DIVINATION BY TEA-LEAVES AS AN AMUSEMENT
AND AS A MORE SERIOUS STUDY

The need for patience cannot be too strongly impressed upon those who are beginning to learn the language of tea-leaves. Some of the most interesting symbols are very minute, and will certainly be missed by the seer who is in a hurry.

When tea-leaf reading is indulged in merely as an amusement to while away a few moments after a meal, a hasty glance at the cup, or cup and saucer, will suffice. The seer will just note the chief features, such as a journey, a letter, a parcel, or news of a wedding, and pass on to the next cup. But this is far from being a really interesting method of divination by tea-leaves, wherein so much knowledge is to be found, and so much useful information gained.

Those who closely study this fascinating subject will certainly be well rewarded by a deep personal interest, in addition to the pleasure they give to others.

It is wonderful how rapidly converts are made to this form of divination. Some who in the past have been heard scornfully to assert that they "have no belief in tea-leaves," become the most regular inquirers. Moreover, these sceptics have proved to be very efficient students.

There is always a satisfaction in persuading another to one's own point of view. The more obstinate the opposition, the more glorious the final conquest!

It is a rare occurrence nowadays to meet with three people in the course of a day, and not to find that one at least is deeply interested in fortune-telling in some of its various forms.

Quite recently I had a letter from a girl who has gone on a visit to British Columbia, asking me if I would "do the cards" for her, as she could not find anyone in her vicinity who was particularly good at divination. She went on to say that "there is a perfect rage for fortune-telling out here, and everyone is keen on it." Another instance of this universal popularity was given to me by a friend who had recently been to America. She was amazed at the numbers of women whom she saw absorbed in the reading of their tea-cups each day of the voyage.

The male sex holds aloof and leaves us to "perform these follies." Some ascribe it to man's superiority. Or as briefly summed up by a delightful member of their sex, who when declaiming against the possibility of the future being made visible, said, "With all apologies to you, I must say I am not so profoundly stupid as to believe in these things; it cannot be anything more than rot."

It is remarkable how such protests die away when clairvoyant evidence, either by cards, tea-leaves, or other means, has accurately predicted some event of the distant future that at the time appeared absurd and impossible of happening.

Woman may lawfully claim superiority with regard to her intuitive faculty, and thus she is well equipped for exercising her divinatory powers.

Who need be dull or bored when the language of symbolism remains to be learned? Perhaps I should say, studied; for completely learned it can never be, seeing that fresh events are constantly occurring in the world, and new symbols appear representing each.

There are few things more fascinating than personal discovery, and those who become students of divination by tea-leaves, or cards, may safely be promised a taste of this pleasing sensation of achievement. It is limited to the few to discover the marvels of radium, or the discomforts of the South Pole, but a fragment of their glory is shared by those who find new evidence of the far-reaching knowledge of symbolism.