Law and Magic Blog

New York's Upper West Side Psychics

A very interesting article from the New York Times on an extremely resilient "psychic parlor" on New York's Upper West Side. Reporter Michael Wilson writes that even though law enforcement has arrested a number of persons operating out of the location for violating the law against fortune telling (and they've been convicted), others come in to take their places.

What is surprising is that one complainant who went to the police heard from some officers that "that there was no crime, as she had willingly paid the money, and that psychics were not illegal. 'They said, ‘Look, there’s one right across the street,’” the woman said.'"

As the article makes clear, yes, fortune telling is illegal. That the code isn't enforced isn't the point. New York Penal Code Section 165.35 reads:

 

A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation which he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses; except that this section does not apply to a person who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement.

Fortune telling is a Class B misdemeanor.

More about New York City's psychics: Elaina Patton, The Faces of New York Psychics (the New Yorker).

Mystical City, New York Magazine.

How Do Psychics Survive In New York City? Vice Magazine.

Psychic Mediums Are the New Wellness Coaches, The New York Times

She Didn't See It Coming: Psychic Arrested For $800,000 Fraud, The Guardian

ICYMI: Some Articles on the History of Magic and Magic Performance

ICYMI: Some interesting articles on the history of magic and magic performance.

William George Provan Houstoun, The Grand Cycle of Conjuring Treatises: Modern Magic, More Magic, Later Magic and Latest Magic, 16 Early Popular Visual Culture 123 (2018).

Katharina Rein, Rupturing Illusionism: The Bullet Catch, 16 Early Popular Visual Culture 157 (2018).

Matthew Solomon and Joe Culpepper, Toward a Historiography of Stage Conjuring: Are We Entering a Golden Age? 16 Early Popular Visual Culture 112 (2018).

Gwendolyn Waltz, Stage Conjuring With Film: Influences and Legacies, 16 Early Popular Visual Culture 188 (2018).

Tracy Ying Zhang, Enchanted Masculinities: Gender, Modern Magic and Nationalism in Early Twentieth Century China, 16 Early Popular Culture 172 (2018).

Magicians Changing the World

From the Guardian, an entertaining (!) article about magicians who really try to transform the world. Included is the story of Cat Lee, a magician with a law degree. The article, by Claire Armitstead, also mentions David Owen, Q,C., lawyer, arbitrator, mediator, and founding member of Breathe Arts Health Research.