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  • Writer: Freya Ingva
    Freya Ingva
  • Aug 6, 2020
  • 4 min read

To celebrate Afternoon Tea Week, opening on 10th August, we learn how, from humble beginnings, the tea bag became a star of the tea trade.


The invention and popularization of the tea bag revolutionised the tea-drinking habits formed in previous centuries. It was 1560 when tea first reached Europe, carried by a Portuguese catholic missionary.  It is from Portugal that tea spread across Europe initially, reaching England in the mid-1600s. Tea was an expensive commodity imported from China, the type of tea was what we would now define as green tea. The secret of tea was in the hands of and closely guarded by the Chinese who had grown, processed, and drank the delicious brew for aeons. Much happened, and it was only in the 1840s the British managed to begin experimenting with tea in the Indian subcontinent. Finally, they broke the Chinese monopoly and in 1887 started importing black tea with their fast tea clippers directly from two of their colonies at the time, India and Sri Lanka (or Ceylon).  The first tea bag patent was granted on 24 March 1903 and was filed by Roberta C. Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a ‘novel tea-holding pocket constructed of open-mesh woven fabric, inexpensively made of cotton thread'. The device was hand-sewn and not much in use. Till Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea and coffee merchant, unwittingly popularised it in 1908. He had to send out tea samples to win customers for the tea varieties he was representing. He decided to pack his samples in small, clear, sealed silk bags so that the fragrant content would be visible.  Only after orders and comments come in, he discovered his clients were pouring boiling water directly on to the small bags, leaving them to steep as they would have using an infuser.  As the appliance gained popularity, two sizes of tea bags were produced and sold in the 1920s America: a small bag for a single teacup, as we know it today; and a larger one for a teapot. When demand for black tea for tea bags grew by the end of the 1920s, tea estates realised that they needed lower grade teas (fannings and dust) instead of the prized whole and broken leaf grades processed with the orthodox method. A new process to crush/cut, tear and curl (CTC) the leaves by machine was introduced and it is still used today widely.


" A woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water "
Eleanor Roosevelt

In the United Kingdom, the tea bag began circulating commercially only in 1953, introduced by Tetley. Initially, British people were suspicious and resisted the idea. They preferred using loose leaf tea, but then the pace of modern life took over.  We are at a point now where only about 4-5 per cent of the whole British tea market relies on loose leaf tea. Most often than not, the loose leaf tea is for connoisseurs only, with various degrees of quality, but all with a certain distinction. The remaining 95-96 per cent of the British market is made up of teabags. Tea houses offer a selection of loose leaf teas to enjoy onsite and often double as tea shops, selling favourites to their customers as a treat to enjoy at home. Exclusive tea shops are fewer and tend to be historical and/or world-famous brands. Usually, they have the teabag option in stock, at least for the most popular teas, with the intention of catering for all.


However, fannings and dustings (the bits inside the tea bag proper names) do their job splendidly as the steeping time is reduced. Let's recognise the fact that the commercial tea bag is all about convenience and speed, less about quality and complex flavours. There are a few specialist brands selling exactly the same tea as loose leaves in packaged tea bags.  You might be surprised to hear they are not as wildly successful as expected. Why? People now associate and use the tea bag for a shorter brewing time, dropping it into a mug or flask, often drinking it while on the go. It is unlikely the consumer will sit down and focus on the tea to appreciate it fully. Also, the cost is higher. Further, we have to be conscious that a standard tea bag contains and releases, around 60 micrograms of plastic. The tiny pieces of this microplastic (between 100 nanometres and a maximum of 5 millimetres in size for sealants) end up in our living system and in the environment. While the industry is looking into improvements, some tea bags seem to contain more plastic than others. There is the use, and debate, on bio-plastic. This byproduct, derived from renewable biomass sources, is not all biodegradable and the decaying speed is not always faster than the more common plastic obtained from oil. Currently, you can find tea bags made of various materials, from filter paper to nylon, either square, circular, rectangular or tetrahedral. Most commonly they are sold full, but you can also purchase empty tea bags to fill and carry your favourite tea with you.  They are reusable and vary in style too: some are like small drawstring bags, other like pouches. These are made of cotton or filter paper. There is also the option of a silicone tea bag, but this verges more on the infuser side in my opinion. There is no doubt, the humble tea bag is a favourite for a quick cuppa and it is also the ‘enemy’ of tea leaf readers like me. Tea Leaf Holder patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/d1/db/93/00278d81f2d7f3/US723287.pdf



 
  • Writer: Freya Ingva
    Freya Ingva
  • Jul 2, 2020
  • 3 min read

Continuing where we left in my previous article (you can read it here), where we covered the origins of interpreting symbols and dreams up to how they were regarded throughout the classical world. The level of trust, worship, guidance, healing, and wisdom assigned to symbols in the past was extraordinary compared to how we view them now. Yet, they are still of great universal importance as a valuable source of information.


