Connect with Beck!
https://www.instagram.com/the_stitching_witch
https://serpentskeyshoppe.com/
In today's episode
What happens when a 1861 law threatens a modern tarot reader with jail time? In this episode of Confessions of a Tarot Reader, host Bex sits down with Beck Ravenswood — known online as Hanover, Pennsylvania's most notorious fortune teller — to unpack one of the strangest astories this podcast has covered.
Shortly before her metaphysical store even opened, Beck was visited by the Hanover police chief, who cited an antiquated state law banning fortune telling, astrology, and necromancy, and threatened her with up to a year in jail or a $2,500 fine per offense. What followed was ultimately a 17-page lawsuit filed, essentially Beck v. the State of Pennsylvania.
The conversation widens into the deep history of laws against witchcraft — tracing back to the Code of Ur-Nammu, the earliest known legal code in human history — and Bex and Beck's beliefs that spirituality has always been political, whether we like it or not.
On a lighter note, Beck shares her origin story (Scooby-Doo's Hex Girls have a lot to answer for), her free monthly moon circles and seasonal rituals, the unconventional forms of divination she seeks out for herself, and her hopes for who plays her in the (inevitable) Netflix adaptation.
In this episode:
- The 1861 Pennsylvania law banning fortune telling, astrology, and necromancy
- The police visit, the denied right to record, and what happened next
- Filing a 17-page lawsuit: Beck v. the State of Pennsylvania
- The Code of Ur-Nammu and the ancient history of anti-witchcraft law
- Why spirituality has always been political
- Ethical tarot practice: disclosures, informed consent, and turning away repeat clients
- Beck's witchcraft origin story — yes, it starts with Scooby-Doo
- Making accessible, welcoming community spaces, including moon circles and seasonal rituals: building an accessible Pagan community
- Unconventional divination: seashell readings, oracle dice, tea leaves, and more
- How listeners can support the case and the broader fight for legal protection
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