Should you believe or not the gypsy's fortune telling? The magic of gypsy sorcerers

If we had to guess, it would be exclusively among the gypsies!

Modern gypsies already lead a completely settled life and enjoy, like the rest of us, the benefits of civilization. Nevertheless, they managed to preserve their identity, their traditions, their rites and rituals. Even skeptics are not inclined to unconditionally deny that fortune telling often comes true. Of course, we are not talking about the “industry” of urban gypsies, scurrying around markets and train stations and thirsting for profit. Their “gypsy fortune-telling” is the result of knowledge of psychology and the ability to look into the soul of the person standing opposite. Some “personalities”, for the sake of easy enrichment, take hypnosis... Real gypsy fortune-telling is rooted in the depths of past centuries. The mastery of this skill, according to custom, belongs to women, purebred gypsies, who received secret magical skills as inheritance from their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Often, hereditary fortune tellers, having lifted the veil of the future, refuse money, and sometimes do not even agree to be persuaded to tell fortunes.

Gild your pen!

Cards are most often used in fortune telling. But gypsies can predict the future using wax, beans and their hands. By the way, fortune telling by hand (for love, for example) is of particular interest to people. You can really “read” the book of a person’s health, character, field of activity and even profession by looking at the hand. Life leaves its prints on our hands, and people with certain knowledge are able to read these prints. Everyone knows that the foot has many points responsible for the health of each organ. Medicine has proven this. The same can be said about the ears and hand. Each point, each line carries information that can be deciphered with a certain key. Even if you look at fortune telling through the eyes of a skeptic, it is simply impossible to disagree with this. So how true is fortune telling? Line of children, line of life, line of the head, line of the heart... Where did this knowledge come from? Can you trust them?

A little history

Palmistry was practiced in China, Persia, India, Egypt, Rome, and Tibet. But humanity owes the most significant knowledge to the ancient Greeks, who considered palmistry an exact science worthy of deep and serious study. The earliest information about it was found in Indian scriptures dating back to 2000 BC. There are references to palmistry in the works of Aristotle in 384 BC: “The lines of the human hand are drawn by divine influence and by human individuality.” The art of hand reading was taught in Halle and Leipzig (Germany, XVII), and was immediately declared witchcraft in England and persecuted by law. It remains to be seen what caused the harsh persecution. Perhaps it was the fear of being able to look into the future. We will never know. However, it can be assumed that gypsy fortune-telling dates back to those very times, because wandering almost all over the world, the gypsies could well have adopted the experience of palmists practicing at that time and brought the knowledge accumulated over centuries to the present day. They say that sometimes predictions come true exactly. It's up to you to believe or not to believe in gypsy fortune-telling...

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“Gold your pen and I’ll tell you what’s in your heart.”

Gypsies are a mysterious and ancient nomadic people. They are emotional, talented, sensual, spontaneous and active. And we are more inert, rational, constrained, indecisive and surrounded by conventions. Our morality is social and biased, their morality is straightforward and simple. We consider them insidious, deceitful, selfish, and they consider us weak, cruel, self-confident and slow-thinking. Their clothes and behavior seem theatrical to us, but to them our whole life with its conventions and way of life seems like a meaningless circus.

We want to ignore them, but we say with snobbery that their culture is original, and their art delights our aesthetic feelings, and we admit that they can be “with us” among the comedians and buffoons.

And they use us just as we use them. A civilized person should reproach this hidden opposition to himself, and not to them. Where is their place? In general, who said that we should choose him for them? In general, the gypsies do not interfere with our way of life and do not give us advice. They live next to us and don't want to be disturbed. Someone works, someone makes a living as best they can - and not the gypsies - they don’t steal, don’t sell drugs, don’t create problems?

In general, gypsies and gypsy hypnosis have been studied closely by specialists for a long time. Erickson, and others who will be mentioned in this book, learned a lot from these children of nature in order to create an entire scientific field. Imagine - the luminaries draw knowledge from the gypsies! But even in these studies there are blind spots and ambiguities. There are still many more questions than answers. But the following is certain:

The way this ability to manipulate consciousness, honed over centuries and generations of gypsies, works is a clear illustration of human abilities and capabilities.

These opportunities are real and valid, and also dangerous today for those who ignore them.

It's not just the gypsies who manipulate us.

The influence people have on each other goes far beyond the scope of NLP techniques.

The time has come to pay attention to all information influences, and learn not to depend on them, before we all turn into a herd and lose our free will.

Nothing stands still, and research in such an area as power over human consciousness is especially important. But knowing is not enough. You need to feel, feel that there is this sphere in life, and everyone has the right to navigate in it. Then there will be no need to try to understand with reason what is understood not only logically, and there will be no need to take cliché superstitions on faith. Then it will be clear what fortune-telling, dreams, the power of words, glances, and thoughts are.

It must be said that we all feel other people. And people feel us. The gypsies, an eternally nomadic people, had tools that protected them and gave them advantages - they turned out to be sharpened and developed.

What most researchers ignore actually deserves attention no less, and even more, than gypsy observation and knowledge of human nature. This is the sound and word of gypsy speech. The Gypsy language only seems primitive. Rather, it is versatile and flexible. And if neurolinguistic programming recognizes the ripple effect of sound and words even in such, in general, not the richest languages ​​as American English and German, then how does the melodic, albeit incomprehensible, gypsy language, which is a direct descendant of Sanskrit - a language based on Who created Kabbalah?

And the most important question that everyone who has tried this “ordinary” gypsy hypnosis asks themselves is whether it is possible to resist it, and how to learn it. And is it possible to learn such hypnosis? Or does it require talent?

Not all questions can be answered directly and unambiguously, but today it is already possible to draw some conclusions and assumptions. Everything we know will be presented in the book. Perhaps the reader will not like some things, and not all questions can be given a complete and unambiguous answer, but, as the hypnosis textbooks say, there is a rule:

If a person understands the mechanism of influence on his psyche, he is already largely protected from such unauthorized influence. For people with a clear mind and stable psyche, sometimes just the understanding that influence is possible is enough.

“A woman’s inclination towards fornication is recognized by the lifting of her eyelids”

The stable authority of gypsy fortune-tellers rests on the belief that they are endowed with the gift of foresight, a gift the presence of which is indirectly confirmed by correct remarks concerning our current life. When the gypsy succeeds in getting into our problems in such a way and we are imbued with respect or surprise at the fortune teller’s insight, she, asking us to once again gild our hands, talks about the future. This is the general scheme of a fortune telling session. It is quite obvious that the most responsible and important is the first part, in which the gypsy insinuatingly tells us what is “in our hearts.” If a fortune teller makes a mistake in foreplay, she will not see good earnings. And we must admit that most often they do not make mistakes. What is the secret of insight, and is it even a matter of insight?

It has already been noted that fortune tellers are distinguished by extreme observation. Not a single detail of our dress, not a single movement escapes their field of vision. Undoubtedly, our face, age, mood, place and time where the fortune teller “slowed down” the client tells a lot to an outsider. As for our problems, it’s only us who think that they are somehow special, exceptional, but the fortune teller knows for sure that the fingers of one hand are enough to list everyone’s possible concerns. Our tendency to exaggerate everything that concerns us personally is worthy of a smile. Let's look, for example, at the one that we call the only one in the world. Alas, the “one” will soon turn out to be our neighbor, classmate or colleague. But let's return to the gypsies.

