Tea Leaf Fortune Cards By Rae Hepburn
with Illustrations by Shawna Alexander
(North Clarendon, Vermont:  Journey Editions, Tuttle Publishing, 2000)
ISBN 1-885203-76-4
 
The Tea Leaf Fortune Cards deck/book set (200 cards plus a 96-page book) is,  according to the publisher, a "simple, innovative card method" to "unlock the  secrets of reading your future in tea leaves."  Since the author was a child,  she has been studying tasseomancy (tea leaf reading), a skill passed down for generations in her family.  She developed the tea leaf fortune cards in response to requests from friends who wanted to read their own tea leaves but didn't have the time to learn hundreds of tasseomancy symbols.

The round, 3 1/4" cards include 12 "months of the year" cards (January through December), 6 "astral house" cards (Love, Marriage, Success, Career, Wealth, Happiness), and 182 "tea leaf" symbol cards (Bread, Horse, Owl, Scales, etc.).  The cards are printed on a very thin, flexible cardstock.  The edges are smooth but ever so slightly curved into a hint of a rim.  (Perhaps the stock was TOO thin to completely withstand the cutting process?)  The backs have an all-over pattern in purple and white, green and white, or red and white, with a centered, black, rectangular label printed in white with "months of the year," "astral house," or "tea leaf" respectively.  The fronts each have a full-color illustration centered in a 5/8" marbled pale gold border, with the name of the card (e.g., "January," "Love," "Bread") printed in the border above the illustration.  For the 182 tea leaf cards,
the border bel! ow the illustration includes a short divinatory statement (e.g.:  for Bread, "Period of prosperity and plenty"; for Horse, "Short journey"; for Owl, "Good advice from a wise person"; for Scales, "Keep your life in balance").  The author notes that "the cards are round to resemble a teacup, and the symbol in the center of the card represents the bottom of the teacup."  Only the tea leaf cards play a divinatory role in the author's system, with the month and astral house cards being used solely to provide a framework of sorts for the spreads.  The system does not use card orientations such as reversals.
 
The card illustrations are nicely drawn and delicately colored.  The months cards are based on northern hemisphere temperate seasons, from January's wintery Jack-Frost-type figure covered in snow and icicles, through spring flowers and summer heat, to autumn's falling leaves.  The astral house and tea leaf cards clearly illustrate the named concepts or symbols, often with an oriental flavor.  For example, "Younger Man" and "Dark Woman" have Asian features; the "Teapot," "Vase," "Door," and "Gong" are Chinese in design and ecoration; and the various landscapes would not be out of place in a traditional Chinese or Japanese painting.

The 182 tea leaf cards do not appear to have any sort of overall structure or framework such as one finds with tarot cards.  Instead, the author examined the five hundred or more tasseomancy symbols, eliminated those that (in her experience) rarely appeared in readings, combined those with duplicate or
overlapping meanings, and finally arrived at a collection of symbols that she thought would be relatively manageable in a card format.  The deck has a reasonable balance among positive, negative, and neutral symbols and covers a
wide range of human emotions, activities, and interactions.  The symbols are primarily simple objects and animals, but the deck also includes images of five men (dark, fair, younger, older, and "indeterminate") and five women (dark, fair, younger, older, and "indeterminate").
 
The cards and book come packaged in a flat, square box with a removable lid and no internal dividers or card wells.  The cards sit in four stacks in the box, with the book sitting on top of the cards.  The packaging is outwardly attractive.  However, the removable lid makes the package rather insecure, and the lack of dividers or card wells means that the cards tend to slide around in the box.

The book is divided into six sections as follows:

I enjoyed the (brief) historical notes and the description of traditional methods of tea leaf reading.  However, the traditional method illustrations do not include any drawings or photographs of the "spread" of actual tea leaves in a cup, which was somewhat disappointing.  The two traditional methods described, Coming Year and Coming Week, are (in modified form) the primary methods described for use with the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards.  The Coming Year method involves 48 symbol cards, to be read in groups of four for each month of the year.  The Coming Week method involves 7 symbol cards, to be read as a single group for the coming week (not as one card for each day).  The book also includes an "astral house" spread, involving 9 symbol cards for a selected house and covering the querist's current situation in that house, plus a look ahead at the next two, three, and four days (or weeks, or months, or yea! rs).  Finally, there is a Yes/No method involving a pendulum (not included) and a Yes/No illustration on the inside cover of the box.  The author and the publisher both refer to this last method as one that "uses" the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards, but it is not written up that way in the book.  The sample readings section of the book illustrates how the meanings of individual cards are merged into a coherent commentary.
 
