North Carolina's Anti-Divination Law:

	WICCAN CRISIS -- PERSECUTORY LAW (press release)
		HOW N.C. G.S. 14-401.5 VIOLATES WICCAN RIGHTS (including text of law)
			ADDRESSES FOR ACTION
				PUBLICITY (published articles)
					LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
						RETURN TO "PROTESTS" PAGE

WICCAN CRISIS -- PERSECUTORY LAW (press release)

Today (Wed., June 29, 1999) WLOS News13 reported that Haywood Co., N. Carolina Sheriff Tom Alexander, acting on anonymous complaints to the District Attorney's office, had Psychic Gallery owner Larry Somers' business license revoked, and his month-old Waynesville shop closed down.

Sheriff Alexander cited a McCarthy-era law (circa 1951), N. C. General Statute 14-401.5, which makes it a Class 2 Misdemeanor punishable by fines or imprisonment to practice "phrenology, palmistry, clairvoyance, fortune-telling and crafts of a similar kind" -- unless it's under the auspices of a church or school social event.

Area Witches and Pagans say the law trivializes their sacred divinatory arts by only allowing silly readings at school carnivals and Christian church bazaars. Though the law affects sixty North Carolina counties, police arbitrarily enforce it -- Durham County's Duke University has carried on its famous studies of clairvoyance for decades, while individual psychics and store owners in other parts of the state such as Charlotte, Raleigh, and our own Western N.C. are harassed and driven out of town. Many fear that authorities who act on anonymous complaints send the message that angry neighbors can easily ruin alternative business owners. Since the statute says nothing about money in relation to readings, its purpose was not to protect the public from fraudulent mediums -- but rather to persecute ALL serious practitioners of divination and clairvoyance.

Below is a copy of a commentary about this bigoted law Lady Passion published in the Mountain Xpress (Asheville's weekly newspaper) in March of 1998. It contains the full text of N.C. G.S. 14 - 401.5 -- read it and find out if the county you live in can arrest you, too, for reading tarot cards or foreseeing the future.

Coven Oldenwilde and Byron Ballard, public Witches in Asheville, N.C. may be contacted for further information about the protest at: Lady Passion (Dixie Deerman), Coven Oldenwilde (828)251-0343, e-mail: oldenwilde@oldenwilde.org; and Byron Ballard, (828)253-6842.

HOW N.C. G.S. 14-401.5 VIOLATES WICCAN RIGHTS (including text of law)

UPDATE (8/29/99): N.C. Prison Regulations Contradict State Law

Regulations governing the religious practices of prisoners in the North Carolina state prison system specifically allow Wiccan inmates to possess "Tarot Cards: one (1) pack of 78 cards." This is stated under "III: Approved Religious Paraphernalia" in the current (Feb. 20, 1997) draft of DOP -- SPA, OFC regulations "RE: Wicca (Witchcraft)."

Antiquated laws should be ancient history

by Lady Passion, HPs, Coven Oldenwilde

This is a commentary Lady Passion wrote that was published in the Mountain Xpress, March 25-March 31, 1998, pg. 6. Obsolete laws such as this one tend to stay on the books -- known only to the police, who then enforce them selectively -- until citizens put enough pressure on legislators to get them repealed.

Our formal request to have this law repealed is apparently sitting on a back burner in a Raleigh bureaucrat's office. Please help us pressure the state to repeal this unconstitutional law by contacting state legislators and signing the American Arts Freedom Association petition.

People today often express a jaded certainty that they can't get out of bed anymore without breaking some law they didn't even know existed. Last October Coven Oldenwilde gave hundreds of free Tarot, palm and Rune readings to attendees of the 3rd Annual Samhain Witch Ritual. Imagine our surprise when the Mountain Xpress (February 18th edition, Mystifying law, Note Pad section) published an obscure law which informed us that we could have been arrested for doing so!

The statute cited lurks in a section of the state code that prohibits such heinous crimes as erecting a gravestone inscription that accuses someone of murder, and dogs "worrying" squirrels on the Capitol square. First passed in 1951, it has been frequently rubber-stamp renewed, the last time in 1995. North Carolina Criminal Code G.S. 14-401.5 states:

It shall be unlawful for any person to practice the arts of phrenology, palmistry, clairvoyance, fortune-telling and other crafts of a similar kind in the counties named herein. Any person violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

This section shall not prohibit the amateur practice of phrenology, palmistry, fortune-telling or clairvoyance in connection with school or church socials, provided such socials are held in school or church buildings.

Provided that the provisions of this section apply only to the Counties of Alexander, Ashe, Avery, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Clay, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Davidson, Davie, Duplin, Durham, Franklin, Gates, Graham, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Haywood, Henderson, Hertford, Hoke, Iredell, Johnston, Lee, Lenoir, Madison, Martin, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Person, Polk, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Rutherford, Sampson, Scotland, Surry, Transylvania, Union, Vance, Wake and Warren. (Penalty for conviction is a fine of up to $500, up to six months in prison, or both.)

Laughable and unenforceable though this law may at first appear, careful reading reveals its sinister intent. Since money isn't listed as a factor, its aim wasn't to prevent fraudulence, or readers charging money for psychic predictions. Historically, such laws have been used to roust "disreputable types" like gypsies and witches -- for to Wiccans, Native Americans, Pagans, Santeros and Voudons, such divinatory arts are central to our spirituality. This singling-out of religious practices that conventional society may disdain as "non-Christian" or "unscientific" flagrantly violates the religious freedom guaranteed everyone by the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

In this sense, NC 14-401.5 is a classic. First, it denigrates the effectiveness of divinatory arts -- from being seen as traditionally powerful to merely humorous; amateur practice is allowed, serious practice is not. Then it relegates such entertainment to the watchful eye of the "church" (no doubt the moral impetus for the law, to begin with).