“She predicted the future. This English gypsy was called Madame Thorney. She holds my right hand tightly. I expected her to study my palm, but instead she observed my face. “You are writing something,” Madame Torney said immediately. - Perhaps a book. And you are also preparing for the journey.” I studied the fortune teller with bewilderment and respect, her captivating heavy-lidded eyes and her soft features that suggested jewels in nomu and sari. I had never met Madame Torney before, just like she had never met me. I was sitting in her carriage, one of hundreds of Americans attending the Epsom three-year-old races (an annual race day in England). Only, unlike most, I came not because of the horses, but to see a gypsy like Madame Torney. “Yes, a very long journey,” she said. - Where are you going?" I avoided answering. How could I tell her about my plan? I will soon have to cross the English Channel, and on the way to India I will have with me some English gypsies, husband and wife, whom Madame Thorney may know. We have developed a plan. We will leave as soon as necessary. We will visit other gypsies on our way - settled, nomadic, fire dancers, fortune tellers, violinists, meniks. That very day in London I prepared a money belt because I came to life to meet the gypsy thieves. “I can say more for five pounds. You have questions?" – she asked. I had absolutely no five quid questions. “How much can you give? – she asked. “It has to be given voluntarily, you know, otherwise the money won’t do me any good.” I could give one pound voluntarily. Then Madame Torney pulled out a crystal ball from her apron pocket. The ball was small - slightly larger than a walnut. She stroked it gently, then completely forgot about it, continuing to look at me with her beautiful black eyes. “Now you’ll work it out,” she began. – Be careful to avoid what others may write or say. Write only what you feel yourself.” With these words Madame Thorney easily earned her pound.”

The American writer Bart McDowell, whose story about meeting the gypsy Madame Torney was quoted, did not hide his admiration for the skill of the fortune teller. The gypsy hit the nail on the head: the American had a long journey ahead of him, and besides, he turned out to be a writer, which Madame Torney cautiously suggested: “You are writing something. Perhaps a book." Brilliant result! How many equally insightful statements have come from the lips of dark-skinned fortune tellers in different parts of the world at different times, and how many more will be heard? And how many times has amazement at the accuracy of the fortune teller’s words prevented us from reflecting on the nature of this insight? It would be worth it.

The Epsom estimate, copied from life, is a magnificent illustration of the deductive method of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective hero Sherlock Holmes. And if Sherlock Holmes is a figment of the writer’s imagination, then the “guessing” method used by the literary hero is as old as the world.

It is very easy to recognize a foreigner in a person, even if he speaks our language perfectly. We recognize them immediately, without even making contact, by signs known to us, but we do not rush to a stranger with a daring offer to reward our observation with a pound sterling, dollar, mark or ruble. But that’s exactly what Madame Torney did!

Horse racing in Epsom attracts fans not only in England; people from all over the world come to the competition to enjoy the rare spectacle. Then, of course, they go back to their homes and businesses. This is the notorious “long road”. In predicting the American's journey, Madame Torney practically did not risk her reputation as a fortune teller. After all, even returning home to the United States is not such a close trip, and she didn’t even mention India.

It was difficult, but only at first glance, to determine McDowell’s occupation. There is nothing supernatural in this guess either. Let us note, first of all, that the fortune teller did not name the client’s profession, and the words “You are writing something” can be interpreted very broadly - they write not only books, but also letters and diaries. In this sense, the fortune teller again did not risk anything, because almost everyone writes “something”. Let's note and feel for a slander style that allows us to adjust guesses in accordance with the client's reaction.

But why did Madame Torney start talking specifically about writing? It can be assumed with a high degree of probability that McDowell, according to the fortune teller’s observations, did not fit into the image of a businessman who was unlikely to be the gypsy’s frequent clients. The writer did not fit into the category of those unfortunate lonely people who need communication, participation and a word of support - these are immediately visible. Madame Torney, with an experienced eye, caught the stranger's curiosity about her person, about the process of fortune-telling. As a rule, the writing fraternity - journalists, writers and, of course, tourists - suffer from this disease. Bart McDowell probably looked too respectable for a reporter, but he could have been a reporter, a writer, and a traveler. After the words “You are writing something,” the fortune teller pauses and, not noticing a negative reaction, moves a little further: “Perhaps a book.” Madame Torney did not risk clarifying what was said, and this was not required. The client is fascinated, he believes in the secret abilities of the gypsy, which means we can begin to “promote” him. The attraction continues, Madame Thorney asks for five pounds sterling, but agrees to less. If a less balanced person had been in McDowell's place, the matter would not have ended with one pound sterling.

Madame Torney had completely exhausted the stock of observations that allowed her to conclude that this was a foreigner in front of her, that he was a man writing, and said nothing more. The client’s question could have suggested something to the fortune teller, but since the American had no questions, she ended the session with general words that did not reveal her knowledge of any secrets. McDowell saw his future, like his past, better than a fortune teller.

The sharpness of the gypsy's tenacious gaze can be truly amazing. There are often cases when a fortune teller tells a person a lot about the state of his health, and does it right away, without lengthy and tedious studies that have to be done in clinics. It is easy to understand that in such a situation, the fortune teller enjoys the almost unlimited trust of the unfortunate person and is able to influence his psyche at her own discretion. What is the secret of gypsy diagnosis?

You should not look for the answer to this question in the sphere of the supernatural, secret, otherworldly. In such situations, we are faced with the manifestation of centuries-old experience in diagnosing and healing, passed on to our healer by our parents. The gypsy records the constitution of the human body, psychophysical reactions, carefully analyzes the color of the skin, studies the eyes, especially their irises, and makes a verdict, often putting certified specialists to shame. Let us remember how doctors were trained two or three centuries ago. The experience of treatment and diagnosis was passed on to the trainees by identifying the disease by the patient’s appearance. The listener's attention was concentrated on the external signs characteristic of a particular disease. Thus, the future doctor developed the intuition and abilities inherent in man by nature. There simply were no other means. Medical science did not yet have either the theory or the technical basis for examining the patient’s body.

Roma, who are cut off from professional medical care, also have full experience in healing and diagnosing diseases. Here it is necessary to mention the conspiracies that healers very often resort to when treating certain diseases and which, without a doubt, are of a hypnotic nature.

Yes, a person’s appearance will tell a lot to a trained eye; our appearance is determined by our occupation, state of health, social environment in which a person acquires character, and other factors. Even in ancient times, people connected the external parameters of a person and his destiny. This is how disciplines arose that are reluctant to be called scientific, but are nevertheless recognized - these are palmistry, physiognomy, phrenology. Gypsies are familiar with these objects, which represent the basis of activity for fortune tellers.

For example, palmistry establishes connections between the structure of the hands, proportions, the shape of the convexities and depressions of the palmar surface, the shape of the fingers, and the lines on the palm. It is believed that the lines on the palm reflect personality parameters, past, present and future. As you can see, palmistry is based on personality traits that are beyond a person’s control: you cannot change the shape of your fingers or the lines on your palm by force of will.

Even a person unfamiliar with palmistry will not dispute that hands really carry certain information about a person. They bear traces of their profession, congenital characteristics, and signs of disease. For example, students of higher medical institutions know that in case of cardiovascular diseases, the patient’s fingertips become somewhat wider and acquire a bluish tint.

Palmistry has been revered in the world for a long time. It was cultivated in China and India, where the Yoshi sect practiced fortune telling by hand. By the way, according to one hypothesis, Gypsies come from India. In this country there was a caste called "dom", which included professional dancers and musicians. And today, members of this sect lead a nomadic lifestyle. In addition to aristocratic activities, they are engaged in the manufacture of wood crafts and, of course, steal. The kinship of the gypsies with the Indian sect is justified not only by the named characteristics, but this is not the topic of our book.

