Post 3 tea leaves

There are, however, several points of a more general character that must
be considered before it is possible to form an accurate judgment of
the fortune displayed. For instance, isolated leaves or groups of a
few leaves or stems frequently form letters of the alphabet or numbers.
These letters and numbers possess meanings which must be sought in
conjunction with other signs. If near a letter L is seen a small square
or oblong leaf, or if a number of very small dots form such a square
or oblong, it indicates that a letter or parcel will be received from
somebody whose surname (not Christian name) begins with an L. If the
combined symbol appears near the handle and near the rim of the cup,
the letter is close at hand; if in the bottom there will be delay in its
receipt. If the sign of a letter is accompanied by the appearance of
a bird flying towards the 'house' it means a telegraphic despatch:
if flying away from the house the consultant will have to send the
telegram. Birds flying always indicate news of some sort.

Again, the dust in the tea and the smaller leaves and stems frequently
form lines of dots. These are significant of a journey, and their extent
and direction shows its length and the point of the compass towards
which it will extend: the handle for this purpose being considered as
due south. If the consultant is at home and lines lead from the handle
right round the cup and back to the handle, it shows that he will
return; if they end before getting back to the handle, and especially
if a resemblance to a house appears where the journey line ends, it
betokens removal to some other place. If the consultant be away from
home, lines leading to the handle show a return home, and if free
from crosses or other symbols of delay that the return will be speedy:
otherwise it will be postponed. The occurrence of a numeral may
indicate the number of days, or if in connection with a number of small
dots grouped around the sign of a letter, a present or a legacy, the
amount of the remittance in the former, the number of presents to be
expected, or the amount of the legacy coming. Dots surrounding a symbol
always indicate money coming in some form or other, according to the
nature of the symbol.

It will be seen that to read a fortune in the tea-cup with any real
approach to accuracy and a serious attempt to derive a genuine forecast
from the cup the seer must not be in a hurry. He or she must not only
study the general appearance of the horoscope displayed before him,
and decide upon the resemblance of the groups of leaves to natural or
artificial objects, each of which possesses a separate significance, but
must also balance the bad and good, the lucky and unlucky symbols, and
strike an average. For instance, a large bouquet of flowers, which is a
fortunate sign, would outweigh in importance one or two minute crosses,
which in this case would merely signify some small delay in the
realisation of success; whereas one large cross in a prominent position
would be a warning of disaster that would be little, if at all,
mitigated by the presence of small isolated flowers, however lucky
individually these may be. This is on the same principle as that by
which astrologers judge a horoscope, when, after computing the aspects
of the planets towards each other, the Sun and Moon, the Ascendant,
Mid-heaven, and the significator of the Native, they balance the good
aspects against the bad, the strong against the weak, the Benefics
against the Malefics, and so strike an average. In a similar way the
lucky and unlucky, signs in a tea-cup must be balanced one against the
other and an average struck: and in this connection it may be pointed
out that symbols which stand out clearly and distinctly by themselves
are of more importance than those with difficulty to be discerned amid
cloudlike masses of shapeless leaves. When these clouds obscure or
surround a lucky sign they weaken its force, and vice versa. In tea-cup
reading, however, the fortune told must be regarded chiefly as of a
horary character, not, as with an astrological horoscope, that of a
whole life; and where it is merely indulged in as a light amusement to
while away a few minutes after a meal such nicety of judgment is not
called for. The seer will just glance at the cup, note the sign for
a letter from someone, or that for a journey to the seaside or the
proximity of a gift, or an offer of marriage, and pass on to another
cup