Symbols are at the heart of my oracle and tea leaf reading work. I studied them for many years and it is a subject that truly fascinates me.

An article on one of the Gilgamesh Dream Tablets prompted me to write this and share it with you.  Let’s continue from where we left off.


In the ancient Arab world, Muhammad Ibn Sirin,

from Basra, wrote a compendium on the meaning of symbols in dreams titled ‘Apomasares' in the eighth century. Followed by another text of note by Gadborrahman.

Interestingly, both texts are said to form an important basis, together with the Jewish Kabbalah, for the popular Italian dream Kabbalah, called La Smorfia.

This detailed book analyses the symbols in dreams and translates them into numbers from 1 to 90, which are then used to play on the Italian national Lotto (devised in a form very similar to how it is played now in 1539 Genoa). The most famous Smorfia comes from Naples, but other versions exist and are in use in other areas of Italy. It is an ever-growing and evolving collection of symbols and their meanings, adding modern objects, experiences, and personalities as time goes by.

If you feel like winning with La Smorfia, losing a tooth is 45, teeth is 50. This becomes 70 if the tooth has a cavity; 75 if it’s a fake tooth falling off; or 26 if made of gold. If it's only loose 73; if painful 84; and 68 if you happen to see a detached human tooth somewhere. There is more, naturally, but it is beyond the scope of this article to present it here.


A fascinating glimpse into symbols and diplomacy is offered by a famous story on Caliph al-Mansur, founder of the Abbasid Caliphate and of Baghdad, who dreamt of losing all his teeth.

He asked for the meaning of such a dream. According to the established tradition, the first court diviner interpreted the symbols and said ‘All your relatives will perish’.

The Caliph was little pleased and had him flogged for his audacity. Step forward the second court diviner, who, more carefully stated ‘You will survive all your relatives’ and was rewarded.

The final message provided by the symbols is the same, but what a difference!


Celtic wisdom relied on many types of prophecy and divination, all based on the natural environment the Celts inhabited. The Celts gave symbolic meanings to trees; animals and plants; the shape of clouds; and naturally to dreams. There was a ritual to ask for assistance or healing through incubating dreams in sacred groves. Depending on the type of trees growing in the grove, specific help would be provided. So, the Celts would select a particular grove depending on the issue at hand, and following the ritual, would sleep there. The dream would then be interpreted by the Druid or the one who sees with the aid of the oak tree. The oak tree was considered the chief God actualised in a tree, so it was highly revered and considered to hold divine powers. As a symbol, the oak tree was extremely powerful and sleeping next to it was said to ensure prophetic dreams. The druids were a group of trained and high-ranking individuals who served in a variety of roles, from religious to political leaders, from poets to doctors. Even if the majority of druids were males, there were also females in the fold.


The custom of incubating dreams in special places to receive symbolic messages, healing, visions and so on, was a common feature throughout Europe.

The practice was halted by the Christian Church through the religious fervour that accompanied the Middle Ages. They believed that dreams, and the symbols in it, were associated with temptations of all sorts, sinning, sexual desires, communing with the devil. Basically, a fanciful way to tempt the weakness of the flesh.


Vivid dreams, visions and all that was cultivated before to help people in the form of what we now call divination, had to disappear, go underground, or face the inquisition. Even St Augustine struggled to control his dreams and he recorded his concern, fearing God would hold him responsible for them. We must assume others chose to keep quiet.

Disturbingly, the Christian Church selectively overlooked and forgot the many prophetic dreams and visions recounted in the Old and New Testament.

Sadly, a similar path has been taken by other religions, or more precisely interpretations, that seem to have rejected what is at the core of their establishment.


What do you dream of mostly? Do you understand the messages you receive? Get in touch if you need help interpreting symbols for greater clarity and understanding.


