The Tea Leaf Fortune Cards

[missy]

Originally Posted by Red Diamond

Oh gosh i was so gentle then it just gave way so i sewed it up and it just ripped again. Ill be honest it wasn't sewed very well to start so maybe i got a dud. The material is so so fine like a chiffon (sp?) its not a good choice of material. I use these cards every day so i need to get a strong bag.

Red Diamond, hmmm from reports I have read both here and on Amazon, it doesn't sound like you received a dud ... as I did read several like yours.

I appreciate you sharing your experience with me.

Also interesting that you even sewed it again and it ripped.

I wonder if this type of material just doesn't hold stitching well?

Now I feel like a contestant on Project Runway. (Thinking about material types and stitching ... oh dear. )

[missy]

Originally Posted by Lotus Padma

I just ordered mine. Thanks for enabling me, all LOL!!!!!!!!

Can't wait till they arrive!

and ETA, PS...I couldn't really afford it or justify it ;p it was one of those "have to have!" moments...I sure hope I like them!

Woo hoo, Lotus Padma!

Glad we were able to enable you!

If this helps, I am usually a tarot sort ... so I did hesitate quite a bit before buying this.

I wondered if 200 cards would be too much.

1. It isn't because: The bag works well as a shuffling device. Also: You aren't shuffling the 12 "month" cards and the 6 "astral" cards so you are shuffling 182 cards. I know that is still a lot of cards.

If the bag breaks, we now all know we can go get a Crown Royal bag. Or use the current bag as a pattern, for those of you who are handy with a sewing machine (I am not) and create a new bag. Personally, I think I love a gauzy style bag for this deck (see-through) if I could get one that wouldn't fall apart ...

I thought I might have to create piles of cards and shuffle them, and I didn't.

2. Second misconception I had was that the deck would be time-consuming to work with. The book talks about doing a "yearly spread" first -- that can be an annual event -- before you do a weekly spread on yourself. But (a) you don't have to adhere to those guidelines if you don't want to; (although I did and had a lot of fun with the yearly spread (b) the yearly spread was not as time-consuming as I thought it would be.

About the yearly spread: It involves taking the twelve "month" cards -- which are twelve cards with the months written on them -- January, February, and so on -- and spreading them in a circle. Set the 6 astral cards aside. Take the 182 remaining cards and put them into the bag. Shuffle the cards until you have imparted your energy to all of the cards. Then lay one card on top of each of the month cards, starting at today's month. We are in September, so you would start with September, and follow clockwise to October, etc.

Then, begin to shuffle again in the bag. This is very important. Do not just continue to lay down more cards on top of the other cards. You want to also focus on your hopes, dreams, fears, etc. as it says in the book. Continue to shuffle until you have imparted your energy to all of the cards. Then lay one card on top of each of the month cards again. Do this until there are four cards on top of each month card.

So, most of your time will be spent on shuffling.

Once that is done, the reading goes fairly quickly. There are meanings written on the cards which are very helpful. If you want more, there are meanings in the book.

Pay special attention -- and this is fascinating! -- to the way the months connect to each other. Look for relationships between the cards.

What took *me* longer was that I hand-write all of my readings into a journal. So that took awhile.

Now! Once you have done your yearly spread -- which you could repeat I think once every three months, but you don't have to repeat until next year --

you can have fun with the weekly spread! which goes much faster. Or a monthly spread. These are fast and easy. Or do a daily draw! They have the "astral" cards which have things like "Love" printed on them. So you can do an "astral" reading on "Love." However, to me, if you have a question and it doesn't have a card for that, you just "think" the question in your mind, just like tarot. All the cards have meanings written on the cards, which makes the readings go even faster. If you want more, you have the book.

If you want to supplement a tarot reading with a reading from this oracle, I think it would make a marvelous reading. And the cards are so quaint as well.

[missy]

Originally Posted by celticnoodle

Crown Royal, eh, Griz????

actually, I also use the crown royal bags as tarot deck bags. they work very well!

