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Words, words, words: fortune tellers and diviners

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Some of us are reclaiming the title "fortune teller".

The current vogue is for people to call  themselves "diviners", "spiritual coaches", or similar. This is an effort to set themselves apart from the scammers who told clients that they were cursed, and it would cost hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars for candles to take the curse off. The diviners sometimes say that these types are "fortune tellers". Such people do exist. But they're just as likely to bill themselves as "diviners"! Or "readers", "reverends", "psychics"...anything, really. Additionally, for those who are interested, there are plenty of ethical people out there who will burn candles and do curse removal if they deem it necessary. This service can be a part of rootwork, curanderismo, and other traditional folk practices, and the price is generally quite reasonable.

Sometimes the people railing loudest against "fortune tellers" can be scammers - and worse - themselves. There's a woman out there who is part of a pyramid scheme that offers pricey sham Tarot certifications. She has a blog (not on Keen) where she writes about "gypsy crime rings" and "neon gypsies" (a reference to the neon signs used by "storefront psychics" - according to her, anyone who reads in a shop is a crook). She states that the way to avoid getting ripped off is to go to a reader who is "certified" (by her organization, of course). She's using racism to sell her "services".

Some of us are sickened enough by this kind of behavior that we reclaimed the title "fortune teller". 

The dictionary defines "fortune" as "a hypothetical force or personified power that unpredictably determines events and issues favorably or unfavorably", "something that happens by chance" and "prosperity attained partly through luck". And those are the things people ask about the most, they want to know their fortunes. As a rule, I don't get people asking about their Inner Child, Jung or where they are on the Fool's Journey. They want to know if they'll get a better job, if their lover will commit, if things will get better.

So, the title a person uses to bill themselves is no guarantee of ethics, for good or ill. The best way to tell if you've got a good reader is to try a short reading. If the reader answers your questions and doesn't try to give you a hard sell, and the reading is accurate, you've found a good one.









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