The Mystic Tea Room
From Mystic Tea Room
The Mystic Tea Room is dedicated to the traditional art of fortune telling by tea leaves, also known as tea leaf reading, cup reading, cup tossing, divination by tea leaves, tasseomancy, and tasseography.
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Contents |
Greetings
Hello, and welcome to The Mystic Tea Room.
This tasseomancy site has been online since 2007. It was converted from html to media-wiki in 2011 for increased ease of image categorization, and it now hosts about 400 illustrated pages on the history and material culture of tea, tea rooms, and fortune telling by tea leaves. When built out, it will be home to at least 1,000 pages of curated tea and divination imagery.
The Museum of Fortune Telling Tea Cups and Saucers
The Museum of Fortune Telling Tea Cups and Saucers is dedicated to preserving and popularizing images of fortune telling cups and the traditional divinatory art of reading tea leaves (and coffee grounds) through the presentation of a virtual gallery in which are displayed and interpreted the many beautiful fortune telling teacups and saucers that have been created for the purpose of aiding tea leaf readers and fortune tellers in the practice of the tasseomantic art.
In the Museum, you will find detailed images of dozens of fortune teller's tea cups and saucers, patent drawings for a number of divination cups, brief historical overviews of the designers and manufacturers of fortune telling cups, and a selected bibliography of books and pamphlets about the occult and magical art of tea leaf reading.
Browse the Tea Cup Index by Name or the Tea Cup Index by Maker and click on the image of any tea cup and saucer set to see more pictures of that cup and saucer and read more about the set's history and how it was used for fortune telling.
- The Museum of Fortune Telling Tea Cups and Saucers
- Tea Cup Makers and Markers
- Tea Cup Names, Official and Unofficial
- Tea Cups by Method of Divination
- Tea Cups by Nation of Origin
- Fortune Telling Tea Cup Design Patents
Instructions in Tasseomancy
Divination by means of tea leaf reading is a long-cherished form of domestic fortune telling. It may be performed at home for oneself, family, or friends, and there are also professional tea leaf readers who will brew a cup for you, allow you to drink it, and read your leaves for you. The information in my article on How To Read Tea Leaves will help you get started.
- Instructions in Tasseomancy
- How To Read Tea Leaves
- A Basic List of Tea Leaf Symbols
- Tea Leaf Reading Instruction Sheets and Booklets
- Tea Company Booklets on Tea and Tasseomancy
Tea Leaf Reading in Art
The image of a female fortune teller reading tea leaves has, since the 19th century, been a subject of gallery art, popular commercial art, and cartooning. One prominent 19th and 20th century painter who produced many variations on this theme was Harry Roseland. If you like art, you may enjoy my essay on Roseland's art and the Cuban spirit known as La Madama -- it covers several types of African American divination in addition to cup reading.
While you're here, take a look at the artwork on some of the tea leaf reading and tea company ephemera i have come across in my own research on the subject of fortune telling by tea cups. Here you will find tea leaf reading as idealized and glorified in art.
- Tea Leaf Art
- Tea Leaf Symbols and Omens in Art
- Tea Leaf Readers in Art
- Vintage Ads for Tea Leaf Readers
- Harry Roseland's Fortune Teller Art
- Tea Company Booklet Art
- The Ceylonese Tea-Plucker in Art
The Material Culture of Tea Rooms
Reading tea leaves is a form of divination that is known for its many female practitioners, and therefore its history is also the history of women in society. One way to study history is to examine the material culture -- the objects and artifacts associated with a time or a place.
Here you can learn about the tea room movement and view a world-wide gallery of strange and curious tea rooms of the past, many of which were woman-run and quite a few of which offered a "free reading with every meal."
- Tea Rooms
- Tea Room History
- Vintage Tea Room Postcards
- Vintage Tea Room Business Cards
- Vintage Tea Room Matchbook Covers
- Dating Tea Room Postcards
Bibliography of Books about Tasseomancy
If collecting books is your passion, you may enjoy our Bibliography of Books about Tasseomancy. It will never be complete -- and we look forward to suggestions and contributions of information from our readers.
The bibliography is accompanied by cover images of rare books and pamphlets on tea leaf reading from times gone by, as well as by my own annotations about the contents of the books and their authors.
The Mystic Tea Room on Social Media
As the Mystic Tea Room has grown, so has its community of fans, friends, and followers. If you love this site and have questions or something to contribute, we invite you to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, We post new items every week
- The Mystic Tea Room page on Facebook
- The Mystic Tea Room page on Pinterest
- The Mystic Tea Room on catherine yronwde's Facebook feed
- The Mystic Tea Room on catherine yronwde's Twitter feed
- The Mystic Tea Room on catherine yronwde's Instagram feed
Support the Mystic Tea Room
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All of the material you have access to here -- the fabulous tea cups, the instructive booklets, the nostalgic postcards, the boldly graphic matchbook covers, and all of the historical information researched and shared from the mind of the woman who is making it all happen -- can easily fit into one 8 x 10 foot room in an old Victorian farmhouse, but you would never see it without the investment of the time it takes to produce such a site and the caloric input such a site requires in the form of food for the writer, graphic designer, and database manager, as well as the US currency needed to pay for the computers, software applications, scanners, electricity, and internet connectivity that bring it out of that little room and into the world. So, as you can see, this site is the darling of many, and it is growing at a rapid rate ... but although it is "free," there also is a cost. Your financial support underwrites this cost. Here is how you can help.