Physiognomy also has its roots in ancient times. Pythagoras himself studied it, and Aristotle even wrote a special treatise on physiognomy. He divided external bodily signs into significant ones, which carry important information about the personality, and non-essential ones, which are “empty flowers”. In the Middle Ages, the experience of his predecessors was developed and generalized by the Swiss writer Johann Caspar Lavater, who wrote the true bible of the new science, “Physiognomic Fragments.” It was Lavater who took the lead in putting forward the idea of ​​​​the possibility of reconstructing a person’s external appearance based on knowledge of his thoughts, beliefs and actions.

As a pastor, Lavater not only observed people and formed his own opinion about them, but during confessions he had the opportunity to compare his conclusions with the revelations of the parishioners he observed. So he honed his insight and eventually believed in his ability to determine a person’s mind, character, and abilities by a person’s appearance. Without a doubt, Lavater was marked by the finger of God. He possessed the quality we call intuition almost to perfection. Almost, because he too had to be embarrassed more than once, for example, recognizing a criminal as a statesman. But in most cases he demonstrated very high competence and high society audiences from all over Europe came to his sessions.

Lavater's fame consisted of such episodes. Once the count brought his young wife to him to hear from the famous specialist confirmation of the correctness of his choice. According to signs known only to him, Lavater doubted the moral firmness of the young countess and tried to evade fulfilling the count’s request, but he insisted and the pastor, who defended his dissertation for the degree of Master of Science, expressed his opinion to the dignitary guest. The count was offended, and two years later his young wife left him and ended her life in an obscene establishment.

Europe was literally captivated by another incident. The Parisian woman brought her little daughter to Lavater. The master looked at the girl and became very excited. Then he wrote a few words on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and took an oath from the lady to print the message in six months. Soon the girl died. When the lady opened the envelope, she found a note: “I mourn with you.”

It is an indication that Count Cagliostro, the greatest adventurer, avoided meeting at Lavater. Perhaps he was afraid of exposure, for his physiognomy clearly reflected the inner content of the subject.

Interesting notes on the “science of recognizing people” were left by the medieval alchemist Albert von Bolstedt. Here are some of his observations:

“Those whose hair is curly and, moreover, somewhat raised from the forehead, are stupid, more inclined to evil than to good, but have great abilities for music.”

“A person who has a fleshy forehead and puffy cheeks near his temples is brave, arrogant, angry and has very stupid ideas.”

“A woman’s inclination towards fornication is recognized by the lifting of her eyelids.”

“A long and thin nose means a brave person, always close to anger, a arrogant person who does not have a constant way of thinking.”

“A thick and long nose means a person who loves everything beautiful, but is not as smart as he thinks about himself.”

“Whoever turns his head in all directions is a complete fool, a fool, a vain, deceitful rogue, preoccupied with himself, changeable, slow in understanding, depraved mind, mediocre abilities, quite generous and finds great pleasure in inventing and confirming political and secular news.”

Lavater's style was different, more refined. He wrote that the fossa bifurcating the narrow chin, which protrudes forward with a “heel,” testifies to a special liveliness and satirical maturity of the mind with a nobility of soul; the same dimple on the chin is wide and slanted - a sure sign of duplicity and vicious inclinations. A strongly swollen V-shaped vein on the forehead, the line of which in profile is completely straight, speaks of terrible ferocity combined with cunning and limitations. However, if such a vein crosses a rounded forehead with well-defined eyebrows, then this is a sign of extraordinary talents and a passionate love of goodness.

A significant contribution was made by the Austrian doctor Franz Josef Gal. He founded phrenology - a science that establishes a connection between the shape and proportions of the human skull and the mental structure of the individual, fate. P. Camper, C. Bell and C. Darwin wrote treatises about the connection between external personality traits and internal properties.

I suspect that, after reading these names, the reader will grin ironically: did the gypsies even hold these books in their hands? Let us quote gypsy experts Efim Druts and Alexei Gessler: “Gypsy women have repeatedly told us that they use classical literature on palmistry.” So they are reading! And no wonder: only thorough human knowledge brings fortune tellers bread and something to go with it. After all, few people have read Darwin, but everyone has heard about his theory of human origins. The purely practical meaning of a particular theory can be transmitted from one to another without any reference to books and authors; the rest is completed by personal experience of ability. Gait, behavior, gestures - all this reflects personality characteristics, speaks about his mood, experiences, age, health.

Let's remember how a fortune teller approaches a potential client, and ask the question: why does she offer a service to this particular person and not another? The assumption that her choice was random is not worth considering, although it may happen. The gypsy observes the crowd, highlighting certain types of people, rapprochement with whom may be promising for her trade. Next, she is interested in the emotional state of the future victim. The gypsy’s eyes feel every fold on a person’s face, eyes, lips, record the figure as a whole, walking speed, habitual movements, etc., etc. Be sure that, even before addressing you with the traditional “beauty” or “handsome”, she has already formed a certain opinion about you and sometimes can tell you something that you don’t know about yourself or don’t notice. This is what is noticed from the outside at first and is the basis for the gypsy to establish a trusting relationship, so necessary for “innocent” fortune-telling or hypnotic influence, ending for the client with the loss of significant values.

People who trust fortune-tellers will indignantly reject the above: for a correct prediction of the future one can pay dearly. You can't argue against such an argument. Indeed, in certain situations, knowledge of the future is tantamount to life itself, so it seems ridiculous to grieve over a lost gold ring and a wallet with bucks.

Belief in fortune telling is fueled by well-known examples of predictions that have come true, which means there remains a danger of becoming a victim of fraud. Let's try to figure out what lies behind the fulfilled predictions?

Fortune teller controls the future

A classic example of an accurate prediction of the future, mentioned in almost every work on this topic, is the fate of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin. He was told that he should beware of a tall, blue-eyed, blond man, at whose hands he could die at 37 years old. If the poet survives this year of his life, he will live for many, many more years. Note that when predicting premature death, fortune tellers do not rule out other developments.

Pushkin deeply believed in all sorts of omens and fortune-telling and perceived this prediction as fatal. According to the recollections of his contemporaries, from then on he felt an undisguised feeling of enmity towards every blonde, so it is not surprising that at his fateful 37 years he stepped towards fate in full accordance with the words of the fortune teller.

Why did the fortune teller name this particular year of the poet’s life and the outcome? A very probable version in this regard was expressed by V.F. Venda. Here's what he writes: “Seeing in front of her a short, temperamental, very impressionable, distinctly brunette man, she could assume that, having married and lived with his wife for about 10 years, by the age of 37 she would get pretty tired of him and she, in contrast to her husband, would become give preference to some tall, calm, blue-eyed blond. An ardent husband will not tolerate the threat of betrayal, he will become jealous and suffer. A fatal outcome was quite likely at all times when duels were in use. If Pushkin had demanded an explanation for the forecast and heard something like our reasoning, he would not have sought to justify it as his fate, but, on the contrary, would have easily avoided possible complications in life. Moreover, his wife’s behavior did not coincide with the frivolous “standard” of searching for variety and contrasts that the fortune teller was guided by.”

One cannot, of course, accuse a fortune teller who makes such “sentences” of evil intentions, but it has long been noticed that gloomy predictions “lead” a person along the destined path like a rabbit - the eyes of a boa constrictor. A person puts into practice what the fortune teller says as a suggestion.

