NOTES OF APPRECIATION
Congratulations on your vardo, Marina. You’ve done a great job of modernizing the design! I envy you the years you now have ahead of you, “jallin’ a drom” with it. Well done. “Kushti bok” to you.
Ray-B (Raymond Buckland – world renowned author on Gypsy culture)
- “I’ve had several readings with Marina. From the first time I met her I found her to be warm, compassionate, and a truly beautiful old soul. She is very easy to talk with and very knowledgeable in the old ways, and of straight “knowing”. She understands situations and can give accurate readings without much information at all. I am one of those that pretty much kept it all to myself until I was sure she actually “knew” what was going on. She’s real, she knows, and she can help guide you in your divine path. Very intuitive, very open and forth right. She does not sugar coat, or tell you just what she thinks you want to hear. I would highly recommend her.” ~ S.H.G.
- “I have had roughly four reading with Marina and each one has been so accurate, not just in what was going on in my current life, but even what was coming in my future life. I have had things going on at work that I never told Marina about and her cards accurately showed that. She indicated a favorable change at work, and at the time of the reading I was transitioning into a better position. When it comes to the future, her cards kept showing love, twins and loss. She said these were rare cards to present, and though I had no idea what she was referring to, she said she wouldn’t change the read and stood with it in conviction. About a month later, I became romantically involved with someone who had twin brothers that had passed. The best part of this is the atmosphere Marina brings you into. She is so welcoming and warm. She understands the cards, and if you have a question about anything specific, knows the answer. She is absolutely amazing!” ~ A.R.C.H.
- “The Wayne County Historical Museum had the pleasure of working with Marina during our 2019 October Season. Each year our museum hosts Spells and Spirits: Halloween for Grown Ups. We offer a variety of activities and experiences during this fun 18+ annual program. Marina joined us last year for the first time as our Tarot Reader. She arrived early and had her own setup ready to go! She was one of our most popular experiences that evening. Her list for the evening was full before we even started the program! We hope Marina will work with us again, as our visitors enjoyed their readings with her, and we enjoyed working with her!” ~ Karen Shank-Chapman, Executive Director
- “Readings have always been a source of entertainment and lighthearted fun for me. Then I met Marina. She was sitting outside her vardo wagon and I couldn’t resist. With a twinkle in her eye she asked me to have a seat, as if she had been waiting for me. All skepticism faded away as the reading went on. Her approach wasn’t like the readings I have had in the past. She gave me some hard truths on thing she could have had no prior knowledge of and not “canned” answers that can fit anyone. These were delivered in such a way that you would get from a wise woman. She took time to explain to me how she interprets the cars and addressed my questions. No one had ever done that before. I have had more readings from Marina since that day outside that vardo wagon. She is my go to person when I need insight that is spot on.” ~ C.S.
- “I have had the pleasure of having a reading done by Marina. She is truly gifted with the ability of discernment through her readings. She is not one to tell you what she thinks you want to hear or make your reading all rainbows and sunshine, but rather gives you truth and guidance.” ~ H.S-C., M.D.
- Marina and Blue Raven and their vardo wagon have been first person interpreters for the Jennings County Historical Society’s two largest events annually, the Sassafras Tea Festival & Civil War Living History in April, and Hector’s Haunted Evening Ghost Walk & Mystery Dinner in October, for more than a decade. The April event is the historical society’s largest history presentation. Marina, Blue and their vardo wagon draw a large crowd who are eager to learn how fear, love and passions of war foretold the role gypsies would play throughout the Civil War. Marina, being a gypsy herself, dazzles those who wish to go back in time and then get a glimpse of the future. John Wilkes Booth had such an encounter, that is most notable and documented, when a gypsy woman warned him of his fate. “…now, young sir, I’ve never seen a worse hand, and I wish I hadn’t seen it, but every word I’ve told is true by the signs. You’d best turn to a missionary or a priest and try to escape it.” Asia Booth, John’s sister scribed a very detailed recollection of the encounter in a memoir titled, “The Unlocked Book: A Memoire of John Wilkes Booth,” Marina, being gypsy herself, explains the unique role gypsies played in American History. Although gypsies arrived in the American’s during the late 1400’s, it was with the additional mass immigration, recorded throughout the 1860’s, that their culture became a temptation to the troubled. Fear of death, love of a soldier and passions of war tore through a divided country, driving men and women alike to knock on the door of the gypsy vardo wagon. Had only President Lincoln been one of them, would his own fate have been different? During the October event, Hector’s Haunted Evening, Marina experiences a steady line of fortune seekers, not the traditional fortune that comes with financial gain necessarily, but more of a glimpse of what the future holds for them. In partnership with the local high school drama club, Marina and Blue, the historical society, and a host of volunteers, the two-day event has something for the entire family.
“We are very grateful for all that Marina and Blue do to make the historical society’s events memorable and, as we all know, making fond memories for generations yet to come is a huge part of preserving our past. We have invited them to participate in future events and programs at the historical society.” explains Chris Asher, Jennings County Historic Society Event Coordinator and Museum Curator.
