City acts to protect citizens from unlicensed, amateur witchcraft

[KaeZoo]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...magic_numbers/

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I spent a little time in Salem couple years ago. I thought it was awesome. But here's the thing...nobody who was killed during the witch trials was actually a witch. So why is it a witch mecca now?

[NightAngel]

MOD MODE:

Being a Wiccan myself I know how easily and quickly Salem Witch Trials discussions can turn as ugly as debates/discussions about any other religion/religious history. (I have very strong feelings/opinions myself.)

That said:

Let's make sure we stick to facts/opinions about the city ordinance and not let emotions turn this thread into something that needs closed.

Carry on.

[cinema guy]

"We hold people's lives in the palm of our hand sometimes."

That made me

[KaeZoo]

Being a libertarian, my first thought was how licensing regulations are so often used by established professionals to keep down the competition. For example, in Louisiana anyone who wants to call themselves a "florist" has to pass a State-mandated written and a practical test...graded by existing florists.

It just surprised and amused me to see this kind of thing among psychics, palm-readers and fortunetellers. As always, those who are established in a profession never seem to have any qualms against using the law to keep down the upstarts. It's always justified in terms of "protecting the consumer".

From a closer reading of the article, it appears that Salem has licensed its practicing witches for over a decade, with a population-based limit to the number of licenses. However, until now there hasn't been any penalty for practicing without a license.

[ladyklack]

Ack, this article only tells half the story. I happen to know the people who drafted the new psychic ordinance for salem. It's a wonderful thing that the city has finally opened up and allowed more people licences to read during the halloween season. The restrictions about being a salem resident and passing a background check are all thats needed to protect people, and the psychics that are putting up a fuss are doing so because they fear that this will cut into their business. Frankly, with over 100,000 visitors in one month alone having 50 psychics instead of 5 is not going to hurt anyones business. The old, now defunct, rules for getting a psychic licence prevented many local business owners from being able to run psychic fairs. The people that they interviewed in this article spoke out against the new ordinance only because, up until recently, they were among the 4 or 5 people that were actually able to get reading licences for halloween. For every one of those people I know at least 10 others who will now be able to work as psychics in october, each and every one of them a resident of salem.

Sorry for the rant.