Baron Eric de Bishop, even in his youth, was predicted that various adventures awaited him in different parts of the world and that he would complete his life’s journey there “where the tenth parallel intersects the 140th meridian.” Bishop fully carried out the plan laid out for him. As a cabin boy, he rounded Cape Horn, then he was a sea lieutenant, a minesweeper commander, a naval aviation pilot, a French consul, a consultant to a Chinese general, a coastal sailing captain, a prominent scientist, etc. Numerous accidents and adventures at sea ended for Eric, who could not sailed safely until 1958, when the leader of the expedition on the Tahiti Nui raft, Baron Eric de Bishop, being ill and suffering from a skull injury, died during an emergency landing on the island of Rakahanka. This happened in the 69th year of life in close proximity to the indicated point. If you consider that a man at the age of 69 went on a deliberately risky journey on a raft to a fatal (indicated!) area for himself, you will involuntarily come to the conclusion that Bishop sought to justify the forecast. Just a few more years and he may simply not have been able to go to sea due to health reasons.

K. Shannon wrote: “We know the past, but we cannot control it. But you can control the future without knowing it.” In a sense, this statement is directly addressed to the cases described above. The future is not so much predicted as it is destined as a plan for its implementation. It is no coincidence that in former times prophets and soothsayers were severely persecuted, sent to the stake or imprisoned.

In a different direction, but also amenable to logical explanation, is the prediction of the execution of N.I. Bukharin. A Berlin fortune teller handed down the death “sentence” to a prominent Bolshevik in the summer of 1818. "You will be executed in your own country." Bukharin was taken aback, it seemed to him that he had misheard, and asked again: “Do you think that the Soviet government will perish?” “I can’t say under what government you will die, but definitely in Russia.”

The fortune teller's train of thought is suggested by her words that she does not know under what government her client will die, and it was very easy for a politician to die in Russia in those years. The execution could have been carried out by an angry hungry mob on the street, by forces trying to return the monarchy, by rebellious peasants and Cossacks and, of course, by party comrades - when portfolios are distributed, someone always turns out to be superfluous and dangerous. Revolutions are accompanied and culminated in executions - this is the lesson of history, and the fortune teller in Berlin knew it.

Although there are more mysterious cases with the same revolutionaries. Trotsky was predicted to die from an object similar to an ice pick. Is this a coincidence or not?

What did Lavater demonstrate in the best salons in Europe? Or Gal, feeling the skulls blindfolded and immediately determining abilities, virtues and vices, predicting the fate of clients? Of course, the typology they developed brought a certain effect, but it was unlikely that it would make it possible to predict, say, the death of a French girl in the next six months. Here, most likely, intuition and the phenomenon of communication manifested themselves - gifts that nature does not endow people with very often. Such gifted individuals include the Moscow schoolboy Leva Fedotov, whom the New World magazine told readers about. In his diary, the teenager, half a month before the start of the war with Nazi Germany, accurately predicted its tragic development for the USSR - retreat, losses, and subsequent counter-offensive. In addition to intuition, and perhaps first of all, Leva had a brilliant analytical mind.

It is difficult to define the boundaries between observation, analyticalness and intuition, which together help a person demonstrate insight in other situations. V. Levi tells the following story:

“We were sitting in a cafe in the center of Moscow.

- Look, there are two people at the table. I can see from their backs that they are foreigners.

I looked: a man and a woman; no faces are visible; the clothes were nothing special, but the backs (or the backs of the heads?) were really foreign, I also immediately noticed this. We were convinced that we were not mistaken, although we were not able to understand what exactly the foreign allegiance of the backs consisted of.”

Test pilot of the first Soviet jet aircraft G.Ya. Bakhchivandzhi predicted his own death at the festive table. If desired, the pilot’s words can be taken as a revelation received from above. In fact, the tester soberly saw that he was unable to protect against the vagaries of the new, difficult-to-control equipment. In jet aviation of those years, a rare flight was accomplished without a threat to the life of the pilot. At that time, 400 accidents involving the death of pilots occurred in US fighter aviation. We don’t know how many military test pilots died in the USSR, but Bakhchivandzhi, of course, had an idea about this.

Consequently, about fortune telling and predictions we can say that we know our future ourselves. As soon as we lose the sense of control over our lives, we stop wanting to change anything. And, on the contrary, how many cases and examples can be given of how faith in something and passionate desire became reality? If we believe in something, then we literally “pull out” every confirmation that we are right and carefully store it separately from other little things, dashes and signs, signs and instructions. We protect this collection of our choice and it ultimately helps us achieve our goal.

An example is the fate of the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, for whom Matilda Kshesinskaya “predicted” a great future as a child. The power of this prediction, combined with the girl’s desire, made her this way. A dream makes us look for opportunities. And we find them, considering them signs of fate. If we believe in it enough, it helps us. But the moment we lose confidence in ourselves, the charm goes away, and we, expecting defeat, get it. What is more here - intuition, reading in the book of the future or self-programming?

Why do the gypsies call themselves “romale” and do they have “barons”? Can gypsies tell fortunes? Is it true that gypsy hypnosis exists? How is the camp managed? Why do gypsies have such luxurious weddings and equally luxurious funerals? Do gypsies steal children and who are the Irish paeves? Ethnographer, traveler, creator of the Museum of Nomadic Culture, full member of the Russian Geographical Society, Konstantin Kuksin, answered these and many other questions to Maria Bachenina and Daniil Kuznetsov.

Maria Bachenina: Hello!

Konstantin Kuksin: Hello!

Daniil Kuznetsov: Good afternoon.

M.B.: When I invited you to talk about the gypsies, you said that they were your favorite people. In short, why did you love him?

K.K.: I fell in love with the gypsies when I went on my first expedition to them. I prepared seriously, knowing what they were like - I put all the money on the card, and sewed the card under my shirt, because I knew that I would be deceived or robbed right away. And then I became friends with them. And if I had to lead a nomadic life, I would probably live with the gypsies. This people seemed interesting and close to me from the very beginning, and quite recently I learned that my great-grandfather was a gypsy. I kept thinking that my grandmother was Jewish: dark-haired, Yakovlevna. And my dad recently told me that my great-grandfather was a gypsy. Gypsy Yakov, violinist, 13 children.

M.B.: How did you come to an agreement with them? It's like coming to someone else's house and asking to stay.

K.K.: What is the work of a field anthropologist or ethnographer in general? We arrive, we see a yurt in the steppe, we go in, we say that we came from afar, we study different cultures. The saving grace is that almost all the people are hospitable. You are invited, and then, in the process of communication, the relationship either works out or it doesn’t. If they don’t work out, which I didn’t have, I have to go to another yurt, tent, yaranga. But usually the relationship works out, and you stay there. They are also interested: an unusual person has arrived from afar. The question always arises of who is studying whom: we them or they us.

It was difficult with the gypsies because they are a closed community. They divide everyone into friends and strangers. Gypsies are “romale”, “roma”.

M.B.: That's what they call themselves, right?

K.K.: Yes, this is a self-name. And all the rest are “drop sheets”. "Gazhi" ("gadzhi") are not gypsies, they treat them badly. If the drywall is treated poorly, then you can deceive them, deceive them, this is not a sin. It is very difficult to understand this line between "gazhi" and "romale". And if you manage to do this, then the gypsies become your friends and begin to trust you.

D.K.: And how does this happen?

