The Museum of Tasseomancy
Known as an authority on Tasseomancy, Amy Lou believes that she is still learning more about the Art, and continues her path with her growing Museum of Tasseomancy. Amy received her first two Tasseography cup sets in the early to mid 1990s. Her first cup was the c.1938 Lipton’s Tea (made by JG Meakin) ‘Marigold’ cartomancy style Cup of Knowledge. Then a few years later, she received a c.1978 International Collector’s Guild ZARKA Fortune Telling Cup . It was from that point forward, that she became fascinated with these sets, and all the other commercial items that were created to allow regular, everyday people, to foretell their future with their morning cup of tea.
Being a lover of history, tea and divination . . . much like Alice in Wonderland . . . Amy Lou fell down the rabbit hole of collecting everything she could find related to this ancient Art.
After starting with those two cups, she began collecting in earnest, and in the last 25+ years has created a museum with over 170 individual items related to Tea Leaf Reading. The collection now has 60 + historical cups and cup sets, several antique and vintage books, booklets, advertising, postcards, tea company gimmicks and giveaways, as well as textiles. A collection that spans over 120+ years of history related to reading the leaves.
The collection, which had been displayed at her retail store in Hamilton, Ontario,(now closed 2016-2022), has also been shown at: the Toronto Tea Festival (2017/18), the Royal Botanical Gardens Tea Festivals(2017/18/19), The Elora Tarot and Witchery Festival (2018), WitchFest North (2018), The London Tea & Kombucha Festival (2019), 8+ items on display at The Billings Estate National Historic Site in Ottawa for their Steeped in Traditions exhibit (02/2024-10/2024), and The Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland, Ohio (June 2023/24) She has been teaching the Art of Tea Reading for 20+ years.
In Canada, you can find 8 items from the Museum of Tasseomancy on display in Ottawa Ontario, at the Billings Estate National Historic Site. From February 28th until October 13th; Steeped in Traditions: Ottawa Tea Cultures and Rituals explores the history, traditions, and aesthetics of our region’s varied tea cultures. The exhibition celebrates human connections to community and the natural environment through the lens of tea consumption.
Visit the Museum Collection…
for a limited time at McFarland House, Niagara on the Lake
Sep 28 – Oct 27, 2024
For centuries, tea has not only offered a sense of comfort but for many has become a mystical tool to gain insight into the past, present and future. People around the world have been dissecting the patterns left by tea leaves in the bottom of cups in the hopes of finding answers to some of life’s deepest questions.
Visit the McFarland House this fall to learn about the ancient practice of tea leaf reading, also known as Tasseomancy, by exploring an insightful and impressive collection from Amy Lou Taylor September 28 through October 27, 2024.
CTV Ottawa Morning Video
Steeped in Tea:
On exhibit at the Billings Estate National historic site to showcase the region’s varied cultures and rituals. Jennifer Maybank, the Audience Development Officer with the City of Ottawa Museums.
The majority of the collection was on display from June 2023 to June 2024 at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick (www.bucklandmuseum.org) in Cleveland Ohio, in the back Gallery, until the end of May 2024.
Tasseomancy
A brief history lesson on a pleasant
pastime . . .
Written by Amy Taylor, The Art of Tea and Tasseomancy
People have been drinking tea for about five thousand years, and it is likely they have been reading the leaves of our favorite beverage for as long. Tasseomancy is believed to have begun with the ancient Chinese, who read the residue in the bottom of their cups for patterns, signs, and omens. As tea became more popular and started to make its way around the world, so too did tea leaf reading. And in the 1600s it quickly started to outshine other, older ways of divining the future.
The earliest reference I have found documented for the lead up and into the Art of Tasseomancy is 1610, however, some who go by the Old Testament of the Bible say that it goes back as far as the times of Joseph where there is reference to ‘The Divining Cup’ which was believed to have originated from the ancient Egyptians. But it is more than likely it was the Babylonians as the reference of divining by cup also shows up much earlier in Babylonian texts in about 1800 B.C.
Most people who are familiar with the Art have either heard of it, or experienced it through the very old custom, (and even through my research I found a book written by a woman who is only known as The Highland Seer, in the early 1900s where it is even then, called ‘a very old custom’) it’s believed to have come from the Irish and the Scots where it was called ‘Cup Tossing’.
The Art was long passed down from mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter, aunt to niece etc., it was normally a family tradition. Traditionally, tea reading would be done in the morning before one would start their day to see what would unfold, or tea leaf reading would have been done in the afternoon.
By the mid-nineteenth century, porcelain manufacturers began to create Tasseography (Tasse= Cup or Goblet, Graphy= Map, or to, Graph, or Layout, or Write) cups. These cups became quite popular in the late 1800s/early to mid 1900s where the fascination with the occult, and supernatural became more popular. They were generally easy to use, and most Ladies would use them as part of an Afternoon Tea event and Ladies Tea Events, where the hostess would read the fortunes of her guests. These cups came with their own definition booklets, so the use of psychic and intuitive ability was very loosely utilized as the fortune would be determined by what symbol the leaves land on, as apposed to the true form of the art where the leaves create their own patterns, shapes and symbols.
Tasseomancy is the Art and Practice of divination by the interpretation of symbolic patterns made by tea leaves (or coffee grinds) in a teacup. (Tasse = Cup or Goblet, Mancy=Form of Divination). The Art is thought to be largely dependent on psychic intuition. When using tea is poured into a cup without the use of a strainer. The one seeking psychic help, the inquirer, drinks the tea in the cup. If any moisture remains it is shaken out onto a napkin. Another method is to leave a little moisture in the cup. This allows the leaves or dregs to be swished around. The cup is the upturned into the saucer. The reader picks up the cup and begins examining the formation of the dregs. The reader would then discern the shapes the leaves would make and tell the Enquirer their fortune based on those shapes and the locations of the cup the leaves were in.
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