Several times a year my husband agrees to read my tea leaves. He learned the art as a young boy from his lovely eccentric aunt. I don’t know how much credence anyone gave this rather pagan pastime when he was a boy in England, but it provided hours of entertainment and a slight shiver of excitement if only a few statements came to reality. The key was to keep the predictions vague, general and open to interpretation. Teomancy, Tasseomancy, or Tasseography has been around since ancient times. There are playbooks of prescribed symbols found in the leaves that signify particular outcomes. My husband however, prefers to use intuitive methods to read the leaves and offers rather curious predictions. He remembers very little of what he has produced in a sort of stream of consciousness revelation.
To begin, I prepared a pot of tea using a blend of whole and broken leaves. I chose Thé Des Poètes Solitaires from Marriage Frères as it provided a good variety of leaf shapes and is a lovely tasting black tea blend. The tea was poured unstrained into a plain white cup with rounded sides. We enjoyed the tea and had some snacks. I then asked the question (to myself), “What would 2013 hold for the world of tea?” You will notice that the answers seem to relate more to my world of tea, rather than the tea world in general. Actually, they may have nothing to do with tea at all, but since tea has become such a centrepost of my life, I’m sure there is some relevance. After I had almost finished the cup, I swirled the remaining tea and leaves three times in a counter-clockwise motion and turned the cup downwards on the saucer. I handed the set over so the divination could begin!
The Oracle
- Something extraordinary is going to happen that is going to cause a lot of commotion – lots of people involved! It could be a movement of people aligned on policy. There is opposition because some others want to pull a blanket over the the whole thing, so whether it should be out in the open or kept under a blanket are the 2 options. But it can’t be entirely under the blanket because some stuff has leaked out. There’s a document written by someone quite “snarky” making stinging remarks. Some factions see things where there is nothing to see.
- Someone is looking at this whole thing as if it is cosmic or as if there are principles involved. Somebody like a shaman with arms outstretched. Person who thinks they have a lot of influence.
- A fashionable but old fashioned woman is standing in the sidelines waiting for a resolution, but the outcome will have no impact on her. She can get in her boat and sail off into the distance and everything will be just fine.
- A bird with a long beak sitting on a branch. It looks like a stork and is sitting with its wings huddled up to its shoulders.
- I’m going to get some ‘smoke signals from far away. Acknowledgement from an enormous distance. It appears to be florid or decorative or poetic.
- Imagine you are on a track or course, but document mentioned above coming from a distance will cause to change plans and head off in another direction
- Woman (maybe the same as above) in an opera cloak? Might be member of aristocracy but doesn’t proclaim herself as such, could be an ally – quite a supporter.
- Kerfuffle mentioned at the beginning is happening in opposition to what’s seen as a potentially remarkable or disturbing situation
I will have to revisit these predictions in a few months to see if they have started to make sense. Do you read tea leaves or have you been a recipient of a reading? Were the forecasts astounding?
