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Today, you will be taught the basics of tasseography.
Derivative of tassa, the Arabic word for cup, this method of divination is based on the interpretation of patterns found on tea leaves.

This practice originated in several places: Asia, the Middle East and Ancient Greece, each with their own independent purpose. Later on, England also produced a number of practitioners on the subject.

In Greece, being forward thinking people, they were interested in seeing the future. In Asia and the Middle East, they focused more on the past; some because they were a religious folk and others because they wished to contact ancestors, either for wise advice or just to feel like they were in touch with their roots. Finally, England wanted more insight on the present, coveting info on armies and battles, although it is said that many also wanted to know about their loved ones and possible betrayal.

Truth is, in this lesson the possibility of what you can peer into is up to yourself and your skill at this so-called art.
Tea leaf reading is a subjective, personal process. It bases itself on abstract pattern recognitions that are tiled in our subconscious, thus, we are most likely to recognize symbols having a bearing on or connection with ourselves or any matter at hand in our life.



Now, enough theory and on to the actual practice.

In the back of the room you will see that, above the hearth, a copper kettle is already boiling water with which you will fill your teacups. Those can be retrieved from the shelves to your right. One per student.

On my desk you will find three goblets with tea leaves.
I am allowing you to choose between the following:

Red tea – containing leaves of the African Rooibos plant
White tea – containg leaves of Bai Mu Dan, white peonies, originary from China
Black tea – containing bergamot oil, and the one you might be most familiarized with, knowing it as Earl Grey

Which one you choose and why you choose it is entirely up to you.


How to perform the reading:

After you added the tea leaves to your teacup, you will attempt to quiet your mind and relax.
Pattern recognition and symbol recollection will require focus and concentration, so refrain from distracting conversation for it will detract from your experience.

Empty your mind of all thoughts. As you do this, if a certain thought that keeps returning to you, that is the subject of your reading. If not, then this will be a general tea leaf reading.

Afterwards, pour the tea into the goblets placed on the centre of each table. Do it slowly, so that you don’t pour the leaves as well.

Hold your nearly empty teacup in your hand and give it a few good shakes; three is the number your textbook suggests. The tea leaves will disperse around the interior of cup.

Now look carefully at the pattern of tea leaves and see what shapes are suggested by them; it is very likely that you might see more than one. Combined shapes have different meanings.

Afterwards, decode those meanings using the dictionary of symbols that can be found on the second chapter of your textbook. More than that, the important part is that you are able to find a meaning for them, to see how it connects to yourself.

((Note: You don’t have to follow this link's glossary religiously, I just wanted to give you a source from which you could take something, but you are free to make up your own meanings and say you are reading them from the book.))






Please post this in Divination Homework thread located in the Professor Offices subforum.
All homework submissions must be accompanied by the student's name, year and house.
Homework is not mandatory, but house points will be awarded to those who do it correctly.

Naida loved tea and was happy to get to work with it. She took careful notes as her professor spoke and then went and selected her teacup. It was an off-white porcelain with gold around the rim and a abstract tribal design in red around the base and on the saucer. She then went and selected red tea, her favorite, and waited as it brewed to a deep blood red. She cradled the cup in her hands and let the steam rise into her face as she tried to clear her mind. She thought about her family and then they were gone, her new school and especially her room here, and then it was gone, and then Kiandra and how much she loved her sister but soon that too left her mind. However... Kiandra brought with her thoughts of Albus Potter and Naida had trouble getting that boy out of her head. She didn't really see what he sister saw in the shy, awkward boy, but the he was little interesting just because of who his parents were. Naida knew her own parents were nobodies, but Alubs' parents were amazing people. Even though Naida wasn't born yet, she knew her father really appriecated the changes that Harry Potter and others brought to the ministry. But why, oh why, was she thinking about Harry Potter and the ministry at a time like this? She knitted her eyebrows in concentration and tried to banish them from her mind like everything else, but it wouldn't go, at all...

Finally, she gave up. She would just have to do this without a completely clear mind. She opened her eyes and took a sip from the cup "for good luck." The warm liquid made her feel confident and happy. She wished she could drink the whole cup but the lesson said to poor it out, so that's what she did, ever so carefully into the silver goblet on her table. She didn't want to loose a single leaf, so this took quite a bit of time. Then she held the cup in her hands like before only now the warmth seemed to be gone. She steeled herself and shook the cup once. Then turned it in her hands like she had seen the woman at the Japanese tea ceremony do - it felt like the right thing to do. Then then shook it again. And turned it again. And shook one final time.

Naida then set the cup down on the saucer and peered into it. At first she saw nothing. And then.. maybe... what was that? All the leaves had formed into some sort of shape. She turned the cup in the saucer so that the little china handle was in front of her right hand and concentrated hard. It was ... a bird. Those were wings and a beak for sure. She looked up in her textbook about birds and realized it wasn't really just a bird afterall. It was a very strange, almost scary bird. What was it. The image was becoming clearer but was it was seemed veiled in some sort of fog in her mind.

She raised her hand to see if she could possibly get help with this one.

Naida was a little intimidated. "I'm really sorry sir, but I can't tell what this is. It looks like a really weird bird kind of bird... I tried to figure it out but it seems to be wrapped in a fog." She felt like such an idiot and was turning scarlet.

"That's kinda creepy" She mumbled to herself as she turned multiple pages to get to the 'V' section. She read it once to herself, and then asked "are you sure?" She herself was veryvery unsure. "It says here that 'This bird is a forewarning of evil and unrest in various quarters of the globe; it also means a powerful enemy, sometimes death; if it flies, tragedy, sorrow, and tears are predicted.'" She almost shuddered. She didn't like this.

"Honestly I was thinking about ..." She couldn't remember any more. Wait there was Albus, and his dad... and "The ministry..." That was it.

Perry quickly got to work on Professor Firenze's new lesson. His mother, as crazy as she could be, had once taught him to read tea leaves. She had always thought that it would 'Be a great skill later in life'. He chose the White Tea, as white was his favorite color....or lack of color anyway.

The white tea went quickly into the goblets, once he attained it. He shook the container three times and then peered into it.

"I don't see anythi--wait! I see something!"He indeed did, a sign that, as far as he could tell, were some sort of caraven, or it could be a wheelbarrow for all I know, and a shoe...

"Okay then,"he said. "A Caravan means 'This signifies an independent nature, desiring to live a roaming life free of restrictions; should a horse be harnessed to the caravan your ambitions will be fulfilled.'...but a wheelbarrow says 'This sign foretells a visit to the country or a pleasant renewal of friendship with those who live in it.'...And a shoe says 'These indicate speedy new arrangements which are likely to turn out extremely well.' "

Perry stared blankly at the cup. He was, apparently, independent or going to the country, and some speedy new arrangements would turn out well.

All in all, not a very bad reading...but very confusing...

Kiandra walked into class and took a seat next to her sister. As she listened to the professor, she jotted down the instructions for this lesson. When it came time for them to practice tea readings, she felt at a total loss. This was by far her worst subject, and the mere fact that she knew it was, made her feel very discouraged. "Well, I guess I should get my tea prepared..." she commented quietly to herself, and then she stood up.

Ki made her way to the back of the room, where she got her cup. She added the boiling water. After successfully not dumping it all over herself, she returned to her desk where she then set down the cup. Still standing, Kiandra walked over to the professors desk and chose to go with the white tea. As she went back to her desk, she simply looked at her cup of water, and then at the tea leaves.

After a moment of though, she added the leaves and gazed at them as they twirled around in the water. "Okay...now what" she hadn't even begun the reading and she was already stumped.