Portland man accuses Hawthorne psychic of defrauding him of $150,000

Comment by John Ballantrae on May 8, 2010 at 1:40pm

What is this? A Fool and his money are soon parted?

Comment by Katrina Wynne on May 8, 2010 at 11:44pm

Perfect example of a client giving his power over to a reader. It just shows there is a reading style for everyone.

Comment by Mark Reed on May 9, 2010 at 12:40pm

This seems to be a case of an out and out fraud taking advantage of someone who is emotionally vulnerable. A prime example of why a code of ethics is nessary for readers. True Tarot readers must not allow themselves even the apperance of unethical or fraudulant behavior or the entire Tarot community will suffer. Katrina you are so right that the client gave his power to the reader, however ethical readers must go out of their way not to take the power. Even more than this we must take special care to make sure the client knows that the power is theirs and to help them claim it.

Comment by Katrina Wynne on May 10, 2010 at 7:09pm

Mark - I'm completely with you on all counts. In fact, I'm in the process of writing an article for the next issue of Tarosophy magazine on "Tarot Counseling and Ethics." It may be a series of articles since this topic is so important and deserves great detail.

John Ballantrae initiated a Tarot Guild blog topic on "Reader Responsibility" which approached aspects of this topic.

My bias clearly falls on the side of greater awareness and responsibility from readers. It is my mission to offer the tools and skills to satisfy this need. What folks won't hear from me is criticism of readers who chose not to utilize counseling skills. I find there is a diversity of people with all kinds of needs, biases and boundaries. Far be it for me to be the ethics police. What I aspire to is being a model and inspiration to raise the bar for those who are ready and willing.

Thanks for the post and the comments. Let's keep these subjects in the public eye.

Blessings,
Katrina

Comment by John Ballantrae on May 10, 2010 at 8:02pm

The con artist was a palm reader, and not a Tarot reader.

Everyone knows she was or is a con artist and that what she did has NOTHING to do with the validity of otherwise of palmistry or any other occult practice. I don't see what this has to do with the ethics of Tarot readers.

Also, Churches promise salvation and reward in the after-life, and that is unprovable as well as maybe preposterous, but no one takes the Church to court for conning people out of their weekly contributions.

Doctors promise cures that don't actually work.

Most people are selling snake oil, or lying to others - it's part of normal life on earth.

By all means, let's have high standards, but let's be consistent.

At the risk of becoming a pariah:
I've always hated the word "client", except when used by lawyers. I looked up the etymology today: It refers to a:
person seeking the protection or influence of someone powerful.

We may not consciously know the etymology of words, but is there an implicit taking of a dominant position when people refer to those who consult them as their "clients".

End of rant.

John Ballantrae

Comment by Katrina Wynne on May 10, 2010 at 10:50pm

Hey John…hopefully there is enough room on this soapbox for all kinds of ranting and proclaiming, HaHa!

I am also uncomfortable with the first definition of the word "client" expressed as a rank and power issue. Unfortunately, this can happen when the Reader is the authority in the reading and the Client is the passive recipient.

But, to be completely accurate there is a part 2 to the definition in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
1 : one that is under the protection of another : dependent
2 a : a person who engages the professional advice or services of another
b : customer
c : a person served by or utilizing the services of a social agency
d : a computer in a network that uses the services provided by a server

Other interesting titles are: Querent, Questor, Seeker, Subject, Friend…

I also agree with your examples of this misuse of power that tends to go without question or enough scrutiny; religious organizations, the medical profession, and I would add, the stock market, politics, military and law enforcement.

Misuse of power and abuse abounds in our world. This is a huge topic that permeates human relations and as such can touch our Tarot community.

Those who study Tarot as a book of wisdom and a spiritual guide learn to transcend these dualistic (good/bad, right/wrong) aspects of life to embrace more unitive values with balance, respect and love. I find this is the most profound message of this medium.

…as she steps off the podium to make room for another…

In Spirit, Katrina

Comment by Dax Carlisle on May 18, 2010 at 11:37pm

I personally prefer the term "client", as long as we are talking about a professional relationship where a fee is involved. I never liked a lot of the other (some very out-dated now) terms such as Questor, Seeker, Querent, Sitter (omg, is she a client or a babysitter?). Etymology aside, we are talking about common usage here and, as Katrina points out, "a person who engages the professional services of another" is a proper (and the most common) definition of "client" and aptly describes the relationship.

It may be true that this particular con-artist was a "psychic" and not a Tarot reader, but it still fosters a discussion on the topic of ethics. We have been finding more and more of these stories in the news and sometimes they are Tarot readers. We are concerned with ethics and professionalism here at the Guild. It's because of stories such as these that some jurisdictions are coming down on ALL types of psychic readers. This is the case with Sophie King, our guest on Tarot Today radio this Sunday, May 23rd (John is our guest on May 30th by the way!). This is why we bring up stories such as these.

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