talkmagic.co.uk

How do those of you who do cold reading cope with the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951?

Is it enough to say "The 1951 law obliges me to say that this is done solely for the purpose of entertainment. You are free to make of that what you will"?

Clearly, I mean in circumstances where you are not declaring it's CR.

ian69 wrote:How do those of you who do cold reading cope with the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951?

They ignore it.
Nobody ever get prosecuted for it, so it's not really worth worrying about.

Ian69 I fear you've opened a very big can or worms so let's try to keep this civil, on focus and free of the "Prove it to me" rhetoric so many people want to toss in on this type of issue. You question has little to nothing to do with the validity of things psychic or paranormal but is akin to some of the fortuneteller laws we have here in the states. The purpose of which is bi-fold; to protect citizens from possibly charlatan activity that is predatory such as that which was so prevailent during the hieght of the Spiritualists movement in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The second purpose of this law is to help sustain church based power and "authority" as being the only legit source for such inspiration... I know many don't want to believe that latter part but much of European and U.S. law was composed with strong religious influence in mind.

Now, when it comes to doing Readings you must understand that most people that do this work a.) Aren't predatory in their intent; b.) Don't use all the psychology, slight of hand and general cheats you've read about; and c.) Don't claim to be soothsayers, prophets or fortune tellers. They are in fact using a "legit" divination system as an oracle and the purpose behind this is to allow the sitter/client to take a look at their circumstances and get an alternate point of view or two. The majority of what happens in most sessions is that the Reader listens as the sitter answers their own questions and concerns... same as a shrink for about half the price and no drugs.

Even in the "Shut-eye" world there is an understanding that Divination is not the same thing as Prophecy, this is a fact that has been spoken on by most of the major Psychic personalities of the past century like Jean Dixon and Edgar Cayce. But, people confuse and mix these concepts which result in a good deal of misrepresentation that is both, incidental as well as intentional; the latter for the sake of manipulation be it to create fear over something or doubt.

Divination is not the same thing as Prophecy in that it allows the sitter/client it's freedom of will and choice which can result in major shifts in a given paradigm or "facts" as they were presented at the time of a session. This is known of by certain skeptic groups and exploited in that they recognize how people don't know the difference between prophecy and Divination e.g. they twist the issue so as to support their ideas. This is one of my bigger pet peeves when it comes to such intellectuals and trust me, the skeptics aren't the only people the manipulate such information... religonists have done it for more than a few centuries.

Prophecy on the other hand, has a whole new set of parameters woven in and around it and the biggest irony I find with it is the fact that it seems to be only 100% accurate in hindsight though there are those that are doing their damndest in our world to force certain "revelations" to come into fruition so as to "prove" the validity of their points of view. All I can say is JC is probably going to be rather pi**ed when he comes back and sees all the money changers in the temple again...

Very few municipalities enforce their Fortuneteller laws. Some communities, like Las Vegas and Los Angeles have taken the step of requiring an FBI background check and registration of persons working in the capacity of Psychic/Counselor due to the gross amount of predator activity found in those communities. This is a very expensive and time consuming process and believe me, it has reduced the amount of fraud waged against teh public under this guise to a significant degree; proving itself as the smarter action when it comes to weeding out the real crooks.

Fortune telling is actually illegal in the UK but the law is never enforced. If it were then every seaside gypsy would be out of business. Once in a blue moon a fortune teller is prosecuted but this is usually as a result of fraud or because of a complaint from the public.

The law is on a par with that of an old Scottish law that you cannot walk three abreast on a pavement. This law is still on the books but is not enforced just like the fortune telling laws.

Incidentally fortune telling in Britain is known amongst grafters and other wicked people such as myself as "working the tick off"

Now you know.

In Canada in certain jurisdictions you have to have a psychic's licence I kid you not. I have a licence to read palms and tarot cards in Winnipeg, Manitoba although it is very out of date now.

Who cares? Winnipeg is too bloody cold anyway.

Well people HAVE been prosecuted (about 7 in the last 20 years) resulting in 6 convictions.

I could really do without the conviction and criminal record, esp. as a former prison officer.

So I was wondering if the entertainment disclaimer was enough.

FWIW, if somebody was prosecuted I wonder if a "well the churches claim to talk to dead people every Sunday" would be a good defence.

Since there are hundreds of fortune tellers in the UK I think if only 7 in 20 years have been prosecuted it is pretty good going. I am sure that the ones who have been prosecuted were up to various scams that I don't have the space to get into now.

If you want proof that the odds are in your favour get hold of Prediction Magazine in the UK (if it is still going) and look at the psychic consultants section. You will realise that psychics abound in the UK as they do virtually everywhere else.

