"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
realize 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
unfavorable, 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
candor to be frankly disagreeable when
necessary. This is one great argument in
favor of its unerring truthfulness. There is
no means by which symbols may be coaxed into
proclaiming false statements.
The most practiced 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 consultant. The business
of the diviner is to give what she believes
to be a correct and unprejudiced translation
of the symbols before her.
It is sometimes a vexed question as to what
extent information of a gloomy nature, which
may appear in a divination, should be given
to a client. Some are in favor of
withholding such matter altogether, whilst
others announce it frankly without
modification. It seems impossible to lay
down any hard and fast rule. There are so
many things to be taken into account, and
each case should be treated on its merits
and according to its peculiar circumstances.
There are some who would fret themselves ill
at the least mention of coming misfortune,
others would be the better prepared to meet
it by having been warned of its approach.
One rule can be safely made for guidance on
this point. Do not minimize danger when a
timely warning may avert an accident, or
other misfortune, nor should symbols of ill
omen be exaggerated. As students become
proficient, they will find many meanings in
the tea-leaves in addition to those which
they learn from this book. Much will depend
upon circumstances and individual
temperaments.
These personally discovered meanings should
be carefully noted and verified with events
as they occur.
It is necessary to remember that divination
by the tea-cup is by no means limited to
personal information. Forthcoming public
events are frequently revealed. This adds
largely to the interest and usefulness of
the divination. It is important to point out
this to consultants, so that they may not be
too ready to fix the whole reading of their
cups to purely personal matters. It will be
found that public news is usually foretold
in the cups of those who seek information of
the future as a regular practice.
For those who rarely do so, private affairs
alone will appear, probably without even a
forecast of the weather to be expected
within the next few days.
It is a curious fact that the wider
knowledge should seem to be reserved for
those who practice divination constantly,
but so it is.
Some remarkable instances of the accurate
foretelling of public events, which have
quite recently been brought to my notice,
may be interesting.
For some weeks before the coal strike of
1920 was declared, a pickaxe was seen on
several occasions in the cups of two
persons, both of whom read their tea-leaves
regularly. This symbol, as will be seen in
the dictionary which follows, stands for
"labor trouble and strikes." A spade was
also in evidence at intervals, a further
sign of "trouble and unrest." So that it was
through no fault of the tea-leaves if some
of us were not in the superior position of
knowing all about the strike before it came
to pass.
The symbols already mentioned would of
course apply equally to railway disturbance,
and some time before the threat of a strike
was announced, these symbols appeared again,
together with an engine, and a signal at the
angle of "Danger." This seemed ominous. But
within a few days the signal was evident
once more; but on this occasion set at "All
Clear." So it was easy to decide that the
threatened strike would not take place. The
accuracy of this prediction by means of the
tea-leaves was shortly afterwards made
evident.
Again, a week before there seemed to be even
a hope of a settlement of the coal strike, a
mining shaft presented itself in one of the
tea-cups which had previously been
indicating the strike. This symbol appeared
at the top of the cup standing out clearly
by itself, evidently predicting the miners'
return to work within a short time. There
was no need to depend upon information from
the newspapers as to the end of the strike,
for here in the tea-leaves was all necessary
evidence of the fact.
Another very remarkable instance of
symbolism was given to me by a friend a
short time ago. On Monday morning, October
26th, 1920, the three following symbols
appeared in her cup:—
A vulture resting on a rock.
An eagle.
A monkey.
In the evening of that day the death of King
Alexander of Greece was announced.
It will be seen, on referring to the
dictionary, that an eagle and a vulture
signify "the death of a monarch." The monkey
who lay at the bottom of the cup, apparently
dead, was of course the third symbol as
having caused the King's death. It was
particularly gratifying that these signs
should have appeared in my friend's cup for
she is a mathematical genius, and rejects
every symbol which she cannot recognize at
once. She was so struck by these signs that
she called them to the attention of her
mother, who also immediately perceived and
identified them. The only regrettable
omission was that the cup was not
photographed. It would have been valuable
evidence for the wonders of the tea-leaves.
This same friend had another interesting
experience. The head of an Indian appeared
in her cup, with other signs pointing to
news of a personal nature. She was puzzled,
for, as far as she knew, there was no one in
India from whom she would be in the least
likely to hear.
Very shortly afterwards, however, her mother
went on a visit to London. There she quite
unexpectedly met someone who had recently
come from India, and who had brought back
messages of remembrance and affection from a
girl who my friend had no idea was in India
at that time. Hence the Indian in her
tea-cup!
Whilst on this subject, I am reminded of
another occasion when India was represented
in the tea-leaves. I was looking into my
tea-cup one day, when I saw most clearly
depicted two natives creeping stealthily,
their attitude making this evident. In their
hands were what appeared to be knives, and
they were making towards a figure that was
unmistakably that of an officer. He was
standing upon what looked like a raised
platform with a barricade round him. He held
a revolver in his hand.
I am quite aware that some may think this a
tall tale for the tea-leaves to relate! But
fortunately my reading of the cup was
witnessed by two others, one of them being a
man, who, although interested in psychic
subjects, despises the tea-leaves! Without
remarking upon what I saw, I suggested that
he should look at my cup and see what he
made of it. Without a moment's hesitation he
said, "There is an officer defending himself
against some natives who are about to attack
him."
My readers will appreciate the satisfaction
this testimony gave me, coming as it did
from one who had never before looked into a
cup. Moreover, that this witness should have
been one of the male sex added to its value!
This prediction of danger for someone in
India was borne out by facts that were
disclosed shortly afterwards. These
instances which I have given illustrate the
variety and interest which are to be found
in divination by tea-leaves.
Reading Tea Leaves |