A little over half the book is devoted to brief descriptions of the 182 tea leaf symbol cards and their meanings.  Each alphabetized entry consists of the name of the card, the divinatory statement that appears on the card, a short description of the card's illustration, and a short explanation or clarification of the divinatory statement.  The card meanings are, for the most part, quite straightforward (one might even say "simplistic" or "obvious"), and there are occasional annoying discrepancies between card illustrations and descriptions.  Here are eight sample entries (taken verbatim from the book):

Camel:  "Persevere and you will overcome problems."  A camel, burdened with a heavy load, slowly trudges across the hot desert sand with no relief from the burning sun.  However, the camel keeps its head up high and carries on, determined to reach the oasis and the rest that awaits it there.  The camel
indicates that you may feel laden with problems, but if you persevere in the
face of adversity, the problems will be overcome.  [MY NOTE:  The card does
not show the oasis or the sun, only the camel, with its heavy load and  uplifted head, against the barest hint of a desert background.]

Candle:  "You will be shown the way."  A lighted candle glows in the darkness.  A garland of lilies surrounds it.  The lilies represent spiritual love while the lighted candle assures you that you will be shown the way.  (Check connecting cards to see if they reveal further information.)  [MY NOTE:  The card does show a lighted candle with a garland of lilies, but not the surrounding darkness.]

Cane:  "Pay attention to your health."  A weary traveler rests beneath a tree which is shedding leaves.  The traveler holds his cane in front of him as if attempting to rise.  The querist is forewarned by this card to pay attention to your health.  It could be that you are attempting to do too much or that you have taken on too much responsibility.  The card advises you to slow down.  [MY NOTE:  Not many leaves are shown on the tree, but there are no leaves falling or on the ground.]

Coins:  "Money will be coming to you."  Giant golden coins appear to be falling from a cloudless sky onto a bed of flowers.  Good fortune is in store for the querist who chooses this card as it signifies that money will be coming to you.
 
Pin:  "New job/career."  A silver pin lies on a purple velvet cushion.  The head and stem of the pin are beautifully decorated.  This symbol has two meanings.  One is that you will soon have a new job or career.  The other meaning is that the job or career you already have will soon take a new direction.  [MY NOTE:  The cushion is brown, not purple, and only the head of the pin is decorated.]

Ram:  "A stubborn, aggressive person."  A ram, its massive horns curling around its head, appears in front of the querist.  The ram is guarding its territory, prepared to do battle with anyone or anything that gets in its way.  This card indicates that either the querist is being stubborn and aggressive or that the querist will have dealings with a person who is stubborn and aggressive.  Either way, the querist should take care and consider diplomacy as the best course of action.

Spear:  "Heartache over what you no longer have."  A spear lies deeply embedded in a heart.  Blood seeps from the wound.  This symbol indicates that you will suffer great heartache pining over what you have lost or no longer have.  It could be a love affair, a business opportunity, or a financial opportunity.  (Check connecting cards to see if they reveal more information.)

Tiger:  "Doing something risky.  Taking a chance."  A hand, which signifies the querist, fondles a tiger in an effort to become its friend.  The tiger is of two minds.  Even though it likes being fondled, it is still contemplating attacking the querist.  The querist who chooses this card should beware.  It denotes that you are either involved in something risky or are contemplating taking a chance in some affair that could be risky.

As a collector, I find the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards to be quite charming but not exactly profound.  The statements on the cards remind me of fortune-cookie sayings, and card combinations lend themselves to stereotypical "fortuneteller" pronouncements of the "You will take a short journey with a dark man, who will bring you much money" variety.  But the illustrations are attractive, the book serves as a nice little (abridged) tea leaf symbol dictionary, and the cards fill a unique niche in my collection!
 
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Guest Review Copyright 2000 by Laura Jackson
used with permission