Our Psychic History

History is replete with accounts of the human desire to seek the unknown, beyond what could be perceived physically; and connect with what was beyond the physical senses, or “para normal”. Foreseeing the future was as intriguing as the people who claim to have “special powers,” or who are psychics. At least 5,000 years have elapsed since the first attempts to speak with the dead or make future prophecies. For example, The Ancient Egyptians used “scrying” to read patterns created by dropping ink into water. The Mesopotamians did the same with oil.

Tea Leaves Readings

Moreover, Emperor Shennong Yan, who was recognised as the first Emperor of Ancient China, devised not just farming implements for his people; but also, plants for curing their maladies. Nonetheless, when he discovered tea as a beverage in 2737 BC, his subjects began reading tea leaves.

As Dutch merchants introduced tea to Europe via trade routes to China; tea leaf reading became all the rage in Europe, especially during Victor

ian England. About a hundred years later, when the Ottoman Empire, which brought coffee to Europe via the Middle East, crumbled; this ritual evolved into coffee cup reading. The Ottomans left Europe in a hurry, leaving behind sacs of coffee beans! Until then, the export of the miracle beans was outlawed, and coffee consumption was restricted to Arabia.

Coffee Cup Readings

Coffee cup readers became known as “soothsayers” in Europe, persons who could soothe the spirit by giving good counsel or forecasting the future. The practice of reading coffee became known as tasseography. This was a method of forecasting or getting insight into a person’s personality, past, and future. The name tasseography is derived from the French word “tasse,” which means cup, and the Arabic word “graph,” which means writing. Soothsayer is derived from the Old English word for “truth” mixed with “say,” which means “an act of speaking the truth.”

Tarot Card Readings

Today, many of us are familiar with tarot card reading – another method of peering through beyond normal perception of life, seeking insights and advice. The tarot too originated in Ancient China in the 9th century AD. The deck of cards was used as a money taking tricks game to entertain the royal family of the Tang Dynasty. The card game spread with such popularity throughout Asia and then Into Egypt and through The Levant in to Europe; and the way transformed into divination cards we know as The Tarot, in the 1440’s.

Seeking The Unknown

Furthermore, by the time Nostradamus published Les Propheties (The Prophecies) in 1555, he had already become the most famous soothsayer of all time, making global predictions for the ages. Rasputin, the renowned Russian mystic, enthralled his country—and, more importantly, the Russian rulers—in the first part of the twentieth century. And in Victorian England, occultism, spiritualism, and mediumship were popular; as were table turning (the lifting or manipulation of a table during a séance attributed to spirits), séances (a meeting at which people attempt to contact the dead, especially through the a medium), and flower readings.