We Borrow the Earth: An Intimate Portrait of the Gypsy Folk Tradition and Culture

by Patrick Jasper Lee

  Once you have made contact with a tree, it is best simply to move around the trunk, feeling the bark - or skin - with your hand. The tree will allow you to do this if you politely inform him or her of what you are doing. The tree may even know you are coming and will prepare something to give to you. A piece of bark may peel off in your hand if the tree wishes to make friends with you or develop some kind of relationship with you. Remember never to pull any of the bark off forcefully. This is a crime, for the tree needs to give you the bark voluntarily. Remember also that a tree likes to befriend human beings for a substantial period of time, if not forever, not just for a fleeting moment: trees do not make good fair-weather friends.

  Considering this, it is also polite to develop the habit of taking an offering to the tree now and then, perhaps something you enjoy, perhaps beer or milk; something in liquid form is particularly appreciated. Trees have been receiving such offerings from human beings for thousands of years.

  Not all trees of the same species will have the same characteristics as the Old Man. Like many other trees in the West Country, where he lives, he is gentle and calm by nature, but in the South-east of England, which was where I encountered the James Grieve apple tree and his friends, trees can be quite different. I discovered this when meeting another oak tree, this time a massively powerful one.

  This oak was very large and dwelt with great princely pride in a garden near to a friend’s home. Squirrels would scamper playfully up and down the great tree or else lie basking in crevices on his branches in the sunshine. So small in comparison, they could seem like insects, for the oak’s trunk was huge with an almost muscular form. Compared with the Old Man with his long beard and quiet contentment, this tree was like the strongest gladiator poised for action.

  Every time I looked out at this tree from the window I shivered, and remarked that I would not cherish the idea of being under the guidance of this oak during magical training, as I was with the Old Man back in the West Country. This one looked so formidable. I should have known that I was secretly inviting his response. Such is the nature of trees; we perhaps forget that they know more about us than we think.

  We also forget that all trees take on the flavour of the land they happen to live upon, which can vary in temperament just as much as human beings can. Just as Africans may be different in temperament from Scandinavians, because of the influence of their land, and just as people living in southern England may be different in temperament from people living in the remotest regions of Scotland, because the land holds many varying characteristics, so trees differ according to where they live. The land has character and it influences everything that lives and breathes and moves upon it, whether those things are aware of the influence or not.

  Even the water in the ground can be affected by and supportive of the land, being in some places hard and in some places soft. Where it is hard, the land will often have a stronger temperament and will give you lessons that are far more adventurous in content and often ‘to the point’, as well as being a good deal more concentrated; where it is soft, the land will be gentler and will give you lessons that are of a sometimes more diverse nature. Yet, strangely, these lessons may also come to you in a much heavier disguise, as softer landscapes and softer water can often be deceiving and can produce lessons that are unrecognizable. So a lesson in a soft-water area may be a long time being learned.

  The oak living in the South-east started to watch me, because he knew that I was also watching him, and it wasn’t long before he had taken me into his mighty embrace and one night I had a most powerful dream about him.

  In the dream I was walking backwards around his trunk - which is very wide indeed - singing a special song. This was a test, because I wanted to learn more about him, and as I was walking backwards I couldn’t exactly see where I was putting my feet, so I had to go very carefully, trusting that firm ground was behind me on every step. I knew that if I succeeded going backwards around the tree three times I would be shown something special, one of his innermost secrets, so around I went, singing and trusting - as much as I dared.

  I had almost completed the whole course when I suddenly found myself hesitating, sensing that I shouldn’t put my foot down behind me on my next step, and when I glanced behind, which was the first time that I had done so, I saw that there was a perfect drop stretching down into infinity directly behind me. Had I continued stepping backwards I would certainly have fallen down into this deep chasm, which would have sent me flying down into the dark recesses of the Earth - not a very pleasant experience, as it had happened to me once before. But this fall would also have meant that I would probably have failed the oak’s test. He was a hard and strict teacher, but not without good cause.

  Hesitating, I just balanced precariously for a while, waiting to see what would happen next, and then as quick as lightning I was suddenly transported into the inside of the trunk itself, where there seemed to be a happy reunion going on. Many animals were celebrating together and the whole dream then took on something of an Alice in Wonderland flavour as I joined rabbits, squirrels, cats, dogs, mice, insects and also larger animals in this one great trunk.

  ‘You all come from me,’ the great oak then told me. ‘You all come from trees, for all creatures are built of the same substance and come from out of the Earth.’

  It was a wonderful end to the dream and I was honoured to learn this and to have passed the test, but I felt even more privileged to have had this experience with that oak, for that is perhaps the most important part of learning about life.

  I have since had a lot of thoughts about the origins of life and what is known in many cultures as the ‘tree of life’. I do not believe that all humans came from apes. Like many tribal people, I prefer to see that we originated from the Earth, and particularly trees, as the great oak was trying to tell me, and as such, trees are our most natural teachers should we have the sensitivity, insight and courage to listen to them.

