SOME HINTS FOR DIVINERS
REMARKABLE INSTANCES OF PROPHECY BY THE TEA-LEAVES

The most practised clairvoyant may occasionally make mistakes in her reading of the symbols, but no genuine seer should ever deliberately give a wrong interpretation of them to please her consultant. The business of the diviner is to give what she believes to be a correct and unprejudiced translation of the symbols before her.

It is sometimes a vexed question as to what extent information of a gloomy nature, which may appear in a divination, should be given to a client. Some are in favour of withholding such matter altogether, whilst others announce it frankly without modification. It seems impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule. There are so many things to be taken into account, and each case should be treated on its merits and according to its peculiar circumstances. There are some who would fret themselves ill at the least mention of coming misfortune, others would be the better prepared to meet it by having been warned of its approach.

One rule can be safely made for guidance on this point. Do not minimise danger when a timely warning may avert an accident, or other misfortune, nor should symbols of ill omen be exaggerated. As students become proficient, they will find many meanings in the tea-leaves in addition to those which they learn from this book. Much will depend upon circumstances and individual temperaments.

These personally discovered meanings should be carefully noted and verified with events as they occur.
It is necessary to remember that divination by the tea-cup is by no means limited to personal information. Forthcoming public events are frequently revealed. This adds largely to the interest and usefulness of the divination. It is important to point out this to consultants, so that they may not be too ready to fix the whole reading of their cups to purely personal matters. It will be found that public news is usually foretold in the cups of those who seek information of the future as a regular practice.

For those who rarely do so, private affairs alone will appear, probably without even a forecast of the weather to be expected within the next few days.

It is a curious fact that the wider knowledge should seem to be reserved for those who practise divination constantly, but so it is.

Some remarkable instances of the accurate foretelling of public events, which have quite recently been brought to my notice, may be interesting.

For some weeks before the coal strike of 1920 was declared, a pickaxe was seen on several occasions in the cups of two persons, both of whom read their tea-leaves regularly. This symbol, as will be seen in the dictionary which follows, stands for "labour trouble and strikes." A spade was also in evidence at intervals, a further sign of "trouble and unrest." So that it was through no fault of the tea-leaves if some of us were not in the superior position of knowing all about the strike before it came to pass.

The symbols already mentioned would of course apply equally to railway disturbance, and some time before the threat of a strike was announced, these symbols appeared again, together with an engine, and a signal at the angle of "Danger." This seemed ominous. But within a few days the signal was evident once more; but on this occasion set at "All Clear." So it was easy to decide that the threatened strike would not take place. The accuracy of this prediction by means of the tea-leaves was shortly afterwards made evident.

Again, a week before there seemed to be even a hope of a settlement of the coal strike, a mining shaft presented itself in one of the tea-cups which had previously been indicating the strike. This symbol appeared at the top of the cup standing out clearly by itself, evidently predicting the miners' return to work within a short time. There was no need to depend upon information from the newspapers as to the end of the strike, for here in the tea-leaves was all necessary evidence of the fact.

Another very remarkable instance of symbolism was given to me by a friend a short time ago. On Monday morning, October 26th, 1920, the three following symbols appeared in her cup:—

A vulture resting on a rock.
An eagle.
A monkey.
In the evening of that day the death of King Alexander of Greece was announced.

It will be seen, on referring to the dictionary, that an eagle and a vulture signify "the death of a monarch." The monkey who lay at the bottom of the cup, apparently dead, was of course the third symbol as having caused the King's death. It was particularly gratifying that these signs should have appeared in my friend's cup for she is a mathematical genius, and rejects every symbol which she cannot recognise at once. She was so struck by these signs that she called them to the attention of her mother, who also immediately perceived and identified them. The only regrettable omission was that the cup was not photographed. It would have been valuable evidence for the wonders of the tea-leaves.

This same friend had another interesting experience. The head of an Indian appeared in her cup, with other signs pointing to news of a personal nature. She was puzzled, for, as far as she knew, there was no one in India from whom she would be in the least likely to hear.

Very shortly afterwards, however, her mother went on a visit to London. There she quite unexpectedly met someone who had recently come from India, and who had brought back messages of remembrance and affection from a girl who my friend had no idea was in India at that time. Hence the Indian in her tea-cup!
Whilst on this subject, I am reminded of another occasion when India was represented in the tea-leaves. I was looking into my tea-cup one day, when I saw most clearly depicted two natives creeping stealthily, their attitude making this evident. In their hands were what appeared to be knives, and they were making towards a figure that was unmistakably that of an officer. He was standing upon what looked like a raised platform with a barricade round him. He held a revolver in his hand.

I am quite aware that some may think this a tall tale for the tea-leaves to relate! But fortunately my reading of the cup was witnessed by two others, one of them being a man, who, although interested in psychic subjects, despises the tea-leaves! Without remarking upon what I saw, I suggested that he should look at my cup and see what he made of it. Without a moment's hesitation he said, "There is an officer defending himself against some natives who are about to attack him."

My readers will appreciate the satisfaction this testimony gave me, coming as it did from one who had never before looked into a cup. Moreover, that this witness should have been one of the male sex added to its value! This prediction of danger for someone in India was borne out by facts that were disclosed shortly afterwards. These instances which I have given illustrate the variety and interest which are to be found in divination by tea-leaves.