I remember purchasing this book as a teenager, and over the years I have returned to it many times. One of the marks of a truly great book is that you can find something new within it every single time. The book may be small but it is simply jam packed with so many techniques that it could take years to fully learn them all!
The book is written by Raymond Buckland, he is one of my favorite authors and a very prolific one. Raymond Buckland is a British author and of Romany Gypsy decent. One of the best parts of the book, is that he provides a great glimpse into Romany culture and beliefs. I have always been entranced by the Romany life, as a traveling nomadic culture, they have such a beautiful perspective, we rarely have a an opportunity to view.
The book details many techniques for doing readings with ordinary everyday items, including reading with playing cards, palm reading, reading tea leaves, readings with dice, readings with dominoes, just to name a few. For the readings with playing cards, he provides two sets of meanings, one set of meanings are even written in rhyme! There are also many spreads for card reading, he explains some spreads that are from his own personal family.
There is a chapter on Crystal gazing that is very valuable too. Within the Chapter on crystal gazing, he explains how to cleanse, bless & prepare the crystal ball an also how to care for it as well. When I began working with the crystal personally, I followed his advise in regard to preparation and have always been able to practice crystal gazing. Later on, I discovered that many other intuitives who have tried crystal gazing without the proper preparation have faced certain difficulties. I do believe the ease I found with Crystal Gazing was due to the great advise of Mr. Buckland
In addition, to the fortunetelling methods I already mentioned, Mr Buckland also shares some techniques the are specific to the Romany, such as a type of Lithomancy or reading of Gemstones, the Dukkerin Board or Divining Board, the basics of Dowsing, as well as a type of fortunetelling based on the moles on the body! He also gives the reader a deeper understanding of how to achieve Augury, which is how to read the sign & omens all around you in everyday life.
