Updates: 2/8/11: Another law threatens that Romanian readers may be fined if their predictions don’t come true! See here. Even The New Republic featured a thoughtful article on the legislation issues—calling it Voodoo Economics.
1/11/11: The law taxing witches and tarot readers has been passed and the lawmakers are being cursed as promised, according to this BBC account and video report. Other Romanian witches see the tax as an official acknowledgement of their profession. [Thanks to Vicki.]
9/9/10: The law mentioned below did not pass as lawmakers feared getting cursed reports CBS News.
From the English language Al Jazeera TV comes this report on a controversy in Romania regarding gypsy fortune-tellers (who also call themselves white witches). Madame Radika reads the tarot in Part 1 and Part 2 for two young women. Can you name the deck? The program discusses the new laws against the advertising of fortune-telling as well as the typical escalation of costs for removing curses (that make the practitioners wealthy). Part 2 shows a second reading and a Midsummer Night Ritual intended to help the young women through love spells (warning – graphic chicken sacrifice included in Part 2). All-in-all it is a fairly unjudgmental reporting of practices that some may find disturbing and exploitive, nevertheless the practices are comparable with indigenous magico-spiritual and shamanic techniques in other parts of the world.
The above video is interesting to contrast with this one on “The Witches of Los Angeles.” Are the practices essentially the same or different? How?
Added: Having recently experienced a Nepalese shamanic healing in which divination was the first step, I am more aware of the similarities present – although colored by the different cultures and involving quite a difference in the amount of money that changes hands. It seems to me that a big problem is not in the practices themselves, which can be very helpful and often mark major turning points, but the problem occurs when the situation becomes exploitive.
What constitutes exploitation is seen differently by everyone. For some – any kind of magico-spiritual divination, fortune-telling or healing is exploitive. For others it is when money is involved at all, and yet others would see it as occurring only when deceit is involved and/or the money exceeds the value of a comparable service. Yet many shamanic practices involve sleight-of-hand and other deceits deliberately as a way of by-passing mind-sets that might hamper healing.
I present these materials as a way of questioning assumptions we all have about the practice of tarot. If we fear questioning these things then we risk not really understanding all the implications of what we do as tarot readers.
♥
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog 
27 comments
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August 3, 2009 at 10:12 am
Maribeth
Interesting! The deck the Romanian woman is using is the Fenestra, I believe.
mep
August 3, 2009 at 1:50 pm
mkg
Nope, it’s not the Fenestra Tarot, although I can see why you thought so. I am hoping others will respond, so I won’t identify it yet. It can be seen a little more clearly in Part 2.
Does anyone want to comment on the similarities and differences among the practices shown in the Los Angeles video and in the Romanian one?
Mary
August 3, 2009 at 2:30 pm
nisaba
I have absolutely no idea about that deck.
August 3, 2009 at 3:08 pm
SoulFire
To me, it is exploitive to charge thousands to remove a “curse”, or to intentionally deceive or give false readings in order to bilk the client of their money. It’s not only exploitive, it’s also unethical IMHO.
August 3, 2009 at 3:34 pm
~Joan.
The deck is, I believe, the1987 “A Renaissance Tarot Deck” by Brian Williams.
August 3, 2009 at 4:02 pm
SoulFire
I kept mum about the deck, Mary. 😉
Kel
August 3, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Gayla (a.k.a Ambriel)
The obvious, significant difference between the Romanian and Los Angeles video is the religious base of the practice(s).
In Romania, visiting a witch is a very deep seeded cultural practice and is generally socially acceptable to young and old. Although modern government is trying to restrict the practice for obvious economic reasons (for example, the generate more revenue for the health care industry) there does not appear to be any major “social” issues with the practice of witchcraft. The embrace of Christianity combined with the practice appeals to me personally.
(Side note: I lived in Turkey for 2 years and I experienced similar practices but with an Islamic tone…the cultures are very similar.)
The Los Angles video is obviously based on Wiccan and Paganism, which is fine, but I don’t see anything “modern” about their practices as the narrator stated. Also, sadly, it’s just not as socially acceptable in the U.S. as it is in Romania. In my opinion there is a level of spiritual vanity about the second video which doesn’t appeal to me; however, I did find the work being conducted with the police department to be very, very intriguing.
Another opinion, for what it’s worth….as a mother I would not mind my teenage children visiting a witch if there was something to be learned such as a class on Tarot or spells; however, in the video they portrayed the kids just hanging around him….again, adding to the spiritual vanity aspect.
