So what are these lovely little pieces of metal that look like they belong to someone who is making jewellery? These divine little pieces of metal are called “charms” or, quite often referred to in our more modern times, as “tea charms.”
The Victorian “Cake Pull” Tradition
A little bit of history: Are charms an ancient form of fortune-telling? Back in Victorian times, small charms had a piece of string or ribbon tied to them, and they were placed under the bottom of a wedding cake, arranged all around it so that the ribbon ends were visible along the outer edge of the cake.
During the wedding ceremony, the bridesmaids would pull out the ribbons, and the charms they drew represented their fortune. This tradition is known as the “cake pull.” The charms were usually in the shape of hearts, bells, four-leaf clovers, rings, baby symbols, and other charms that represented home, family, and luck.
This tradition was practiced in Germany, Switzerland, and other countries around the world. People would place small porcelain figurines in the dough and bake them in a King Cake (Dreikönigskuchen). Of course, you should always wrap the charms in parchment paper before placing them in the dough.
The figures were simple, such as a butcher, a baker, fruit, and abundance figurines, which promised a marvelous future. The people who received a piece of cake with these figurines would have good luck associated with the figure they received. So, if you received the butcher figurine, it meant you would always have food on the table.
Fortune Cakes of the Thirties to the Fifties
In some other countries during the 1930s – 1950s, people would bake the metal charms inside the cake itself. They would mix the batter and place 8-10 charms wrapped in parchment around the edges of the cake and then bake it. When the cake was consumed (and hopefully, you didn’t swallow the charm), you would unwrap the charm, and this was your fortune.
During this period, you could buy little boxes of charms, with pieces of parchment paper. A description of the meanings of each charm was printed on the back of these boxes. This is where they called them “tea charms” or “tea favors,” as the charm meanings were based on tea leaf reading symbols.
This ceremony was often done at Halloween or New Year’s Eve to have fortune throughout the coming year. It was so popular as everybody wanted to have luck on their side for the upcoming year.
Around the world, there are many different ways for charms to be used in both cakes and loaves of bread. No matter in which country or according to which tradition charms were used in food goods, it has always been for good fortune and abundance.
So How Do I Use Them Nowadays?
Charm casting is a fantastic method of divination. You run your fingers through all the charms while concentrating on your question. This is very therapeutic. Think through what you exactly want to know and for which time frame it should be valid. Once you have your inquiry and your time frame intention set in your mind’s eye, then it is time to pick up a pinch of charms (just like a pinch of salt).
Scatter the charms on your table or bench; any flat surface is acceptable. You don’t need to drop them in one big heap. Scatter your fingers just as you would sprinkle salt in your cooking. When starting, remember that less is best. When teaching charm casting, I stress the importance of taking just a small amount of charms.
How to Divine with Charms
You can use your charms as independent reading tools like cards. I suggest using a piece of string and a necklace to lay out a circle about the size of a bread and butter plate and scatter your charms in the circle. Any charm that jumps outside the circle, put it back in the bag. There is no right or wrong way to read with charms. Start with the charm that you are drawn to first.
You can also use casting sheets or tarot card layouts. Place 2 or 3 charms per layout and then read accordingly to what type of spread or layout you are doing. Charms are so versatile and can be easily cast over any type of divination cards for extra information.
You can buy a ready-made kit, like the ones I have in my Etsy shop or tealeafreader.com kits are a 50 charm set that comes with a booklet of meanings and 10 free PDF casting sheets that get emailed to you.
So what is stopping you now? Start delving into these divine little pieces of - metal and enjoy the journey they take you upon.
Written by Karin Dalton-Smith of Tea With Karin®™ from Melbourne, Australia.
Karin reads traditional teacups and designs and creates tea leaf reading cards, charm casting kits, and various charm casting mats.
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