  The training of the Chovihano is both a subjective and objective exercise, for you need to know how to balance the introspective with the actual, which is a hard thing to do. Knowledge and experience must always go hand in hand and must form a partnership, because it is through such a partnership that they each become valid, so that we may more easily embrace the wider spectrum of ancient secrets and the cryptic trails that the modern world is likely to attach to them. It is sometimes as if a conclusion has to seep down into the depths of our beings in order to be fully comprehended and appreciated, and that is what I feel happened during my time with this particular oak tree.

  I have stressed that trees have different characters. They are also male and female, perhaps not as rigidly as we human beings are, but just as some trees have masculine traits, such as the oak, others have gracefully feminine traits, such as the birch. You will need to spend time - lots of time - with these trees before you understand the kind of masculinity and femininity they are likely to express. In human terms the oak is a rather strongly built man, usually firm and gentle - especially if he happens to live in the West Country! But the birch is elegance itself. She is a real lady who loves to surround herself with soft veils and delicate things, and she is so naturally exquisite that everyone who passes her cannot help but remark upon her beauty.

  I have spent time with both oak and birch in their masculine and feminine forms, and when they take on a human aspect - which all of them can do with ease, because the human form is a lower life form and therefore easy for them to personify - they are beautiful indeed, perhaps the prototype of the human being as it could be if it allowed itself to rise to such noble heights. This is perhaps what could be termed ‘shapeshifting’, which needs further explaining elsewhere, but it is enough to say here that trees are excellent practitioners of this ancient craft. Perhaps they know more about the true positive qualities of a human being than we do, since we deliberately removed ourselves from the natural beings we once were.

  There are a great many other lessons and
dreams I have experienced whilst in the company of trees, in many different places, but there are few experiences more powerful than those in which the Chovihano receives his ran.

  The bakterimasko ran, or magic wand, as a spirit in its own right, was always an important accomplice in the healing work of the gypsy Chovihano, and it is the highest honour when a tree selects a branch to work with you as a magic wand. My great-grandfather informed me that a Chovihano would only be given a wand by a tree when he was ready to begin his work properly. Traditionally, the wood has been birch, but many factors need to coincide for the wood to be charged with magical energy, such as your finding the wood at a specific time in your life and while on a specific path. The season in which you find it in can be relevant, as can the position of the moon, and sometimes other factors. There is certainly nothing spooky or dangerous about a magic wand, so long as you know how to use it and respect it. But it is true to say that a ran can turn on you should you abuse it, by bringing you bad luck.

  I have been given a handful of wands in my lifetime, but two special ones, a large one and a small one, came to me at a relevant period in my life, when I was being more open about my native roots and therefore able to practise my craft as a medicine man more positively. It was as if the birch trees who provided me with the wands were celebrating the fact that I could at last come out about who and what I was, and they were fully in support of me. I had earned my right to work with them. These wands were certainly far more powerful than any I had ever been given before and I began to hear my great-grandfather’s words echoing back through the years, telling me that the healing craft of the old gypsy Chovihano is a craft to be respected and it can only ever properly be carried out with the assistance of trees.

  The larger of the two rans was given to me by a cat, Ollie, who had become a close friend. I returned home one day to find him lying on the wand, a paw draped across it, and as he looked up at me I knew this beautiful piece of birch was meant for me. The smaller of the two was given to me by the birch tree herself. I stopped and spoke to her, and was encouraged to look up into her branches. There, within easy reach, was a small loose branch which had fallen down from the top of the tree and which I could easily untangle from all the other branches.

  These two rans have worked with me in many ways and have always brought something of the old forest life into my rituals and wanderings, speaking their own ancient language, which is simple and straightforward and easy for most people to understand once they begin to care for trees.

  The spirits of trees and the Bitee Fokee were a major part of life in earlier times, when people were happy to put the natural world above themselves. Romani gypsies have retained this natural relationship through the many centuries that Europe has been ‘developing’ or ‘progressing’. The trees, and the Bitee Fokee, are happy to build these same relationships again, should we have the courage and patience to step forward - or perhaps backward - and begin to make friends with them again.

  The Patrinyengris have now gone, the Drabengros have certainly disappeared and the gypsy Chovihano is an extinct breed. But this is because many forests in western Europe have also disappeared, taking the human wildlife with them. But the Chovihano spirit knows that there is an ancient world which was forced to move underground in earlier days and they also know that it currently still lies there sleeping; the Chovihano’s spirit is sleeping with it. It will be part of the Chovihano’s work to continue to protect that world while it remains in the Otherworld, with the objective of keeping it safe in its slumbering depths.

  As a Chovihano, I am able to guarantee that the whispering forests of western Europe are still whispering. If you put your ear to the ground in the woodland and close your eyes, you may just be able to hear their ancient songs being sung deep beneath the Earth.

