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.