otherwise it will be postponed. The occurrence of a numeral may
indicate the number of days, or if in connection with a number of small
dots grouped around the sign of a letter, a present or a legacy, the
amount of the remittance in the former, the number of presents to be
expected, or the amount of the legacy coming. Dots surrounding a symbol
always indicate money coming in some form or other, according to the
nature of the symbol.

It will be seen that to read a fortune in the tea-cup with any real
approach to accuracy and a serious attempt to derive a genuine forecast
from the cup the seer must not be in a hurry. He or she must not only
study the general appearance of the horoscope displayed before him,
and decide upon the resemblance of the groups of leaves to natural or
artificial objects, each of which possesses a separate significance, but
must also balance the bad and good, the lucky and unlucky symbols, and
strike an average. For instance, a large bouquet of flowers, which is a
fortunate sign, would outweigh in importance one or two minute crosses,
which in this case would merely signify some small delay in the
realisation of success; whereas one large cross in a prominent position
would be a warning of disaster that would be little, if at all,
mitigated by the presence of small isolated flowers, however lucky
individually these may be. This is on the same principle as that by
which astrologers judge a horoscope, when, after computing the aspects
of the planets towards each other, the Sun and Moon, the Ascendant,
Mid-heaven, and the significator of the Native, they balance the good
aspects against the bad, the strong against the weak, the Benefics
against the Malefics, and so strike an average. In a similar way the
lucky and unlucky, signs in a tea-cup must be balanced one against the
other and an average struck: and in this connection it may be pointed
out that symbols which stand out clearly and distinctly by themselves