K.K.: Differently. For example, with one group of gypsies I did this: I bought an accordion at the market, came to the camp and started playing it, the gypsy children came running and dragged me to the camp. The men forge there, I can forge. And in the evening we danced together. Somewhere the gypsies live poorly, but we bought a car of food, came to them, fed them and began: singing and dancing.

Gypsies are afraid of strangers because they do not always officially live in the territory and they do not always have documents. What if you're from the police? If they see that you are an ordinary person, then they begin to trust.

And how it was with fortune telling: we arrived at the camp and asked to tell fortunes. The gypsies said that they would tell their fortunes, but later. And then we became friends, sang and danced. We wake up in the morning, ask them to tell their fortunes again, and they tell us that they can’t: they don’t tell fortunes for their own people. But they promised, so they got into the car, brought a fortune teller from a neighboring camp, and she told us fortunes.

M.B.: So they don’t tell fortunes to each other?

K.K.: Gypsies should not deceive each other.

D.K.: Is fortune telling always a deception?

K.K.: Not always. But this is an opportunity to make money. And the opportunity to make money is always a bit of a deception. As the Russians say, if you don't cheat, you won't sell.

M.B.: Do they participate in the population census?

K.K.: Yes but not all. Finding out exactly how many gypsies there are is very difficult.

M.B.: How are they treated in the world?

K.K.: Differently. In general, Russians initially treat Gypsies well. It’s just that we are such a people, we generally treat everyone well. We may laugh at someone, but we still love them. If Russians were different, there would be no Russian Federation. But somehow we all live together.

Gypsies also treat Russians well. They say that Russians are kind, generous and naive - ideal friends. And in Europe there is a sharply negative attitude towards gypsies: in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia. We arrive in Bulgaria, get off the train, the taxi driver says: “Where are your things? Be careful, there are a lot of gypsies here.” We didn’t even dare tell him that we were going to them.

D.K.: So there are stereotypes everywhere that gypsies are thieves and swindlers?

M.B.: Why didn’t they historically organize their own state then?

K.K.: I’ll tell you an anecdote from the Tsarist era. “Once a gypsy was asked: “What would you do if you became king?” The gypsy scratched his head and said: “Like what? I would steal a hundred rubles and run away."

M.B.: Clearly, the mentality is not the same.

K.K.: They don't want to and can't. This is an amazing people, they have been living for many centuries among other ethnic groups and do not dissolve in them. I know two such peoples: Jews and Gypsies. Jews are made whole by the religion of their chosen people, and gypsies are made whole by the feeling that they are gypsies, not like everyone else. And also the caste system.

M.B.: How then is their society structured? Does it exist - landless, stateless?

K.K.: Yes.

M.B.: What are the laws, rules, procedures there?

K.K.: The first is the myth of who the “gypsy baron” is. This has nothing to do with the title of nobility; it comes from the gypsy “baro” - big, senior, chief. How to become a baron? For example, I need to bring a camp from Chisinau to Moscow, I agreed with the head of the train. We arrived, there were problems with the police, I went and made an agreement. In general, if I take responsibility, then people say that “here he is, our baron.” If I acted wrongly, dishonestly, the gypsies will say: “What kind of baron are you to us?” And they will leave. Everything is decided not by the baron, but by the “kris” - a gathering of gypsies. Chris's decision is law even for the baron.

D.K.: So the Roma are practically a republic?

K.K.: These are clans where several families live together and roam together. Sometimes other families join them. And Chris decides everything. This is, in essence, direct democracy. And, for example, adult women have the right to vote there.

M.B.: Do they go to church? They are Orthodox.

K.K.: Necessarily. They are Christians. In Soviet times, when Russian crosses were removed and icons were thrown away, the Roma remained Christians. The Gypsies who lived in Ottoman Turkey paid tax to Muslims but remained Christians.

M.B.: How do they pray? And do they go to temples?

K.K.: In each tent they have icons, large golden crosses. A little kitschy style, but they are sincere believers: there is a God who loves them very much. “Saint George stopped by recently, and his gold stirrup was stolen.”

M.B.: So this is such a naive faith?

K.K.: Very living, genuine faith.

Gypsies with willow branches on the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem at the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Chita.

Photo: RIA Novosti / Evgeny Epanchintsev

M.B.: I wanted to ask about the funeral. Is it a tradition that people are buried with their belongings, in the clothes in which the person died, and in order for everything to fit in, they dig a hole the size of a room, line the walls with bricks and cover them with carpets?

K.K.: The excavator is called!

M.B.: The workers at the cemetery told me about it.

K.K.: Yes, yes, jeeps and computers are buried. These are remnants of paganism.

M.B.: They then guard these graves, excuse me for my cynicism?

K.K.: No one will dare to quarrel with the gypsies.

M.B.: Vengeful? An eye for an eye?

K.K.: If you deliberately offend the gypsies, they will take revenge. But in general they are a very peaceful people; we have collected criminal chronicles about them for 600 years.

M.B.: How do they take revenge? It seemed to me that the gypsies did not kill.

K.K.: They don't kill. This comes from Indian times: if you kill, you will ruin your karma. Religion changed a long time ago, but this remains. Murders are extremely rare. To deceive, to steal - yes, this is not even very sinful, but to kill is not. But it’s easy to set a village on fire.

M.B.: “I’m not touchy, but I’ll burn the house down.”

D.K.: It turns out that their religion is syncretic: there are elements of Christianity, Hinduism, and paganism.

K.K.: The gypsies came from India, and for a long time people wondered what kind of caste they were. They thought that they were inferior, since everyone persecuted them there and humiliated them here. It turned out that the castes were different. And the caste tradition has been preserved. For example, if a gypsy was a blacksmith working with ferrous metal, he could not do anything else. If the gypsy used to breed horses, now he sells cars, and so on.

M.B.: But we live in the 21st century. Can't a person be born who says he doesn't want to sell cars?

K.K.: They will tell him: “Well, get out of here, live off the drywall, go to university.” There are many gypsies with higher education, they are wonderful people. They are gypsies by blood, but in their heads they are no longer gypsies.

M.B.: It turns out that if he enters the university, he enters according to caste?

K.K.: No. He must live in a camp and do what his ancestors did. My great-grandfather is a gypsy, and what am I doing? I sing, I dance, I tell you stories.

There are exceptions, but gypsies are trying to find these niches in a changed world. There were horses, now there are cars.

M.B.: If a gypsy goes into society, has he already broken away from the camp, is he on his own?

K.K.: Most likely, he will live in the city, will not wander, and will leave traditions. As a result, his descendants will dissolve into another ethnic group.

M.B.: If we continue about traditions, what can you tell us about gypsy weddings? A recent video on the Internet amazed everyone: there was a bride hung with money and gold. That's a lot of money, they've been saving up for a wedding all their lives, or what?

K.K.: Yes, all my life. It happens that after a wedding a rich family becomes poor, but no one will say that they had a poorer wedding than their neighbors. It all starts with the fact that you have a girl, I have a boy, I’m coming to you with a birch tree, the branches of which are made of euros and dollars, and I say: “You have a product, we have a merchant, let’s talk.” You say “no” for two weeks, and I feed your camp for these two weeks. When you said okay, let’s get married, you are already feeding my camp, and I’m giving you a gold coin that will hang over the cradle. That is, the girl is already matched at birth.

And if I, the father of a 15-year-old boy, wasted time and went to the camps, thinking that I would find him a smart and beautiful girl, there would be girls everywhere with coins - everyone was matched. And I will already think that I would find at least one. You need to do this in advance.