All photographs by Jr Korpa

 
  • Writer: Freya Ingva
    Freya Ingva
  • Jun 4, 2020
  • 3 min read

Symbols are at the heart of my oracle and tea leaf reading work. 

An article sparked my idea of sharing an unusual but well-known angle, to make us more present to our inner source of wisdom: our dreams. 

Whether prophetic, unrestrained, or simply a reflection of the day’s experiences, dreams are the important language between our conscious, unconscious, superconscious, reality, and external stimuli. This language speaks to us using symbols and its history is as old as we are.


Humanity has always dreamt and treasured this special experience.

Prehistorical cave paintings show us what can be interpreted as the drawing of dreams above the head of people hunting. The symbolic meaning is there, right from the very beginning. I can’t help, but take note and ask: Do we symbolically create and attract outcomes?

The very first dream written records are clay tablets, in cuneiform characters, telling the story of Gilgamesh, the legendary warrior king of Sumer. Gilgamesh had bad dreams plaguing him, so he decided to ask the goddess Ninsun, his mother, to decipher them. All her interpretations proved true.

In Babylon, dream work was integral to standard religious beliefs. Large temples dedicated to Mamu, the goddess of dreams, and to An Za Qa, the god of dreams, were built.

Do we value our dreams in the same way?


In ancient Egypt, temples called Serapeums were dedicated to Serapis, the god of dreams and dreaming. Dreams were experienced as going to another world, accessible every night with the astral body, simply passing through a threshold. 

It is in Egypt, we find the first record regarding dream incubation, a practice widely practised in ancient times by many civilisations to receive answers and guidance.

Incidentally, there was also a way to put an end to any bad, recurring dreams. On waking, the dreamer would blow out the dream into a wooden container, which was then burned. The fire consumed the receptacle and the dream, clearing the way ahead.

How do we remove unsuitable creations from our reality?


Let’s pick a symbol we all know and look at how it got interpreted. For the ancient Egyptians, the symbology of losing a tooth in a dream meant the death of a relative.


Dreams had a share in the religious life of a community and symbols were understood as messages from the Divine.

In Ancient Greece, Zeus was said to use Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Morpheus, the god of dreams, to communicate directly with people.


Homer is the first classic writer to mention dreams, differentiating between significant, true dreams and empty, false dreams. Taking this concept further, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used the symbols of dreams as a diagnostic tool. He trained in healing temples, called Asclepion, dedicated to the god of medicine Asclepius, where people would come to incubate dreams or have a dream analysed.

The philosopher Aristotle took a stance on dreams which many still use today: anybody dreams; personal sensations may be highlighted and translated in a dream; a dream can reveal something we had not realised before and makes us consciously aware.

The philosopher Plato instead realised that dreams can be wild, unruly, and truly irrational. In being so, they are freeing a part of the psyche we strictly control when awake. 


Continuing our brief excursion in the classical world, the Romans were fascinated by the symbolic and prophetic power of dreams. They classified all theories and interpretations known to create a solid body of knowledge. 

One of the major contributors to this research was Artemidorus, who travelled extensively around the Roman Empire to collect data from past and present. From his research, he compiled the first dream dictionary as we know it, the 'Oneirokritika', where symbols are clearly identified and their meaning defined.


Going back to the example of the loss of a tooth, with Artemidorus we get into specifics: the position of each tooth symbolised different people. The arch of the upper teeth refers to important people; the lower, more common people. The right part, of either dental arches, symbolises a male and the left a female. Incisor teeth represent someone young; canine teeth, middle-aged; molars, an elder.


Carrying on with our tooth interpretation through the ages: Vespasian dreamt he would become Emperor only after Nero had lost a tooth and this is exactly what happened, on top of the rest.


Plutarch, the Roman historian, recorded quite a few prophetic dreams. The most famous are: Calpurnia dreaming of her husband Julius Caesar's assassination the night before it happened; Emperor Caligula dreaming of his own demise. It seems that these dreams were very straightforward and clear in conveying their message, without obscure tokens.


What do you dream of mostly? Do you understand the messages you receive? Get in touch if you need help interpreting symbols for greater clarity and understanding. For your information, the article was about an ancient Mesopotamian tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, and its recent whereabouts. You can find it here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52692846 Resource about the tablet: http://trobisch.com/david/wb/media/material/Gilgamesh%20tablet_AW.pdf All photographs by Jr Korpa

 
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