“Welcome to our third lesson,” she greeted her class after the majority had filed in through the trapdoor and had settled down into their chosen spots. She was getting to know them much better now and was pleased by their accomplishments thus far. “Today we will be diving into the actual practice of Divination and covering Tasseography. As I mentioned in our last class, Tasseography is simply the art of reading tea leaves.” Cassandra had stacked several tea cups on one of the small tables near the fireplace, and she gestured to them now. “You will each be taking a cup and performing a reading for yourself. I have provided special cups this year, and you will see that each cup is divided like a checkerboard inside with a different symbol in each square. Most of the cups have different symbols, so keep that in mind when selecting one.” She held up a few of the cups to demonstrate.
“Traditional Tasseography involves memorizing areas of the cup, which indicate things like past and present, as well as deciphering what symbol each blob of tea looks like. With these cups, all you have to do is find which symbols have the most tea particulates concentrated on them and then you can begin your reading. Since most of you are just starting out with Divination, my main concern is that you get comfortable with interpreting symbols and using them to tell a story. If you’d like, though, I have traditional, unmarked cups if you’d rather decipher your symbols from the tea leaves themselves.”
She invited the students to come select a cup, adding that they should be sure to get a saucer as well. The same stack of symbology books were also present on another small table, in case anyone needed a reference. In the meantime, Cassandra busied herself with magicking a full kettle of water onto the hook above the fire and heated it with a blast of her wand. Once the students were seated with their cup selections, she waved an equal portion of tea leaves into their cups and topped it with hot water from a kettle she directed with another wave of her wand. She prepared one for herself as well.
“Now, while we wait for the tea to steep, I will explain how to prepare for your reading. The person that the reading is being done for, the Sitter, is the one who will drink the tea. For this exercise, you will be doing a reading on yourself so you will be drinking your own tea. You will get to do a reading on someone else for your homework.”
Moving on, she said, “Do your best to ruminate on a particular problem or question you are seeking clarity on as you drink. If nothing comes to mind, just focus on receiving guidance that is in your best interest right now. Once the tea is drunk and there is only a small amount of liquid left, you will swirl your cup to allow the dregs to disperse around the inside of the cup. You then turn the cup upside down on your saucer and allow the liquid to drain. Once you turn the cup back over, you can read the dregs.” She indicated for them to go ahead and start drinking their tea, adding with a casual wave of her hand, “If you don’t care for tea just open up a window and toss it out or toss it into the fire, but mind that you don’t lose your tea leaves.”
She quietly drank her tea along with the students. It wasn’t the best quality tea, but it would do the job. Once her cup was empty and she judged most of the students to be done with theirs, she went on, “Now that you are ready to do your reading, you will pick out a few symbols that stand out to you. I find that three is a nice number to work with. Pay attention to any immediate thoughts or images that come to you as you observe your symbols. Not all symbols will deal directly with the future. Some are there to give the reading context - such as who or what the reading is about.” She now looked down at her own cup for the first time. “Let’s see… For example, I have here an Ox, a Book, and a Clock.” She chuckled to herself as she looked back up at her class. “It appears I may have a student who is very stubborn with their assignments and will either narrowly turn them in on time or not turn them in at all. I often associate the symbol of the ox with stubbornness. The book symbolizes learning and school, and the clock indicates a deadline. Now, I was able to piece that together quickly because of all the practice I’ve had. If it helps, you can arrange your symbols into a past/present/future order where one symbol would represent your past, the other your present, and the final one would be the future piece that helps you to predict the course of your future. I will now leave you to your work and will come around to help as needed.”
Once the class was nearly over, Cassandra made her way back to the front of the room and called for everyone’s attention. “Great work today everyone. As I mentioned earlier, for your homework I want you to do a reading on someone else. If you’re having trouble finding a volunteer, feel free to stop by my office and do a reading on me. Also, go ahead and take the cup you used today as well as a fresh batch of tea leaves so you can do your reading. Your homework, due next lesson, is to turn in a short description of your reading for the other person. You must include the symbols, your interpretation of them, and how you applied that to the person’s reading.”
She held up her hand to stop anyone from getting up. “Before you leave, I also want to remind you that your term 1 project is due at our next lesson. This is the dream dictionary you have been working on, and you will each be presenting your dictionary in your class, so please come prepared. That is all; you are dismissed.”
