The Zingara Art of Divination

Divination is the art of extracting hidden meaning from the present by using supernatural tools, symbols, or oracles, as guidance for the future. The Zingari (Italian Gypsies) often used keen observation of physical characteristics to interpret possible future outcomes. Since time immemorial, human beings have tried to understand the forces of fate through a variety of imaginative and mystical means. Whether its reading tea leaves, using playing cards, dice, palmistry, or recognizing and interpreting omens, the history of fortune telling is a long one. The Zingari people loved the meadows, woods and flowers, and living far from the haunts of men. Thus, they got nearer to the heart of nature, and were better able to lift the veil from the future and learn a thousand secrets that the dwellers in cities could not know or understand. While the type of information discovered had different values, such as reading the weather was very important to farmers, sailors and others who depended on nature for their living. The love readings, while not related to life and death, were also important socially and emotionally. I have written down many things that are matters of personal knowledge, and besides these I have consulted numerous ancient manuscripts, and have also added certain deductions from modern sources so that you may enjoy and learn from The Zingara Art of Divination. -- Ana Caldaroni