What is The Hukni?

The hukni is an old Gypsy trick - here's how it works:

The Gypsy makes some poor simpleton of a lady believe that if the latter puts her gold into her hands, and she makes it up into a parcel, and puts it between the lady's feather-bed and mattress, it will at the end of a month be multiplied a hundredfold, provided the lady does not look at it during all that time. On receiving the money she makes it up into a brown paper parcel, which she seals with wax, turns herself repeatedly round, squints, and spits...

I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Gypsy Magick and Lore (hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com) and can be found in its entirety here: An Old Gypsy Trick

Gypsy Fortune Telling

Gypsy women, as long as we have known anything of Gypsy history, have been arrant fortune-tellers. They plied fortune-telling about France and Germany as early as 1414, the year when the dusky bands were first observed in Europe, and they have never relinquished the practice. There are two words for fortune-telling in Gypsy, bocht and dukkering. Bocht is a Persian word, a modification of, or connected with, the Sanscrit bagya, which signifies 'fate.' Dukkering is the modification of a Wallaco-Sclavonian word signifying something spiritual or ghostly. In Eastern European Gypsy, the Holy Ghost is called Swentuno Ducos.

Gypsy fortune-telling is much the same everywhere, much the same in Russia as it is in Spain and in England. ...

... I am so sorry to do this to you, but this post has been moved to my new website, Gypsy Magick and Lore, hosted at shirleytwofeathers.com, and can be found in its entirety here: Gypsy Fortune Telling

The Fool

The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdom'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice, apparently about to step off....

... I am so sorry, but this post has been moved to my new website, The Powers That Be, and can be found in its entirety here: The Fool

Hello Auntie Moss

Auntie Moss has come to stay with us here at Gypsy Magic. How cool is that?

Who is she and where did she come from? She is a wonderful little old village witch who got a really bad rap from Ursula LeGuin in her Earthsea book "Tehanu." The description in the book reads like this:

"Aunty Moss was a dour creature, unmarried, like most witches, and unwashed, with greying hair tied in curious charm-knots, and eyes red-rimmed from herb smoke." She was further described as, "unpredictable, unreliable, incomprehensible, passionate, ignorant, sly, and dirty."

The one thing said about her that was true is "she was following her heart, it was a dark, wild, queer heart, like a crow, going its own ways and on its own errands." What the book neglected to say was that she is a wise and wonderful witchy woman who has never steered me wrong.

Lucky for us, I was able to find an actual picture of her, and she did graciously agree to be of help to those of you who ask for advice and insight. You'll find her at the bottom of the page (here at Gypsy Magic). Go ahead, scroll down, ask her something, you know you want to!