It’s no secret that Massachusetts suffers from an abundance of red tape, outdated laws, and obsolete regulations. One law still on the books requires at least three bells to be attached to horses drawing sleighs or sleds.

So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that even fortune telling is a licensed job in the Bay State, right along with barbering, teaching, and nursing.

State law says no person shall “tell fortunes for money” unless they have been issued a license by a local licensing authority. The law also states that a fortune teller must reside continuously in the city or town in which they wish to practice for at least 12 months before they can receive a license. The licensing fee, set by the municipality, must cost at least $2 but not more than $50.

The statute dates back to 1963 and was likely established to prevent grifters from passing from town to town. But lawmakers haven’t forgotten about it – or at least some of them haven’t.

State Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol introduced legislation in 2025 for the second time that would repeal the 12-month residency requirement for fortune tellers. A previous version of the bill passed out of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure but never made it to the House floor for a vote. The current version sits in legislative limbo and is likely to face the same fate.

“To be honest, there is not a very active or powerful fortune-teller lobby in the state that I know of, so there hasn’t been a big push to get this over the finish line,” Whipps said. “My interest is just to remove an outdated law.”

There have been numerous attempts to repeal the residency requirement over the years, yet none have been successful. In 2000, for example, then-state Sen. Stan Rosenberg filed the legislation after being asked by the city of Northampton to challenge the law. An applicant there had been denied a license because of the rule. Whipps said she was similarly asked by a former Greenfield city employee to file the legislation after someone reached out to the city wanting to provide fortune-telling services.

It would be easy to assume that most psychics, tarot card readers, and mediums want to do away with the red tape, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

Nowhere do people have more opinions on the topic than in Salem, which licenses more fortune tellers than any other community in the state. Many say although the archaic statute may have originally been rooted in distrust and prejudice toward marginalized communities like the Romani people, there are tangible benefits of the law today.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to regulate and monitor to make sure that there aren’t fraudulent people,” said Leanne Marrama, co-owner of Pentagram, a psychic shop in Salem. “A lot of people have a certain amount of fear in regard to this industry. The world, unfortunately, is filled with jerks, and this is supposed to weed out the jerks.”

More Context

• How do you license a fortune teller? (October 2018)
• Fortune Teller Deregulation (April 2000)