Kooshti

Today I picked up a lovely second-hand book by Leon Petulengro, a slim volume entitled Herbs and Astrology. In it Mr. Petulengro, a true Romany gipsy and astrologer, records some of the ancient Romany beliefs about herbs and their links with astrology. He discusses the health patterns found in each of the Signs of the Zodiac and gives recipes for the remedy of various ailments. Each Sign has its own chapter, each with herbs specific to that Sign.

The part that I found fascinating in this 1977 book were some of the recipes. I turned to the section on my sign, Sagittarius, and one of my herbs is sage.

In amongst the folk remedies (one of which is that a tonic made of sage tea is good for reducing grey hair), is this tantalizing recipe for a tasty spread:

4 teaspoons of fresh chopped sage
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 oz. cream cheese

Mix together and spread on... whatever you want, I guess. Does that not sound good?

The other thing I like about this book is that there are herbs mentioned that I have never heard of, such as..

Samphire,

 Houseleek,

 Rue,

 Agrimony,

 and Meadowsweet.

From time to time I will post some of the amazing recipes from this book.

Kooshti sante, everyone. (That's Romany for good health).