Let’s take a short break from cards and discuss the most widespread fortune-telling method in the Balkans: coffee cup reading. While there are few card readers, almost every house across former Yugoslavia has someone who can read a coffee cup. And while it had a powerful presence in my upbringing, it is the one fortune-telling method I tend to use the least. Not because it isn’t fascinating and useful in its own right, but somehow it always managed to elude me. Upon a recent visit to my family, it dawned on me that reading a coffee cup is a big portion of the quality time I spend with my mother, and even more so, that it connects me to the fondest memories of spending time with my maternal grandmother - both masters in coffee reading. Therefore I decided to dedicate this article to the fortune-telling pastime of my youth, and the memory of my grandmother.

It is believed that the coffee cup reading originated in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. It was through the Ottomans that it reached the Balkans which they were occupying at the time. The practice has very strong roots, which can be attested by its contemporary popularity in all of the former Ottoman territories. While some basics remain the same, the general reading method and pattern interpretation vary wildly from region to region or dare I even say - from house to house. Not to mention that both methods and interpretations change with each generation and through social and cultural transformations. The method that I will lay out here has been passed down to me by my grandmother and my mother in the 1990s, but it is by no means better or more special than any other method. It just happened to take root in my hometown.

Firstly, reading a coffee cup requires a Turkish-style coffee: very fine grind, prepared strongly, unsweetened, and of course, unfiltered. I usually use a heaping teaspoon of coffee for a small coffee cup. Secondly, you need a coffee cup with a solid white interior and a saucer. Be mindful of how you drink your coffee as the side on which you sip will be important. When there is only a thin layer of liquid left above the sediment at the bottom of the cup, you are ready to turn the cup. Start swirling the cup until the sediment begins to move. It should not be entirely mobile, but it should be able to move and leave traces of coffee grounds behind. Once you achieve this, put the saucer on top of the cup and turn it upside down. At this point, you may set the intention for the reading, focusing on what you want to uncover. After a few minutes, transfer the coffee cup to a paper towel to absorb the excess liquid, and you are ready to start with the reading.

The cup is sectioned according to the general areas of interest: the bottom of the cup represents your home; the side next to the handle shows events in your relationship or marriage; the side on which you sipped (usually to the left from the handle) is your side (representing your near future); the side across from it is your partner’s side; the side across from the handle is your far future, while the timeline can be generally followed starting from the handle across your side of the cup into the far future section; work-related issues can be found between the far future and your partner’s section. Please note once again that this way of sectioning is only common in my hometown and my family. There are many others.

You start the interpretation by looking in the home section, and if there are any significant events there. Little peeks in this section indicate financial gains. A thick layer of sediment here also reveals a loaded and stressful home situation. If a person is in a relationship, you proceed by interpreting the relationship section. If a person is single and interested in coupling up, you look for events on both relationship and partner sections. You then proceed with reading the querent’s side, starting from the relationship section and progressing towards the far future section. The far future section indicates potential developments that are usually more than 6 months ahead. The work section indicates any developments in current employment or career potentials and honors. If a person is partnered up, the partner section reveals near future developments in a partner’s life or partner’s attitudes and feelings towards the querent. Any potential infidelity is also indicated here.

Going through all the sections concludes the general reading. Afterward, you may proceed with the “making a wish” portion. A querent makes a wish and makes an imprint in a solid part of the sediment. You read the patterns left by the imprint to determine if a wish will come true. A querent can make up to three wishes. But either one or three. Never 2, as even numbers are associated with the dead in Serbian folk religion. Reading of wishes concludes the entire session.

Where patterns are concerned, the interpretation is left entirely up to the reader. It is also believed that the coffee cup will only make sense to the person intended to read it, and not to anyone else. That is why it is never advised that more people read one cup. A general rule is that the patterns made by coffee grounds carry more weight than those left by empty spaces. White marks usually carry signs of weakness or illness. That is why a brown cross is usually interpreted as a blessing, while a white cross supposedly foretells illness and death. Long vertical white lines are an indication of travel if they are opened at the top part. Some figures will be made up of both coffee grounds and empty white spaces, and observing the tensions between the two is what nuances a reading.

As a general rule for all divinatory practices in the Balkan folk religion, readings are best performed on Tuesdays and Fridays, or during the Full Moon. But the best possible advice that I can give to anyone is to practice clarity. Connect what you see in the cup to the querent. Read exactly what you see and try to hold on to the basic functions of figures you discover. Do not obscure the reading with prescribed “meanings” that make no sense here and now. Connect the figures. “I see a key, that means a solution” is not a reading worth anyone’s time.

May your readings and your paths be uncrossed.

Nebojša

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