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I sat and swirled the last bit of green tea around in my cup, thinking about what I had to get done before it got dark. It had been a long day of cleaning up the house after having visitors and I sat, tired, at the dinning room table… I stared blankly into the bottom of my teacup, watching the leaves float around as I mindlessly turned my wrist around in circles, postponing the search for Halloween decorations in the disorderly garage for just one more minute… As I pushed my chair away from the table, ready to meet my impending doom with fake rubber spiders and bats, something caught my eye. Staring back at me from my tea cup was the clear image of a wolf. The tea leaves had painted a picture for me.
The history of tea leaf reading, or tasseomancy is largely jumbled. Some people are adamant that it started in Asia, while others argue that it began in Ancient Greece. One thing is certain – tasseomancy has been practiced for thousands of years. The word tasseomancy, comes from the Arabic word ‘tassa’ (cup) and the Greek suffix ‘mancy’ (divination). It is a fortune telling method that unravels patterns in tea leaves to give the onlooker a message.
Do not expect the lottery numbers to show up in your cup… Tasseomancy stimulates the imagination. It is a tool that helps the onlooker to draw on their creativity to find solutions to problems, or give them insight into the situations taking place around them. It is often used as a parlor trick, but is also a tool for tapping into the subconscious. Who knew that tea leaves could be a way to attune to your inner self?
The wolf in my teacup motivated me to look up more information on tasseomancy, and symbolism. I found some interesting information on both reading tea leaves, as well as the psychology and significance of symbols, and the study of them throughout history. Below are a few links you might find useful if you’d like to find out more, would like to try reading your own tea leaves, or even those of your friends and family.
Tasseomancy:
Links on tea leaf reading, and definitions of some common symbols.
Psychology of Symbolism:
Links on the symbolism, archetypes, the collective unconsciousness… interesting stuff, but no promises of a ‘light read’.
Jung: Jung Archetypes About Jung
Plato: About Plato
Interesting study on Children and Symbols: Becoming Symbol Minded Symbols and Their Meanings