The Deck and Book Nook – Tea Leaf Fortune Cards

I’m a big time tea drinker yet I’ve never been able to master the art of tea leaf reading.  When I attempted to gaze into the teacup, I didn’t see images.  I saw tea leaves.  Perhaps I don’t have the imagination or vision for this type of divination but now thanks to the Tea Leaf Fortune Cards (ISBN 978-1-57281-670-1), I don’t have to stress about it.

 

This latest offering from US Games is pure fun and very well done.  Author Rae Hepburn and artist Shawna Alexander have created a playful and fascinating tool that anyone will enjoy working with. 

Hepburn learned how to read tea leaves from her aunt and has developed a remarkable skill for interpreting with them.  However, when friends wanted to learn tea leaf reading, she was unable to find any decent books on the subject.  This is what sparked her idea to create an easy to use deck based on the traditional symbols.

The deck is packaged in a sturdy keepsake box and comes with 200 round cards (3.25” in diameter), a 98 page guidebook and a pretty golden bag for mixing the cards.  The cards are divided into:

182 Symbol Cards

12 Month Cards

6 Astral House Cards

Because there are so many symbols that can be seen in a tea cup (up to 600!), the author decided to scale it down so that the deck could be easier to handle.  I personally cannot imagine trying to shuffle 600 cards so I was grateful for this clever move.  That being said, shuffling 182 cards was not an easy feat for my little hands!  Thankfully she was wise enough to create the mixing bag which made it simple and comfortable.

 

The cards are round which is supposed to resemble a teacup.  I thought that was a very cute idea.  And oh, the deck is wonderfully illustrated!  Artist Shawna Alexander created a vibe that almost feels “old world” and for some reason reminded me of the Lenormand deck.  The colors are soft and the images are simple and pretty. 

Each card in the Symbol portion has a title and a short interpretation. For example: Leg is interpreted as “stepping into a new experience”.

The book may be small but the author packs in a lot of information.  There is tea history,  the art of tea leaf reading, suggested spreads, sample readings and interpretations.  Everything is written clearly and concise which made learning how to work with this deck quick and fuss free.  

Interpreting may be easy enough but I did find that I still needed to use a bit of intuition to string the cards together in a meaningful way.  Once I was able to become more comfortable with the system, I was able to deliver some great readings that surprised me.  For example, I was showing this kit to my son and the card I pulled for myself was “Diamond” which meant a “gift of jewelry”.  Lo and behold, I got the mail a few hours later and a friend had sent me a bracelet!  We were both pretty impressed with that hasty result!  

The spreads presented in the book are fun and you can learn how to work with them quickly.  There is a yearly spread (this is what those Month Cards are for), a weekly spread and an Astral House Pyramid method (using the Astral cards for focusing on one specific area – whether that be love, success, etc.).  

 

 

I have also used this deck for one card spreads and three card spreads as well and they work great in that regard.

I would recommend this novel deck for just about anyone.  It’s not difficult to work with, the quality is superb (US Games always gets it right) and for those of us who cannot grasp the art of tea leaf reading, this allows us to get a glimpse into that world without struggle.  

Blessings!

Theresa

© Theresa Reed | The Tarot Lady 2012

https://www.thetarotlady.com