D.K.: Is 15 years too late?

Photo: RIA Novosti/Konstantin Chalabov

K.K.: I saw a 13-year-old mother. At the age of 11, a gypsy can be married off. They are advanced in chastity.

M.B.: Of course, if a girl is married off at the age of 11, it is unlikely that she could lose her “chastity” before the wedding.

K.K.: These are the most chaste people. There is not a single case in history where a gypsy woman was a prostitute. It is amazing.

M.B.: There are no rapes either?

K.K.: No. At 11 years old, she’s definitely still a girl, I’m giving her away, then you’ll be responsible for her.

D.K.: Do divorces happen?

K.K.: No. Sometimes they run away.

M.B.: Adultery?

K.K.: Here is a girl in a cradle, growing up, meeting a boy, falling in love, but she has to marry another gypsy whom she doesn’t even know. And she runs away.

I had an incident in Romania. We are going to the gypsy woman, the translator calls her, and she says: “Just don’t tell your father, I ran away, we are already at the German border.” If you escaped, there would be such a commotion, the chase would be terrifying. You need to run to any church and fall at the priest’s feet: “Get married, we love each other.” Or the baron will marry them in another camp, where they are not known.

M.B.: Will they ever forgive their own?

D.K.: Or how will they be punished if they are caught?

K.K.: They won’t kill him, but they will seriously beat him. And the daughters will say: “Take the icon, kiss it and say that you will not run away.” She says she won’t, she’ll run away anyway. Then I myself will forge shackles and chain her, I’m a blacksmith, for example, so that I don’t bring shame on my family. Here it is, the notorious gypsy freedom.

D.K.: Can another camp accept them?

K.K.: Maybe. It may be that they came running for them, and the baron has already married them, he has the right to do this.

M.B.: With all these gypsy “show-offs”, begging is not considered a humiliating activity?

K.K.: What's humiliating about it?

M.B.: For example, it’s difficult for me to say: “Give me money.”

Photo: flickr.com/thefuturistics

K.K.: This is women's caste work. A gypsy can leave a five-story mansion with a Lexus at the entrance and go barefoot to the market to beg. In India there is a caste of thieves, although they can be very rich. One rich thief comes to another and deliberately leaves something valuable - he seems to be stealing. Then they change. They follow caste tradition. So are the gypsies. In general, the work of a gypsy consists of two parts. The first is begging. Oh, how they beg! Some people cannot overcome themselves, but in general this is very Christian, this is humility: fall on your knees, cry, tug at your clothes, feel pity.

M.B.: This is an excellent master class: asking for help should be taught from childhood.

K.K.: And that's not bad. After all, gypsy beggars before the revolution softened social tension in Russian society, because the peasant thought that there was someone who lived worse than him: look, everyone is chasing her, she walks barefoot in winter. And if she asked for something, there is no need to let the person go: “Oh, good man, clear eyes, gentle heart, let me tell your fortune.”

M.B.: Is this gratitude? Or to take everything else?

K.K.: It depends on what kind of person. They can just tell fortunes, or they can further promote it.

D.K.: Hypnotize.

K.K.: Yes. We spent an entire budget on research into gypsy fortune-telling. It's very simple: when a gypsy asks for your hair, wraps it in a piece of paper, she does not take money from you. The earrings sway in her ears, she mutters something - it’s like a trance. I kept trying to track the moment when my consciousness changed. This is impossible.

D.K.: Were you hypnotized?

K.K.: Yes, sure. Class! Twice I met real fortune tellers. They talk straight through their whole lives. Everyone else is a super psychologist, they absorb it with their mother’s milk. In a crowd of people, they immediately see who will give, who will not, who to approach, who is not needed. Why do you think gypsies work at train stations?

M.B.: There are a lot of people there.

K.K.: There are even more in the subway.

D.K.: The person is confused?

K.K.: A person has fallen out of his usual environment. He comes to Moscow from the provinces, he is already shaken. Not far from the Matrona of Moscow Museum on Taganka, gypsies work all the time. Women with their problems go to Matrona, and then the gypsies are nearby - what if it works out?

M.B.: What are their fortune telling based on? You can tell fortunes by cards, by hand...

K.K.: I can guess on anything. I can take your phone and tell fortunes on it.

M.B.: So they have different methods?

K.K.: Certainly. We told fortunes on a shell, on an icon of the Mother of God, on an old coin. This is psychology. Of course, there are special card layouts. Moreover, gypsies tell fortunes, but men rarely tell fortunes. I know an English gypsy who is a very powerful fortune teller. One day he predicted death for a family, and within a year they all died. After that, he picked up this deck, threw it into the river and never told fortunes again.

D.K.:: Is this a regular deck or Tarot?

K.K.: You can tell fortunes on the Tarot, you can use regular ones, the main thing is that you don’t play them.

M.B.: How not to give in or how to get out of a hypnotic state? A doctor friend wrote to me that the autonomic system is malfunctioning, peripheral vision disappears, everything is bubbling. I was hypnotized, I can say that you feel that you are doing something wrong, not of your own free will, but you do it anyway. It's hard to believe.

D.K.: Can you describe some techniques?

K.K.: They look into the eyes. They have a special speech frequency and timbre. It's like hitting a shaman's drum. And gradually in this way they are introduced into a trance. There is a method of asking questions: tell me this, that. If she guessed something, she says: “See, I see you.” If not, then he asks to tell you more. And so you lay out everything about your life, then she brings you out of the trance, clapping her hands, and says: “I know everything about you!” And it tells everything about your life. It makes a lasting impression and you begin to believe.

It’s more difficult with men, of course. If possible, the gypsy will approach the girl because they are ready to believe her. Although there are also naive young men. On my expedition, three girls went to tell their fortunes. One sobbed bitterly, the other also began to sob, and began to take everything off herself. This was our camp, the gypsies, our friends, were standing there laughing. And then one employee went - a student of a shaman. It was the "Battle of Psychics". He put up barriers, the gypsy actually flinched. Grandma was already sick. I tell the girl: “Have pity on the old lady, her blow will be enough now.” In general, it turned out that these are very similar techniques for inducing trance.

M.B.: I found instructions on the Internet on how to protect yourself from gypsies: “You will need a pocket mirror. Don’t look fortune tellers in the eyes, when you meet them, try to turn away and leave as quickly as possible, speed up your step if she follows you. Don’t be rude or try to hurting them will only harm you. If a gypsy does approach you, take out a mirror and point it at her. It is believed that this will turn all her words and intentions against her. Take advantage of the confusion and leave. Also, do not show jewelry and a wallet ". About the mirror - this is bullshit, in my opinion. Or are they afraid of it?

K.K.: The mirror helped Harry Potter against the Basilisk, I remember.

M.B.: An aspen stake also helps someone.

K.K.: Yes, and silver bullets. It's very simple: don't make eye contact. Or, if a gypsy woman came up on the train, you can say: “How great! Are you gypsies? Where is your camp? I work at the Museum of Nomadic Culture, I’m writing a scientific paper about your people, let’s go see you?” Before you have time to finish, they will no longer be there. They love to learn everything about others, but they don’t want to tell themselves. And if you are invited... Well, you will go to the camp and meet the gypsies.

M.B.: Who is the boss of the house?

K.K.: Man. Absolute master.

M.B.: What is the functionality of a woman, her sacred duties? And the responsibilities of men?

