A Spellbinder

Who says the full moon has magic powers, or that wishing on a star makes dreams come true? Romanies--nomadic tribes people from Kashmir and Afghanistan--were some of the first to believe such superstitions. Now, Gillian Kemp has gathered their lore in “The Good Spell Book” (Little Brown, $14.95), a collection of love charms, health cures and other potions this group brought to Europe six centuries ago.

The book itself is a charmer, with pages decorated with flower petals and handwritten notes that give the feeling of a family treasure passed down through generations. The potions come straight from the Romanies, who have intrigued Kemp since she was a child. “They would come through our town door to door, selling charms,” she recalls of life in Buckinghamshire, England.

Kemp got to know the Romanies better as she researched her book and discovered a way of life filled with romance and adventure in which clairvoyance was not an unusual skill. She also learned how life takes on new coloration seen through Romany eyes. Looking for love, health, wealth or happiness, for example, requires basic kitchen skills. (Mix rosemary and almond oil with bay rum to treat bald spots.) Even luck can improve with closer attention to nature. (If you see a spider weaving its web in your window, expect good news about money.)

For the truly superstitious, Kemp points out that magic spells are all the more potent when cast on certain dates. On Feb. 14, if an unmarried person puts a bay leaf under her pillow, that night she will dream of her true love.