“You can never get a cup of tea large enough
or a book long enough to suit me”
~ C.S. Lewis
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| credit: Le Pétrin |
Having heard here the common phrase
'reading tea leaves',
I had to investigate what that was all about
'Tasseography' is the fortune telling method of reading tea leaves,
possibly practiced in England as early as the seventeenth century
when tea was introduced to Europe
After you drink most of the liquid from your loose tea,
swirl the cup to scatter the leaves
Look at the patterns of tea leaves in the cup
which may look like a letter, a heart shape, or a ring
See a list of symbols here
The leaves closest to the rim represent the present
The middle of the cup is the future
And the bottom of the teacup is your far future
In Victorian times,
clever fortune telling cups were designed to help with readings
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| via ebay |
Reading tea leaves could be a whole new objective at tea parties now :)
And I couldn't resist this quote
“Women are like tea bags,
they don’t know how strong they are
until they get into hot water.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of former US President, Franklin D Roosevelt)
Source: Wikipedia
22 comments:
I've heard of reading tea leaves many times, but I did not know that it had a proper name and everything.
Thanks for sharing this interesting info!
Xx
I am not sure I believe in reading tea leaves, but those cookies are darling. I always wanted to have the tea that you see in the movies which is a flower blossom that opens up once placed in the hot water. I love mint tea with a touch of milk. What is your favorite?
Those flower blossom teas are amazing - like a work of art. My favorite? Jasmine Green :)
Love the quote. Eleanor Roosevelt was a wise woman. Truly enjoying your bog and all that you write about.
Oh, the Roosevelt quote is so true! M x
My Aunty Mary used to read tea leaves, we used to go Sunday tea time and she would let Mum know what was going to happen the week ahead!!! :) x
Oh I love that quote and I will try to remember it.
Love the tea,biscuits, words of wisdom and chat. Happy New Year to you! Can you read coffee grounds? Love Linda x
When I was younger I was given a china tea cup for reading leaves... never did get any good at it! My Mom still has it in her cabinet, must take it down. Love those little biscuits too and the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is fantastic. Just perfect! Hazel x
Yes, I guess coffee grounds and wine sediment can be read too. Go figure :)
A couple of friends and I attended a tea-leaf reading tea last year and it was our first time and we had an amazing experience. Great photos and post. Wishinbg you a fabulous week-end..xo HHL
Love those cookies, sweet idea! My son used to read palms, it was a lot of fun!
Dorothy
I knew what it was, but had no idea that was how the leaves were read until now. And what a pretty cup and saucer!
Ali x
Betwixt the lovely cup and saucer and the biscuits shaped as tea bags, I am positively drooling! Mum (MIL) used to believe in tea leaves predictions or tasseography (and a whole passel of other midwives tales but a staunch believer she was!)
Is it only a crazy British thing to read tea-leaves? I thought everyone did it...
Although I have to say I have never read tea leaves in my life, nor has anyone I know, because I think most people use teabags! Maybe we should resurrect a dying tradition.
Gillian x
Hi, stopping in for a visit :) Love this tea-time post - especially the cookies & Eleanor's quote! One superstition that my brother-in-law has is if more than one person 'served' (ie poured) the tea, it would guarantee that someone in the room would soon be expecting a child! It was comical how strongly he felt about this (not sure if it's a Scottish superstition...his dad is a Scott). Wendy
Hello! How are you? I hope the New Year is starting off well! I too wrote a post about tea today! I love those little cookies. I love the cups for reading tea leaves, those Victorians were an interesting lot.
I hope you have a great weekend, Elizabeth
What an interesting post. I didn't know anything about reading tea leaves although I've heard a bit about it. I love that first photo, so precious!
Leslie (aka Gwen Moss)
Ha! That quote is so true! I would have a tea party just to nibble on the first photo! That is so very interesting about the tea leaves!
oh great memory..one of my old friend's mother used to read tea leaves to us when we were in 4th grade...I'm sure she was just amusing us, but now I realize how fun of a person she was to do something so different to play with us
Perfect lesson for me
as I sit here enjoying
tea with your blog!
Wouldn't it be fun to
find a tea cup like the
one in the picture?
Hope you enjoyed a
great cup today!
xo Suzanne
Love these quotes!
www.rsrue.blogspot.com
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