K.K.: First, there is a ransom for the girl, and there must be a dowry with the girl. Gypsies try to ensure that the ransom and dowry are the same price. And this is shared publicly, otherwise the camp will say: “We bought her, who is she?” The position of women among the Roma is low, especially among the young. If she gave birth to children, then the situation is better. But the adult gypsy woman who raised her sons is a very respected woman. It happens that she even runs the camp.

M.B.: And the sons obey and honor her?

K.K.: Certainly.

M.B.: Why are their children so dirty?

K.K.: Gypsies say: “A dirty child is a happy child.”

M.B.: It’s not just the gypsies who say this.

K.K.: They adore children, this is their main wealth. They are allowed everything, they are not punished. It happens that the father will slap you on the ass, and then: “Oh, little one, give me a kiss, why did I do this to you?” You cannot raise children with strictness. They can do anything. There’s a little gypsy kid walking around on the train or in the subway, pestering everyone, and mommy smiles: what a great guy!

D.K.: Until what age is he considered a child?

K.K.: At 11-12 years old, a boy is already a grown man. He walks with his head held high: he is a gypsy!

M.B.: What are they cooking?

K.K.: Gypsies have always lived within another people. There are no gypsy costumes, music, cuisine. Well, they begged for a little flour, cucumbers, tomatoes, grapes, and what, the man will say: “Come on, wife, prepare something gypsy for me”? No, they eat what they beg for. Or they would beg for clothes and the man would say: “Change to gypsy clothes!” Of course not. They usually bake flatbreads right next to the tent in the ashes of the fire. This is a very dense and nutritious bread. They love tea. Russian gypsies drank with samovars, from a saucer, like merchants. And in Eastern Europe they can add fruit to tea.

The gypsies also ate hedgehogs. I haven’t tried it myself, but hedgehogs have been baked and eaten.

D.K.: With needles?

K.K.: Yes, they baked them with needles, and then somehow removed them. This is exotic, yes.

M.B.: In general, what kind of meat do they prefer?

K.K.: Which is. But everything will happen at the wedding. When in the old days gypsies had a wedding, they bought a barrel of moonshine, carried it on horseback and watered it to all Russian villages.

D.K.: You said about gypsy children, but we all read Hugo’s book “The Man Who Laughs”. It describes how gypsies steal babies, put them in vats so that they turn into tumblers, make scars on their faces, and so on.

K.K.: And he also has a book “Notre Dame Cathedral” about the stolen Esmeralda.

D.K.: Is this even based on real facts?

K.K.: Certainly. Fair-haired people appear among the gypsies, Russians, for example. In general, this myth was debunked by the Vedomosti newspaper back in the 19th century. Gypsies don't steal children. There are many of our own, why an extra mouth? But it happens that a gypsy family is childless, this is a tragedy for any family, and especially for a gypsy one. It is impossible to find a single gypsy child; they are all attached. There were cases when gypsies wandered around the villages, found a family in which the mother died in childbirth, the man was drinking. But the gypsy family was childless, and they begged them for children, even offering money. And they gave the children away. "Vedomosti" described a case: a boy grew up with an earring in his ear - fair-haired, blue-eyed Vanya. Journalists found him in the camp and said: “You are Russian, your mother died, the gypsies took you.” And he told them with an accent: “Why are you telling me this? I’m a gypsy, over there my mother is telling fortunes in the tent.” That's where all these myths come from.

D.K.: But since they have a clan system, it is clear that they “cross” with each other and an accumulation of recessive genes occurs...

M.B.: Error.

M.B.: Which Soviet film is the most truthful?

K.K.: “The Camp Goes to Heaven” is a good film.

M.B.: Zemfira is there.

K.K.: Zemfira is the prototype of all gypsy women, Pushkin’s love. When Pushkin was exiled to Bessarabia and he was wandering with the gypsies, he fell in love with Zemfira. Everyone understood that a Russian nobleman would never take a camp gypsy as his wife, especially Pushkin. And he chased after her, and her father sent her to another camp. But this is Pushkin! He has two pistols in his belt and is off in pursuit. And the baron came towards me: “Oh, what have you done! Why did you chase after my Zemfira? She had a lover in that camp, he found out that you were coming, he took out a knife and stabbed her, and then drove the knife into his own heart. We buried them.” yesterday". Pushkin cried for two weeks, and Zemfira successfully married a gypsy.

D.K.: They deceived the poet.

K.K.: They didn’t deceive him, but planted a plot on him. And he poured out all his melancholy in the poem "Gypsies."

M.B.: Are the names Zemfira, Carmen, Esmeralda still popular?

K.K.: There are gypsy names that are very popular. Loiko, for example. Or Nasko - a derivative of Atanas. There are Byzantine names and Slavic ones. And there are ordinary ones.

M.B.: Masha, Sasha, Seryozha?

K.K.: Yes, sure. It all depends on what country the gypsies live in.

D.K.: Is their language Indo-European?

K.K.: Yes. My Romanian gypsy friends watch Indian films without translation, they understand everything. But there are dialects: Russian Roma, Hungarian Roma, Polish Roma. This is the gypsy language, interspersed with words from the language of the people among whom they live.

M.B.: Is this simple language? Is it easy to learn?

K.K.: Not easy, but you can learn it. I sing songs in Gypsy. You sing and learn the words.

D.K.: Everyone has seen the film “Snatch” with Brad Pitt, gypsies appear in it. They also appear in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories about Sherlock Holmes. But in fact, almost all of them are ethnically Irish. They are called paveys, or Irish travelers - Irish travelers. But at the same time, all their customs and language are gypsy. Why?

K.K.: When the gypsies left India, they came to Byzantium. They were very well received there and lived there for 300 years. They wrote about them that they were useful people, they did all the work, and began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. But these gypsies were not of the highest castes, they knew little about the Vedic religion and accepted Greek Orthodox Christianity. Moreover, living in Byzantium, they began to call themselves “Roma” - Romans. Now these are the last Byzantines on the planet. But Byzantium was dying under the onslaught of the Turks, and some of the Roma decided to go to the West. There were a lot of adventurers there - who wouldn’t be the kind of people who would drop everything and leave? And they came to Europe. If all gypsies were honest, their fate might have turned out differently. Because in many ways they turned the people against themselves. The very first groups were those that reached England and Ireland. They sailed there, but where next? There are few gypsies, consanguineous marriages are prohibited, so they began to mix with the British and Irish. Therefore, their appearance changed, but their language and traditions remained gypsy. These were the first settlers from Byzantium to Western Europe - Travelers. Now many people live very richly, but do not forget that they are gypsies. I won't say that Snatch is a very truthful film...

M.B.: But interesting.

K.K.: In general, it’s better not to mess with gypsies. Don't offend them, treat them like people, and they will treat you the same. The main thing is to break the gap between “Gazhi” and “Roma”. I succeeded, and you can too!

Due to the nature of my profession, I sometimes have to directly pay attention to how gypsies work. And I can tell you right away - their skill is unsurpassed!))) Hypnosis, suggestion, and knowledge of psychology are used. All this is on the verge of art, but I’ll tell you how they do it now.

