Tea Leaf Reading

Tea leaf reading (sometimes known as 'tasseography' or 'tasseomancy') has been practiced throughout the world for more than a thousand years. The art of tea leaf reading is a very old form of augury, or telling fortunes by the symbols seen in objects.

It seems likely that the practice of reading the tea leaves developed in China, perhaps during the sixth century, long before it became such a popular drink in the West. Tea was not know in the West until 1609, when Dutch traders began importing it.

 

Linda's experience with reading tea leaves

I have come from generations of psychics, my grandmother, my mum and myself. I can remember as a child, as a treat, if I had been good, I would sit down at the wooden kitchen table with my maternal grandmother who would drain her cup, swirl it round and look intently into the bottom of the cup.

She would perform a tea leaf reading and tell me what she could see, and try to guide me to see if I also could see what she was seeing, or indeed see if I was seeing something else, my own interpretation of the tealeaves.

 

Your own personal tea leaf reading

The tea should be consumed leaving just a little in the bottom of the cup. The rest of the liquid should be swirled around the cup three times and the cup upturned onto the saucer. The cup should then be in an upright position again.

The reader's eyes should be closed, and the mind made clear and still. Only when this stillness has been reached should the reader start to read and interpret the tealeaves. There may be patterns in the leaves, or just the unconscious mind being concentrated onto these patterns may give rise to the reading.

People may scoff at this and treat it as a joke, but I bet if you read tealeaves, everybody in your family will want a reading!