Reading the Tea

I'm moving to Chicago in August which means it's time to start going through all my shit. Today I started combing through my books, deciding what to keep and what to toss, when I stumbled upon Tea Cup Reading: How to Tell Fortunes by Tea Leaves. A small, hardbound book published in the 1920s, it offers a description of the tea reading "principles" followed by several pages of "symbols and their significations." I love this book. It smells musty and ancient. The pages are brown and delicate. It's mysterious and other-worldly. But what I love most about it is that it belonged to my namesake: Auntie Maggie.

(Grandma Kathy and Maggie)
Margaret Horn was my grandmother's best friend and partner in crime. She was a free spirit, often silly, adventurous and bold. I never met Auntie Maggie, but I imagine her at the kitchen table, this book by her side, peering into her tea cup and divining her future.