The Ancient Art of Tea Leaf Reading

If you’d like to learn about the history and technique of tea leaf reading, read on. If you want to skip ahead and read past tea leaf readings, click here.

History

Tea leaf reading is a mystical art which has been practiced since ancient times. Since people first began drinking tea, they have been fascinated by the shapes left at the bottom of their tea cup. The early Greeks practiced a variation of tea leaf reading, using wine instead of tea. They called this technique “Kottovos.” If you consulted a Greek seer, he would throw wine into a metal bowl and observe the shape of the resulting splash and the formation of the sediment at the bottom of the bowl. Depending on the image, future events would be forecast which could be interpreted as positive, negative, or simply unclear.

In the Middle East, it was more common to read coffee grounds, especially with the thick and syrupy Turkish coffee. Professional coffee grounds readers are common throughout Asia even today.

The Europeans seem to have adopted tea leaf reading around the mid-1600’s, possibly due to the influence of Rommany gypsies who practiced the art as they traveled from town to town. The gypsies specialized in dramatic proclamations about a future clouded in gloom, but if you crossed their palm with an extra sovereign or two, they would try to remove the curse from you. Their style of tea leaf reading, while entertaining in its shock value, often discouraged sincere seekers who were hoping for genuine guidance and enlightenment from their tea leaf reading.

How-To

To learn to read your own tea leaves, you will need loose tea leaves which are somewhat large. It is best to use a teapot with a wide spout so that when you pour the tea out of it and into your cup, the leaves can easily pass through. Some tea leaf readers recommend using only the highest grade teas and your best china, and all readers advise against using a mug, which makes it hard to look at the leaves sitting at the bottom of your cup.

The person wanting their tea leaves read should concentrate on a question or area of their life that they would like insight into. Drink the tea quietly until about a half of a teaspoon’s worth of tea is left in the cup. Swirl the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup three times while thinking of your question. You can ask a question about yourself, about the past, about the future, or even about someone else in your life. Turn your cup over onto a saucer and let the moisture drain out for about two or three minutes. Then turn your cup back over gently and see how the tea leaves have settled. If all the moisture is removed, you are ready to have the leaves interpreted.

If you submit a question to the Lipstick Mystic, she will do what is called a “remote reading.” She meditates beforehand on your question and gently tunes into the energy of your higher self and angelic guides. Then, she drinks the tea in a calm, focused state, focusing on your question. She reads the leaves for you and types up a report of what she has found. Check back weekly to see what she discovers.

Symbols and Positions in a Reading

Tea leaf readers from all cultures based their readings on objects and images which were common in everyday life. Natural forces like the weather, or animals, people, and even man-made objects each may turn up as a tea leaf symbol. Some modern readers have added contemporary symbols to the list of possible images, for example, using cars to represent travel or roller coasters to represent drama. Other readers are more old-fashioned and like to stick with the universal images that all people have witnessed in their daily lives for thousands of years. As long as the reader is good at interpretation, the images that they choose to work with don ’t really matter.

Position of the Leaves

In a tea leaf reading, it is not only the shape that the leaves form which counts. Readers also place importance on which area of the teacup the leaves stick to. For instance, leaves that land near the handle represent events which will happen to the questioner. Leaves on the opposite side from the handle indicate events outside of the questioner’s life, perhaps happening to a family member or friend. Traditionally, leaves that end up near the rim of the teacup are good luck. Leaves settled closer to the bottom of the cup may show disappointment or challenges.

A good reader, though, recognizes his responsibility to be helpful and clear with the person receiving a reading from him. It is not a reader’s place to scare or depress his subject. All omens and shapes in the cup can be seen as positive, because as we all know, it is sometimes necessary to endure great challenges before we can reap the appropriate rewards. We make many choices in our life’s journey, and each choice is an essential step towards learning and growth. A good reader will respect this and guide his questioner in working through any upcoming challenges.

The Four Types of Symbols

Tea leaf symbols are broken down into four main categories. They are:

Nature
These include all symbols having to do with the outside elements and their influence on us. They can be seen as influences beyond our control, because nobody controls Mother Nature! Sometimes they can provide a warning of potential danger, or the coming of good luck, but mostly they represent the backdrop upon which we are staging our lives.

People
These symbols are types of people or parts of the body (i.e. face, hands, eyes). These images are reflections of what role we are playing in our personal lives and which stage of wisdom we have reached. A person symbol can act as a short-term or long-term influence.

Animals
Animal shapes represent our helpers on the Earth plane. The types of animals which appear in a tea leaf reading often mirror our hopes, fears, or dreams. They can also reveal personal qualities that we are expressing or show us the inner truth of how we are feeling.

Objects
These include all the things that man has physically invented. They include tools, toys, clothes – you name it. When these kinds of symbols show up in a reading, they show us what we are doing withour lives. They reflect what we are creating and generating, be it positive energy or chaos.

List of Symbols

These are just a small sampling of some of the major symbols that can appear in a tea leaf reading.

Nature
Sun, sunrise, sunset. Full moon, crescent moon, half moon, new moon. Star, comet, meteor. Cloud, rain, lighting. River, lake, ocean, wave. Snow, ice, Mountain, volcano, cliff, cave. Earthquake. Fire. Wind. Earth. Stone. Tree. Forest. Daisy, rose, ivy, four leaf clover. Acorn, apple, mushroom

People
Man, woman, child, baby, elder. Lovers, mother, father. King, queen. Warrior, sorceror, priest, nurse, angel, ghost, skeleton. Smiling face, frowning face, left half of face, right half of face. Hand, eye, finger, foot, ear

Animals
Goldfish, eel. Beetle, ant, spider, bee, butterfly. Bat. Snake, lizard, turtle, frog, alligator. Bird, peacock, eagle, owl. Rat, mouse, rabbit, groundhog. Cow, horse, pig, chicken, goat. Cat, dog. Bear. Deer. Rhino, tiger, elephant. Skunk. Fox. Squirrel.Dragon. Unicorn.Dolphin

Objects
Anchor, boat. Basket, knitting needles, yarn. Harp, violin, guitar, drum, flute. Bridge, tower, fence. Window, door, house, wall. Forked road. Cross. Garden, barn, castle. Carriage. Crown. Rocking horse. Windmill. Candle, torch, lamp. Flag. Chair, table. Fireplace, chimney, Hat, dress, bowtie, boot. Rattle, ball, baby carriage, crib. Bed. Tent. Scales. Wheel. Letter, quill, book. Cemetery, grave, coffin. Coin, wallet, purse. Knife, dagger, sword, scythe. Cup, teapot, vase, plate. Box. Necklace, ring, diamond. Comb, brush, mirror

To learn more about the various meanings of these symbols when they turn up in a tea leaf reading, read the monthly tea leaf readings that the Lipstick Mystic posts on this site. Before long, you’ll be inspired to try tea leaf reading for yourself or for your friends. It’s a great way to get a caffeine buzz and attain spiritual insight at the same time!

Note: If you'd like to be eligible for the Lipstick Mystic's monthly drawing for a free tea leaf reading, all you need to do is to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter. Lipstick Mystic News has cool tidbits about healing, spirituality, and psychic development, and all subscribers are automatically entered in the monthly drawing for a free reading. To subscribe go to this page and scroll down to the Bravenet subscription box.