Seasonal Gypsy Influences

“I tried on the summer sun,
Felt good.
Nice and warm -- knew it would.
Tried the grass beneath bare feet,
Felt neat.”
- Shel Silverstein



When I was in my early teens, I became really interested in “the occult” (don’t we all, at some point?). Although—full disclosure—I planned to use dark magic to find a boyfriend, those pre-Harry Potter days were filled with genuine spell casting and a shadowed belief in something “out there” beyond the accepted. My wizarding days, though year-round, always bring back humid summer air, thick with the smell of skin-so-soft and sunscreen.


Paging through some of my old spell books (yes, I still have them…) I came across the spell “For a Life Filled with Sunshine”:

St.-John’s-wort, a golden flower that smells like turpentine, is regarded as an emblem of the sun.
Light an orange candle and place a bunch of St. John’s-wort beside it. Make a wish, then hang the bunch of St.-John’s-wort over an entrance door to your home. Leave the candle to extinguish itself. It will bring you your wish and ward off evil too.

‘If only it was that easy!’, I thought when I read it, but maybe it is?

They have another spell for “Curing Depression”, involving garlic and white vinegar.

“Romany philosophy is that depression attracts depression like a vibration. To ward it off, play happy music or mix with happy people. Alternatively, walk to a hilltop to literally rise above your problem. Looking down on roads, cards, houses and people makes them appear in better perspective”


There have been several recent studies stating the contagiousness of both loneliness and depression. Upon reading about the Romany philosophy, I was reminded of University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo’s work on how lonely people interact with others:

"When you feel lonely, you have more negative interactions than non-lonely people," says Cacioppo, who directs the University of Chicago's Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. "If you're in a more negative mood, you're more likely to interact with someone else in a more negative way, and that person is more likely to interact in a negative way."

A little more research turned up this article in Pyschology Today and this one on ABC, both which present facts like:

“We can mimic other people's facial expressions," Galynker said. "When we mimic other people's facial expressions, we also can adopt the mood that these people are in. It affects us, even on a superficial level."

But such mimicry can go beyond the superficial and become emotional. Studies in which monitors track brain activity while a subject is shown smiling or frowning faces show that the areas associated with happy or sad emotions are active when the subject is presented with the corresponding face.”

In college, I used to drive up to Mt. Baldy when I was feeling stressed or upset about something. I wonder if the echoes of Romany philosophy propelled me upwards years later?


It’s undeniably summer now, hot days filled with farmer’s market’s cherries and hilltop picnics. From where I sit now I can see banana trees and olive branches. I can hear the birds and traffic outside surround sound through all the open doors and windows. Summer reminds me of Shel Silverstein, Romany caravans and chlorine in my hair. It’s hard to believe that I thumbed right past mighty spells for curing depression and a life full of happiness in search of the recipe for “Romance Magnet Oil”.