Also, the rituals, spells and potions of the LA video seem much more complex than the Romanian.
Sorry, I don’t know what deck she is using….however, I found the spread she was using to be interesting…..lots of cards but a simple flow.
August 3, 2009 at 4:29 pm
mkg
Joan –
You are right about the deck. It was such a surprise to see Brian William’s elegant Renaissance Tarot Deck being used by a Romanian gypsy. I wonder how common it is there.
August 3, 2009 at 4:47 pm
mkg
Gayla –
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
Long ago I read an article in Americas magazine by anthropologist Marlene Dobkin de Rios about the practice of cartomancy in South America as part of a folk tradition. It made me realize that I can’t always take my own cultural assumptions for granted regarding people who live with a totally different world-view.
Here’s a more recent article by her from Skeptics Journal in which she calls the cards an “ethno-projective device.” “In Peru, the naipes have been used by healers and patients in a phenomenological world of magical causality of disease where witchcraft and hexing are widespread beliefs.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmske/is_4_12/ai_n29309522/?tag=content;col1
The approach needs to fit in with the world view and beliefs of the practitioners and their clients.
August 3, 2009 at 7:04 pm
mkg
Here’s some more information on Romanian card reading from an article by tarot deck creator and historian Nigel Jackson:
“In contemporary Romania (Transylvania) the connection between witches and cartomancy continues among the gypsy community. One contemporary Romani witch called Margareta in the town of Targu Jiu is famous for reading fortunes with playing cards and also for spells and exorcisms using holy water, herbs and a magical knife, services that draw crowds of clients.”
http://www.the-cauldron.org.uk/cartomancers.htm
August 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Aurelious Sacha
To me, exploitation is when you are not being forthright and honest in your reading (be it tarot, runes, palm reading, etc.) and using such techniques as cold readings or threats (you have a demon following you; if you bathe in these salts your ex-husband will return in love with you…) and other such issues. Exploitation is also taking advantage of the moment with a client, especially when they are in a depressed/crazed state of mind (just lost wife/husband, child really sick, just got laid off, etc) and used that to sell services they may not need or establish a sort of dependency in which they believe they need your services.
And of course it’s more “taboo” to see a fortune-teller in the United States than in other cultures. I’ve done tarot on the sidewalk near a new-age store and was called the son of the devil a few times. But I do live in the “Bible Belt” and understand the stigma of tarot, which is a main driving force of why I read tarot. I want to help cure the negative stigma of tarot because it is nothing to be feared or to shun away from. I’m not the most prophetic of tarot readers, but I have never lied or changed the message of my client (even with Death/Tower moments) because that would be doing the client a disservice.
Hope that it helps ^^
August 4, 2009 at 12:21 am
mkg
Aurelious –
I wish it were all that black-and-white. The majority of the time your approach is a very admirable one and I respect you for it. However, I’ve had to do damage control in cases of several readers who just spoke the truth as they saw it and said things that left the querent depressed, terrified and even, in one case, hysterical. Knowing the readers I would bet anything that they felt they were being absolutely truthful, yet they created the very fear you say you want to cure. Tact involves telling a lie. It’s saying something is not quite as you perceive it – yet it is a social and sometimes psychological necessity.
I certainly don’t believe that telling someone they are cursed as a way of manipulating them and taking their money is right. OTOH, there are lots of people who believe just as strongly that taking any money for a tarot reading is just as wrong.
Exactly where the line is drawn is different for almost everyone. Rather than condemning, I’m advocating, in this particular instance, gaining some kind of understanding of what the range of experience actually is.
August 6, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Kimberanne
I find the monetary issue to be an interesting one. Several years ago I had a difficult time accepting payment for my services. For me it was more of an issue that involved lack of confidence and not an ethics issue. I then started to see that many people have this feeling of entitlement when it comes to the gifts and energy that are offered by intuitive. They believe that they have the right to demand or take that energy and say that you should give because it is a gift. Is it a gift? Yes, it is, but no more a gift than a surgeon has when he performs surgery, or an accountant has when they do your taxes. Yet, we have no problem thinking it is ok to pay them. I have found that in order to keep my energy and not drain myself that there needs to be some sort of energy exchange. It isn’t always money, but the balance is important for me.
