The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter (72 page)

What can be learned from the dregs of a cup of tea? Well, tea-leaf readers claim to see the shape of things to come. Patterns of lines, dots, and geometric shapes, as well as images that suggest plants, animals, and objects, are all said to have specific meanings. A single straight line, for example, indicates careful planning and peace of mind; two parallel lines mean a rewarding journey is in store. A circle with a cross on top is usually a bad sign, suggesting enforced confinement, as in a prison or hospital, while a tree indicates success and an acorn predicts good health. The closer the image is to the rim of the cup, the sooner it will occur. An event indicated by an image at the bottom of the cup is said to lie in the distant future.

Like Professor Trelawney, many diviners insist only someone with well-honed psychic abilities can read tea leaves properly. According to this theory, the tea leaves stimulate the intuitive powers of the reader, who will be able to foretell the future and perceive truths that would otherwise remain hidden. However, this doesn’t stop thousands of nonpsychic people from trying a little tasseomancy just for fun. If you want to try it and you don’t have a copy of
Unfogging the Future
on hand, you might use some of these traditional interpretations:

arry has Hedwig, Hermione’s got Crookshanks, and Neville keeps company with his beloved toad, Trevor. Like
owls
and
cats
, toads have long been associated with
witches
and
sorcerers
in popular legend and lore. Although there’s little doubt that Trevor is a very nice fellow, most toads have a rather unsavory reputation.

During the years of
witch persecution
in seventeenth-century England and Scotland, witches were said to keep toads as “familiars”—minor
demons
disguised as animals who could be sent out to perform all manner of mischief for their mistresses. After all, how much easier for a toad than a witch to creep into a neighbor’s well and poison the water or secretly place an evil
charm
under a victim’s pillow? Toads were also rumored to play an important role in the initiation ceremonies of new witches, who might be required to nurture or kiss toads as part of the process of pledging their allegiance to the Devil. Occasionally, witches were said to transform into toads themselves.

In testimony given at witch trials, some witnesses claimed to have seen witches baptize and name their toads, dressing them up in black or scarlet velvet outfits and tying little bells to their feet. Such care suggested that witches were quite attached to their pets, and many people believed it risky to harm a toad, lest it be a witch’s warty pal. One tale from Somerset, England, recounts how an old woman went out for a walk carrying her three pet toads, Duke, Dick, and Merry-boy, in a basket. When she stopped to watch three farmers at work cutting wheat, one toad escaped and jumped into the path of a farmer’s scythe. Laughing, the farmer let the blade fall upon the toad, killing it. “I’ll show you!” cried the woman. “None of you will finish today’s work!” Within moments, the first farmer had sliced his hand with his scythe. Soon the second man cut across the toe of his boot with his blade, and then the third sliced his own boot open from one side to the other. Frightened, the farmers fled the field, leaving day’s work left undone.

(
photo credit 82.1
)

According to popular belief, witches dressed their pet toads in tiny cloaks and fastened bells around their ankles. Apparently, these toads enjoyed their party clothes
.

According to some popular lore, however, the relationship between witches and toads wasn’t always so loving. Any toad not lucky enough to be kept as a pampered pet was believed to be raw material for brewing
potions
and casting
spells
. To do away with an enemy, a witch might baptize a toad with the enemy’s name and then kill the toad in a particularly unpleasant manner. Wherever the human victim was, he would supposedly suffer the same fate. To make themselves invisible, witches were rumored to apply a skin lotion made of toad saliva mixed with the sap of the sowthistle plant.