- The Mystic Tea Room Gift Shop: In addition to our function as an online archive of tasseography and tea room culture, The Mystic Tea Room also maintains a small Gift Shop, where unusual, antique, vintage, modern, contemporary, and one-of-a-kind fortune telling tea cups and saucers -- and their accompanying tasseomancy booklets, pamphlets, and instruction sheets -- are for sale. Here you can purchase "The Stranger in the Cup: How to Read Your Luck and Fate in the Tea Leaves" by Gregory Lee White and catherine yronwode. Read all about the book, and order it online here.
- Private Patreon Forum: My Patreon Patrons will have access to a private forum were i will converse and respond to questions about Tea Leaf Reading, Fortune Telling, Hoodoo and Rootwork, Lucky Charms and Talismans, and much more. https://www.patreon.com/catherineyronwode/creators
- Patreon advance web pages. Patrons will have private access to web pages one year before they are made available to the public, at the rate of four new web pages per month, distributed at weekly intervals. These web pages fall into a series of interconnected topics or streams of thought. At present the streams are as follows:
- Your Wate and Fate:Included in the many offerings to subscribers will be regular bonus pages from "Your Wate and Fate," which supports my work of documenting the material culture of unusual fortune telling methods and is one of several projects which my Patrons will be able to access for a small monthly donation.
- "From the Land of Tea: The Material Culture of Tea and Tea Leaf Reading"
An adjunct to my tasseomancy site, [http:mystictearoom.com The Mystic Tea Room]. Articles posted: January 7th, 2021.
- "Your Wate and Fate: The Material Culture of Fortune Telling"
Documenting unusual methods of divination. Articles posted: January 14th, 2021, January 28th, 2021.
- "A Hoodoo Hand"
Research pages to eventually be added to my free online book "Hoodoo in Theory and Practice"
- "The Lucky W Amulet Archive"
An illustrated and annotated tour of my collection of lucky charms.
- "The Southern Cross the Yellow Dog"
Annotated historical articles on 19th and 20th century hoodoo, an adjunct to my "Southern Spirits" site. Articles posted: January 21st , 2021.
- "Fit to Print"
Sample pdf chapters from upcoming books i am writing.
Each new web page or sample pdf is circulated to Patrons as an unpublished galley proof or advance copy. After one year at Patreon, each page will be released to the public, either as an addition to one of my web sites or in the form of a chapter in a published book.
Patrons have access to a Private Patreon sub-forum within the Lucky Mojo Forum, and will be accorded special Red Star Avatar badges at the Forum.
Here are the tiers i have devised at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/catherineyronwode
The Sampler
$2.00 Per Month
- Preview access to ONE new web page per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
The Selector
$4.00 Per Month
- Preview access to TWO new web pages per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
The Reader
$8.00 Per Month
- Preview access to FOUR new web pages per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
The Bibliophile
$24.00 Per Month
- Preview access to FOUR new web pages per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
- A signed copy of a 96-page book on folk magic or divination that i have authored, co-authored, or edited.
The Collector
$48.00 Per Month
- Preview access to FOUR new web pages per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
- A signed copy of a 96-page book on folk magic or divination that i have authored, co-authored, or edited.
- An envelope containing rare vintage paper or cloth ephemera from my personal collection, with a hand-written card explaining its provenance, significance, and how i came to have duplicate copies so i can send one to you.
The Ephemerist
$64.00 Per Month
- Preview access to FOUR new web pages per month; the web page release will be held one year before public viewing.
- Access to my Patrons-Only Private Sub-Forum at the Lucky Mojo Forum where we can chat.
- A special Red Star Patron badge at the Public and Private Lucky Mojo Forums.
- A signed copy of a 96-page book on folk magic or divination that i have authored, co-authored, or edited.
- An envelope containing rare vintage paper or cloth ephemera from my personal collection, with a hand-written card explaining its provenance, significance, and how i came to have duplicate copies so i can send one to you.
- A lovingly curated box of vintage porcelain, glass, or metal ephemera from my personal collection, with a hand-written card explaining its provenance, significance, and how i came to have duplicate copies so i can send one to you.
With 32 different 96-page books in stock, i can continue to send books to faithful Patrons for not quite three years -- by which time there should be a few more books, extending that offer to a full three years. I have a ton of excess ephemera such as rare old 1930s hoodoo labels, fantastic excess china ware, and God knows what-all that i would love to send to other ephemerists. I often used to make entire store buyouts. So i have enough amazingly cool stuff to send random vintage presents to hundreds of Patrons for the rest of my life.
To sign up, go to my Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/catherineyronwode
Surprise!
And, finally, some off-topic pages are here:
Thanks
Thank you for seeking us out,
catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room