day may be expected to bring forth. To
'look in the cup' three or four times a day,
as some silly folk do, is simply to ask for
contradictory manifestations and consequent
bewilderment, and is symptomatic of the
idle, empty, bemused minds that prompt to
such ill-advised conduct.
Of course the tea-cup may be employed solely
for the purpose of asking what is known to
astrologers as 'a horary question', such,
for instance, as 'Shall I hear from my lover
in France, and when?' In this case the
attention of the consultant when turning the
cup must be concentrated solely on this
single point, and the seer will regard the
shapes taken by the tea-leaves solely in
this connection in order to give a definite
and satisfactory answer. An example of this
class of horary question is included among
the illustrations (Fig. 10).
Reading Tea Leaves |
