The Romani People: Their Psi, Their Magick

One group who has trained its children in the use of the psychic sciences is the Rom, aka the Romani, known to most gaje as the Gypsies. For many centuries they were thought to have come from Egypt, hence the name “Gypsies”, short for Egyptians. Unfortunately, they mostly use their psi to see how they can relieve non-Rom of their cash and valuables, hence the term “gyp” as in “He gypped me.”, which is the old ethnocentric term for “he ripped me off.” They also tend to have and foster a fatalist view towards destiny and the future, which to them in engraved in stone, and cannot be altered. We who understand how quantum mechanics works know that the future is fluid, destiny is what you make it, and that an event changes merely by the act of being observed. Just the fact that you know what may be coming changes it, and if you don’t like what is coming, you can take steps to change it. But if you do like what is coming, it is your responsibility to take steps to see that it comes about. The origin of the Rom is as mysterious as they are themselves. It is thought that they left India sometime in the 9th century, which is about the time that the Muslims came to India, and started throwing their weight around, as Muslims often do. They have the same sense of entitlement that Christians do, which bugs the hell out of me. Anyway, the Romani people were pushed out of India, and slowly traveled west. They brought their skill at divining with paper cards with them. They had gotten the cards from the Chinese, and developed the art as a way of supporting themselves. In the meantime, during the Italian Renaissance, the game of Tarocchi was developed, and the cards were developed. The Rom switched from divining with the Chinese cards to divining with the Tarocchi cards (Tarot in French, which is where we get it from.

Back to the Romani, most people are so focused on 6 million Jews being killed in the concentration camps during the Third Reich that they fail to recognize that over a million and a half Romani perished in those camps. How do I know all this? Well I’ve read books on the topic, and I also looked it up online. The Rom have their own website, “The Padrin”. Raymond Buckland, the Witch who was responsible for bringing Gardnerian Wicca to the United States back in the ‘60s is part Rom, or Traveler, as they call them in the.British Isles. He has two decks out. One has the unfortunate but undoubtedly commercial title of “Gypsy Fortunetelling Kit. The deck is much like a normal deck of playing cards except that there are some cards added that depict the Romani experience. I don’t read with it much. But what I do find valuable is the accompanying book, because it told me how to use my crystal ball, which was a gift from my 3rd ex-hubby. You want a dimly lit room. I like to have the living room dark, but have light in the hall, or some other room in the house then have a candle burning on the table where I have the ball set up. I have a black velvet cloth to cover the table. The candle should be dark blue for psychism. I have a psychic portals incense that I burn on charcoal to put my mind in the right space. Then I take my glasses off, because I want a soft focus, and I gaze at the crystal ball. Buckland, or Uncle Raymond, as I like to call him, says that it will become foggy, but I have yet to witness that phenomenon. Mostly what happens is that I get an image in my mind. There is a saying which goes YMMV, Your Mileage May Vary. That goes in spades in Scrying. I am fortunate enough to own a crystal ball, but there are other things to scry into. You can scry into a bowl of water. Stephen 6580 favors the magick mirror. You remove the silver paint from the back of a mirror and paint it black. Let it dry thoroughly, and then wash the back with mugwort water. That is a solution which you make by boiling mugwort leaves in spring or purified water. Let it cool. Put it in a clean glass jar, and keep it in the dark until use. You can just pour your mugwort water over the mirror and gently pat dry with a clean cloth. Do not wipe as this will remove the herb’s virtue from the mirror. Let dry.

I mentioned before that Uncle Raymond has 2 decks out from Llewellyn. The other occupies a place of honor in my heart as one of my favorite Tarot decks of all time. In fact it’s one of the few that I have in a wooden box. It is the Romani Tarot, and it is a very powerful deck. The artwork is drop-dead-gorgeous, and the scenes are very evocative of scenes in Romani life. I don’t know whether it is still in print, as it came out in the early 2000’s, but check with either Amazon.com or Ebay. Also, Mind-n-Magick may have a copy in their store. But if you get a used one, check to make sure that you’re getting the deck as well as the book. I made the mistake of buying a used deck from Amazon, and their 3rd party seller neglected to send me the deck along with the book. I didn’t even care about the book. It was The Book of Doors, a quasi-Kemetic deck and book set. I wanted the deck. Naturally, I panned the seller soundly. Thus far he has not offered to make good on the botched order, so I’m going to make sure Amazon doesn’t use that seller again.

I’m offering a new service on KEEN. If you know that I have a certain deck, you can request that I read you with that deck. There is one exception to that offer. If you are getting a free 5 minute reading, you get read with whichever deck I happen to have on hand. For example, this week, I am featuring the Tarot of the Elves, but you can request the Romani Tarot, or the Morgan-Greer Tarot, or any of the other 400-some decks that I own. If you like, in future blogs, I can feature some of my decks and discuss their virtues and shortcomings. Please let me know if you’d like me to do that in future blogs.

Isaac has just finished having chemo and radiation. Please send him all your healing energy. And he needs money to pay for all of this, so buy his books directly from him. I’m currently reading his “Neo-Pagan Rites”. It’s the go-to book for those who want to plan public Pagan rituals, from ones with just a few in your living room to several hundred in a hall or at a park. He goes through what works and what doesn’t, and why. His book is for everyone from experienced ritualists to the novice just starting out. He begins, as he often does, with definitions. I’m lucky, in that my definitions pretty much agree with his. Of course, he being the master of definitions, he put into cogent words what I had been thinking for years, but hadn’t been able to spell out. Go to http://neopagan.net/ and you will find his books listed. His email is ibonewits@neopagan.net. I don’t know whether Phaedra is answering his emails, or whether Isaac is in any shape to answer your own, but go to the site, and see which book(s) you might like to buy. I realize that it says on the site to buy the books at your friendly local metaphysical shop, or at amazon.com, or b&n.com, but that is outdated. The more current word is that they need to move the inventory they have on hand, and Isaac needs the cash he can garner from selling the books directly, and donations, all the donations he can get. Remember that as my guru the Swami Beyondananda says “Does are better than stags because with a country full of stags, you have stag-nation, but with a country full of does, you have doe-nation.” But personally, I would prefer a country full of bucks. All the bucks you can send my way will be most appreciated.

If you have a question that calls for a date or time period, Stephen6580 is the go-to guy. He uses the Celtic Wheel of the year time system, and can pin point when something is supposed to happen to within a week, according to the cards that are drawn. Readings go for up to a year and a day. He is a great reader, and has taught me much about the Tarot in particular and divination in general. For a clairvoyant, you can’t do any better than Astro Wing 3323. Stephen has stated that I am a clairvoyant. He’s only half right. According to the KEEN rules and definitions, I’m what is known as a pseudo-clairvoyant. I can get vague images, but not names, either of people or locations. I taught myself remote-viewing. I can sit in the passenger seat of a carm and see where there may be clogs in the traffic ahead. With a finger exercise I do, I can at times clear it up by sending everyone on their way on alternative routes. If it is an accident, I clear out the rubber-neckers. That’s what slows traffic down with an accident, you know. It’s not the accident itself, it’s all the people trying to get a look at it as they drive by. Once the highway patrol get there, they clear the road pretty quickly. There wouldn’t be as many accidents if people would just pay attention to their driving and not follow the person in front of them so closely. Give yourself a good stopping distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. The California Uniform Vehicle Code decrees that you should allow at least one car length for each 10 mph that you are driving.