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Healthy Drinks and Juices

Here is a list of juices which are particularly good for you. Have one or more of these juices every day, if you can drink a pint, so much the better.

  • Apple Juice – A deliciously refreshing drink and good for rheumatism. Helps cure nausea.
  • Apricot Juice – Has lots of vitamin A. Will improve the general health.
  • Beetroot Juice – Will help low blood pressure, combat acidity, fight anemia and keep the blood in good condition.
  • Carrot juice – This is rich in vitamin A, is good for anemia, reduces acidity, helps fight arthritis, relieves nausea, fights mucus, cleans the blood and clears skin conditions such as acne.
  • Celery Juice – Clears the skin, relieves nausea, helps to lower high blood pressure and relieves rheumatism.
  • Cucumber Juice – Good for arthritis, high blood pressure, the skin and rheumatism.
  • Orange and Lemon Juice – Provide plenty of vitamin C and are good for colds and acidity.
  • Prune Juice – Very good tonic for the blood
  • Spinach Juice – This has a high iron content, combats acidity and clears the skin.
  • Tomato Juice – This is full of vitamin A. It will help acidity, arthritis, is a good blood cleanser and helps to fight mucus.

Blackberry Cordial

Put half a gallon of blackberries into a preserving pan with 3 tablespoons of water. Set over a slow heat stirring fairly frequently until the fruit is a pulp. Strain through a sieve or muslin bag. Measure the juice, return to the pan and to each quart add one pound of white sugar. Put 1 tablespoon each of cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg into a small muslin bag and add to the mixture. Boil for quarter of an hour stirring constantly. Remove the spices, add a wineglass of Rum or Brandy. Allow the cordial to cool then bottle and cork tightly.

Romany Pudding

Ingredients:

  • One loaf of stale wholemeal bread.
  • Hot stewed and sweetened blackberries with plenty of juice.

Slice the bread fairly thinly, removing the crusts and line the inside of a pie dish with some slices, fitting them in well and evenly. Gradually fill with hot stewed blackberries and enough juice to color all the bread in the dish. Cover the fruit with bread slices, and pour the remainder of the juice over them. Set the pie dish in a tin, place a dish or plate over the pudding and weight it down. Leave in a cool place overnight then turn out carefully. Whip some cream and decorate the pudding with it, or add a scoop of ice cream and a couple of cookies.

Gypsy Cures for Freckles

While freckles are fabulous, they haven’t always been considered the trademark of a gorgeous person. For centuries, beauty was sought in “flawless” skin and perfectly porcelain complexions. Freckled girls everywhere were constantly told they weren’t beautiful because of the dots that patterned their faces.

No more! As of late, freckles have become the must-have beauty essential. Having freckles is no longer just something you have to live with; it’s something to be desired.

If, however, you are not enjoying your freckles, here are some old Gypsy cures:

All you need is horseradish and milk. Scrape 2 tablespoons of the horseradish into a basin and pour half a pint of boiling milk over it. Don’t strain. When it is cold, use the mixture to cover the face thickly, especially any areas which may be heavily freckled. Leave to dry for half an hour, and then wash off with tepid water. Repeat at intervals of two or three days until the freckles have vanished.

Another way to discourage freckles is to gather the youngest leaves from an elm tree after rain or when the dew is on. Draw the leaves gently over the face leaving the liquid to dry on. Not only will this discourage freckles, it will also soften the skin and make it more beautiful.

Don’t worry if you are caught unawares on a lovely day and have no patent skin protection handy. All you need is a cucumber. Simply cut a slice and rub it over the face, neck and hands, leaving the juice to dry on. Not only will it give protection from sunburn it will freshen and revitalize the skin and also soften it, if left on overnight, it acts as a gentle astringent.

Horseradish – A Fiery Herb

Many people don`t enjoy their roast beef without horseradish sauce. The horseradish is a plant of Mars, the fiery planet of war, so no wonder it is hot! Plant it in your garden and unless you keep it under control it will over run everything. It stimulates the appetite and helps the liver to work well, so add it to salads whenever you can.

The Romanies knew nothing of bacteria and germs, but they knew by instinct and their own lore that horseradish had strong antiseptic qualities, so give it a regular place in your diet. Add it to mayonnaise, tomato juice and to cheese spreads.

More about horseradish:

  • Common Names: Horseradish
  • Latin Name: Armoracia rusticana
  • Parts Used: Root and leaves
  • Cultivation: Horseradish grows best in moist, rich, heavy soil with a pH of 6.8, in full sun. It is a perennial hardy to zone 5.

Culinary Uses: Horseradish is probably best known as the spicy condiment made by mixing grated fresh horseradish root with vinegar or mayonnaise. You can also add the young leaves sparingly to salads.

Magickal Uses: Sprinkle dried, powdered horseradish around your house to repel evil and negate any spells against you.

Medicinal Uses: Horseradish is one of the more potent herbal diuretics, and as such is used to treat kidney disease. It stimulates the digestion. Use it externally as a compress for neuralgia, joint stiffness, and rheumatism.

