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.
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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.
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