Griz or celticnoodle ...

Do you have the dimensions of the Crown Royal bags?

Thanks!

P.S. --

This is something I copied off another website, but I do not know if it is correct information or not. This site is stating there are four different sizes of Crown Royal bags, depending on the bottle size. They list them as follows:

375ml: 6" x 7.5"
750ml: 7" x 9"
1L: 7.5 x 10"
1.75L: 9" x 13"

What shape are the Crown Royal bag? The gauze bags are square bottomed and square topped. Are the Crown Royal bags tapered? Thanks.

[missy]

Originally Posted by Lotus Padma

I just ordered mine. Thanks for enabling me, all LOL!!!!!!!!

Can't wait till they arrive!

and ETA, PS...I couldn't really afford it or justify it ;p it was one of those "have to have!" moments...I sure hope I like them!

Lotus Padma,

Please let us know when you've received them what you think of them.

[Lotus Padma]

Originally Posted by missy

Lotus Padma,

Please let us know when you've received them what you think of them.

Clearly, I shall need to drink Crown Royal to "get" the Tea Leaves ;p lol!!!!!!! and I don't even drink RC, nor drink tea...Starbucks, pleeeez! lol and I can't even afford that, now...aw, shucks! These cards better be worth it...lol!

[Rae Hepburn]

My apologies to anyone who has bought the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards and had the organza bag rip. Organza, while it is a beautiful fabric, frays easily. The seams should have been double seamed to prevent this. If you are handy with a sewing needle or sewing machine, I can easily explain how to fix it. Just lay the bag flat and make another seam about 3/8" from the edge making sure that the original seam is enclosed in the second seam. This will stop the organza from fraying.

US Games has corrected this problem in the new editions of Tea Leaf Fortune Cards, but that doesn't help anyone who bought a bag that tore. Also, if your bag has only a single seam there is a chance it could tear as well. If you would like your organza bag restitched so that it will not tear again, please contact me at "raehepburn@yahoo.com" and I will email you an address where you can send the bag to have it mended. Let's put things right. The cards deserve it and you guys deserve it.

I'm really glad to see you enjoying the cards. Thanks.

Rae Hepburn

[Grizabella]

I just use a different cloth bag for mine. I don't even know for sure where I put the organza bag from the reprinted set.

I love these cards so much that I've got two sets. One first printing and the other a second printing. And I mixed them all together in one big bag! I've used the double set already for a client for a one-year spread.

I've also devised a way to let Tarot expand on the information from the reading where it could use a little boost.

For one thing, I'm using the double set for the 12-year spread, done six months at a time. That way, I use the double set for a 6-month time period and then I put all the cards back in the bag that were drawn for the first six months and re-draw from the double deck for the second six months. This shows recurring patterns that might be of note to the client and other recurring information that will be insightful.

And if that's not all, I then use Tarot cards to clarify any spots in the reading where the client has other questions or where I feel the information needs expanded on a little.

I just used the double set of cards plus Tarot for a client's reading today and it turned out quite well, I think.

For those who know I read for donations in real life, and who know I also read by donations on my website who may be wondering if a gigantic spread like this would still be done for donations only----yep! That's how I'm doing them.

[missy]

Originally Posted by Rae Hepburn

My apologies to anyone who has bought the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards and had the organza bag rip. Organza, while it is a beautiful fabric, frays easily. The seams should have been double seamed to prevent this. If you are handy with a sewing needle or sewing machine, I can easily explain how to fix it. Just lay the bag flat and make another seam about 3/8" from the edge making sure that the original seam is enclosed in the second seam. This will stop the organza from fraying.

US Games has corrected this problem in the new editions of Tea Leaf Fortune Cards, but that doesn't help anyone who bought a bag that tore. Also, if your bag has only a single seam there is a chance it could tear as well. If you would like your organza bag restitched so that it will not tear again, please contact me at "raehepburn@yahoo.com" and I will email you an address where you can send the bag to have it mended. Let's put things right. The cards deserve it and you guys deserve it.