But first, about my communication experience. A long time ago, I was 22-23 years old, I had to go to Odessa for work, meet with suppliers at the 7th kilometer (who doesn’t know, about eleven years ago this was the largest wholesale market in Odessa) I didn’t have much money , there were some 70 rubles left, which were safely in my jeans pocket. Having dealt with my affairs, I stopped to drink coffee, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a gypsy appeared in full regalia: in a wide skirt reaching to the ground, a scarf on the top of her head and with gold earrings in her ears, and she immediately got down to business: “Give me your young, beautiful hand, I'll tell you fortunes, but for this you need money. Do you have any money? You don’t need much, a ruble is enough, put it on the mirror, and the mirror on your palm! etc." Yes, I forgot to mention, the gypsy was not alone, her assistants were next to her (they play a very important role). Everything happened very quickly, I stood there, I realized that the hand of this fortune teller was walking through my pockets, and I was thinking!!! that I’m being robbed, but I calmly look into the distance. That is, I understood what was happening, but I couldn’t do anything at that moment, it felt like I was in a stupor. And then she and her friends disappeared. That same day, calling my husband, I told him about what had happened, and in response I was silent, followed by the phrase: “Wow... you too?” It turns out that on the same day, the gypsies near the police department robbed him of 51 rubles according to the same scheme.

So, the principle is that for a gypsy it is very important to defocus attention, that is, to break its integrity (while you are collecting your brains in a pile, you will already be deprived of money, this does not take much time. The truth is that a person needs to be introduced into a deeper state of inhibition, but here you just need to work more cleanly, that’s all). That is why in such cases, when money is being defrauded, several people work. Imagine a situation: you go to a kindergarten, to a group, where several people immediately run up to you and one is trying to convey some nonsense to you, but the others nearby are not silent either, and everyone is trying to do the same. Your attention is scattered, and accordingly, our brains begin to slow down from the abundance of incomparable, often stupid, disjointed information and noise. But before this theater begins, you need to earn your trust, so the gypsies always start by either feeling sorry for you (Ay-ay-ay, what a girl, young, beautiful, but unlucky in love, well, or other options), or from the fact that she is trying to thank you for something, well, for example, for the fact that you were not stingy and gave a bun to one of her kids.

So, the scheme is simple - to hook a person with something, then lull one’s vigilance and unfocus attention, breaking thinking into separate pieces. These are the simplest techniques that are also used in hypnosis.

The second option is psychology. I'll tell you one more case. Sometimes I visit fellow psychics, fortune tellers and other people, in order to understand the psychology of influence and prediction patterns. Don’t forget, I am a psychologist by training, so this area has always been interesting to me personally. So, one day a friend of mine told me that there is a gypsy woman in Moscow who tells the past with amazing accuracy. Yeah))) Without hesitation, I went to see her. It all happened this way. Firstly, the psychological mood of the person who came is very important in this case. The gypsy is the first thing, we all experience some fear and desire to distance ourselves from the gypsies. Second, wait, he says, while I feed the dog. I stand waiting, so to speak, in anticipation of a miracle. Come on in, - I go into a room stuffed with various magical gadgets. Sit down,” I sit down on a chair. The conversation goes like this:

Oh, I see that you came to me for a reason, you have a problem in your life - no, comrades, show me at least one person who would come to a fortune teller, gypsy, etc. no problem. Naturally, even someone who has no problems in life will involuntarily think at these words, maybe there is some kind of problem, but for some reason he didn’t notice it?...

But everything is in order. I see a child. - the phrase itself suggests multivariate development. Well, firstly, I am far from 18 years old, therefore, one way or another, I am a woman who has given birth. For an 18 year old girl, even if she doesn’t have children, you can always say that there will be children. By the way, do not forget about vegetative manifestations; when they tell fortunes to you, external manifestations are carefully examined. To a question that really caught your attention, each person will have an implicit reaction - redness of the face, slight dilation of the pupils and other signs. After this question, your reaction is expected. As a rule, a person who comes to a fortune teller for advice “clings” to some phrase and shows his interest. And yet, any mother or woman who really wants to give birth to a child will be hooked on the phrase about a child, so the result is predictable. Either a response question will be asked, or the woman will answer something like: “Yes, I have a child.”

You are worried about your child - a stupid phrase, show me a woman who would not worry about her offspring. But here you need to inspire trust, the main thing is to tell them that the child is wonderful, etc. and so on. This is the element where your trust is gained. If you really have problems with your child, you will definitely ask about it next. That yes, the child is good, smart, etc., but I want to know if we can’t do this or that. And here they will tell you everything as written, the main thing is to adapt to you.

There is a man next to you - yeah, but which of us doesn’t have men next to us? No, even if the man doesn’t have this, a way out will be found: you just don’t know about him, but anyway he exists!))))

Oh, things are bad, there is a woman next to your man (it doesn’t matter if she’s dark-haired, fair-haired, or whatever) - then your mouth begins to open to the floor in excitement, because your man, if you have one, does not live in the jungle , but lives in society, accordingly, he somehow has to communicate with the female sex. But a woman’s doubts are a terrible thing, immediately in her head one picture is more impressionable than the other (how is it possible, someone is trying to kill me?? Shoot me!!!) And we listen with pleasure to advice.

If you couldn’t get hooked on these topics (well, let’s assume you don’t have a child, you don’t have a man), then take on a topic about work or about parents. And everything follows the same pattern. Test casting the fishing rod, checking the reaction, then promoting the situation in the right direction.

You leave with the opinion that the money and time were well spent. Now you know exactly what problems you have and how to solve them. Even if you didn’t have these problems before this trip and everything was great)))))))))))

Strikingly different from what is considered normal. They wander from place to place, do not value houses and real estate, preferring freedom of movement to this. But this way of organizing your life entails certain difficulties: you need to somehow earn money on the road. How to do this? Here the gypsies use various methods, and this is one of them.

Fortune telling is a one-time service. Despite the fact that it is believed that clairvoyant people should not take money for fortune-telling, they still often do this, and this allows the gypsies to survive when moving. They learn to tell fortunes from an early age. It is believed that if a person has a talent for fortune telling, with such a reverent attitude, it will certainly manifest itself. Perhaps this is why people think that the gypsies' predictions often come true.

In addition to the fortune-telling skills honed since childhood, nomadic gypsies practice one more skill: . They communicate a lot with people and learn to feel what a person is feeling. By unobtrusively asking leading questions, an experienced gypsy will find out the background history of the person for whom she is telling fortunes. A person’s appearance, clothing and belongings will help to understand the rest. Next you need to look at the reaction. Indeed, gypsies often guess the circumstances of life, as they carefully observe their clients.

It can hardly be said that there are peoples who differ radically in their skills from each other. All people, from the point of view of nationality, have approximately equal abilities, but much depends on cultural characteristics and the environment in which children grow up. Representatives of some nations have children learning programming from an early age, others place emphasis in education on religiosity, and still others learn fortune-telling from their elders. Growing up, they will all try to use the skills that they have developed best.

The gypsies themselves, if you ask them why they are guessing, say that not all representatives of the nomadic people are so. They believe that the abilities of clairvoyance and fortune telling do not arise out of nowhere, but are inherited. None of the gypsies seriously think that fortune telling can be taught to someone who has no ability for it. Even when deceiving people, they themselves understand perfectly well that they do not have this skill. More often, fortune telling is just a way to get food for yourself and your children.

According to statistics, it is currently very difficult to find nomadic gypsies in Russia. Data from population inventories show that there are no more than 1% of gypsies leading a traditional lifestyle, the rest live an ordinary sedentary life. Despite this, even if a person lives an ordinary life, if he has genes, he is called “Romano rat”. Such a person, if he wants, can return to the gypsies. Among the famous representatives of the Romance are Charlie Chaplin, Sergey Kuryokhin, Anna Netrebko and others.

In Western Europe, nomadic gypsies from Eastern Europe have become a real scourge. According to crime statistics, in an attempt to make money, they often sell drugs to local youth.