practical magic
Hi, I've spent a portion of my day reading old threads here pertaining to the legality of tarot, "fortune telling" and other forms of divination in the US, Canada, and elsewhere, and to put it mildly I'm really confused.
Take, for example, Section 365 of the Canadian Criminal code which makes reference to fortune telling, which says:
Every one who fraudulently
(a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration,
(b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or
(c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
...yet I know that there are tarot readers reading in Canada, and in my province specifically there is one who charges $30 for 15 minutes, $60 for 30 minutes... and if tarot itself were illegal, I doubt my local Chapters' selection of tarot decks would be growing. Yet there is a lot of talk about tarot in relation to this chapter of the Criminal Code which is still on the books and is still (although rarely) being used.
I tried asking a local tarot reader (one who charges money and reads in a shop) what exactly they do to avoid coming on the wrong side of this, but she was no help. I'm just starting to gain confidence with tarot and I would love nothing more than to say "yes" to the requests I've said to read for charitable events, but I want to do it right... and as I say, I'm confused. One website says that even reading for free is punishable under the law. Isn't there an incredibly thin line between "fortune telling" and any type of divination?
I know that you all can't offer legal advice, but if you're in Canada, or another place with a similarly archaic law, and you read tarot... what's your experience?
Take, for example, Section 365 of the Canadian Criminal code which makes reference to fortune telling, which says:
Every one who fraudulently
(a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration,
(b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or
(c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
...yet I know that there are tarot readers reading in Canada, and in my province specifically there is one who charges $30 for 15 minutes, $60 for 30 minutes... and if tarot itself were illegal, I doubt my local Chapters' selection of tarot decks would be growing. Yet there is a lot of talk about tarot in relation to this chapter of the Criminal Code which is still on the books and is still (although rarely) being used.
I tried asking a local tarot reader (one who charges money and reads in a shop) what exactly they do to avoid coming on the wrong side of this, but she was no help. I'm just starting to gain confidence with tarot and I would love nothing more than to say "yes" to the requests I've said to read for charitable events, but I want to do it right... and as I say, I'm confused. One website says that even reading for free is punishable under the law. Isn't there an incredibly thin line between "fortune telling" and any type of divination?
I know that you all can't offer legal advice, but if you're in Canada, or another place with a similarly archaic law, and you read tarot... what's your experience?