GYPSY MAGIC: A Romany Book of Spells, Charms, and Fortune-Telling

The author certainly has the credentials to write this book: she is an English Romany–gypsy who was born in a tent and spent her infancy in a horse-drawn wagon. The book conjures the aura of an earlier and simpler time, when people lived out of doors in natural elements, and no shopping malls, computers or automobiles claimed our time, resources and attention. It introduces a panoply of low-tech, intuitive techniques for understanding, foretelling and influencing events: Tarot reading, spell casting, fortune telling and palmistry, among others. The metaphysical understanding of universal energy that underpins Romany folkways and wisdom can be related to Eastern systems of thought: chakra energy, for example, is perceived in palm reading, and quieting the mind—in meditative fashion—is an important precondition for reading tea leaves or a crystal ball. Other teachings are too familiar. Appeals to pay attention to nature, wish hard for what you want and say thanks each day are hardly new, but perhaps those injunctions cannot be given too often to an urbanized culture in a hurry to stop, have a "cuppa" and then read the tea leaves. Perhaps the greatest charm of the volume is that the author can make the commonplace seem fresh. She projects the voice of a grandmotherly yet shrewd woman skilled in folkways and wanting to help—for a price. If she hawked this book at your door, you might just buy it. (Feb.)