Catch-all phrasing -- "and other crafts of a similar kind" -- grants police sweeping powers to define such arts and persecute their practitioners as these authorities see fit. This billy club was wielded as recently as 1976, when a Witch in Morganton was charged for correctly predicting a woman's death.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in overturning the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, ruled that when a religious practice conflicts with a law of the state, the law takes precedence. As a consequence, for example, a Catholic church in a "dry" county can now be taken to court for serving wine at Mass. Laws that once seemed arcane or irrelevant to spiritual concerns are potential weapons for religious persecution at the hands of an intolerant police chief or prosecutor.

Consider this statute's extended impact, should someone in authority decide to enforce it:

• Could participants in the famous Parapsychology Dept. at Duke University in Durham County (one of those listed in the law) be arrested for practicing illegal "clairvoyance"?
• Is the city of Asheville legally liable whenever the Civic Center hosts New Age expos, where readings are given, and Tarot decks and other occult aids are sold?
• Could the police shut down local businesses that offer Tarot classes, have in-store readers, or sell Runestones?
• Could licensed alternative health practitioners who use crystals to heal, cleanse auras or conduct past-life regressions be arrested for practicing "crafts of a similar kind"?
• Would mountain folks' custom of predicting the weather using groundhogs and woolly worms be similarly considered? If so, does this law prohibit North Carolina cities from putting on woolly-worm festivals?
• Could the TV meteorologists who yearly recount the groundhog's decision about the timing of spring be held liable for publicly perpetuating such illegal practices?
• How can you prohibit clairvoyance in psychics born with their abilities? For that matter, does this law prevent police in the counties listed above from using psychics to help them find missing persons or solve cases?
• Is the housewife with a Tarot deck that she pulls out for friends on a rainy Saturday safe from a warrant for search and seizure?
• What's to prevent a fanatically fundamentalist policeman from pounding on the doors of teenagers who play with Ouija boards at slumber parties?
• If the police so chose, could they "sweep" downtown Asheville's streets and cafes of all "readers"?
• Could they arrest the mountain dowsers who find water for our wells?

Discriminatory laws that remain on the books may read like quaint relics from days gone by, but their continuance is a reprehensible reminder of how far we have come as a people -- not a reflection of where we should be with these issues. Most other states had abolished such laws by 1985, under pressure from the growing numbers of modern Americans who have rediscovered the wisdom in these traditional arts.

We encourage everyone who believes that our constitutional rights to religious freedom should not be held hostage to this senseless old law to join us in calling our local attorney general's office at 251-6083, and our state legislators: Lanier Cansler (R - Buncombe) at 1-800-563-5934, Martin Nesbit (D- Buncombe) at 252-0490, or Wilma Sherill (R - Buncombe) at 254-0991.

May common sense and religious tolerance prevail.

Lady Passion is high priestess of Coven Oldenwilde.

ADDRESSES FOR ACTION

RE: Repeal of NC Gen. Statute 14-401.5

Governor's Crime Commission

WARNING: G.C.C. ADDRESS MAY NO LONGER BE VALID. We have received reports of letters sent to it being returned.

Ms. Linda Hayes, Chair, Governor's Crime Commission
3824 Barrett Drive, Suite 100, Raleigh, N.C. 27609-7220

State Legislators, Buncombe Co. (828 area code)	Attorney General for Buncombe Co.
Lanier Cansler (R - Buncombe) at 1-800-563-5934 Martin Nesbit (D- Buncombe) at 252-0490 Wilma Sherill (R - Buncombe) at 254-0991	251-6083

Buncombe County Sheriff's Department	Asheville Police Department
Sheriff Bobby L. Medford AND Officer Lee Farnsworth 393 Hendersonville Road Asheville, NC 28803-2761	Chief Will Annarino Post Office Box 7148 Asheville, NC 28802
Telephone Number(s): (828) 277-3131 (828) 277-3109 (FAX)	Telephone Number(s): (828) 252-1110 (828) 259-5549 (FAX)

Haywood County Sheriff's Department	Waynesville Police Department
Sheriff R.T. Alexander 3490 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786-3845	Chief Frank J. Ross 3711 South Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786
Telephone Number(s): (828) 452-6666 (828) 452-6699 (FAX)	Telephone Number(s): (828) 456-5363 (828) 456-2001 (FAX)

Find your local sheriffs and chiefs

Contact Coven Oldenwilde at 1-828-251-0343 or info@oldenwilde.org.

PUBLICITY (published articles)

• "Keep your eye on the (crystal) ball: Locals fight anti-fortunetelling law," by Margaret Williams (Mountain Xpress, Aug. 11, 1999)
• Contact the Asheville Citizen-Times for reprints of two articles and a commentary it has published:
  • "Psychic ban has witches brewing," by Robyn Tomlin, Aug. 13, 1999 (which quotes Deborah Ross, exec. director of NC chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union: "It [the law] violates the Constitution. It violates free speech, and it also violates the state Constitution. It's illegal to have different rights in different counties like this law does.")
  • "Tarot reader to appeal anti-divination citation," by Susan Dryman, Aug. 14, 1999
  • "On seers and soothsayers and the law," guest commentary by Watson Sims, Aug. 24, 1999 (which opens with a quote from Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist: "If that's what the law says, said Mr. Bumble, the law is an ass.")

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

	In Raleigh (Wake Co.) in January 1998, Alcohol Law Enforcement officers used the law to shut down the Gypsy Cafe. The Cosmic Lemniscate website describes how Witches helped the owners fight back, aided by the ACLU.
	The Ancient Arts Freedom Association organized the Diana's Day Demonstration in downtown Asheville on Friday 13 Aug. 1999 that was given national and international coverage by CNN and AP.

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