In fact in Toronto where I have been doing readings for years psychic readings are illegal. I once got hired to do a hypnosis show at a psychic fair but the bad publicity in British newspapers about the subject scared the assistant to the promoter and she panicked and wanted to know if Stage Hypnosis was legal in Canada and specifically Ontario. The promoter who was wise in the ways of the world said "Let Mark do his thing. Hell- the whole psychic fair is illegal!"

If it makes Ian feel better there are a couple of books on cold reading by a chap called Hobrin. His real name is Brian Howard and he is from Sheffield.
What was his former profession? He is an ex-policeman. He doesn't seem to be worried and neither should you.

Instead of the legality of the matter you should be worried about the ethical implications. You can do so much good for people but you can also do so much harm. You are always walking an ethical tightrope as a psychic. Don't fall off.

I really wouldn't worry about it. A "Fraudulent Medium" is a class of fraudster who uses supposed mediumship as a means to execute a clear fraud. As far as I know, the Act outlaws the deliberate defrauding of people by those who claim that not only are they in direct and personal contact with a dearly missed dead relative, but that the said relative is so pleased to be in contact with you again that he wants you to give the operator a lot of cash or your pension book for making it all possible.

Tomo wrote:I really wouldn't worry about it. A "Fraudulent Medium" is a class of fraudster who uses supposed mediumship as a means to execute a clear fraud. As far as I know, the Act outlaws the deliberate defrauding of people by those who claim that not only are they in direct and personal contact with a dearly missed dead relative, but that the said relative is so pleased to be in contact with you again that he wants you to give the operator a lot of cash or your pension book for making it all possible.

Very good point Tomo

So for as long as you don't do a 6th Sense type of thing, you're in the clear... soothsay all you want!

Then again... I believe Mr. Lewis can clarify the fact that "Casting Fortunes" is a highly misunderstood term by the laity. From their point of view it means that we (the Readers) are foretelling of future events. However, from our point of view it means we are doing the footwork for building upon our worldly fortune in both, cold cash and direct reputation.

If anybody read down to the bottom of the text of the law they would see

(5) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall apply to anything done solely for the purpose of entertainment

Doesn't that settle it?

Kati

It doesn't quite settle it because if someone comes to you for a private session it ain't entertainment. If fact even entertainment readings aren't entertainment since the sitter may still half believe you have powers even if they sat down with you for a bit of a laugh.

People even take newspaper horoscopes seriously. They shouldn't since one newspaper that I cast horoscopes for used to just juggle them around from time to time. In fact even though I stopped supplying horoscopes to newspapers years ago I suspect there is a newspaper in Limerick, Ireland that is still using the horoscopes I gave them many moons ago and just juggling them around.

The key thing to avoid trouble with the law is to avoid physical mediumship and be ethical as possible in your dealings. Even if the act in question was not on the books there would still be ample legislation around to get you if you indulge in the usual scams that many, many psychics get up to. It is often hard to prove the scams and that is why even the real frauds rarely get prosecuted.

In Canada from time to time there is an occasional blitz on the persecution of wicked psychic people. In Montreal a number of years ago they tried very hard to close down the big psychic fair. The police chief was a Fundamentalist Christian and did not approve of the wicked goings on of we spiritual people.

Accordingly he sent in undercover officers to have readings. A few psychics were prosecuted and acquitted. They got mostly into trouble for advising on health matters. The promoter of the fair then consulted with lawyers and produced a little card saying in English and French that readings were for entertainment purposes only. This card was to be displayed on the table of the psychic.

He then produced a little leaflet which I still have. This was to be given out to the public. It had the most convoluted explanation of psychic gifts
and was full of a combination of legalese and new age waffle which although not one in 100 people could follow had the desired effect of making the reading legitimate to some degree in the eyes of the law.

The police chief was thwarted but he kept trying. Various means were used to try to close the fair down which ranged from snooping consumer protection authorities to harrassment from the fire department claiming that obscure fire regulations weren't being followed.

All the harassment seemed to cease when the promoter had the brilliant idea of allowing the Fundamental Christians to have a booth at the fair. When that happened they stopped picketing outside. He then went even further and in spite of much mumbling and grumbling by various psychics even allowed the sceptics society to have a booth too.

In Calgary they also tried to close the fair down and the promoter ran around like a demented hen with the worry of it all. However in the end she negotiated with the local authorities that all psychics in Calgary had to be licenced and she was put in charge of issuing the licences!

Performing mentalism on a stage is no problem of course but once you do psychic readings in a one to one situation you can sometimes run into trouble but it isn't a big deal really.

Trouble with the law is the least of your problems as a psychic if you are comparitively on the up and up. However you have a host of other problems to deal with. It can be quite stressful trying to deal with distressed and vulnerable people.