Tarot 'readers' on the run from Law.

news article last night (NSW Australia) Police are hunting a couple who offered Tarot and psychic readings for (gullible) people, then ripped off their money and jewelry. people were asked to bring in their jewelry for a 'blessing' and also scads of cash (for a blessing?) then did the bolt with it.

All through the news story was an image of someone reading Rider-Waite deck.

Most of the victims seemed elderly. One woman said she thought it strange that she should withdraw her savings and take it with her (!!!!????) but she 'trusted' them.

Some people must be really REALLY gullible!

It's stupid crap like this and horrible cons like those people that give us genuine readers a bad name. It's shameful.

What goes around, comes around. These people will get theirs back Poor elderly people though, things have changed so much for them....my how times were different back in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's....

I feel bad for elderly people sometimes, things really HAVE changed. But on the other hand, when times change, shouldn't people change WITH them? And you could say, "Well, they're old. Give them a break," but my grandfather's old, and he's not gullible. He's much more clever than my mother. I don't know... I guess I don't have a lot of sympathy for people. I mean, giving a stranger your life's savings? I don't think so.

Ask P.T. Barnum about suckers and how often one's born....

It's almost a matter of time before someone comes along and fleeces them in the name of spirit (be that to a Tarot reader, or a televangelist... people seem to love to give their money away to buy their faith)?

The "Tarot readers" should be imprisoned and paper-cut with their own Tarot cards while hanging upside down, having lemon juice slowly dripped onto each and every wound.

Maybe the blame for this should lie firmly on the scam artists' shoulders rather than the mostly elderly victims.

I dunno, caridwen. I disagree. It takes two to tango. There's just as much karma on the giver's behalf as there is on the scammer's.

A lot of folks who run to Tarot readers are the "Chariot reversed," they want someone else to come along and pick up the reins, make their decisions and guide their Chariot, because the decision-making is "too hard". And many do, because they don't want to have to deal with making the "Wrong" decision, so they'll pay someone else to tell me what to do... then, even if it's the wrong decision in the long run, it wasn't *my* decision.

There's a karmic lesson to be learned by all - I don't know why these people had to lose their money, but I do hope in the process they found their true faith (*that* would be worth the loss, I reckon).

I see the very elderly as I see the very young, vulnerable and in need of society's protection and help. Therefore, I would not blame an eldery person for being mugged or being too trusting. Just as I would not blame a child for not being streetwise enough.

I dont' see a karmic lesson here, only sadness that people would take advantage of those in the most need or like I said, the most vulnerable. There is a blame culture out there and it's about time the blame was firmly planted on the liars, cheats and scam artists and not their victims.

As to the victims' mental capacities, I think it depends. I saw my grandfather go through senile dementia for over 3 years and I could imagine this being him. Not in the later stages, but right at the beginning when he was losing connections in his head. Because he was losing logical connections between things, he began to depend on his family (us and his daughters and their kids) for help in telling him what to do and managing his affairs.

So he might think that we should do "X" but then we'd have to tell him that a. we lived in a different state or b. it was the wrong time of year or c. that just wasn't a good idea. He grew very trusting, which was good because we never took advantage of him, but I could see that if we hadn't been around...if there were no kids around helping and protecting these people...then he could have been open game for all kinds of people. He was very trusting of most people (except those he sometimes took a rational or irrational dislike to) and I could see him being told that he should get a reading and then doing something like that.

caridwen said:

I see the very elderly as I see the very young, vulnerable and in need of society's protection and help. Therefore, I would not blame an eldery person for being mugged or being too trusting. Just as I would not blame a child for not being streetwise enough.

I dont' see a karmic lesson here, only sadness that people would take advantage of those in the most need or like I said, the most vulnerable. There is a blame culture out there and it's about time the blame was firmly planted on the liars, cheats and scam artists and not their victims.

Click to expand...

I agree with all of this!

I don't wish to be seen as part of a blame culture, only trying to see a more objective (or subjective, depending) view of it all.

The difference I see in an older person being mugged and a old person giving their money and valuables to a fake reader is a matter of choice. A person being mugged took no choice in the attack. A person giving away their valuables made a choice, albeit a bad one.

Unfortunately, yes, any exploitive readers are too many. And they're out there. (The Magician, reversed?)