Pa. law makes it illegal to sell tarot readings or love potions. Could that change?

An obscure state law from 1861 prevents fortune telling for profit. State Rep. Greg Scott wants the statute repealed.

A fortune teller might be able to divine the future of Section 7104 in Pennsylvania’s criminal code.

But, currently, they’d have to stay outside the commonwealth or risk prosecution for a third-degree misdemeanor.

State Rep. Greg Scott is trying to change that, recently announcing his goal to repeal this section of the law and legalize tarot reading and other forms of fortune-telling that have long been criminalized in the Keystone State. 

“It is time to update Pennsylvania’s laws,” the Montgomery County Democrat wrote in a bill memo this week.

Pennsylvania law bars people from charging money to predict the future “by cards, tokens, the inspection of the head or hands of any person, or by the age of anyone, or by consulting the movements of heavenly bodies, or in any other manner.” It also prohibits people from selling love potions, spells or charms. 

The rules date back to the mid-1800s, and some authorities have continued to enforce them. 

A Lebanon County woman was charged with illegal fortune telling in 2023, and a Beaver County woman in 2018 was sentenced to probation after allegedly scamming people out of more than $3,000 through her psychic and tarot reading business. 

The 19th-century prohibitions were enacted in a time when fortune-telling was stigmatized and mediums were equated with scammers, according to Spotlight PA.

Interest in New Age spirituality has been building, though, and a Pew Research Center report released in May showed nearly a third of American adults consult tarot cards, astrology or fortune tellers at least yearly. Against this backdrop, a pending court case is challenging Pennsylvania’s criminal statute as an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. 

The suit was filed in 2024 by a Hanover apothecary shop owner, who claimed a local police chief had threatened criminal penalties if the businessperson continued reading tarot cards. Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday recently intervened to defend the state statute in the ongoing proceedings.

Reporting by Bethany Rodgers, USA TODAY NETWORK / Erie Times-News