There’s a debate right now in Salem, Massachusetts about how many psychics there should be in that town.
Presently, all of Salem’s professional fortune-tellers are required to have a license.
Until two years ago, city by-laws limited the number of psychic licenses available to five for every 50,000 inhabitants.
Apparently, that law was seldom enforced. In 2009, the population of Salem was 41,361. And there were a lot more than five psychics there.
When City Council revised the law in 2009, no new limits were imposed on the number of psychics in the city, but they did institute a maximum of 6 per store.
Now some residents are upset. They want more control over how many people should be allowed to read the future and accept money for doing so.
At least seventy licenses were issued last year, 13 to individuals and 25 to stores. That’s about one psychic for every 591 Salem resident.
City Councilor Joan Lovely thinks that that’s too many. She doesn’t want a fortune-teller on every corner.
But the psychics have been hard to monitor. The Licensing Board is part-time and responsible not only for fortune-tellers, but for restaurants, bars, used-car dealers and rooming houses as well. They can’t keep up.
According to Board Member John Casey, “At this point, it’s not far from being out of control.”
Councilor Lovely wants to take action. A lawyer herself, she intends to discuss constitutional issues surrounding a possible cap on psychics with City Solicitor Beth Rennard.
According to the Salem News, though Rennard has yet to be approached, she’s open to the idea. “I think it’s something we’ve had in place before, and it’s something we can look at again.”
Some psychics welcome the initiative. Barbara Szafranski is one of them. Owner of two psychic shops, and eligible for 12 licenses herself, Szafranski says she’s upset about how many licenses are out there, and to whom they’re being issued.
Psychic Linda Weinbaum is also concerned. She thinks there’s too many readers in Salem and that putting a cap on licenses should be seriously explored.
It’s interesting that psychics and non-psychics seem to be on board with this. Though their agendas might be quite different.
The City Council is concerned that the historical importance of Salem will be forgotten in the circus-like atmosphere of fortune-tellers everywhere.
The psychics, on the other hand, are worried about the competition. Or at least that’s what it looks like from here.
Another psychic store owner, Teri Kalgren, thinks the idea of caps should be open for discussion. But Kalgren adds that the business is ‘feast or famine.’
City officials themselves acknowledge that most of the psychics in Salem are only open for a few weeks in October.
It’s a fascinating problem. I can see that gimmicky fortune-telling neon might cheapen a downtown. But if that’s the issue, maybe the controls should be put on trashy store-fronts rather than psychics themselves.
And if it really is only for a few weeks a year, I’m not sure what harm the readers are doing. I imagine they’re satisfying a demand.
For a town nicknamed, The Witch City, it shouldn’t be surprising that people flock there for divinatory adventure. Psychics are part of the fun.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. I look forward to hearing what the people of Salem decide.
So Paul the Octopus is back in the news. Besides Nostradamus, he’s got to be the most famous psychic in the world. His fame though, is well deserved.
Not only was he able to correctly predict outcomes in the 2010 World Cup, he was also able to get his human companions to understand his predictions.
Quite a feat for any psychic, even Nostradamus. For a cephalopod, it was truly remarkable.
Nostradamus
Happily, Paul’s work will not be forgotten. The Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, were he lived and divined, has erected a monument to his memory.
Unveiled last Thursday, the memorial is a six-foot plastic replica of Paul clutching a soccer ball in his tentacles.
His ashes are inside the ball, in a gold-leaf urn designed in his image.
A beautiful tribute.
And stay tuned, Reuters is reporting that an American produced documentary is in the works. Can’t wait.
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Have you put these Tarot conferences in your calendar yet? If not, do it now and start planning your trip.
They’re going to be amazing events, gathering the community and taking Tarot way beyond its little white books.
New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Ste. Suzanne, France. You’d want to go to these places anyway. Tarot only makes them that much more excellent.
Reader’s Studio 2011 (RS11)
New York, New York, USA
April 29 – May 1, 2011
The Tarot School’s Reader’s Studio is one of the most eagerly anticipated Tarot events of the year.
This annual conference, organized by Ruth and Wald Amberstone, has been growing into one of the largest Tarot conventions anywhere. It’s going to be absolutely brilliant in 2011.
Key note speakers this year are: Caitlin Matthews, Corrine Kenner and Barbara Moore.
And rumor has it, our very own Theresa Reed, aka The Tarot Lady will be teaching a workshop there as well.
The Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS)
San Francisco, California, USA
August 27-28, 2011
Produced by Thalassa, in association with the Daughters of Divination, this Tarot gathering is not to be missed.
2011 marks their 20th anniversary making BATS the longest running Tarot conference in the US (maybe the world). No surprise why – it’s great!
