Loose Tea Leaves for Tea leaf readings

celticnoodle said:

oh how exciting! I LOVE teapots. began to collect them, but then that came to a bit of a standstill. but, i absolutely LOVE teapots---nearly as much as I do tarot decks. I also love the tea cups--esp. the kind people use to always drink out of--with saucers and such--old timey china ones. try to post a picture of your tea pot if you can!

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Those are the ones that I love too! I love roses/flowers. The dainty china cups/saucers and tea pots. I found an entire tea serving set that I would LOVE to have. It is way too much money, so my hubby just looked at me like I had 3 heads.

I ended up buying a 'tea for one" set. It is pretty cute. I will try to add the attachment.

celticnoodle said:

*blush* oh shoot, BTV. I mostly know about tea leaf reading as a result of watching my nanny read for people. if nothing else, she did instill in me a love for drinking tea! I only wish she would've shared her knowledge of reading tea leaves.

and, BTV, you can practice reading tea leaves for me ANYTIME!!!

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Well you still know a lot and I am so glad that you are so willing to help! Do what the author of the book says..."PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! I will gladly let you practice on me too!

celticnoodle said:

I'll have to share a funny story on reading tea leaves. my daughter bought me two tea leaf reading cups one year as a present. when I went to visit her, I took both along with me and of course some fresh tea leaves too. so, we proceeded to read for each other, but neither of us could get past the thought that the tea leaves were just big clunks of tea leaves stuck to the sides of the cups.

just then, my sil came in and asked what we were doing. laughing, we explained and he picked up each cup and HE READ THEM! he could see images in the clumps.

then what he read--came true for each of us! he does have some psychic abilities, but none of us ever expected he could read tea leaves. I only wish he'd keep it up.

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That is an awesome story! I am afraid that will happen to me too. I will look at the tea clumps and think.. Gee.. these look like tea clumps!

celticnoodle said:

Thank you for sharing your experiences. it makes me wanting to bring my tea leaf reading cups back here to try it again....maybe i will!

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You definitely should get back to trying. We can practice and learn together!


Hugs,
BeyondtheVeil

That rose teapot is absolutely beautiful! Me like!

I'd love to get the Red Riding Hood teapot from Urban Outfitters. They also have a great White Rabbit teacup.

eyeDEEclaire said:

That rose teapot is absolutely beautiful! Me like!

I'd love to get the Red Riding Hood teapot from Urban Outfitters. They also have a great White Rabbit teacup.

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Thanks! I think it is beautiful too. I hope I get some great readings with it. If nothing else.. it will be a joy to use and look at! lol


BTV

oooh...I am jealous of your white rabbit!

I have an Alice in Wonderland tea pot collection!

and this year I am considering a beautiful swan teapot that I just discovered!

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Dining...ProductName/Swan-Shaped-Teapotuu/Default.aspx


Anyway...as I said in the Pm...both teas you are considering will work...just in different ways. It's good to get a small sample of each ...add about a tablespoon to a cup of already brewed tea and then see what you can see!

I would be happy to be a guinea pig for the process and give some tips too!

Oh BTV! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

so dainty looking! that is sure to give great readings! I love it!

Chronata, that swan teapot is gorgeous too! how unique! and that is at Pier One???! oooh, i just may have to copy you and buy that for me too. very, pretty!

Great thread, BTV!

My two very very favorite teas to read with
(that are also my two favorites to drink!) are:
Peet's Black Currant
and
Taylors of Harrogate, China Rose Petal

Both are flavored black teas, and both read well.
With the rose petal tea, if the occasional rose petal
makes a shape, I read it... if not, I ignore it.

Depending on who I'm reading for, sometimes I
brew the loose leaves with no strainer, and pour
leaves into the cup with the tea.
Other times, especially if someone likes to sweeten their tea,
I'll add a teaspoon of leaves to their cup after pouring the tea.

I used to belong to a group of ladies who alternated
hostessing tea parties and going out for tea (there
were 6 of us... we'd take turns throwing parties and
in between parties would visit local tea rooms)
During that time, I amassed quite a few teapots
and tea cups, most of which I've since sold or
given away. Almost all I use now are the cups and
saucers from my Mom's 1950's china set and a newish
teapot my hubby bought for me when Crate and
Barrel started re-making my Mom's china.

I love floral patterns (especially roses!) but the
all-white tea ware is serene and provides a blank
slate for the images the leaves create and nothing
to interrupt my imagination (I am in awe of
Chronata's ability to look past - or better yet,
incorporate! - the decorations on the teacups!)

Cara

Chronata said:

and this year I am considering a beautiful swan teapot that I just discovered!

http://www.pier1.com/Catalog/Dining...ProductName/Swan-Shaped-Teapotuu/Default.aspx

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That is too adorable! You should definitely get it! It is even on sale!!

