‘Fortune-telling’ might soon be legal in Selma, California.
Selma City Council will hold a public meeting today to discuss rescinding the present ban on psychic businesses. If they decide to drop the ban, new laws will be established to regulate such businesses.
Recommendations include criminal background checks for psychic readers seeking a business license, and zoning bylaws to restrict where psychic businesses can set up shop.
The present ban has been in place since 1979. A similar ban in nearby Azusa, California was struck down as unconstitutional in 1985.
It’s official, licenses for psychic businesses in Salem, Massachusetts are once again being issued.
As I posted last week, City Council temporarily suspended the issuance of licenses for new psychic businesses in July of 2011. Last Thursday, they voted to accept a new ordinance regulating such businesses.
Per the new law, only stores that dedicate at least 75% of their goods and services to fotunetelling and related products will be eligible for a psychic business license. This percentage has been increased from 51%.
The move was made to support psychic merchants who devote their business to the trade and to discourage psychics from setting up shop in businesses unrelated to fortunetelling, like clothing stores or coffee shops.
And there’s more Tarot and the law news this week … Salem, Massachusetts might begin issuing new licenses for psychic businesses starting May 1st.
Since July of last year, there’s been a moratorium on the issuance of licenses to new psychic businesses in Salem.
Council members have been reviewing the present regulations and have drawn up a new ordinance to be heard at City Council this coming Thursday.
According to The Salem News, under the new rules, a ‘fortuneteller’ license would only be issued to a business that devotes at least 75 percent of its goods and services to fortunetelling and related products.
The old rules required only 51 percent of a business to be designated as such.
These changes are expected to reduce the number of licenses issued for psychic businesses in the city.
Earlier this month, the Board of Aldermen for Somerville, Massachusetts, passed an ordinance requiring ‘fortunetellers’ to obtain a license before opening a business in Somerville.
According to the Somerville Patch, the ordinance defines ‘fortunetelling’ as …
… the telling of fortunes, forecasting of futures, or reading the past, by means of any occult, psychic power, faculty, force, clairvoyance, cartomancy, psychometry, phrenology, spirits, tea leaves, tarot cards, scrying, coins, sticks, dice, sand, coffee grounds, crystal gazing or other such reading, or through mediumship, seership, prophecy, augury, astrology, palmistry, necromancy, mindreading, telepathy talisman, charm, potion, magnetism, magnetized article or substance, or by any such similar thing or act.
In an attempt to keep convicted frauds from obtaining a fortunetelling license, readers must now undergo a criminal background check, as well as provide the city with information about any consumer complaints that may have been lodged against them.
Fines for violating the ordinance will be $100 for the first offense, increasing up to $300 for subsequent offenses.
Opening a psychic shop or tattoo parlour just got a little less expensive in San Clemente, California.
Until last week, if you wanted to open either type of business in San Clemente, you would be charged a daily license tax of $20. That’s just over $7,000 a year.
In comparison, medical offices pay on average $400 a year, while most auto-mechanic shops pay about $600.
Thanks to tattoo artist Susie Floyd who challenged the city, Council voted 5-0 last week to do away with the unfair fee schedule and to treat psychic and tattoo businesses the same as others in the area.
Last year, the Court of Appeal in Brisbane, Australia, upheld an appeal by a man jailed for allegedly committing arson.
A new trial will be set for him later this year, but reasons for the court’s decision were made public earlier this month.
Officially, the appeal was upheld because the accused had not been given the chance to present expert opinion on some vital evidence.
What’s more interesting though was a second grounds for appeal that was not considered by the court, though it would have been had the case not already been decided.
Apparently, one of the jurors was a psychic medium. She told the jury speaker, and then the judge, that though she was not trying to use her psychic powers to make judgment on the case, she had a strong sense of what really went down with the fire.
Though the defense requested that the entire jury be dismissed in case the psychic had influenced them beyond the evidence at hand, the judge decided to dismiss only the psychic herself.
I’m particular interested in this case because a number of years back, I was deemed ‘unacceptable’ as a jury member because I told the court I was a Tarot reader.
It was a bit insulting at the time, especially since it was the other jury members who rejected me, not the lawyers or the judge.
Ultimately though, it was probably a blessing in disguise. I didn’t really want to sit on a jury.
And truth be told, if they were worried I might pull cards on the case, they were probably right to be concerned. I’m sure I would have controlled myself from doing so, but it would have been very tempting.
Not that I thought I was the only one, but now I’m sure that other people are pulling cards on the news as much as I am.
Tarot Politico is a regular blogger for the Huffington Post who uses her Tarot cards to get to the heart of today’s political issues.
She’s an intuitive from Georgetown, who’s been reading cards since the nineties, and involved in politics her whole life.
The piece I just read was a reading on Ron Paul and his place in the Republican establishment. It was fascinating, and I thought very insightful both politically and from a Tarot point of view.
If you’re interested in this sort of stuff, visit the Tarot Politico blog. I think it’s great, and just love when people use the cards this way.
According to the Boston Herald, seven Boston psychic businesses were asked to appear before the city Licensing Board last week, after being cited for license violations.
To obtain a psychic business license in Boston, the applicant must prove to the city that they are registered voters and that they have not been convicted of any state or federal crimes.
They must also prove that not only their landlord approves of their business, but also those residents who might live or work on either side.
Psychic businesses are also required to clearly list their services, and how much each will cost.
I’m not sure how the meeting went, or what specific violations each of the businesses had, but if I learn more, I’ll let you know.
Last week, city commissioners in Leavenworth, Kansas began discussing the possibility of repealing a city ban on fortune-telling that’s been on the books for ages.
Presently, the ordinance states that it is ‘unlawful for any fortuneteller, palmist, phrenologist or clairvoyant to carry on or practice his business, trade or profession within the city.’
Commissioners are considering repealing this law, and instead regulating psychic businesses through licensing, zoning, and possibly criminal background checks.
The whole discussion surrounding the ban came about after a Leavenworth resident requested last December that it be repealed.
The ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri backed up the resident’s request by notifying city officials that psychic speech was protected under the First Amendment.
No decision has yet been made, but further discussion will take place after commissioners have had time to review their options.
