INTRODUCTION TO THE DIVINATION BY TEA-LEAVES

At no time in the history of the world has there been such earnest searching for light and knowledge in all matters relating to Psychic Phenomena as in the present day. The desire to investigate some new disclosure has resulted in yet other discoveries. Such will be handed on in their various forms to be studied and used by those who seek to learn.

Few subjects need more patience than those dealing with Psychology. Even those who put their knowledge to a practical use in such studies as divination by tea-leaves, must still plod patiently along a path thickly strewn with new knowledge. The powers of clairvoyance, for instance, cannot be forced or hurried; such arbitrary laws as time have no meaning for the subconscious self, therefore the need for hurry does not exist.
I was once told by a very mediumistic woman that she had sat in the same room at the same time for an hour every day for seven years, because she "wished to develop Clairvoyance." Here was patience indeed! In some manifestations of the clairvoyant powers within us, it is spontaneous, the closing of the eyes to shut out all material surroundings being all that is necessary to bring a vision of what is happening, or shortly to happen, possibly hundreds of miles away.

In all dreams the clairvoyant powers are spontaneous; but for the development of clairvoyance at will, great perseverance is necessary. Its interests and powers are unlimited, so that it is well worth the patience and time spent upon it.

In the use of tea-leaves as a means of divination, the more developed the "clear sight," the more interesting and accurate will be the interpretation. Practice is most necessary, especially for those who have less natural clairvoyance than others.

The desire for knowledge on all Psychic matters has led to an increased demand for various methods of bringing into symbols and pictures that hidden knowledge of the present and the future. That this knowledge can be translated to us symbolically is apparent to everyone—who could doubt it, and still believe in anything at all?

Tea-leaves are habitually used by many people as a means of divination. To some it is an easier method than the cards, there is less to memorise, or the crystal.

There is in Paris a famous clairvoyant who always uses tea-leaves as the medium for her powers of divination. Some are inclined to jeer at the fortune in the teacup, but if the language of symbolism is rightly understood, the medium through which it is seen matters little.

Tea-leaves have the advantage of being simple, inexpensive, and within the reach of everyone. It cannot be claimed that the cult is of the greatest antiquity; for although it seems to have been used in China from very early times, tea was not brought into Europe until about the middle of the sixteenth century. For many years after its introduction into this country, tea was far too costly to be used except by a comparatively small proportion of the population. It has, however, proved its extreme usefulness as a means of divination, as well as its merits as a beverage, for close upon three centuries.

It is a very favourite method with the Highlanders, where it is customary for the "guid wife" to read in her cup of tea at breakfast the events she may look for during the day. Simple though they may probably be, there are to be seen in the tea-leaves, a letter, a parcel, a visitor, a wedding, and so on. It is said that no Highland seer would take money for making prognostications as to the future. This, no doubt, is one good reason for their powers as clairvoyants.

It is a misfortune that clairvoyance should ever have to come into the material necessities of money transactions, as it tends to mar the clear vision.

It is said by some that tea-leaves can foretell the events for twenty-four hours only. As clairvoyance has no restrictions as to time or space, I cannot see how it can be thus laid down as a fact that it is limited to man-made laws of time! Certainly there is much evidence of the "tea leaves" being capable of foreseeing events of an important nature at a considerable distance ahead.

One of the most difficult points in interpreting visions of clairvoyance is the time element; simply because time, as we know it, does not exist. The intuitive faculty is needed for any accurate definition of time, so important to us in our present conditions, so absolutely unimportant to the subconscious self. Let us decide at once, then, that divination by tea-leaves may, and often does, extend to a further vision than that of the twenty-four hours. Much depends upon the methods used.

Our individual past, quite apart from the arbitrary laws of heredity, makes the road of our future. Possibly this may account for the curious fact that in dreams the setting is often in childhood's surroundings, while the dream itself is obviously of the present or the future. This shows how the first beginnings of the event which is to come were brought about. It is somewhat like unwinding a cotton reel!
There are, no doubt, some who look upon the tea-leaves merely as a form of amusement, and who entertain their friends in that way. Well, it is a harmless amusement, and is often useful at a very dull tea party! But for those who take it seriously, and regard it as one of the many means of divination, it will be treated with the respect due to such matters.

As in other forms of divination, so with the reading of the tea-cup, a great deal depends on the seer. Those who are naturally clairvoyant will read many events and scenes in the cup which would be passed over by others not so gifted. Even without this "clear sight," however, the tea-leaves may be read by anyone who has learned the principles and the symbolic meanings given in this book. With a certain amount of intuition and imagination, the tea-cups may be most successfully used to reveal the future.