  Chapter Six

  ANCIENT ROMANI HEALING AND LIFE SKILLS

  The Chovihano’s Specialized Craft

  It is nineteenth-century Britain. Victoria is on the throne, the Industrial Revolution has begun, steam trains are travelling from one end of the country to the other at breakneck speeds and the British are a powerful nation of explorers and colonialists, settling in many parts of the uncivilized world where tribal people are undergoing mass religious conversion and education in the modern sciences.

  In the thickest part of a forest in the British countryside a non-literate Chovihano squats on the wood floor, conducting an ancient ritual. He converses with the trees and with the Spirits of the Sun, Moon, Air, Earth, Fire and Water, asking for their assistance, and with the aid of his bakterimasko ran, or magic wand, he ‘conducts’ the flow of energy, jingling the wand’s bells to keep away unsavoury and untrustworthy spirits, who might just take an interest in what is going on and bring bad luck. This healer, who is more like a wizard, is like the leader of an orchestra conducting his musicians. He mutters words in the Romani language, sprinkles salt around to protect everyone and feels the spirits gathering all around him. He is in complete command of otherworldly activity.

  Having been alone for some time, perhaps fasting, perhaps partaking of various stimulating herbs and perhaps some alcohol, the Chovihano now seeks guidance from the spirits of the natural world, his spirit guardians and his ancestors, for a problem, which may be taking place with any members of his tribe.

  The spirit guardians and ancestors are important influences, for they understand how problems and sickness are made and the art of removing them. He talks to all these spirits and it appears that he is talking to himself, but the gypsies gathered around him understand what is going on, that there is a conversation that is taking place between their Chovihano and his guardian spirits. They are all gathered around their fire with the Patrinyengri, who is burning her sacred herbs, rosemary and mugwort, for protection and visions, and she too mutters sacred words in Romanes.

  It is time now for the healing, or the breaking of a spell, to take place.

  The Chovihano jingles as he gets up and walks, laden as he is with all manner of talismans, amulets, charms, coins which flash in light and bells, which jingle when shook. These he wears for protection.

  The moon is in her new phase and sometimes glows wanly beyond the tops of the trees when she is not hidden by cloud. This is a good sign for the Chovihano, for it means that good luck can flow.

  Owls hoot and night creatures scuttle about on the wood floor, all somehow a magical part of what is going on in the wood tonight, all contributing themselves as relevant omens.

  The Chovihano, by degrees, then works himself into an otherworldly dream or trance, with the aid of his ran, his vastengri, or tambourine, his lucky charms and his spirit guardians. He rocks around, moaning and making strange noises, and this means that he is making contact with his spirit guides, who will keep everyone safe. His aim is to stand in the shoes of the sick and the troubled in the group around him and to take on any of their problems, so that the problems may pass through him and away into the Otherworld, particularly, the Lowerworld, where they are considered to belong.

  He is willing to go in search of people’s souls, should they have become lost, or take on muddled, malevolent shadow-spirits who may have been influencing people without their knowing it. Any malevolent shadows will enter the Chovihano’s body, believing that he is their friend, and he will then entertain these shadows, first by charming them and asking them to listen to the bells of his magic wand, which they will find enchanting, and he may perhaps even start singing to them, so that they start to trust him. But he will then attempt to ensnare them and deliver them to one of the powerful guardian spirits who is working with him. This may be a human spirit, an animal spirit or the spirit of a stone, or it may even be Yag, the Spirit of Fire. Whoever helps the Chovihano will help to carry all the bad shadow-spirits away, back into the Lowerworld where they belong.

  As the ritual progresses, the forest takes on a different feel; it becomes a forest that is suddenly half in the Otherworld, and all the people and creatures within
it are able, if they choose, to cross the bridge that is being created and to step into the Otherworld. They know that no harm will come to them for they have their Chovihano beside them to protect them. He can converse with all spirits in all ways and nothing bad will happen whilst he is in their presence, particularly whilst he is in the heat of such an ancient ritual.

  Thus, the whole forest rings with the smacking sound of the tambourine and the voices of the gypsies as they laugh, sing, rock and dance to the rhythm of their ritual, their hands clapping all the while. The people, the forest and all the guardian spirits are now in harmony, there is a very light atmosphere and there is nothing more powerful, nor more healing for those gathered at this ritual.

  After a time, the Chovihano eventually returns to his normal self. He would usually be smiling, but this time he is quite subdued. He takes a drink, throwing back his head as the liquid dribbles over his chin. This isn’t how it used to be in the old days, and this ritual may have been acted out in vain. He has conducted this ancient ritual to try to help everyone cope in a modern civilized world, and the magic isn’t working any more. He cannot help his people. Perhaps the time of the Chovihano, having lasted for thousands of years, is finally over.