Speakers announced so far include: Mary K. Greer, Barbara Moore, Corrine Kenner, Nacy Antenucci and Rev. Gina Pace.
ATS Tarot Convention
September 23-25, 2011
Ste Suzanne, Mayenne, France
Study Tarot’s history and esoteric connections in the most gorgeous of settings. The conference is organized by Jean-Claude Flornoy and the Association for Tarot Studies. It’s sure to be incredible.
Some of the speakers scheduled include: Enrique Enriquez, Marcus Katz, Christine Payne-Towler and Mafalda Serrano.
The World Tarot Congress IV
Chicago, Illinois, USA
July 5-8, 2012
After a decade, Janet Berres’ World Tarot Congress is finally back and it looks like it’s going to have been well worth the wait.
Featured speakers already announced include: Robert Place, Rachel Pollack, Mary K. Greer, Lon Milo Duquette, Marcus Katz and Dr. Art Rosengarten. Many more are to be announced as we get closer to the event.
Yesterday, Germany’s highest court ruled in favour of a Tarot reader whose dissatisfied customer refused to pay his bill.
The customer, a man in his mid-40s, had already paid the reader 35,000 euros (about $45,000) for reading services and life-coaching. Somewhere along the line, he decided he didn’t trust her anymore and refused to pay the outstanding balance of 6,700 euros.
Lower courts threw out the case last year, claiming that since magic didn’t exist, the Tarot reader couldn’t have a contract with her client. On appeal however, the High Court disagreed.
Fortune-telling, provable or not, could be subject to a binding contract. The judges determined that two parties are free to enter an agreement about something that is ‘irrational’. What’s not allowed is exploitation and fraud.
If the customer knew from the start that there was no rational evidence that Tarot cards worked, he was obligated to pay his bill.
So the case is returning to the lower courts to decide whether or not there was a contract. The customer is expected to argue that there was not.
Upset that his girlfriend had just left him and feeling that there was no meaning in his life, he’s likely to argue that he was ‘gullible’, and that any contract he and the reader had was void.
The High Court warned though, that such an argument will be tough to make. As they correctly point out, most people who go to fortune-tellers are distressed about their life. How is he different?
According to the court, the contract would only be determined void if the customer was unusually inexperienced, psychologically weak or credulous.
From my personal perspective as a Tarot reader, I see this as a damp victory.
It’s great that the reader’s right to enter into a binding contract with her client was recognized. It’s not so great that Tarot reading was deemed ‘irrational’.
Last August, Ocean Kinge got a strong feeling that she was going to win the lottery. And she did.
As Kinge described it to the BBC, “Out of the blue one day I just said: ‘Let’s start a lottery syndicate because I’ve just got a really strong feeling we are going to win a big win at the end of the year’.”
She felt she had to do it as part of a group, so she gathered up 14 others from West London Training where she works.
On Christmas Eve they won the EuroMillions Raffle. Each one of her group will receive £66,666.66 or about $100,000 USD. Not bad.
Kinge says she’s been psychic for years, but can’t pick lottery numbers. Maybe not, but it sounds like she knows when to buy a ticket.
A couple of days ago, I posted a piece about fortune telling becoming a legally recognized profession in Romania. I ended the post by saying taxation for these services was still in question.
What was actually in question was whether or not Romanian witches would follow up on threats they were making to curse Senators bold enough to tax them.
According to news reports, as taxation moves forward, they intend to act on their threats. Or at least Bratara Buzea, seen in the video below, does.
Not all fortune tellers agree with Buzea. Some, like Mihaela Minca, think the new law is good. “It means that our magic gifts are recognized and I can open my own practice.”
It’s possible that his fame would have been longer-lived had he himself lived longer, but there’s no doubt he was a star. Not to mention, a fine representative for the psychic community.
His accurate, impartial predictions were an inspiration to all. Congratulations Paul.
With the passing of Paul the Psychic Octopus, the aquarium wondered if they had an oracle of their own who might carry on Paul’s legacy. Though they have an octopus, they chose to go with this little monkey instead.
They seem to have chosen right. So far at least.
Like Paul’s, Jack’s methods are straightforward. He’s presented with two dishes of food, each dish with a flag on it representing the teams at play.
If he eats from a bowl, that team is his pick to win. If he skips the snack, he’s calling it a draw. Apparently banana flavoured baby food is his medium of choice.
According to Anna Etchells from the Aquarium, if Jack manages to call the entire Ashes series, it would equate to odds of 243 to one.
Have you put these Tarot conferences in your calendar yet? If not, do it now and start planning your trip.