Tasseography

Krishna Kapoor

Tasseography, from the arabic word tassa, meaning "Cup" refers to the practice of reading the symbols formed by sediments in a cup. The most popular forms of Tasseorgraphy today are the practices of tea leaf and coffee ground reading.

Tea Leaf Reading:

Tea leaf reading is often associated with Romany folk tradition.

The origins of Tea Leaf Reading

By around 200 BC tea drinking had become popular in china. It was discovered by the Mythical Emperor Shen Nung. One day while sitting beneath a wild tea tree, the emperor boild some water to drink, several leaves fell from the tree into the water. Emperor tasted the hot brew and enjoyed it so much that he introduced it in the court.

So tea drinking began, spreading through the far fast and india and making its way (far) to Europe.

The methods used in tea leaf reading vary from reader to reader. Some tasseographers like to use a white or plain coloured cup & saucer so that the tea leaves are clearly visible. Others like to use cups with patterns which assist with the interpretation.

There are many different ways to practice tea leaf reading but the reader can follow one of them:

The method is following :

1. Choose a good quality loose tea leaves and place one tea spoon full per person in a tea pot. Fill the pot with boiling water and leave to stand.
2. While the tea is brewing the querent should decide on the question he or she wants to ask.
3. When the brew is required strength, the reader will pour it in the tea cups without using a strainer so that the leaves are released along with the liquid. Add milk and sugar to test and enjoy drinking the tea. The querent may want or ponder his or her question while doing this.
4. When the tea is finished there should be a small amount of liquid left in the bottom of the cups along with the tea leaves. The querent should swirl the cup three times with his or her Left hand clockwise for a question about the future, anti-clockwise for a question concerning the past.
5. The querent should now turn the cup over quickly, placing it upside down on the saucer to drain away the liquid that remains.
6. The reader concentrates on the question being asked before taking the cup in his or her left hand and proceeding to interpret the patterns made by the tea leaves.

It is important the reader should be connecting with divination by heart while reading the leaves.

The cup is divided into quarters:

1. The quarter nearest the handle represent querent. If a large no. of leaves stick in this part of the cup it could suggest the querent is overwhelmed by responsibility for her family.
2. The quarter opposite the handle, a large number of leaves in this quarter suggest that, the strangers, workplace travel and other matters away from home influence is on his or her mind.
3. To the left of the handle (from the seer's angle) is the area representing the past, Large deposits of tea leaves here indicate that unresolved matters have a leaving on the querent's life at the moment.
4. The quarter of the cup to right of the handle represents the future events and people.

An absence of the leaves in this area indicates that the questioner is more concerned with the present or past at the moments.

The cup can also be divided into levels. The bottom half of the cup and the top half close to the rim.

The top half and rim indicates the present short term including days & weeks.

The Lenier half of the cup represents the long term including month & year.

The bottom half of the cup of the cup represents the distant future.

The bottom of the cup associated with problem and challenger.