Tasseomancy - The Reading Of the Leaves

Tasseography (also known as Tasseomancy or Tassology, (Tasseology) is a divination or fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments. In more modern practice, residues of other beverages such as hot chocolate, beer or juice can also be read and interpreted.
Part of the ritual of this form of divination is to sit down and enjoy the tea and the company of your fellow drinkers before you get started. This is not as frivolous as it sounds as it allows you to relax and also gather your thoughts.

Before you even start the reading , there may be some early signs to interpret:

* Bubbles on the surface of your tea or coffee means that money is on its way.
* If any tea leaves are floating on the surface, then visitors are imminent. The number of leaves shows how many days away they are.
* If two teaspoons are accidentally placed on a saucer, then you can expect news of twins soon.
* If a teaspoon is placed upside down onto a saucer then you will hear news of the ill-health of a close relative.

Finish your tea, leaving a small amount of liquid in the bottom of the cup. While holding the cup in your left hand, swirl the tea leaves round three times in a clockwise direction. Make sure that the remaining tea swirls around the whole of the cup.

Then, upend the cup on the saucer and let the liquid drain away.

As a general first impression, just a scattering of leaves inside the cup indicates a tidy mind and disciplined life. A lot of leaves indicates a rich, full, busy life.

First take a quick look inside the cup to see if there are any signs that jump out at you:

* Any distinct drops of tea or coffee that remain in the cup despite the swirling and emptying of the cup, represent tears.
* A very large clump of tea leaves indicates trouble. (Near the handle - trouble caused by your own making. Opposite the handle - the trouble is not your fault.)
* Tea-stalks indicate people. Long stalks indicate men. Shorter stalks indicate women. Pale or dark stalks indicate colouring. Slanted stalks indicate untrustworthy people.

Most tea leaf readers interpret the patterns that the dark tea leaves make against the light background of the cup. However, some also read the images formed in white (seen on the cup itself), with the dark clumps of tea leaves forming the background.

Please note that the symbols and interpretations commonly used with tasseomancy can be very different from those used in dream interpretation.

Fortune telling tea cups
Although many people prefer a simple white cup for tea leaf reading, there are also traditions concerning the positional placement of the leaves in the cup, and some find it easier to work with marked cups. Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing to the present, English and American potteries have produced specially decorated cup and saucer sets for the use of tea-leaf readers. Many of these designs are patented and come with instructions explaining their mode of use. Some of the most common were those that were given away with purchases of bulk tea.

There are dozens of individual designs of fortune tellers' cups, but the three most common types are zodiac cups, playing card cups, and symbol cups.

Coffee Reading:
Traditionally, coffee readers use Turkish coffee or any method of coffee brewing that leaves grounds sitting at the bottom of the cup. Most of the coffee in the cup is consumed, but the sediments are left to settle. It is often believed that the seeker should not read his or her own cup.

There are several variations of coffee reading. They commonly require for the cup to be covered with the saucer and turned upside-down. In the Turkish tradition, coffee-readers often interpret the cup as being divided into horizontal halves: symbols appearing on the bottom half are interpreted as messages regarding the past, and symbols on the top half are messages regarding the future. The cup may also be interpreted in vertical halves to determine "yes" or "no" answers as well as the overall outcome of the events represented by symbols. For example, some fortune tellers may "read" symbols in the "left" half as "negative" events or outcomes, while symbols in the "right" half are "read" as "positive". Other readers may adhere to the belief that the cup is capable of revealing insights about the past, but it cannot predict events beyond forty days into the future. The saucer may also be incorporated into the reading. As with the cup, different variations exist for what the saucer represents, including whether the saucer sticking to the cup indicates a "positive" or "negative" outcome.

Other traditions, such as those practiced in Romania, require that the sediments be swirled around the until they cover the majority of the cup's inside surface. Other traditions, such as Turkish and Middle Eastern, do not require this swirling but do require that the cup be turned towards the seeker in revealing the fortune. The coffee grounds are given time to dry against the cup before a reading begins.

Many interpretations for symbols exist, but readers commonly focus on the colour of the symbols. Since most cups used are white or ivory and the grounds are dark, symbols are formed from the strong, contrasting colours. White is considered a "good" symbol foretelling of generally positive things for the seeker, while the grounds themselves are considered to form "bad" symbols.

Symbols can be many things, including people, animals, and inanimate objects. Usually, the fortune teller will group nearby symbols together for a prediction.

After a reading, the seeker will be asked to "open the heart". This is done by placing the right thumb at the inside bottom of the cup and twisting clockwise slightly. This will leave an impression behind that the fortune teller will interpret as the seeker's inner thoughts or emotions.