The Tarot Room – Georgianna

It might soon be legal to open a psychic business in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Last week, the Gaithersburg City Council proposed amendments to the city code that will repeal the present ban on fortune-telling businesses.

They also introduced changes to the city’s zoning laws to establish where such businesses may be located.

Until the zoning amendments are finalized, however, Gaithersburg will retain the right to deny applications for psychic business licenses.

According to the Gaithersburg Patch, Council expects a zoning proposal to be brought before them within the next few months.

comment on this post

Back in May, Selma, California City Council reviewed a ban on fortune-telling within their city limits that had been in effect since 1979. They decided then to rescind the law, but in its place put new conditions on such businesses.

Last week, council voted to add fourteen new conditions for getting a psychic business license in Selma. As reported by the HanfordSentinal.com, these conditions include:

•zoning bylaws that keep fortune tellers out of the central business district and at least 300 feet from parks, schools, or churches

•age restrictions on clients – you must be 18 or over to get a reading

•neon signage can only be used if it cannot be seen from outside of the business

These rules are in addition to getting a criminal background check. The check is meant to restrict anyone with a criminal record, or persons convicted of civil fraud from getting a license.

It was Stephanie Davis, a local palm-reader wanting to relocate her business to Selma, who opened the issue in the first place.

Her lawyer, Dennis Beaver, has maintained that the original ban was illegal per the constitution, as are some of the new regulations.

Some Selma citizens and council members disagree and are still calling for more restrictions, or a reinstatement of the former ban.

comment on this post

‘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.

comment on this post

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.

comment on this post

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.

comment on this post

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.

comment on this post

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.

The final vote goes to Council April 17th.

comment on this post

Wow, Tarot isn’t usually so partisan, but I guess it’s all about what deck you use.

Putin’s win yesterday was obviously in the cards. I hope he doesn’t break this poor voter’s heart.

comment on this post

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.

comment on this post

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.

comment on his post