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.
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’.
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.”
Starting in 1774 with Ann Lee, aka Mother Ann of the Shaking Quakers, he traces the American Occult movement through to the present-day New Age scene. Horowitz examines the influence of groups like the Freemasons, Rosecrucians, and Spiritualists on not only religion in America, but politics as well.
Victoria Woodhull
He frequently points to the close connections between the American occult, abolitionists and suffragette movements. Philosophies of equality, democracy and personal strength ran deeply through them all and have been part of American culture from its very inception.
Horowitz details the history of the Burned-Over District and the Psychic Highway. He introduces us to characters like Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer, and Jemima Wilkinson, who was the first American-born woman to found a spiritual order.
Students of American social, religious or political history should take a look. But if you’re in the psychic or occult field, especially if you’re American, Occult America should be on your must-read list.
Not only are you likely to learn a lot, you’ll have a great time doing it.
Senator Joseph Getty, R-District 5, intends to introduce legislation to repeal Carroll County Maryland’s ban on fortune tellers.
Presently, Carroll’s code says, “a person may not demand or accept payment or gratuity to forecast or foretell, or pretend to forecast or foretell the future of another person by: 1. reading a card; 2. reading the palm of a hand; or 3. any other scheme, practice or device.”
Violators could face a $100 fine and/or up to six months in the Carroll Detention Center.
The prohibition on accepting payment for divining and/or pretending to divine, was put into the Carroll County Code in 2002, after the state removed it from the criminal code. In Maryland, both Caroline and Talbot Counties also specifically ban payment for divination.
A decision by Maryland’s Supreme Court this past June determined that a similar prohibition in Montgomery County was an unconstitutional restriction on protected speech.
Citing this case, Getty said a prohibition on fortune telling in Carroll County is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
According to the Carroll County Times, neither the Carroll County Board of Commissioners nor the delegation of the General Assembly had any objections to changing the county code through legislation.
Power to you Senator Getty. And thank you to Ariel Harper Nave, the astrologer who brought this issue to his attention.
Good news. The Saudi Arabian Supreme Court has refused to ratify the death sentence of Lebanese psychic, Ali Sibat. He had been convicted of practicing witchcraft and sentenced to death last November.
Prior to his arrest, Sibat was a psychic talk-show host on Lebanese satellite TV. He took calls, told fortunes and gave advice. Though legal in Lebanon, such activities are illegal in Saudi Arabia. He never did a show from Saudi Arabia, but in 2008 he was arrested there while on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Medina.
This past Thursday, a three-judge panel ruled that the death sentence was inappropriate because there was no proof that others were harmed as a result of his actions. His case is to be retried in a Medina court and the judges recommended that the sentence be commuted and Sibat deported.
Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa programme, said in a statement this week,
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a welcome step and may lead to Ali Hussain Sibat’s no longer facing the death penalty. However, we continue to urge that he be immediately released as he was convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.”
I agree. May Ali Sibat be returned home safe and soon.
California welfare recipients will no longer be able to use their state issued ATM cards at psychic shops. I’m sort of surprised they ever could. But no more … psychics and fortunetellers are now on the list of businesses considered ‘inconsistent with the intent’ of the program.
Other businesses removed from the network accepting California’s Electronic Benefits Transfer cards are medical marijuana shops, bail bond establishments, bingo halls, cruise ships, casinos and tattoo parlors.
Today is election day here in Toronto, so I’m interested, and maybe even heartened, by the appearance of the Hermit as the Card of the Day.
I’m hoping it reflects how our City’s population will consider the vote for School Trustees, City Councillors and Mayor.
Wisdom, knowledge through experience, considered thinking, and respect for the welfare of others are all gifts of the Hermit. His approach is serious and reflective. Glitz and showy manoeuvres are not his style, though bringing light to the dark is a primary aspiration.
I’m hoping too that those elected will take the energy of the Hermit to heart. They will be charged with a serious obligation, one that influences the lives of millions of people within and beyond our city limits. Whoever wins, may wisdom and humility rule their time in office.
Good luck and fair play to all.
And to any Torontonians that haven’t yet voted …. get out and do it now! Everyone’s voice matters. Let’s hear yours.
Hey! Take a look at this video! It’s our good friend Chanah Liora Weizenberg doing a reading about the upcoming gubernatorial election in Massachusetts.
