Reading your fortune with coffee is a lot like taking a Rorschach test. You need to get the big picture and interpret the symbols correctly to know what lies ahead.

Heres the step-by-step guide to how to prepare to read coffee grounds:

• Use a white cup to get an accurate reading
• Grind your beans as usual. You can use espresso, but do not allow cream, milk or sugar or anything else to be added
• Heat water to a boil
• Make your coffee in a French press as usual
• Then add a large pinch of coffee grounds to your cup and pour the freshly made coffee over it. Then stir.
• Drink the coffee by holding both hands on the cup
• When finished drinking the coffee, tip the cup on a 90 degree angle and slowly turn the cup to allow all excess grounds to be expelled onto a saucer. Do not tap the cup. Do not swirl more than 3 times.

There are three things to consider when reading coffee grounds: the rim, the middle and the bottom of the cup. The bottom is your past, the middle is you present and the top is your future. You need to look for shapes and patterns.

Here are some examples of some of the things to look for when you read your coffee grounds:

• Axes: Bravery
• Cakes & Pies: Good fortune
• Cigarettes: You must follow through on your plan
• Cows: Meeting an old flame
• Elephants: Ask for a favor
• Garlic: Strength against an aggressive person
• Guns: You are treating someone unfairly
• Hats: Someone is trying to cover something up
• Chickens: Wistful feelings of home. You need to call or visit
• Knots: Dont worry about the little things
• Mice: Trouble in business
• Oars: Sacrifice for someone else.
• Pigs: A desire will not come to fruition
• Planes: You will not be going anywhere
• Rabbits: Fertility
• Rocks: Obstacles in your path to success either real or imagined
• Shoes: You will have a long way to travel before you are happy
• See-Saws: Ups & downs heading your way
• Snakes: Make your decision you are wise
• Stairs: Change is coming
• Tigers: Find your strength and move forward
• Trees: People find you noble
• Urns: Trust your intuition
• Weasels: There is a false person in your midst
• Wolves: You have strength

There are many, many ways to interpret coffee grounds. Most of it is common sense. There are many coffee ground interpretation books out there. Get one and practice and the next time you have a friend over for coffeegive it a swirl.