Tea Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune Telling by Tea Leaves
\' >> \'A Highland Seer\' >> Tea Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune Telling by Tea LeavesTranscriber's note: In Chapter V, I changed the spelling of
"collecton" to "collection", in the Interpretation of Fig. 6, I changed
"biry" to "bird", and in the Interpretation of Fig. 10, I changed
"letteres" to "letters." All other spelling is unchanged.
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TEA-CUP READING AND FORTUNE-TELLING BY TEA LEAVES
By A Highland Seer
With Ten Illustrations
NEW YORK
GEORGE SULLY AND COMPANY
_PRINTED IN U. S. A._
CONTENTS
Preface 11
I. Introduction to the Art of Divination from
Tea-Leaves 13
II. Ritual and Method of Using the Teacup 25
III. General Principles To Be Observed in Reading
the Cup 29
IV. An Alphabetical List of Symbols with Their
Significations 39
V. Specimen Cups, with Interpretations 57
VI. Omens 66
ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1 61
Fig. 2 63
Fig. 3 65
Fig. 4 67
Fig. 5 69
Fig. 6 71
Fig. 7 73
Fig. 8 75
Fig. 9 77
Fig. 10 79
PREFACE
It is somewhat curious that among the great number of books on occult
science and all forms of divination which have been published in the
English language there should be none dealing exclusively with the
Tea-cup Reading and the Art of Telling Fortunes by the Tea-leaves:
notwithstanding that it is one of the most common forms of divination
practised by the peasants of Scotland and by village fortune-tellers
in all parts of this country. In many of the cheaper handbooks to
Fortune-telling by Cards or in other ways only brief references to the
Tea-cup method are given; but only too evidently by writers who are
merely acquainted with it by hearsay and have not made a study of it for
themselves.
This is probably because the Reading of the Tea-cups affords but little
opportunity to the Seer of extracting money from credulous folk; a
reason why it was never adopted by the gypsy soothsayers, who preferred
the more obviously lucrative methods of crossing the palm with gold or
silver, or of charging a fee for manipulating a pack of playing-cards.
Reading the Cup is essentially a domestic form of Fortune-telling to be
practised at home, and with success by anyone who will take the trouble
to master the simple rules laid down in these pages: and it is in the
hope that it will provide a basis for much innocent and inexpensive
amusement and recreation round the tea-table at home, as well as for
a more serious study of an interesting subject, that this little
guide-book to the science is confidently offered to the public.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF DIVINATION FROM TEA-LEAVES
It seems highly probable that at no previous period of the world's
history have there been so many persons as there are at the present
moment anxious to ascertain in advance, if that be humanly possible, a
knowledge of at least 'what a day may bring forth.' The incidence of the
greatest of all wars, which has resulted in sparse news of those from
whom they are separated, and produces a state of uncertainty as to what
the future holds in store for each of the inhabitants of the British
Empire, is, of course, responsible for this increase in a perfectly sane
and natural curiosity; with its inevitable result, a desire to employ
any form of divination in the hope that some light may haply be cast
upon the darkness and obscurity of the future.
It is unfortunately the case, as records of the police-courts have
recently shown, that the creation of this demand for foreknowledge
of coming events or for information as to the well-being of distant
relatives and friends has resulted in the abundant supply of the want by
scores of pretended 'Fortune-tellers' and diviners of the Future;
who, trading upon the credulity and anxieties of their unfortunate
fellow-countrywomen, seek to make a living at their expense.
Now it is an axiom, which centuries of experience have shown to be as
sound as those of Euclid himself, that the moment the taint of money
enters into the business of reading the Future the accuracy and credit
of the Fortune told disappears. The Fortune-teller no longer possesses
the singleness of mind or purpose necessary to a clear reading of
the symbols he or she consults. The amount of the fee is the first
consideration, and this alone is sufficient to obscure the mental vision
and to bias the judgment. This applies to the very highest and most
conscientious of Fortune-tellers--persons really adept at foreseeing the
future when no taint of monetary reward intervenes. The greater number,
however, of so-called Fortune-tellers are but charlatans, with the
merest smattering of partly-assimilated knowledge of some form of
divination or 'character-reading'; whether by the cards, coins, dice,
dominoes, hands, crystal, or in any other pretended way. With these, the
taint of the money they hope to receive clouds such mind or intuition
as they may possess, and it follows that their judgments and
prognostications have precisely the same value as the nostrums of the
quack medicine-vendor. They are very different from the Highlander who,
coming to the door of his cottage or bothie at dawn, regards steadfastly
the signs and omens he notes in the appearance of the sky, the actions
of animals, the flight of birds, and so forth, and derives there from
a foresight into the coming events of the opening day. They differ also
from the 'spae-wife,' who, manipulating the cup from which she has taken
her morning draught of tea, looks at the various forms and shapes the
leaves and dregs have taken, and deduces thence such simple horary
prognostications as the name of the person from whom 'postie' will
presently bring up the glen a letter or a parcel or a remittance of
money; or as to whether she is likely to go a journey, or to hear news
from across the sea, or to obtain a good price for the hose she has
knitted or for the chickens or eggs she is sending to the store-keeper.
