Introduction: Turkish Coffee Fortune Telling
In the Balkans and Turkey, a favorite pass time is drinking Turkish coffee followed by having your fortune told from the leftover coffee grounds in the cup. Turkish coffee readings fall in the category of Tasseography, the divination methods of interpreting patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds or wine sediments.
Now, I am not the superstitious type and I find this pastime one step removed from the Rorschach test, which is makes the fortunetelling so much fun for me. Usually, the professional fortunetellers, like most in similar professions, are good at picking up first impressions of their customer's personality. I think it's fun, but please don't make any major or life-changing decisions based on any fortune reading. As Yoda would say: "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."
Because Turkish coffee readings are entertaining, I do encourage everyone to try it at least once. At first, the patterns may seem chaotic and random but through practice, a bit of intuition and, a dash of imagination the patterns in the cup will take shape allowing the reader to interpret them.
Step 1: Preparing for the Reading
Turkish coffee readings are done by professional fortunetellers or between friends who have some experience with it but it is not custom to read your own cup. For example, I grew up with my grandmother giving readings to her friends and the skill of Turkish coffee readings is passed down the generations.
When a reading is requested, the fortuneteller will do the following:
- Prepare a strong, velvety Turkish coffee
- Serve the coffee in small cups with a solid white inside
- Ask the person drinking the coffee to drink the coffee with intent, meaning to think about their questions as they drink. In some countries the person will be required to drink the coffee in a certain number of sips, usually 1,3, or 5
- When they are done drinking, they will turn the cup over upside-down on the saucer
- Then, ask them to take the upside-down cup and saucer and while thinking about their intent, swirl the cup and saucer 3 times clockwise or counterclockwise, loosening the sediment inside
- Once they are done swirling, ask them to put down the saucer and cup. While the sediment is draining down the cup onto the saucer, the fortuneteller will ask the person who drank the coffee to put a ring or coin on top of the cup if the intent is love or wealth
Step 2: Basics of Turkish Coffee Readings
To do a Turkish coffee reading you will need intuition, charismatic storytelling and a decent knowledge of the symbols. While the coffee is draining down the cup, use the 5-10 minutes to chat with the person who drank it. It's OK to ask them details about their intent and why they feel anxiety over their future.
In some countries, the fortunetellers will read both the cup and the saucer. After about 5-10 minutes the cup will be ready to be read. The diviner will pick up just the cup trying to separate it from the saucer
- If the cup and the saucer will not separate immediately because of suction (Bernoulli's Effect) it is considered that the cup shouldn't be read. This is called the "Prophet's Cup" and very auspicious favoring the drinker's intent
- If the majority of the coffee sediment drained from the cup onto the saucer, the fortuneteller should comment that "worries are leaving" the person who drank the coffee
- A perfect little raised mound on the saucer suggests that "money will come soon"
- In some countries if the cup leaves a perfect circle outlining the rim on the saucer means that the intent will come true while a broken circle suggest otherwise
There are number of ways to interpret the cup. The most common are:
- Past, present and future readings where the bottom of the cup represents the past, the midsection of the cup shows the present situation while the area around the rim symbolizes the future
- Five section readings divide the cup into five general section that have representative meaning. If you turn the cup so the cup's handle is pointing towards you, the fortuneteller, then
- The area around the handle represents love and relationships
- Across from the cup's handle is the section related to money and wealth
- Left of the handle symbolizes the present situation of the person who drank the coffee
- The section right of the handle predicts future events
- The bottom of the cup advises things related to the home and family
Step 3: Typical Symbols
When reading someone's cup, choose one of the methods described in the previous step. Pay special attention to bigger shapes as they carry more weight then the smaller ones. There are some typical patterns that occur in cups and some typical meanings.
Lines
Vertical lines are your goals in life. The bigger and darker the line is the better the outcome gets. If the line reaches the rim of the cup, it is considered auspicious for that goal. All straight lines or paths show a clear plan with specific goals whereas the wavy or broken lines mean uncertainty.
Dots
A group of black dots means that you might receive money soon. Some also interpret these dots as messages you will receive soon.
Triangle
Change is coming to your life
Circle
Overall success
Square
Comfort and peace
Y
Crossroads, options in decisions, or help coming from a friend
?
Question you want answered, concern. If the question mark has the dot, your question will be answered and if it doesn't uncertainty will remain,
!
Danger, excitement
:
Sign for good luck
Step 4: Letters and Numbers
Now keep in mind that the symbology can vary greatly between cultures. The previous step described some fairly common meanings but starting from this step, you might want to look up symbolic meanings specific to your culture and region. Mainly, not all cultures consider the same numbers or letters auspicious. Similarly, certain animals and objects have different meanings in different cultures.
Numbers
Numbers can have either a numeric or symbolic meaning, depending on the overall story of the cup and the reader's interpretation. If the meaning is numerical, it implies that an event will happen in a certain number of days, weeks, months, or that one has or will get a certain quantity of something.
Some of the symbolic meanings of numbers are:
0 : Things repeating them selves, going in circles
1: Start of something new
2: Choice(s) or indecision between two things
3: Meeting
4: Jealousy, misfortune
5: Success
6: Sex
7: New love
8: Double luck
9: An offer
Letters
Letters, like numbers, can have literal or symbolic meaning. Since alphabets are really a regional and cultural thing, I will stick to Roman symbols. Letters, like numbers can be interpreted literally. In the literal case the letter will symbolize a name, place or object starting with that letter. This is interpreted by the overall story of the cup or information provided by the person who drank the coffee.
