It’s not that the library or librarians think there’s anything wrong with these books. In fact they guard them carefully behind the front desk. It’s that when they lend books like these out, they don’t seem to come back.
The library used to buy two copies of the ones they thought might walk, but they don’t bother anymore. Apparently they’re so sure these books will be stolen that now they only purchase one for reference. And they keep their eyes on it.
Speculating on why people steal occult themed books, deputy director and reference librarian, Ellen Gilliam said she wasn’t sure how many are stolen because people want them versus how many are taken because people disapprove of the public library having them.
Teen Witch
Lisa Neal-Shaw is the Secretary of the Maine Library Association’s executive council. She says “It’s like you know as soon as you order them; it’s almost like you have a betting pool. Anything to do with Wicca, witchcraft, supernatural, things like that. Especially the spells.”
At her library, the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle, the occult books are often stolen off the shelf rather than checked out and not returned.
Neal-Shaw thinks some people might just be afraid to have other people think they’re into the ‘weird’ stuff. She thinks they’d rather steal a book than let a librarian know they’re looking at it, let alone have their reading choice on record.
All I’ve got to say to the book stealers is – whatever you’re reason, stop it!! Don’t be afraid of reading what you want and letting other people know. And certainly don’t be trying to stop anyone else from reading something you disapprove of.
We want these books available for everyone and libraries can’t afford to keep replacing them. Not to mention, I think it’s bad karma to steal. To steal something for the spirit seems especially dangerous.
Caitlin Burke solved the Wheel of Fortune puzzle I’ve Got A Good Feeling About This with only the L and the apostrophe on the board. It must have been one extra good feeling, maybe even a psychic one. I wonder if she’s thought about reading cards.
And it’s fabulous that this happened on the Wheel of Fortune, the game show with the Tarot card name. I’ve always loved that giant wheel and it’s most excellent clicking sound.
As I wrote about yesterday regarding Jay-Z, J.K. Rowling has also been dealing with occult controversy for years. Ever since her Harry Potter first hit the streets, people have been tearing the books apart looking for signs.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Some Christians have slammed them as being a satanic influence on children and a stepping stone into the demonic world of the occult. Others have come to their defense, even going so far as to say that Harry is an allegory for Christ.
It’s possible that Rowling, a Christian herself, was trying to write Christian novels hidden in magical storylines. As far as I know though, she’s never said so.
Isn’t it more likely that she’s been using themes of death and magic to write stories about a good guy hero going through the trials and tribulations of growing up. Can’t we find similar stories throughout cultures and time? Hasn’t anyone read Joseph Campbell?
Harry is on the hero’s journey. Maybe his story sounds more Christian than not, but does it really have to be either biblical or satanic? A good story, like a good Tarot deck, can be read from many perspectives.
Unless Rowling comes right out and says “Harry Potter is Jesus” or a Tarot designer says “the Hierophant is the Pope”, why insist on locking it down?
Let a symbol be a symbol, and an archetype breathe. Name them if you like and learn from them, but don’t get hung up on which team they play. More often than not, they play for them all.
Is Jay-Z an occultist, a freemason, a member of the secret Illuminati? Seems like a crazy question to me, but apparently some of the symbols in his videos are raising eyebrows.
The question is crazy because – who cares? At least that’s my take. But I guess some people do. And I’d have to agree that some of the symbols in his videos are also symbols used by various ‘occult’ or secret/hidden societies. In fact, you can find most of them in a single pack of Tarot cards. But so what?
If Jay-Z is part of some secret group, it’s still a secret. His videos haven’t shown me where to sign up for the Occult. And I could only dream that he’s a Tarot reader. If he is, we definitely want him on Beyond Worlds or Psychic Friends Live.
Take a look at what occult expert Mitch Horowitz has to say about the whole thing. He’s recently published a book about the Occult in America and is especially good at finding hidden codes and other open secrets.
Some pranksters in the UK thought they were pretty funny this week when they added a note to a sign outside a Psychic Fair.
The official sign said ‘Psychic Fayre Here’. The jokesters added, “Due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been postponed”. Ha ha.
Apparently the organizers of the event were unaware of the addition to their sign and couldn’t figure out why people kept asking them if the fair was cancelled.
Animal intuitive, Joanne Hull, was on the British television show, This Morning back in April. She did a reading for host Holly Willoughby and her cat Roxy. Apparently, the cat told the intuitive that Willoughby (a new mother) would be pregnant again within the next few months.
Well the news is out and guess what? Willoughby’s just announced that she’s expecting. Did the cat see into the future or did it simply know the couple weren’t using birth control?
Either way it’s kind of interesting. Not so much the animal/human communication part, or even that the cat might be psychic. It’s that it’s such a gossip.
I just read about a group of Tarot lovers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They call themselves the Winnipeg Tarot Company and were founded by Lorri Millan and Shawna Dempsey. They and their pack of prairie prognosticators sound so fun I wish they were here! But they probably wouldn’t want to be. Winnipeg is their love and they’re spreading Tarot all over it.
Winnipeg Tarot Co. Deck
First off, they’ve made a deck dedicated to their beloved city. It was created by Millan and Dempsey and illustrated by Bonnie Marin. As they describe it, “Each card depicts one of the mysterious and mystical energies that inform ‘One Great City’.”
The Major Arcana features local Winnipeg icons while the four suits are Blizzards, Floods, Drought and Lightning. Everything from mosquitoes to the Blue Bombers, Slurpees to K-tel have been transformed into the magical. It sounds like a Canadian Tarotist’s dream. Try it out with a free reading here.
But it wasn’t enough to just design and publish a deck, these oracles literally took it to the streets. Last month, every day, they set out around town doing free Tarot readings with their Winnipeg Tarot Co. Deck. Watch the video on their home page. They’re fabulous!!
The Winnipeg Tarot Company doesn’t accept cash for readings, but they do expect payment. After each session, the readers asked for a story about Winnipeg. And they got lots. They gathered them all up and you can hear some of them here.
What a great way to spread the fun of the Tarot while celebrating your city. I love it! Let’s do it in Toronto!
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.
On the block will be first editions of books like Francis Potters’ 1642 classic, An Interpretation of the Number 666 and the earliest treatise on cryptography from 1561, Polygraphie et Uniuerselle escriture Cabalistique by Johanne Trithemius.
The definitive book on the theory and practice of witch hunting, Jean Bodin’sLa Demonomanie des Sorciers, from 1598 will be there. As will the more devotional, and significantly more expensive, illuminated 15th century manuscript of the Book of Hours in Latin and French, on vellum in colours and gold. This one comes with a bonus 2 large and 13 small miniatures. I bet they’re gorgeous!
There’s also a set of the second Estienne Hebrew “pocket” Bible from the French Renaissance. You’d need quite a pocket though. This Bible has 17 parts in 8 volumes. And among several early medical and scientific books is a first edition of the first complete textbook of astronomy in Hebrew.
Not many of us can afford books like these, but if you’re in NYC November 5th, 6th, 8th or the morning of the 9th, you can go to the gallery and take a look at them. If I were there, I might.
Our beloved Paul the Octopus has passed, but there are other psychic animals out there ready to read on demand.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand had one at their Indian wedding the other day. An unnamed fortune-telling parrot with his Guru human friend read cards for the newlyweds and their guests.
Happily, the pretty polly predicted long life, happy marriage and long successful careers for both bride and groom. I wish them that too. And I’d like to get that parrot on Beyond Worlds.