Chronata said:

Anyway...as I said in the Pm...both teas you are considering will work...just in different ways. It's good to get a small sample of each ...add about a tablespoon to a cup of already brewed tea and then see what you can see!

I would be happy to be a guinea pig for the process and give some tips too!

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That is great! I will need all the guinea pigs that I can get! Plus LOTS of tips I am sure! lol

I just ordered the tea samplers from a different place like we talked about. I think those will work better than the ones listed for the reasons that you stated in PM. So I have about 7 different kinds coming. lol It should be fun! I am excited about trying out some different teas.
I also just got a shipping confirmation that the tea pot/cup is on it's way!

BTV

Anam Cara said:

Great thread, BTV!

My two very very favorite teas to read with
(that are also my two favorites to drink!) are:
Peet's Black Currant
and
Taylors of Harrogate, China Rose Petal

Both are flavored black teas, and both read well.
With the rose petal tea, if the occasional rose petal
makes a shape, I read it... if not, I ignore it.

Depending on who I'm reading for, sometimes I
brew the loose leaves with no strainer, and pour
leaves into the cup with the tea.
Other times, especially if someone likes to sweeten their tea,
I'll add a teaspoon of leaves to their cup after pouring the tea.

I used to belong to a group of ladies who alternated
hostessing tea parties and going out for tea (there
were 6 of us... we'd take turns throwing parties and
in between parties would visit local tea rooms)
During that time, I amassed quite a few teapots
and tea cups, most of which I've since sold or
given away. Almost all I use now are the cups and
saucers from my Mom's 1950's china set and a newish
teapot my hubby bought for me when Crate and
Barrel started re-making my Mom's china.

I love floral patterns (especially roses!) but the
all-white tea ware is serene and provides a blank
slate for the images the leaves create and nothing
to interrupt my imagination (I am in awe of
Chronata's ability to look past - or better yet,
incorporate! - the decorations on the teacups!)

Cara

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Thanks for sharing, Cara!

I love the floral patterns, so I would want to use those to add to the entire experience. lol I did make sure that there were no patterns inside the cup, but that might not bother me. I am like a 'blank slate' right now, so hoping that I find my own groove to doing these tea readings. I love tea, so this is pretty exciting for me. {I have a reason to buy and try a lot of different teas}. lol


That is awesome about the tea parties! I would love to do something like that and may try when we get moved. I also want to start a quilting circle because I think that would be fun too.


I think I will search around to see if there are any nice tea rooms around here. You have me motivated.


Thanks again for sharing! I like the tea pots and cups that you posted. They look very modern and nice.


BeyondtheVeil

celticnoodle

celticnoodle said:

Oh BTV! ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

so dainty looking! that is sure to give great readings! I love it!

Chronata, that swan teapot is gorgeous too! how unique! and that is at Pier One???! oooh, i just may have to copy you and buy that for me too. very, pretty!

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Thank you! I thought tea and then thought 'dainty".. lol I love those and thought it would help me with the 'mood". lol


That is an adorable swan tea pot, isn't it? I didn't realize Pier One had such adorable teapots!

I am a tea-drinking-junkie, and occasionally like to read the leaves.
I also like collecting teapots and cup and saucers, though that's still new for me. I am acquiring them slowly.

When I'm going to do a reading, the finer the leaves, the better. Part of my ritual is to put a teaspoon of leaves into the dry teacup, and then pinch them between my fingers a bit to crush them, thinking of any questions I have as I'm doing that. This helps me focus, but also is necessary to break up the leaves if they are big. (if I'm doing the reading for someone else, they are the ones that need to crush up the leaves, with their own fingers!).
Then we can add the water, plus sugar/milk/honey/lemon/whatever.

Generally, higher quality loose tea is made of whole leaves, and it really tastes so much better than the bits and crumbs that low-grade loose tea is made from... but personally I find those big leaves harder to read.. they just look like leaves in the cup, instead of forming nice shapes and patterns. So that's why I crush them.

For cheap tea, Tetley has a loose version of orange pekoe in a box, which is already pretty fine.. It's not particularly great tea for drinking, but it worked well for reading.

I don't like a lot of herbal teas for reading, just because most herbs seem to float, and thus you end up using your teeth as a strainer while drinking... black/green/oolong sink to the bottom of the cup, so you don't get too many in your mouth while enjoying the tea, pre-reading.

I also don't like teas with additional chunks and bits (flowers, fruit peel, whole spices, etc.) for reading, because they don't clump as evenly. Instead of saying, "I see an anchor in your cup," it would be, "I see an anchor in your cup, holding a hunk of orange peel."