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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.<\/p>\n
And while the tarot cards are never wrong, she said, they didn\u2019t see this one coming.<\/p>\n
The City Council in Norfolk, Virginia, repealed a 45-year-old ban this week on \u201cthe practice of palmistry, palm reading, phrenology or clairvoyance, for monetary or other compensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soothsaying, it turned out, had been a first-degree misdemeanor and carried up to a year in jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no idea that was even a thing,\u201d Branton said with a laugh Thursday among the crystals in her Norfolk shop, Velvet Witch, where she also performs tarot readings and psychic healings. \u201cI\u2019m glad it\u2019s never come down on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear exactly why this city of 230,000 people on the Chesapeake Bay, home to the nation\u2019s largest Navy base, nullified the 1979 ordinance. Versions of the ban had existed for decades before.<\/p>\n
Norfolk spokeswoman Kelly Straub said in an email that it was repealed \u201cbecause it is no longer used.\u201d City Council members said little during their vote Tuesday, although one joked that \u201csomebody out there predicted that this was going to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jokes aside, the city\u2019s repeal comes as the psychic services industry is growing in the U.S., generating an estimated $2.3 billion in revenue last year and employing 97,000 people, according to a 2023 report from market research firm IBIS World.<\/p>\n
In late 2017, a Pew Research Center survey found that most American adults identify as Christians. But many also hold New Age beliefs, with 4 in 10 believing in the power of psychics. A 2009 survey for the Pew Research Center\u2019s Religion & Public Life Project found about 1 in 7 Americans had consulted a psychic.<\/p>\n
Branton, 42, who previously worked as a makeup artist, said the market is expanding for psychic mediums because social media has fueled awareness. An aversion to organized religion also plays a role, along with the nation\u2019s divisive politics and a growing sense of uncertainty, particularly among millennials and younger generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since COVID, people have been carrying this weight. They\u2019re just carrying so much,\u201d Branton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd people are starting to do inner work,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey\u2019re starting to take care of their mental health. And they\u2019re starting to take care of the spiritual aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Branton said she considers her work a calling. Psychic gifts run in her family, and she\u2019s had them her whole life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had interactions with spirits,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been an empath. I can feel people\u2019s energies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Branton said she\u2019s built up her clientele through word of mouth, without any advertising.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very proud of that,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be scammers and people out here doing this for just the money. Obviously, this is my way of living now. But it was never about money for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2022, AARP warned of scam psychics who prey on \u201cpeople who are grieving, lonely or struggling emotionally, physically or financially.\u201d<\/p>\n
And some bans remain in place. In October, the police chief in Hanover, Pennsylvania, told a witchcraft-themed store that any complaints about tarot card readings would prompt an investigation,\u00a0The New York Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n