If this wasn’t so absurd it would be laughable. The Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant is scheduled to take place on February 2nd. Stephanie Conover was invited to be a judge at the pageant by virtue of her win at the Miss Canada Plus Pageant last year. By all accounts Ms Conover was delighted with the honour and accepted the invitation. As part of the process Ms Conover submitted a biography which included among other things, her hobbies – songwriting, knitting, painting, yoga, reiki, and tarot cards.

According to the Mirriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
• Reiki is a system of touching with the hands based on the belief that such touching by an experienced practitioner produces beneficial effects by strengthening and normalizing certain vital energy fields held to exist within the body.
• Tarot cards are any of a set of usually 78 playing cards including 22 pictorial cards used for fortune-telling.

These hobbies set off alarm bells with the Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant director, who managed to categorize Ms Conover as someone involved in the dark side or the occult. Ms Conover was rejected because “Our board of directors has eliminated her as a judge as tarot card reading and reiki are the occult and is not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians. Tarot card reading is witchcraft and is used by witches, spiritists and mediums to consult the dark world.” The letter went on to express hope that Ms Conover would repent.

Shades of Salem! Should we start following everyone who buys tarot cards in any book store or makes a reiki appointment and call in an exorcist to save them or have them burned at the stake if they won’t repent? How many of you “normal” mainstream folks out there own a deck of tarot cards? Have had a tarot card reading? Have had reiki therapy? Beware! You could be labeled as someone who is into the dark side or the occult. Too bad this story didn’t break around Halloween.