Open the heart

When I visit blogs, and click to the first post, it's always some sort of introduction of the blogger, or a mission statement about the point of the blog. That's tired. (And more than a little disingenuous, since how can I know what this blog is going to be about once I get it rolling?) So instead, I'm going to talk about how I made the decision -- a momentous decision, to stop thinking and dreaming and talking about the book I wanted to write and actually write it.

Have you heard of tasseography? It's a type of divination in which you read tea leaves, coffee grounds, even wine sediment, from the bottom of a cup. "Tassa" is Arabic for "cup." There are few forms of divination I believe in (a bit like the characters in Harry Potter that way, in that I think it's all rot), but the ones that require a personal, almost psychoanalytical interpretation of the message is one that I do find have relevance. Tarot cards, for instance. Yes, the cards may be random (unless you are one of those who believes that your psychic sense drew you to certain cards), but what you choose to take from the widely interpreted symbols is up to you.

Tasseography, when seen through this light, is almost like a sort of Rorschach test. They are just smudges of wet leaves or sediment swirled around a cup. Any messages they hold are created by your mind. This is why, at the start of a reading, the subject is asked to "open her heart." You need to believe that the grounds will give you a message, or all you'll see is bitter trash.

Anyway, one day, I was drinking my tea and thinking about the book I dreamed of writing -- of writing "someday" or "when I was good enough" or "when I had more time." And I looked down into my empty cup.And I knew I had to go for it. The universe was telling me that it was time.