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TessomancyHM

A teacup containing tea leaves, used for Tessomancy

Ronald Weasley: "Right. What can you see in mine?"
Harry Potter: "A load of soggy brown stuff."
— Harry Potter's first attempt at tessomancy[src]

Tessomancy[1][2] was the magical art of reading tea leaves to predict events in the future.[3] Tessomancy was taught as part of the Divination course at Hogwarts,[3][2] in the third year[3] and sixth year.[2]

Professor Trelawney had her students drink the entire cup of tea until only the dregs remained. They then had to swill the dregs around the cup three times with their left hand, followed by turning the cup upside down on its saucer and waiting for the last of the tea to drain away. She had her students divide up into pairs and had each of them read the leaves in their partner's cup.[3]

Known readings[]

"My turn... There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat. Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic... But this way it looks more like an acorn... What's that? A windfall, unexpected gold. Excellent, you can lend me some... and there's a thing here, that looks like an animal... yeah, if that was its head... it looks like a hippo... no, a sheep..."
Ron Weasley reading Harry Potter's tea leaves[src]
Tea leaves 1

The Grim in Harry Potter's cup

At the start of the 1993–1994 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during the first third-year Divination lesson of the school year, Professor Trelawney read the tea leaves in Harry Potter's cup and saw four things: the falcon, a deadly enemy; the club, an attack; the skull, danger in your path and the Grim, a spectral dog which was an omen of death. During the same Divination lesson, Trelawney read the tea leaves in Neville Longbottom's cup and commented that it was not good. She asked if his grandmother was well.[3]

Tea leaf symbols[]

From Unfogging the Future, pages five and six:

  • Acorn - "windfall, unexpected gold"[3]
  • Club - "an attack"[3]
  • Cross - "trials and suffering"[3]
  • Falcon - "a deadly enemy"[3]
  • The Grim - "death"[3]
  • Skull - "danger in your path"[3]
  • Sun - "great happiness"[3]

Etymology[]

The terms "Tessomancy", "Tasseomancy" and "tassology" derive from the French word for teacup; "tasse", and the Greek suffixes, "-graph", "-logy", and "-mancy".

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) - Chapter 9 (Tea Leaves)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 2 (Curses and Prophecies) - Divination Lesson "Tessomancy"
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 6 (Talons and Tea Leaves)
Divination
Trelawney's first Divination lesson in the trio's third year
Professors: Percival Rackham · Mudiwa Onai · Sybill Trelawney · Firenze
Known Seers: Calchas · Cassandra Vablatsky · Cassandra Trelawney · Gellert Grindelwald · Inigo Imago · Johan Hoffman · Liz Tuttle's mother · Mopsus · Professor Mopsus · Susie Sooth · Tycho Dodonus · Unidentified Canadian Seer · Unidentified female Seer · Unidentified male Seer
Textbooks: The Dream Oracle · Unfogging the Future
Methods: Astrology · Bibliomancy · Capnomancy · Cartomancy · Catoptromancy · Crystal-gazing · Crystal ball · Dream interpretation · Fire-omens · Heptomology · Horoscope · Ichthyomancy · Lithomancy · Myomancy · Ornithomancy · Orrery · Ovomancy · Palmistry · Personal chart · Phyllomancy · Prophecy · Rune stone · Scrying mirror · Tarot cards · Tessomancy · Xylomancy
Divination at Hogwarts: Divination (class) · Divination Classroom · Divination staircase · Sybill Trelawney's office · Classroom 11 · Xylomancy (class)

See also[]

External links[]

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