By Tim Binnall
Self-proclaimed soothsayers in Norfolk, Virginia have reason to celebrate as the city has ended its longstanding ban on fortune telling and other forms of clairvoyance. According to a local media report, the prohibition was put into place in 1979 in response to concerns about "rising interest in the occult." Like many communities swept up in the infamous Satanic panic of that era, officials in Norfolk addressed the unfounded hysteria by banning "the practice of palmistry, palm reading, phrenology or clairvoyance, for monetary or other compensation" and made violation of the law a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Fortunately, in a sign of how times have changed, the community's stance on clairvoyance was reconsidered earlier this week at a city council meeting wherein an ordinance to repeal the decades-old law was reportedly was put forward. When the matter came up at Tuesday's session, council member Thomas R. Smigiel Jr. jokingly responded that "I'm sure somebody out there predicted that this is gonna pass" before lending his support to ending the proverbial paranormal prohibition. The ordinance was ultimately approved by an overwhelming vote of 7-1, paving the way for palmists, tarot readers, and clairvoyants to ply their trade in Norfolk without fear of running afoul of the law.