There’s a four-leaf clover, a firefly, a mustache, an axe, a rocket, a butterfly, a horse, an elephant and a giraffe in my house. They are in the form of tea leaves at the bottom of teacups.
Tea reading parties are the latest trend in fortune-telling, and what better time to get your leaves read than the beginning of a new year? I invited a handful of friends over to enjoy a reading from the company 3 of Cups Psychic Event Entertainment.
Though they do huge events, including galas, store openings and parties at places such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, they also do smaller parties (between five and 26 people). Tea leaf parties are huge for bridal and baby showers as well. The price per party varies depending on the size, location, length of readings — even whether the psychic will be seated or strolling.
Part of the appeal is that you get to sit around with friends and gossip while drinking tea. According to Willow (everyone at 3 of Cups uses a “stage name”), who organized this party for me, the tea leaf parties are appealing to people because they are less intimidating than tarot card readings, for example. “The readings are always positive and uplifting,” says Willow. I repeat this to the four girlfriends I invited, who are all pretty worried about what they might find out.
All you need for a tea leaf party is some loose leaf tea, hot water and some mugs or teacups. “You’ll get a lot of insight and hopefulness,” Willow tells me. (Who doesn’t want that?)
Three days later, at six o’clock, my friends arrive. None of them had met before (What a great way to bond, right?). Autumn (another pseudonym) arrives, too. She comes dressed all in white (as I requested: I thought it would be “mystical”). But you can also request that your reader dress as a gypsy fortune teller, witch or warlock, high priestess, pirate or even a belly dancer. Autumn gets right to work setting up my kitchen table with a white tablecloth, white lamp and crystals. My friends and I are gossiping and talking, and we can’t wait to drink our tea and get our readings done. Autumn tells a story about reading a woman’s tea and seeing that her husband was going to have a baby … with another woman. This woman made her husband get a vasectomy. I’m so excited to get my tea leaves read that I drink my tea too quickly and feel a little nauseous.
Autumn believes that everyone has a guardian angel and shares a story of talking to hers (Archangel Michael): “I’ll go to Yorkdale mall and ask my angel for a good parking space and I’ll get one.” I wonder why this never happens to me, but perhaps it’s because I’m not talking to my angels. Autumn, who has a day job at Bell Canada as an engineer, says she started hearing angels at age nine. “It was like an out-of-body experience.” She does this on the side because she wants to connect with other spirits. She says all of our spirits will be connected after this.
Autumn finally looks at my tea leaves and says she sees a four-leaf clover, which means I’m going to have good luck. She also sees a huge heart at the bottom of my cup and says that I’m often fearful I’ll go back to my old ways. (I think this means not treating men so nicely). And, she sees a parrot, which means I like to collect information and pass it on (I am a writer, after all).
But with every symbol she sees, she keeps driving home this message: that I need to slow down, focus on one thing at a time, something I always struggle with. Maybe this year I can actually keep that as a resolution.
I was worried about my friends because, although I love them, they can be slightly neurotic. But Autumn is reassuring. “I never see anything bad. I’m asked about illness all the time, but I just tell people I’m not a doctor. They want to know things like, ‘When is my mother going to die?’ or ‘When am I going to be in a relationship?’ People are very impatient.”
My friend J. has a frog in her cup. Autumn tells her it means she is overlooking someone in her life that she could be in a relationship with. (My friend is single.) She also sees dolphins and asks if J. is going on a trip soon. (She is, to Costa Rica.) She sees a firefly, which means her luck is going to change (perhaps with a man with a mustache because Autumn also sees a mustache in my friend’s cup).
But the best reading was the one she gave my daughter: apparently she’ll be a superstar (I always knew) and marry rich. Thank God, I don’t have to worry about her anymore!
My girlfriends and I analyzed our readings for so long afterwards that eventually I had to tell them I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
All in all, whether you believe in this stuff or not, it was a completely fun and different night.
Hey, if you’re going to enjoy a cup of tea, you may as well get some insight out of it.
Post City Magazines’ columnist Rebecca Eckler is the author of Knocked Up, Wiped!, and her latest books, How to Raise a Boyfriend and The Lucky Sperm Club.
