<SPAN name="3"></SPAN>
<p>CHAPTER III </p>
<p>GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN READING THE CUP </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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).</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.