Have you ever been at a crossroads and gotten a strong feeling, almost like a voice in your heart or mind, telling you to choose one way over the other? That’s your intuition speaking. Gypsy Tonya Kapis, of Ultimate Healing, specializes in teaching others to listen to, trust in, and accept their intuition through guided tea leaf readings. Join her at The Tea Shoppe on February 18, 2017 from 2 – 3 p.m. as she shows seekers how to tune in to their own inner knowing.
This event will discuss Tonya’s personal intuition, her beginnings with tea leaf readings, and incorporate a demonstration of the practice. Participants will learn about signs and symbols commonly found in readings and resources where they can reference them. But most importantly, seekers will walk away with the ability to read tea leaves themselves. “I absolutely believe anyone can do what I’m doing. It’s about sitting together, having tea, sharing conversation, and disconnecting from our very connected world. With a little guidance, we can come together and look into this ‘old world’ thing and find your intuition,” says Tonya.
Tea leaf reading is an attempt to gain insight into the natural world through intuitive interpretation. It’s been around as long as tea—and the primal desire for understanding oneself. A tea leaf reading starts with a question or an intention, something that the seeker needs or desires to have in the present moment. Tonya guides her participants through a variety of techniques she has learned from her yoga-teacher training, like meditation and breath work, to open up a pathway of energy exchange.
Tonya then breaks up the tea leaves—all grown or foraged by her own hand—and places them in the seeker’s cup. Tonya encourages her clients to do the same in their own practice. “Plant something that speaks to you, that you can dry and use in your own tea leaf readings. There’s a purity of using something that’s from the earth and when picked from your own hand, it can help guide your readings.”
While certain teas can be used for particular questions—rose hips tend to be indicative of love—or you can choose your tea by flavor, Tonya cautions against limiting oneself in this way. “The more stipulations you put on a reading, the more you are over-guiding it. If you come to a reading just thinking about love, you might be missing something and are closing yourself off to a lot of possibilities.” What’s more important, says Tonya, is the here and now. “In order to find your answers, you have to concentrate on what’s in your present.”
After a cup of tea has been poured and cooled off, the tea is drunk until there is only a sip—and the tea leaves—left in the bottom. Tonya instructs the seeker to use their left hand to pick up the cup—this stimulates the right, or “creative” side of the brain—and swirl it three times. The seeker then quickly dumps the majority of the leaves and the liquid onto a napkin, leaving only some tea leaves remaining in the cup.
Here is where intuition—and creativity—comes in to play. The seeker identifies his or her own signs and symbols while Tonya interprets their meaning. Don’t be afraid that you won’t find something in your tea leaves; Tonya offers guidance and these reassuring words: “If you come with an open heart and an open mind, I’m confident that there will be something there that touches your light. That kind of magic is there for everyone if you want to see it.”
The signs and symbols that the seeker identifies, and the order in which they are identified, set up a story for Tonya. “I offer my intuition to help you move toward something that is going to help you live your best present. But we all have this within us. You don’t need me.”
Then why does she do it? “I want people to start looking within and guiding themselves, to connect with their light and to see that they can read tea leaves. I’m always trying to build the person up, reinforce their intuition, and open them up to their creativity so they can guide their own lives and readings. If you only come to me for an hour, that doesn’t really serve your purpose. You feel great for that hour, but if you don’t back it up with doing it on your own, it doesn’t serve you as a person,” says Tonya.
Tonya’s tea leaf readings are about doing that work and discovering what you already know. Watching people find and listen to their inner intuition is what drives her work. “When people start paying attention to their inner voice, that’s the best psychic or fortunetelling you could ever listen to. We all truly know the answers we seek.”
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