Friday, September 21, 2007 at 1:01am
Time for speciali-tea
Column: Outing the Goddess Within
How do you know when you've made a difference to someone's life? Is it when they write a song about you? Or when they name their first child after you? Or perhaps, it could be that they've blended a special tea just for you, as happened to me this week. ...
A package arrived from Leonie at Eye of the Sun this week, and what a buzz to find that one of her tea blends has been named after me! When it arrived, I immediately invoked my inner Isis (the knows-it-all Egyptian goddess of divine insight) and made myself a brew. Clearly this was a message that it was time for tasseomancy. ...
If it weren't for nomadic gypsies, we wouldn't have the art of tasseomancy to forecast a tall, dark stranger coming to us at afternoon tea-time. The gypsies brought the art of tea leaf reading from China in the 1800s, and it has been used as a fun way to divine the future ever since.
Reading tea leaves is a bit like interpreting a Rorschach inkblot test — everyone gets something different out of the shapes they can see. But if you follow these basic guidelines, you'll get an insight on how to do a tea leaf reading for yourself.
First of all, scatter some tea leaves into a teapot to make your brew. Normally you would use regular tea leaves, but I had a blast doing this with the rose petals, crystals, pyramid energy, symbols, mantras, music and sound, positive affirmations and universal love that were employed in the creation of my blend.
Do not strain the loose leaves as you pour your tea into a white, broad-rimmed cup. And do not strain your psychic senses as you gently focus on your life as you drink the tea — problems you are facing; dreams you want fulfilled; questions you want answered.
Leave a little bit of fluid in the bottom. Then swirl the cup three times clockwise as you repeat a wish, then turn the cup upside down onto a saucer. If there is too much fluid, you may need to strain it with a napkin first so that the tea leaves don't wash away.
Give the leaves a couple of minutes to dry, and you are ready to do your reading.
Turn the cup over and have a look at the patterns from all angles of the cup. Look for simple images first, such as shapes, letters or numbers. Triangles, for example, represent good karma, squares raise the need for caution and circles are the harbinger of great success.
Once you've discerned the simple images, let your creativity take over and apply names to other clumps of leaves. You might see an anchor (or is that a fallopian tube?); a bat (or a butterfly?); a kite (or a vanilla slice?) Listen to your intuition to glean what the object really is and what it means.
Some good omens include an acorn (financial success), an airplane (a journey), an anchor (stability), an angel (good news), or an apple (prosperity). Some bad omens include ants (tedious work), a down-turned arrow (bad news), or a dagger (back-stabbing). There is a comprehensive list of symbols and their meanings at this tasseomancy site.
The position of the images that emerge represents timings. The closer they are to the rim, the sooner the event is likely to happen. Anything sitting on the very bottom is likely to occur in 12 months' time. Objects on the left of the handle may represent a past event. Look carefully and you might see those gypsies coming!
— — —
Anita Ryan-Revel (who now has a famous tea-blend named after her) is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a content-rich website aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. You can read more of her columns here. © Copyright 2007 by Anita Ryan-Revel.
A package arrived from Leonie at Eye of the Sun this week, and what a buzz to find that one of her tea blends has been named after me! When it arrived, I immediately invoked my inner Isis (the knows-it-all Egyptian goddess of divine insight) and made myself a brew. Clearly this was a message that it was time for tasseomancy. ...
If it weren't for nomadic gypsies, we wouldn't have the art of tasseomancy to forecast a tall, dark stranger coming to us at afternoon tea-time. The gypsies brought the art of tea leaf reading from China in the 1800s, and it has been used as a fun way to divine the future ever since.
Reading tea leaves is a bit like interpreting a Rorschach inkblot test — everyone gets something different out of the shapes they can see. But if you follow these basic guidelines, you'll get an insight on how to do a tea leaf reading for yourself.
First of all, scatter some tea leaves into a teapot to make your brew. Normally you would use regular tea leaves, but I had a blast doing this with the rose petals, crystals, pyramid energy, symbols, mantras, music and sound, positive affirmations and universal love that were employed in the creation of my blend.
Do not strain the loose leaves as you pour your tea into a white, broad-rimmed cup. And do not strain your psychic senses as you gently focus on your life as you drink the tea — problems you are facing; dreams you want fulfilled; questions you want answered.
Leave a little bit of fluid in the bottom. Then swirl the cup three times clockwise as you repeat a wish, then turn the cup upside down onto a saucer. If there is too much fluid, you may need to strain it with a napkin first so that the tea leaves don't wash away.
Give the leaves a couple of minutes to dry, and you are ready to do your reading.
Turn the cup over and have a look at the patterns from all angles of the cup. Look for simple images first, such as shapes, letters or numbers. Triangles, for example, represent good karma, squares raise the need for caution and circles are the harbinger of great success.
Once you've discerned the simple images, let your creativity take over and apply names to other clumps of leaves. You might see an anchor (or is that a fallopian tube?); a bat (or a butterfly?); a kite (or a vanilla slice?) Listen to your intuition to glean what the object really is and what it means.
Some good omens include an acorn (financial success), an airplane (a journey), an anchor (stability), an angel (good news), or an apple (prosperity). Some bad omens include ants (tedious work), a down-turned arrow (bad news), or a dagger (back-stabbing). There is a comprehensive list of symbols and their meanings at this tasseomancy site.
The position of the images that emerge represents timings. The closer they are to the rim, the sooner the event is likely to happen. Anything sitting on the very bottom is likely to occur in 12 months' time. Objects on the left of the handle may represent a past event. Look carefully and you might see those gypsies coming!
— — —
Anita Ryan-Revel (who now has a famous tea-blend named after her) is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a content-rich website aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. You can read more of her columns here. © Copyright 2007 by Anita Ryan-Revel.