New consumer protection regulations in Britain classifies astrologers along with fortune tellers and double-glazing salesman under a new consumer protection act. Astrologers, faith healers and spiritual advisers will now have to post a sign that says “for entertainment purposes only.” Consumer protection is a wonderful thing, and I am all for prohibiting fraudulent treatment of consumers under any circumstances. But astrological consultations are NOT for entertainment purposes only!
From the Times UK:
Andy Millmore, a partner at the law firm Harbottle & Lewis in London, said: “What is significant is the sweeping nature of the regulations. They will effectively criminalise actions that might in the past have escaped legal censure, even if they may perhaps have been covered by industry voluntary codes.
“Personalised services may also come under scrutiny. A tarot pack reader, for instance, cannot just pick one of several templates – it would have to be a proper reading designed for that person.”
Claims to secure good fortune, contact the dead or heal through the laying-on of hands are all services that will also have to carry disclaimers, other lawyers say. “You could argue that this is no different from promises given by the Church of Eternal Life, which people pay for, in the sense that they feel obliged to give to the collection,” one said. “It’s no more proven.”
Mr Millmore said that the changes created a lower test for prosecution. “Before, a prosecution had to show that there was a false or misleading trade description. Now the test is, is it an unfair commercial trade practice? So we are likely to see more prosecutions,” he said.
Certainly no one wants to see little old ladies taken advantage of. But are spiritual advisers any less vetted than church parsons or priests? I’d love to know what Dharmaruci, Barbara, Katherine and my other Brit friends think about this new law!
posted June 10, 2008 at 6:28 am
Ties in neatly with the other thread on forcasting death; you need to be on solid ground if you make predictions that people are going to base decisions on, and I don’t feel confident enough in my little interpretive skills
posted June 10, 2008 at 7:03 am
The other day I did a Tarot reading for the Free Tarot Network. The question was, “Will I have a wonderful wedding in August? These are one-card readings, and you have to get a lot of information out of that one card. The card I pulled was the 3 of Swords, the heartbreak card. Clearly, the wedding was not going to be wonderful. But I didn’t pose the answer in this way – I suggested some of the things that might happen. The last thing she needs is to be worried about what was going to occur at her wedding, but it WILL be useful for her to keep her eyes open.
Clients have told me of readings they’ve had with astrologers who told them that under their upcoming Pluto transits their lives would fall apart, that they would go through hell. I don’t really feel that’s useful, because Pluto transits can be the most inspirational times of our lives if we handle them right. But if we go into them with fear: “Oh no, the astrologer told me my life would fall apart” we’ll never take from these times the deepening and empowerment that is possible
posted June 10, 2008 at 10:17 am
Heres a nice bit of retrospective prediction; I’ve just heard a podcast about the credit crisis thats really starting to bite, giving the start date as 9th August 2007. Is that the sort of thing that could have been predicted; what are the significators? The podcast is from the bbc and has now passed its availability, but I’ve a copy if anyone is interested
posted June 11, 2008 at 9:56 am
RE: Britan cracks down on astrologers.
China bans astrology too!
I was on the web looking at a China news web site, and I done a search for astrology, to my suprise I got a warning saying such sites are harmful and are banned. I assume China to dis- likes the subject of astrology