Debi concurs. "I've been known to tell people their money will be better spent talking to a therapist," she says. "You must not misrepresent yourself. We're not qualified to counsel people in that way. I'll say to them, 'Look around my walls. There are no degrees.' I won't take credit cards, either, because people don't always have money. Although I can't take care of everyone, I don't want to dig them a hole they can fall into."
Not all spiritual advisers are like that, however. What Detective Pettinger says about fraud is true. Mary knows someone who pretended to be psychic when he was actually a handwriting expert. She also worked for a psychic telephone network more interested in keeping clients on the line than in helping them. She quit after a client threatened suicide and her boss told her she could not call back to check up.
"I can't do this without being responsible for the people I work with," Mary says. "I'm responsible for what I say and how they react. I'm a humanist. I don't want to hurt anyone. I want to help them."
Besides, she says, if you're scamming people, clients will know. "Word gets around," she explains. "If you're no good, you'll never get anyone. People aren't stupid. If what you say doesn't connect, they won't be back."
"They tell their friends," Debi concurs.
"It's amazing."
"You never need to advertise."
"They find you."
Mary and Debi say they understand the intent of Denver's fortune-telling ban and to a degree even support it. But they don't think it works. Astrologers, psychics, soothsayers and seers have managed to survive for centuries, underground or otherwise.
"People just want to learn," Mary says. "And they want to be able to pick and choose how they do it."
"This has a valuable place," Debi agrees. "Of course con artists should be stopped. But aren't there fraud laws to deal with that? Those are people preying on the vulnerable. That has nothing to do with psychic information. Psychic work and astrology can really pinpoint where someone has lost their way. Within the next decade, psychics will be working with psychologists."
"The ban will just push this underground," Mary continues. "And I don't think that's a good idea."
"There will be more charlatans," Debi adds. "Anytime there's a law, they just come out of the woodwork. Watch. If this goes underground, our phones will ring off the hook. All they have to do is legislate it."
"It will be like Prohibition," Mary says. "You know how people are. If they shut it down, it will become so mysterious that people will do anything to find you. You might as well light a neon sign on my lawn."
In the meantime, discreet advertisements and word of mouth work just fine. Mary will keep charting planets, and Debi will keep listening to her inner voice.
"I'll do what I have to do," Mary says. "If I have to put a sign on my door saying 'This is all a joke,' then I'll do it. My clients will still come."
She knows they will.
She has a feeling.
