In June, the Salem town council eased its rules on fortune tellers — or, to be more specific, those locals who are engaged in “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, coffee grounds, crystal gazing or other such reading, or through mediumship, seership, prophecy, augury, astrology, palmistry, necromancy, mind-reading, telepathy or other craft, art, science, talisman, charm, potion, magnetism, magnetized article or substance, or by any such similar thing or act. Salem may have been where witches were once tried and executed by puritans, but — thanks to the magic of branding — it has since become a mecca for witches and others involved in the occult arts, as well as for tourists. Laurie Cabot, whom then Governor Michael Dukakis once named the “official witch of Salem,” has reportedly made common cause with some of the store owners in complaining that the new rules will increase the quantity and decrease the quality of psychics. In the period between the last public meeting about the statute and its passage, the Salem News reported that someone had left a raccoon skull and intestines in front of two of the stores, a gesture many involved in the controversy seem to think was part of an attempt at “dark magic. read more
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