Tasseography

I wrote this article a few years ago and I've seen it cut and pasted to other websites. At the time very little had been written on the Internet about it. Now I see on google quite a few links. Here is the article in it's original form. Enjoy.

The art of tea leaf reading is a very old form of augury, or telling fortunes by the symbols seen in random objects. You can do this with flames, clouds, smoke, animal guts (ewwwwww), casting bones, or the way I prefer, with tea leaves or coffee grounds. Many of the old definitions have changed. How many people would know off the top of their head what an anchor or a cannon stands for. Some of the meanings seemed arbitrary to me. Like a dagger for example. A dagger could mean danger, being stabbed in the back, or an unexpected surgery. But it could also be news (as in opening a

letter), or even participation at a medieval reinactment. So how do you tell which meaning is the right meaning? As with anything based on psychic instinct, you follow your gut. Much like tarot reading, the classic meaning may not fit the situation.

Tea leaf reading (tasseography) is a lot like dream interpretation. Follow your first impression. No matter how far-fetched, tell the client what you saw, taking into account the usual warnings against prophesying catasprophies. For one lady, I saw a gorilla. Now, how bizarre I thought. But I mentioned it anyway and she said she had been planning to visit a jungle or rainforest.

How to Read Your Cup

First you need a plain white china cup with sloping sides. Then you need to find a type of tea that has lots of residue. Many readers prefer green tea. Brew the tea in your favorite fashion. Some readers say the client has to drink the tea, some say it doesn't matter. I feel that focusing your energy is more important than drinking the tea. Poor the tea making sure some leave flakes and sediment, etc, go into the cup. Have a saucer handy with a napkin on it. Have the client drink the tea till only about a teaspoon of fluid remains in the bottom of the cup. Now have them focus on their question and swirl the sediment up onto the sides of the cup, being careful not to slosh it over the edge. Quickly flip the cup over onto the saucer, letting the fluid drain out. Give it time. Then flip it over slowly. The reader holds the handle of the cup. Whatever is nearest the handle or the lip is happening in the present. The closer you get to the bottom, the further in the future the image would be. The very bottom of the cup is the far off outcome. Relax and calmly look for bits that form patterns. You can also read the negative (white) areas between the splotches. Look for animals, letters, and numbers too. One lady had what looked like the letter D near the rim. I asked her if there was an important man in her life whose name started with a D. She looked like she was about to say no, then she said, "Well, yes, my husband's name is Dave." Dave was sitting right next

to her. Her and I both looked at the D, and realized that next to the D was a small, meaningless blob, but right after that there was a V and an E...thus spelling outthe name DAVE. It was the first time a whole name showed up for me. If you plan to do a lot of readings, keep a journal of symbols and what they mean to you. You can revise your definitions as you get more experience. In one lady's cup I saw a Turkish scimitar. I asked her if she felt that the Turkish people were her enemies, and she said that her country had been at war with them on and off all her life. Usually I try to keep readings upbeat, but I think both of us were startled by that.

I hope you enjoy learning to read tea leaves or coffee grounds.

Blessings to you.