August 08th, 2018

Ode to Mrs. Fisk

While helping Nora Hoffman to prepare the booklet for her online class, Tea Leaf Reading for Fun and Insight, I remembered Mrs. Fisk.  Years ago, back in the early 80’s, I had the great pleasure to visit a remarkable tea leaf reader named Mrs. Fisk.  Mrs. Fisk was somewhere near or past retirement age, living with her family on an active farm located on an out-of-the way country road in the Ottawa, ON valley.  I traveled there a few times over the years with friends on what always turned out to be a great outing, a change of pace, and sometimes it was mind blowing.  The drive home would seem incredibly short because everyone would be talking, sharing and pumped about the revelations and ideas sparked in the tea leaf reading.

Readings were by appointment and set at a very low, low price which Mrs. Fisk explained was per an agreement she had made with God.  If you tried to give her more than the set amount, she flatly refused and pointed to items she had for sale. To supplement her income she sold a variety of trinkets and handmade items displayed randomly on table tops and shelves.

The chaos of the reading room rapidly faded into insignificance as she began reading.  Mrs. Fisk told me of choices that were ahead for me, some in a far off distant future time when she herself would actually be long gone from the planet.  (Many times through the years since, something would happen where I’d find myself thinking, “Oh my gosh, Mrs. Fisk told me about this!” or, “Mrs. Fisk said that this might happen!”)

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We didn’t actually drink any tea.  A small amount of water and tea leaves were put into a cup, which we were instructed to hold in both hands.  After a few moments the cup was turned over onto a saucer, rotated the required number of times, whereupon Mrs. Fisk would take it into her hands to begin the reading.  Although she spoke at length of many of things she “saw” in my cup, Mrs. Fisk barely even looked at it.  She held it in her hands; would tip it this way or that while giving it a quick glance, all the while looking at me 99% of the time.

Was Mrs. Fisk using a method similar to the one Nora Hoffman teaches in her upcoming class? These memories of Mrs. Fisk today make me even more excited for the class.  I can’t wait.

Patricia Haggard, Aug 7/18