Tea Leaf Reading Basic Instruction

The best kind of tea to use if tea-cup reading is to be followed is China tea, Indian tea and the cheaper mixtures contain so much dust and so many fragments of twigs and stems that oftentimes they will not combine to form pictures or symbols clearly to be discerned. The best shape of cup to use is one with a wide opening at the top and a bottom not to small.

Cups with almost perpendicular sides are very difficult to read, as the symbols cannot be seen properly, and the same could be said of small cups. A plain surface cup is the best to use and the interior should be white and have no patterns printed upon it.

The ritual to observe 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. They should next take the cup by the handle in their left hand, rim upwards, and turn it three times from left to right in one fairly rapid swinging movement. They should then very slowly and carefully invert it over the saucer and leave it there for a minute, to permit all the moisture to drain away. 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 represents the consultant, by this fixed point, judgments are made about journeys from home, messages or visitors to be expected, relative distance and so forth. The bottom of the cup represents the remoter future foretold; the side of the cup represents not to be far distant, and matters symbolized near the rim are those that may be expected to occur quickly. The fortune may be equally well told whether there are many or few leaves, but of course there must be some.