Virginia city repeals ban on psychic readings as industry grows and gains more acceptance

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Ashley Branton has earned a living as a psychic medium for seven years, helping a growing number of people with heavy choices about toxic relationships, home purchases and cross-country moves.

And while the tarot cards are never wrong, she said, they didn’t see this one coming.

The City Council in Norfolk, Virginia, repealed a 45-year-old ban this week on “the practice of palmistry, palm reading, phrenology or clairvoyance, for monetary or other compensation.”

Soothsaying, it turned out, had been a first-degree misdemeanor and carried up to a year in jail.