Some typical symbolic meanings of letters are:
A: Start of something new
B: Conflict
C: Children and protection
D: Home
E: Unexpected news, good or bad
F: New relationship, friendship
G: Joy
H: Pride, hubris
I: Surprise
J: Love
K: Branching out, expanding
L: Lies
M: Healing or family
N: Rejection
O: Success, marriage
P: Family expansion, pregnancy
R: Resting, relief
S: Happiness
T: Punctuality, timeliness or lack of
U: Desire for material things
V: Victory
X: Crossroads or target
Z: Ending, finish
Step 5: Objects, Animals and Other Symbols
The interpretation of symbols is very specific to regions and cultures. I would suggest looking up the symbology that is specific to your culture since different objects and animals have different meanings in different countries. A symbol or totem considered auspicious in one region might not be in another.
Here is a list of some common symbols to get you started:
A
Airplane: long travel, promotion, moving forward
Anchor: settling, finding stability, weighing down
Angel: good news, happiness, protection
Ant: fruit bearing, determination
Apple: new love
Arrow(s): bad news, wrong direction
Ax: conflict, problems
B
Baby: minor worries
Bag: large amount of money
Ball: need to invest work or training to get things started
Balloon: idealization or a person or situation, be careful
Bat: stealthy intentions, fear of people
Beans: financial issues
Bear: careful decision making, don't overreact or panic
Bed: personal problems, sickness
Bee: new friends or friends gathering
Bell: visitors
Bird: news, letter, message
Boat: staying afloat or on top of things
Book: wisdom, legal issues
Bottle: active social life
Box: secrets
Branch: helping a friend in trouble
Bridge: overcoming obstacles
Broom: questioning one self, self-examination
Bull: independence or advances from a married man
Bus: group travel
Butterfly: change, transformation
C
Cage: depression, unhappiness
Camel: news from far away
Candle: help from friends, knowledge, wisdom and learning
Car: luck in new ventures, travel
Cat: solitude, fighting with friends or loved ones, catfight
Chain: loss of freedom, unhappy union in marriage or business
Chair: unexpected guest or stability
Chicken(s): gossip, idle chatter
Church or temple: ceremony, spiritual growth
Circle: success, wishes come true
Claw: fighting, enemy
Clover: luck or affection
Comet: unexpected visitor
Compass: need for direction
Cow: wealth
Cross: sacrifice
Crown: acknowledgment, reward, peer recognition
D
Dagger: divorce, severing of ties
Devil: danger, beware of influential people, unhappiness, bad omen
Dog: friendship, loyalty
Dolphin: joy, fun
Door: opportunity
Dragon: past is haunting you
Drum: scandalous news
E
Eagle: high goals or expectations
Egg: wealth and success
Elephant: intelligence and longevity
F
Face: new friendship, face value
Fence: protection, seclusion
Feather: contemplation about life, self-exmination
Fish: financial news or career achievement
Flag: danger waiting
Flower: happiness, beauty
Fork: argument with spouse
Fortress: success after hardships
Fox: cunning, beware of hypocrites
Fruit: prosperity in endeavors
G
Gate: opportunity, exit from a bad situation
Goat: business competition
Goose: resolution to a problem
Grave: death, sadness, misfortune
Gun(s): battle, argument, major disruption in relationship
H
Hammer: brute force, overcoming challenges with force
Hand: agreement
Harp: harmony
Hat: success in life
Heart: Love, good health or heartbreak if the heart is broken
Horse: nobless, strength
Hourglass: imminent danger, incompletion, time running out
House: success in business, security
I
J
K
Kettle: socializing with friends
Key: moving, new solutions
King: power, highest form of success
Kite: tethered, tied down
Knife: enemies approaching, break-up
L
Ladder: work related travel, promotion
Lamp: resolution, shedding light on something
Leaves: ambition, money
Letter: news
Lines: path, goal
Lion: influential friend, success at work
M
Maiden: honor
Man: money
Mask: lies and deception around you
Mermaid: success in love, beauty
Monkey: curiosity
Moon: full moon means love, crescent moon means spiritual calling
Mountain: powerful person, it could be friend or foe depending on context around it
Mushroom: sudden growth
N
Nails: hurt, injustice
Nest: pregnancy
Net: danger around you
Nose: someone is inquiring about you, gossip
O
Owl: warnings about unlucky events
Old woman or hag: sadness in the home
P
Pear: financial security, social status
Pig: gain
Pot(s): wedding, positive changes
Purse: you will receive money
Q
R
Rabbit: success with children
Raven: bad or sad news
Rat: loss of employees, disloyalty
Ring: marriage, broken ring means divorce or bad luck
Reptiles: unpleasant discussions, discomfort
S
Saw: trouble from strangers
Scales: justice
Scissors: trouble at home, break-up, illness, sadness
Scorpio: revenge
Shark: high danger or death
Ship: staying afloat, successful journey
Shoe: new beginnings
Shovel: hardship approaching
Skull: major worries, failure, loss
Smoke: legal issues
Snake(s): beware, bad people are around you
Spider: money on its way
Square: happy marriage and home
Star: investments
Swan: happy love life
Sword: arguments, especially between lovers
Sun: power, wealth
T
Tie: engagement
Tower: longevity, long life
Toy: nostalgia
Train: new ventures
Trees: changes for the better, prosperity
Triangle: changes
U
Umbrella: difficulty, annoyance
Unicorn: scandal, unrealistic expectations
V
Vase: dignity
Violin: selfishness
Volcano: things are outside of your control
W
Wall: unfruitful business
Waterfall: overly emotional
Witch: dangerous, scheming woman, poisoning of mind
Wheel: change of fortune, inheritance
Whip: high energy, sexual activity
Window: neighborhood gossip
Wolf: need for family
Worm(s): secret enemies
X
Y
As a letter: making decisions regarding a goal, forking in the road
Z
Zebra: indecisiveness