Majestic setting for Mystic High Tea

When visiting the elegant Hydro Majestic Hotel in the heritage listed Blue Mountains, you may how have your tealeaves read in the dramatic setting of Cat’s Alley, after indulging in high tea in the Wintergarden.

High tea is served in the Wintergarden, from 12pm to 4pm every Saturday and Sunday, while tealeaf reading is conducted in Cat’s Alley.

Tea drinking guests can discover  "what a day may bring forth" when the tealeaves are read at the new 'Mystic High Tea' experience.

Escarpment Group general manager Ralf Bruegger said: "Tealeaf reading goes along with the quirky activities people remember about the Mark Foy period of the Hydro specifically and the end of the Victorian era in general.

"This is a new attraction we are introducing as part of our continued journey as part of the history of the Greater Blue Mountains region.

"Nowhere else in the Blue Mountains can you indulge in a high tea, wander through the halls of history and have your tea leaves read.

"Everything we do here is done with elegance, good taste and fun. Tea leaf readings are a bit of harmless fun that will help re-create the mischievousness of the original `Palace in the wilderness’."

Tealeaf reading, or tasseography, is one of the most common divinations or fortune-telling methods. It interprets patterns of tealeaves (or coffee grounds or wine sediments) and will be practiced in the sumptuous Cat’s Alley venue at the world-famous hotel.

The activity involving “the cup that cheers but not inebriates’’ represents refinement, prestige and vogue, just like the exquisitely refurbished Hydro Majestic Hotel.

Continuing with traditional practice, the Hydro Mystic High Tea readings will be conducted only by women, considered to hold the qualities of peace, comfort, and refinement, which will be epitomised in the forms of Juliette Frederick and Sophia Helene at the Hydro.

Four Steps to Reading Your Tea Leaves by Juliette Frederick

STEP 1:

Once your tea is cool enough, begin sipping.

If you are right-handed, lift your cup with your left hand.

If left-handed drink with your right. If ambidextrous reach for your cup, stop and use the other hand.

STEP 2:

Now that you are quiet and relaxed, concentrate on the issue foremost in your mind, block out all thoughts and empty your mind.

If there is a stubborn thought that keeps returning, that will be the subject of this reading. Hold that thought. Otherwise, if nothing comes to mind, this will be a general cup reading.

STEP 3:

Breathe deeply. Drink your tea, leaving a couple of teaspoons of liquid in the cup. Hold your cup in your hand and give three good swirls clockwise. This will disperse the tea leaves around the inside of the cup. Gently pour out the remaining liquid by turning the teacup over into the saucer.

STEP 4:

Put your hand on the upside down cup and wish.

Take 3 breaths before turning your cup over.

Now your reading begins.

Address: Hydro Majestic Hotel, Great Western Hwy, Medlow Bath

Cost: $40pp after normal high tea costs.

Go to www.hydromajestic.com.au for more information.

Alison Carmichael-Rulten

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