The Psychic Wars Continue

The ongoing enforcement of outdated, constitutionally unsound, and religiously biased laws against performing psychic or fortune-telling services for money continue. This year alone The Wild Hunt has covered incidents in Otsego, Michigan, and  Chesterfield County, Virginia, and now we can add Centerville, Georgia to that list.

“A healing and wellness store is on the verge of being shut down because it violates a Houston County ordinance. But the store owner says the ordinance violates her freedom to practice religion. Courtney Bibb opened Energy Among Us in Centerville three months ago. The city is ordering her to shut the business down because of its services. The ordinance states its unlawful to sell or advertise the practice of fortune-telling, astrology, palm reading and spiritualism. Bibb says the wording in the 1985 ordinance is outdated and unfair. The mayor of Centerville says the ordinance isn’t the real problem. He explained, Bibb said the business was one thing on her license application and then advertised something else. The mayor wants Bibb to file a new application for review.”

What’s especially curious about this case is that proprietor Courtney Bibb, a former police officer, held a big grand opening party in which the mayor and other local politicians took part, though mayor John Harley now claims he was deceived into thinking it was merely a bookstore.

Harley said he attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony with the impression the business was a bookstore. “She had books there,” he said. “We didn’t interpret that as spiritualism or reading palms, things along those lines.”

Considering the fact that the ordinance against “fortune-telling, astrology, palm reading and spiritualism” is from 1985, it’s very likely this is religiously motivated, and wouldn’t stand a chance in a court of law. It is also suspicious that this cease and desist letter came just before a Mind Body & Spirit Expo Bibb is organizing was to occur. Was the thought of hypnotherapists and life coaches walking freely in the daylight too much for local churches to bear the thought of? Of course small-town big-shots bet on the fact that fortune-tellers and small business owners won’t have the money or time to mount a serious legal challenge, which is why they are able to stay on the books for decades.

For the moment Bibb doesn’t seem to be backing down, and there are locals organizing on her behalf. It remains to be seen if they will knowingly violate the ordinance to prompt a legal showdown. You can find the Energy Among Us web site, here. For copies of the local ordinance, the letter sent to Bibb, and contact information, click here. I wish them luck in their struggle, and hope local Pagan and metaphysical groups in the area will lend their support.