Reading fortune from coffee or tea leaves is called tasseography or tasseomancy. Here in Cyprus, it is a long and favorite tradition: we are in the intersection of East, Oriental and West, so our culture and tradition is kaleidoscopic and varied!
Of course, our preferred method of tasseography has to do with coffee: tea is not popular here. In fact, I didn't know that you could read the fortune from tea leaves until I started studying English literature! I found it in a novel, though I am not sure I remember which ;-)
To read the coffee cup, you drink the coffee first, then put the cup upside down in the plate. You wait for about 15 minutes for the coffee dregs to run down, and you read the patterns inside the cup! Coffee reading goes back to the medieval period, and is full of complex symbolism. My friend's reading was mainly good news, and I have high hopes that it will be accurate! This is because her references to the recent past were spot-on, though it was something she did not know about.
We also talked about beauty and beauty advice, and I got that tip, which apparently comes down from the very old and very wise tradition of Smyrna. (Smyrna is a famous Greek city, now in modern Turkey, which had a long tradition of healers, botanists, soothsayers, sorcerers and beauty experts). If you want to be wrinkle-free, you should apply to your face aloe vera mixed in blender with cognac! Do this every day and you will have no wrinkles whatsoever.
(I don't know about the dosage here, so if you are going to try this do it with extreme caution. If I try it myself I will let you know. I don't have a blender, fresh aloe or cognac, so it is currently in my "to do" list).
Girls' nights out are productive, relaxing and tremendously fun. As you can see, they are also essential in continuing the female tradition of herbalism and beauty expertise! xxx
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