I'm really glad to see you enjoying the cards. Thanks.

Rae Hepburn

Rae,

Thank you so much for taking the time to address the organza bag issue!

And yes, we love your cards! However did you take 600 symbols and get all of this down to 200 cards? Imagine, everyone, having a tea leaf reading with Rae and what that would be like, if you have read that section of her book on how the cup is divided into 12 parts ... I cannot imagine how complicated it would be to read tea leaves in a cup! It would be pretty awesome to have a tea leaf reading with Rae. But now I am digressing.

It is great that we can get our organza bags fixed! Yay! After using the organza bag -- and I realize I'm new to it, so I'm partial to it -- but the reasons I like the organza bag are that I can easily see the cards as I shuffle them, so I can see what needs mixing up -- one needs to do a thorough mixing when one has that many cards! Which can be done in any bag: for me personally, being the general klutz that I am I find it easier when I can see the cards. Plus, I like the shape of this bag. The top is very wide and square. The bottom is likewise very wide and square. So it is easy for me to handle.

It is good to know that U.S. Games is fixing the bags now, so that the newer sets will not have this issue. However, I just purchased mine ... and from looking at it, mine does not have this double seam that Rae talks about. My bag has: a single seam running down the left, a single seam running down the right, and no seam across the bottom of the bag (maybe it is supposed to have no seam there). Then there is one seam above the ribbon and one seam below the ribbon. I think I got one of the older ones.

[missy]

Originally Posted by Grizabella

I just use a different cloth bag for mine. I don't even know for sure where I put the organza bag from the reprinted set.

I love these cards so much that I've got two sets. One first printing and the other a second printing. And I mixed them all together in one big bag! I've used the double set already for a client for a one-year spread.

I've also devised a way to let Tarot expand on the information from the reading where it could use a little boost.

For one thing, I'm using the double set for the 12-year spread, done six months at a time. That way, I use the double set for a 6-month time period and then I put all the cards back in the bag that were drawn for the first six months and re-draw from the double deck for the second six months. This shows recurring patterns that might be of note to the client and other recurring information that will be insightful.

And if that's not all, I then use Tarot cards to clarify any spots in the reading where the client has other questions or where I feel the information needs expanded on a little.

I just used the double set of cards plus Tarot for a client's reading today and it turned out quite well, I think.

For those who know I read for donations in real life, and who know I also read by donations on my website who may be wondering if a gigantic spread like this would still be done for donations only----yep! That's how I'm doing them.

Griz, wow, your double-card reading sounds soooo cool! Your clients who get a reading like that are really lucky!

I don't think it matters what bag one uses; I just like the organza one as I can see the cards and it helps me; plus being a little klutzy this way I can easily tell if I might bend a card. The set is fairly sturdy, so I don't expect that I will, but with me, better safe than sorry! LOL

I love that you do a reading with these for your clients every six months and look for patterns. And with two of each tea leaf card ... that sounds like an ultra powerful reading!

Geez ... now you have me thinking about buying a second set! Oh no ...

Your donations-only readings are wonderful. May you have many happy clients and many blessings as a result!

[Rae Hepburn]

Missy:

You definitely have one of the original organza bags and there is a chance that it will rip. (I don't know if the sets with the revamped bags are in the stores yet.) I suggest that you email me at "raehepburn@yahoo.com". I will email you back an address where to send the bag to have it mended.

As to how I took roughly 600 symbols and narrowed them down to 182 - it wasn't easy. I started by choosing the symbols that most frequently occurred in readings. Also a lot of different symbols mean the same thing e.g. Bison, Water Buffalo, Wildebeast, Bull - "Show strength and determination - do not back down." I chose Bull to represent all large, bovine animals with horns as it was the most recognizable animal. However, in actual tea leaf reading these four symbols are slightly different as the larger the beast is, the more determination you must show.

Regards,
Rae