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 P ychology. 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.