Caroline Dow - Tea Leaf Reading for Beginners: Your Fortune in a Tea Cup

About the Author

Caroline Dow has been a tea leaf reader and herbalist for thirty years, and conducts popular workshops on tea leaf reading all over the country. She is the author of fourteen books and is the owner and manager of a successful herbal mail order company. Visit her blog online at www.carolinedowbooks
.com/teablog.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Tea Leaf Reading for Beginners: Your Fortune in a Teacup 2011 by Caroline Dow.

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 9780738728803

Cover design by Adrienne Zimiga

Cover photo 2009 by iStockphoto.com/Inna Sidorova

Editing by Laura Graves

Interior photographs by C. Nathan Pulley Photography

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

For Mother,
May your tea parties ever shine in the Summerland.

Verna Beatriz Weigolt-Groves

19222008

Remember the tea kettleit is always up to
its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!

Author Unknown

PART I

Tea Leaf Reading: An Age-Old Art for Todays World

Before You Begin

Getting Started

Time to Interpret

Sample Readings

Herbal Infusions and Decoctions

Tantalizing Tea Parties

Magic of Tea

PART II

Introduction to the Interpretation of Symbols

Animals

Architecture

Birds

Body Parts

Playing Cards

Clothing and Personal Items

Common Objects

Flowers

Geometric Shapes

Musical Instruments

Natural and Supernatural Worlds

Numbers and Letters

People and Human-Like Forms

Plants

Universal Symbols

Tools

Transportation

Trees

Zodiac Symbols

Short History of Tea

Tea for What Ails You and More

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following people: Sara Martinelli for her enthusiasm and encouragement throughout this project as well as for proofing the manuscript for accuracy of details about tea; Nathan Pulley for his stunning photography and the Dushanbe Teahouse for providing goodies for the photo shoot. Thanks also to Sue Wells for providing a valuable British perspective on the venerable custom of taking tea; Oscar Pimental, F & B Coordinator at Browns Hotel for a truly unforgettable Afternoon Tea; and my husband John for treating me to Afternoon Teas around the world. Last, but certainly not least, I wish to thank my agent, Richard Curtis, for his efforts.

Tea Leaf Reading:
An Age-Old Art
for Todays World

There is no trouble so great or grave
that cannot be much diminished
by a nice cup of tea.

Bernard-Paul Heroux,
Basque Philosopher

S tart reading someones tea leaves at a party or in a restaurant, and I guarantee youll soon draw a crowd. Everybody wants to know about the current influences on their lives and what the future holds. Tea leaf reading is an easily accessible, relatively uncomplicated and lighthearted way to take a stab at predicting the future. At the same time you can expand your circle of acquaintances and deepen friendships.

This mellow art benefits the teacup reader as much as the person for whom the leaves are read. Relaxing over a cup of tea provides quality time that otherwise tends to get consumed in the daily hustle-bustle. Practicing tea leaf divination forces you to slow your own hectic life pace along with that of your inquirerthe person having the reading. The enjoyment derived from the camaraderie of discussing life issues with friends and family can become as important as the actual divination.

The heyday of tea leaf reading occurred during Victorian times. With the invention of the teabag in 1908 and modern forms of entertainment such as television, videos, DVDs, and the Internet, the practice of this home-based art slid into steady decline. Now that childrens wee tea parties, tea tastings for adults, and other tea-related leisure activities are making a comeback, tea leaf reading is riding a wave of renewed popularity.

This gentle pursuit of times gone by owes its regeneration, in part, to a nostalgic yearning for less complicated times. People are rediscovering that when they take time to brew and drink a cup of tea at the dining tableand perhaps serve accompanying little cakes and sandwichesthey encourage others to share their hopes, fears, accomplishments, and challenges. And a cup of tea costs pennies compared to a visit to a psychotherapist.

Another perk to tea leaf reading is that it acts as a self-development tool to enhance intuition and promote creative visualization. The images found in the teacup help focus your mind to explore inner worlds. By accessing symbols from your subconscious, you expand self-awareness.

Who Practices Tea Leaf Reading?

There was a time when most families boasted at least one amateur who interpreted everyones leaves. When I was a girl, my great-aunt Lizzie enjoyed a peerless reputation as the familys resident psychic. On Sunday afternoons, she gathered us kids together in her kitchen around the lace-covered oak table to contemplate the depths of her delicate china cups. My aunt was not an educated woman. She never studied esoteric symbolism, and I doubt she ever heard of Jung or Freud. What she did possess was a keen intuitive mind and the ability to enchant us with the tales she told about what the future might bring. I feel lucky that she deigned to pass some of her knowledge along to me so that I, too, might read cups. It is difficult for me to imagine what my life would have been like without the enriching influence of tea leaf reading.

Looking back on the wisdom my auntie communicated, I realize that to be a successful tea leaf reader doesnt require graduate studies in arcane philosophy, as is the case with some tarot card readers. Nor need you meditate daily, as do many crystal ball gazers. Just follow the simple recipe Aunt Lizzie taught me that includes a tablespoonful of memorized symbols, a dollop of imagination, and a pinch of intuition, all presented with a storytellers gift, and youre ready for action.