Here the taint of a money-payment is altogether absent; and no Highland
'spae-wife' or seer would dream of taking a fee for looking into the
future on behalf of another person.
It follows, therefore, that provided he or she is equipped with the
requisite knowledge and some skill and intuition, the persons most
fitted to tell correctly their own fortune are themselves; because they
cannot pay themselves for their own prognostications, and the absence of
a monetary taint consequently leaves the judgment unbiased. Undoubtedly
one of the simplest, most inexpensive and, as the experience of nearly
three centuries has proved, most reliable forms of divination within its
own proper limits, is that of reading fortunes in tea-cups. Although it
cannot be of the greatest antiquity, seeing that tea was not introduced
into Britain until the middle of the seventeenth century, and for many
years thereafter was too rare and costly to be used by the great bulk
of the population, the practice of reading the tea-leaves doubtless
descends from the somewhat similar form of divination known to the
Greeks as "_{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
FINAL SIGMA~}_" by which fortune in love was discovered by the
particular splash made by wine thrown out of a cup into a metal basin. A
few spae-wives still practise this method by throwing out the tea-leaves
into the saucer, but the reading of the symbols as they are originally
formed in the cup is undoubtedly the better method.
Any person after a study of this book and by carefully following the
principles here laid down may with practice quickly learn to read the
horary fortunes that the tea-leaves foretell. It should be distinctly
understood, however, that tea-cup fortunes are only horary, or dealing
with the events of the hour or the succeeding twenty-four hours at
furthest. The immediately forthcoming events are those which cast their
shadows, so to speak, within the circle of the cup. In this way the
tea-leaves may be consulted once a day, and many of the minor happenings
of life foreseen with considerable accuracy, according to the skill
in discerning the symbols and the intuition required to interpret
them which may be possessed by the seer. Adepts like the Highland
peasant-women can and do foretell events that subsequently occur,
and that with remarkable accuracy. Practice and the acquirement of a
knowledge of the signification of the various symbols is all that is
necessary in order to become proficient and to tell one's fortune and
that of one's friends with skill and judgment.
There is, of course, a scientific reason for all forms of divination
practised without hope or promise of reward. Each person carries in
himself his own Destiny. Events do not happen to people by chance, but
are invariably the result of some past cause. For instance, in the
last years a man becomes a soldier who had never intended to pursue a
military career. This does not happen to him by chance, but because
of the prior occurrence of la European war in which his country was
engaged. The outbreak of war is similarly the result of other causes,
none of which happened by chance, but were founded by still remoter
occurrences. It is the same with the Future. That which a person does
today as a result of something that happened in the past, will in its
turn prove the cause of something that will happen at some future date.
The mere act of doing something today sets in motion forces that in
process of time will inevitably bring about some entirely unforeseen
event.
This event is not decreed by Fate or Providence, but by the person who
by the committal of some act unconsciously compels the occurrence of
some future event which he does not foresee. In other words, a man
decrees his own destiny and shapes his own ends by his actions, whether
Providence rough-hew them or not. Now this being so, it follows that
he carries his destiny with him, and the more powerful his mind and
intellect the more clearly is this seen to be the case. Therefore it is
possible for a person's mind, formed as the result of past events over
which he had no control, to foresee by an effort what will occur in the
future as the result of acts deliberately done. Since it is given to but
few, and that not often of intention, to see actually what is about to
happen in a vision or by means of what is called the 'second sight,'
some machinery must be provided in the form of symbols from which an
interpretation of the future can be made. It matters little what the
method or nature of the symbols chosen is--dice or dominoes, cards or
tea-leaves. What matters is that the person shaking the dice, shuffling
the dominoes, cutting the cards or turning the tea-cup, is by these very
acts transferring from his mind where they lie hidden even from himself
the shadows of coming events which by his own actions in the past he
has already predetermined shall occur in the future. It only remains
for someone to read and interpret these symbols correctly in order to
ascertain something of what is likely to happen; and it is here that
singleness of purpose and freedom from ulterior motives are necessary in
order to avoid error and to form a true and clear judgment.