Garlic Every Day

Garlic is one of the most valuable plants that grow on earth! Everyone knows the old saying `an apple a day keeps the doctor away` The Romanies say that garlic every day keeps the doctor away. It is extremely good for the stomach and a powerful antiseptic.

Garlic belongs to the shallot family. Always rub a cut clove of garlic round the bowl before you prepare a salad. Place a clove in a lamb roast and see how delicious it will be, as well as sprinkled rosemary on top of the joint. Always when using onions, crush a clove of garlic and add it.

More about garlic:

  • Common Names: Garlic
  • Latin Name: Allium sativum
  • Parts Used: Bulbs
  • Cultivation: Plant cloves in spring or the fall for a fall harvest. Garlic likes rich, dry soil in full sun to part shade.

Culinary Uses: Garlic adds zest to every kind of food except desserts. Roast cloves whole in their skins to spread on toast. Toss a clove into soups and stews. Crush and use in Italian, French, and Asian dishes.

Magickal Uses: Garlic is used in protection, exorcism, and healing. Hang a garlic braid over your door to repel jealous people. Place a clove beneath your child’s pillow as a protection charm.

Medicinal Uses: Scientists are finding many of the old folk tales about garlic’s healing powers to be true. The active ingredient in garlic, allicin, which is produced when the bulb is crushed, has an antibacterial action similar to that of penicillin, and is in fact more effective than penicillin in treating typhus! It is also effective against staph and strep germs, yeast infections, influenza, cholera, and dysentery.

Garlic helps to lower blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and inhibits blood clotting and clogging of the arteries. It even seems to have some effectiveness in treating stomach cancer! It can be used externally to treat ringworm and threadworm.

  • Cautions:

Garlic and garlic pastes should not be applied directly to the skin, as they may cause blistering.

Protection From Gypsies

This charm is from an 1820’s book about Pow-Wows. It’s a protective spell against evil, and implies that all Gypsies were evil, which was a general belief of the time. It is included here as a curiosity, and a bit of history.

A direction for a Gypsy sentence, to be carried about the person as a protection under all circumstances.

Like unto the prophet Jonas, as a type of Christ, who was guarded for three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, thus shall the Almighty God, as a Father, guard and protect me from all evil. J. J. J.

From: Pow-Wows, or Long Lost Friend, by John George Hoffman

Family Unity

It is said that by throwing a small handful of salt on the family cooking fire every Monday morning, you will keep the family together and help heal any rifts.

Another belief is that to roll a wagon wheel in a great circle around the outside of the vardo once a month at the New Moon will ensure family togetherness. It should be rolled clockwise.

One Gypsy woman in Norfolk assured me that the only sure way to keep the family together is to take a small clipping from every member’s hair. These are then all placed together in a large leaf, which is rolled up and tied around with one of the mother’s hairs. The package is then buried at the foot of an oak tree. The type of leaf in which the hair is wrapped was not specified, but it probably should be oak.

Togetherness can similarly be ensured by taking nail clippings from all family members and burying them at the foot of a tree – in this case a hawthorn or elm.

~Raymond Buckland

To Bring About A Reunion

Romani families, or tribes, though wandering the country most of the year, would occasionally stop at a particularly favorite campground for two or three months at a time. Frequently this campground was a favorite of other branches of the tribe, and sometimes there was a grand reunion that took place when the different groups came together there.

Many Gypsies, especially the older ones, looked forward to these reunions, to again meeting with old friends and to sharing their stories, their adventures, their tales of sorrow and joy.

Here is a spell that was sometimes worked to bring about such a gathering, particularly if it had been a hard winter and support, comfort, and advice was needed. This magick is worked by the mother of the family when cooking a meal (usually hedgehog or rabbit stew) during the waxing of the Moon.

All potatoes to be used should be cut lengthwise, rather than crosswise, and thrown into the family cookpot along with a pinch each of allspice, thyme, and mace. Onion can be used but not garlic. Carrots, turnips and similar root crops should be plentifully included. Stir the cookpot only clockwise, and when moving around it, move only clockwise. The stirring spoon must be a wooden one, and the cookpot must be iron.

On the fire over which the cookpot hangs, throw handfuls of cedar chips; and at some time during the cooking, sprinkle onto the fire three spoonfuls of salt.

Any time the pot is stirred, it must be stirred in batches of three, for example: three, six, or nine clockwise stirs at a time. During these stirrings the mother will say:

Stir the pot and bring us round;
Rom are to the atching-tan bound.
Merry we’ll meet and merry we’ll part
And merry will be the company found.

Source: Gypsy Love Magick

Family Togetherness

This little spell can be done for two lovers, for all family members, or for any two or more individuals. Many Gypsies use it when, for example, there is a rift between mother and daughter or an argument between husband and wife.

Cut a lock of hair from the head of each person concerned. This should be cut during the waxing phase of the Moon (growing from new to full). Put the two locks of hair together and tie them with a red silken thread. The thread should be wound around the hair at least seven times before it is tied. Wrap the tied hair in a small square of white silk and then bury it at a crossroads (it doesn’t have to be buried right in the center of the crossed roads; alongside the cross is fine).

~Raymond Buckland

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