One day in meditation I was shown what I believed to be a past life as a healer woman in what felt like central Europe. In the meditation I was watching myself as the healer and witnessed nearby towns people bringing offerings as their payment for what I would do for them. I healed their sick, birthed their babies, and took their pain. It was my “job” and they were people I was responsible for.
During the meditation I was able to talk to myself as the healer. She told me that they would sometimes bring things she didn’t like, but she always accepted it because to them, it increased the power of what she did. It was an exchange. If she did not accept it, they would think that the “magik” didn’t stick. I laughed at this. When I did so, the healer woman turned to me and said, “Remember what the wise teacher said. They are healed by their faith”. She went on to explain that if there is no exchange of energy, there is no value to them in what she did. She also believed that they were able to heal themselves by their faith in her ability to heal them.
I believe that the power of the human mind and spirit transcends anything we can ever really fathom. If a witch/healer woman were to tell someone that they were cursed, just to get money out of them and didn’t believe that there was a basis to this claim, it would be bad karmic energy upon them that I wouldn’t want anything to do with. Using fear and preying on others for your own personal gain is not an even exchange of energy.
I’ve done some candle work for myself in the past with amazing results. The reason I believe it works for me is because I use it as a tool to focus my energy and thoughts. It may not work for anyone else. It is all about where you put your faith. Do you believe that focused energy can honestly change things? Sometimes people have to have faith in something outside of them for it to even work, just like the village people who believed in the healer woman. That is why candles, amulets, and other things are so powerful.
I don’t mean to offend anyone, but this type of situation is present when a Priest blesses an individual or they light candles in order to have their prayer answered more quickly. Is the Catholic Church any different than the witches when they tell people that they must rub beads, say a phrase over and over, wear a pendent with the face of a Saint on it, or light so many candles to release someone from purgatory? It is their belief, just as it is the belief of the individuals in the videos. It isn’t more legitimate just because it comes from a Church that many recognize.
I got a sense from the gentleman named George, in the LA Witches video that he believed in what he did and believed it could help people. He had good and genuine energy to me. The first two, the woman and the man, didn’t feel as genuine to me. I could be wrong because we all know how TV people can try to make things as dramatic as possible, but I just didn’t get that their motives were as pure.
So, after saying all that, I believe it is manipulation if you create a fear in someone and tell them that they must do this or that and pay this much for it and you know it isn’t an issue and your motive is purely personal gain and not an even exchange of energy. Will it harm the individual? Maybe, maybe not. Will it help them? Possibly it will, but manipulation isn’t defined as happening only when the outcome is negative.
Bottom line is, as the wise teacher said, “They are healed by their faith”.
August 7, 2009 at 11:07 am
mkg
Kimberanne –
I feel exactly as you do about the money issue. You gave a great explanation of this particular point of view.
I agree with the idea that manipulation in a tarot reading arises by creating fear – especially when seeking to get something from that fear. As you note, deliberately creating ANY emotion in a person in order to gain something from that state is manipulation – although sometimes we do it with the best of intentions (it’s a normal part of human interaction). A reader needs to be especially careful because it is so easy to manipulate a person’s emotions (for good or ill) in a reading – intentionally or not – and we can’t always predict the long-term results of our actions.
If a tarot reader is going to draw a line regarding what he or she will and will not do, I believe the reader really need to understand the full implications of what he or she is doing. When we can recognize ourselves in those we condemn or scapegoat, then, I believe we can be more compassionate, self-aware and effective.
August 26, 2009 at 6:24 am
mls
Interesting post! Well, Brian William’s Renaissance Tarot Deck is not much common in Romania and i think we should make a specific difference between tarot and cartomancy. The Romanian woman is obviously practice cartomancy and i bet she doesn’t has much knowledge on Tarot.
In Romania, gypsy reader are considered also witches, and not seen with good eyes, and some really honest Tarot cards readers are also named as witches because of their confusion between tarot and cartomancy.
There is nothing bad in being a cartomancy practitioner as long as one is not making fake promises and not asking for such fees…
August 26, 2009 at 11:29 am
mkg
mls –
I’m very interested to find out more about what you see as the difference between reading tarot and cartomancy-with-a-tarot-deck. Obviously there is some important difference for you in a tarot reading. Could you please explain what that is? I had never considered this before.
July 27, 2010 at 8:33 am
Laura
Hi There
Does anyone know of a romanian card reader/ spell caster in Toronto, Canada?
Thank you!!!!