This is the serious and scientific explanation of the little-understood
and less-comprehended action of various forms of divination having for
their object the throwing of a little light upon the occult. Of all
these forms perhaps divination by tea-leaves is the simplest, truest,
and most easily learned. Even if the student is disinclined to
attach much importance to what he sees in the cup, the reading of the
tea-leaves forms a sufficiently innocent and amusing recreation for the
breakfast- or tea-table; and the man who finds a lucky sign such as
an anchor or a tree in his cup, or the maiden who discovers a pair
of heart-shaped groups of leaves in conjunction with a ring, will be
suffering no harm in thus deriving encouragement for the future, even
should they attach no importance to their occurrence, but merely treat
them as an occasion for harmless mirth and badinage.
Whether, however, the tea-leaves be consulted seriously or in mere sport
and love of amusement, the methods set forth in succeeding chapters
should be carefully followed, and the significations of the pictures and
symbols formed in the cup scrupulously accepted as correct, for reasons
which are explained in a subsequent chapter.
CHAPTER II
RITUAL AND METHOD OF USING THE TEA-CUP
The best kind of tea to use if tea-cup reading is to be followed is
undoubtedly China tea, the original tea imported into this country and
still the best for all purposes. Indian tea and the cheaper mixtures
contain so much dust and so many fragments of twigs and stems as often
to be quite useless for the purposes of divination, as they will not
combine to form pictures, or symbols clearly to be discerned.
The best shape of cup to employ is one with a wide opening at the top
and a bottom not too small. Cups with almost perpendicular sides are
very difficult to read, as the symbols cannot be seen properly, and
the same may be said of small cups. A plain-surfaced breakfast-cup is
perhaps the best to use; and the interior should be white and have no
pattern printed upon it, as this confuses the clearness of the picture
presented by the leaves, as does any fluting or eccentricity of shape.
The ritual to be observed is very simple. The tea-drinker should
drink the contents of his or her cup so as to leave only about half a
teaspoonful of the beverage remaining. He should next take the cup by
the handle in his left hand, rim upwards, and turn it three times from
left to right in one fairly rapid swinging movement. He should then very
slowly and carefully invert it over the saucer and leave it there for a
minute, so as to permit of all moisture draining away.
If he approaches the oracle at all seriously he should during the whole
of these proceedings concentrate his mind upon his future Destiny, and
'will' that the symbols forming under the guidance of his hand and
arm (which in their turn are, of course, directed by his brain) shall
correctly represent what is destined to happen to him in the future.
If, however, he or she is not in such deadly earnest, but merely
indulging in a harmless pastime, such an effort of concentration need
not be made. The 'willing' is, of course, akin to 'wishing' when cutting
the cards in another time-honoured form of fortune-telling.
The cup to be read should be held in the hand and turned about in order
to read the symbols without disturbing them, which will not happen
if the moisture has been properly drained away. The handle of the cup
represents the consultant and is akin to the 'house' in divination by
the cards. By this fixed point judgment is made as to events approaching
the 'house' of the consultant, journeys away from home, messages or
visitors to be expected, relative distance, and so forth. The advantage
of employing a cup instead of a saucer is here apparent.
'The bottom of the cup represents the remoter future foretold; the side
events not so far distant; and matters symbolised near the rim those
that may be expected to occur quickly. The nearer the symbols approach
the handle in all three cases the nearer to fulfilment will be the
events prognosticated.
If this simple ritual has been correctly carried out the tea-leaves,
whether many or few, will be found distributed about the bottom and
sides of the cup. The fortune may be equally well told whether there are
many leaves or few; but of course there must be some, and therefore the
tea should not have been made in a pot provided with one of the patent
arrangements that stop the leaves from issuing from the spout when the
beverage is poured into the cups. There is nothing to beat one of the
plain old-fashioned earthenware teapots, whether for the purpose of
preparing a palatable beverage or for that of providing the means of
telling a fortune.
CHAPTER III
GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN READING THE CUP
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 practised 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 despatch:
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
realisation 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).
CHAPTER IV
AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SYMBOLS WITH THEIR SIGNIFICATIONS
A question that will very naturally occur to persons of an enquiring
turn of mind in regard to the figures and symbols seen in the tea-cup
is: Why should one symbol necessarily signify one thing and not
something quite different?
The answer, of course, is that the meanings given to the symbols are
purely arbitrary, and that there is no scientific reason why one should
signify one thing and not another. There is no real reason why the
ace of clubs, for instance, should not be considered the 'House Card'
instead of the nine of hearts, or why the double four in dominoes should
signify an invitation instead of a wedding, like the double three.