October 1, 2010 at 8:59 am
Nar
I’m a Gypsy and I find it very disturbing telling fortune for money or selling talismans.. saying there is a curse on that girl.. it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fortune teller never allowed to say that and neither a doctor. When a doctor say you have 1 or 10 yrs to leave, it might happen because the patient believes it.
In Traditional fortune telling one never should charge money. Can receive gift, but that’s about it.
Romanians were always very superstitious, I guess nothing have changed over 100s of yrs. I myself find it disgusting when people let superstition rule their life. It is ok when it’s only part of life and not ruler of ones life.
October 1, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Nar
With the Romanian Fortune Tellers what I see is lost people. This is not the Gypsy way of fortune telling, neither witchcraft would be the Gypsy way. Witchcraft is not part of the culture, but it’s the Romanian way. Gypsies indeed do spells, but very differently to witchcraft. For example Gypsy spells don’t rime, whilst witchcraft spell does.. rhiming is a new invention. Read more at: http://www.sacred-guardians.com/gypsy-spells.htm. This spell book is the original Gypsy spell and it is very different to the Wicca.
Gypsies were enslaved in Romania, and most of them become like the Romanians.. They will do what the Romanians ask them to do, even if it’s dancing on one leg.. It’s very sad to see that. The clothes they are wearing is not of Gypsy tradition either, but how the Romanians want to see them and that’s why they will not modernize. Romanians come up with this ‘romantic’ notions of how the Gypsies should look like.. and this is what stopping modernization. Read more about the enslavement of the Gypsies in Romania: http://www.truth-unveiled.com/romania-and-gypsies.htm
October 2, 2010 at 1:00 pm
mkg
I will remove any posts (and have just done so) that make derogatory comments about any group of people or that state that any group as a whole are crooks or bad. Individuals commit acts—pleasant and unpleasant—not nationalities, races or creeds.
October 18, 2010 at 3:12 am
Aries
Hi Everyone,
It’s only now that i saw a video of a real Gypsy Witch reading, and the
one in Los Angeles- They’re both good, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with following your Spiritual Path even if many are against it,
I believe that God will protect you if you are Righteous.
I myself read the Tarot for my meditations, and sometimes to friends.
Many have liked to have a reading and I refuse, because it’s tiring and I
don’t get paid, it’s just a fun way socializing.
Thank You MKG,
Aries
Philippines
November 1, 2010 at 1:18 am
namasteinida
Just yesterday i watched the movie ‘Drag me to Hell’ about a gypsy curse. And after that i surfed through the net searching for info about gypsy.
I realised that they have roots in india thats where i live and they migrated to other countries to make their fortune.
Well their language is quite similar to hindi and sanskrit. Also palm reading, astrology are basically practised in India from ancient times.
Yes and many people here are very good readers with excellent knowledge but they also ask u to buy amulets and get a puja(ceremony) done to release yourself from spells, evils etc this is basically to earn extra money
there is a bad reputation here attached to fortune telling bcos of all this malpractice.
i rarely tell people nowadays that i know fortune telling
January 13, 2012 at 6:24 am
tarot
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April 22, 2012 at 9:29 am
tianasetka
Radika is using basic 36 cards gypsy spread. Yes, it is very strange that she is using tarot instead oracle cards, like Piatnik’s Gypsy fortune telling cards that are very common among gypsies (I have many experience with gypsy readers and they were all using those). I also think that tarot reading is just for a show, she doesn’t need it. If she is really Romanian witch, she knows exactly what is going on with her client. There is a magic in Romania that is called Vlach magic, and there is a rumor that Vlach magic is the most powerful magic in the world. Vlach people are spread all around Balkans (where I live) and I’ve heard so many stories about it. It is powerful indeed, and if it is black, it can really destroy someone’s life or even kill a person. Also be aware that spells and curses are daily practiced at Balkan’s, it is very common that a person will cast some spells on his/hers closest neighbour because he or she is jealous about something, or they’ve had an argument.
September 11, 2012 at 7:53 pm
nani
curious: do Romy put curses on gadgo who try to read the cards? do they try to run them out of business or anything else?
September 11, 2012 at 10:36 pm
mkg
nani – I have no experience from which to answer your question. No one I know has ever mentioned such a thing but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t happened on occasion. Likewise, I’m sure some gadgos may have put curses on Rom. These things have happened, although I’ve never witnessed it. I’d like to think we can create a world where that doesn’t have to happen.
February 15, 2013 at 5:27 pm
thesadbloom
I’m Romanian too. I am using the same tarot deck too.