Unforeseen Problem : ‘Sensitives’ Can’t Get Crystal Ball Rolling

It seemed like a good day to picket, numerologist and astrologer Ed Helin explained outside Long Beach City Hall, because “Mercury is retrograde today, and since it’s the planet of learning, people are likely to remember what they see on our signs.”

Alas, an unforeseen problem materialized for the 20 or so members of the Coalition of Sensitives (and one attorney) who gathered Tuesday to decry what they regard as discrimination by the city against psychics.

Mercury may have been in place, but not so the Long Beach City Council, the principal target of the protest. With four of its nine members out of town, the council canceled its scheduled session.

But the sensitives’ show went on outside City Hall anyway.

“We prefer the term ‘sensitive,’ because most people will buy it,” said Clarissa Ingabetsen, the pickets’ spokeswoman. “ ‘Psychic’ certain people associate with the devil.”

While the state Supreme Court ruled last year that laws prohibiting fortunetelling violate free speech protections, the soothsayers think several cities, including Long Beach, are using various restrictions to suppress them.

“This is a matter of freedom,” said Daunya Moore, an apprentice clairvoyant who picketed while pushing her child Andrew, age 6 months, in a baby carriage.

“Long Beach will be our test case,” Ingabetsen said. “Then we’re going after some other cities. Things are very bad in Orange County.”

Long Beach clairvoyants must obtain a conditional use permit (which requires a public hearing), pay a $600 annual license fee, put up a $2,000 insurance bond and limit their operations to the city’s central business district--the same area in which pornographic movie houses and bookstores are located.

“It’s an area my clients would be afraid to go into,” said Ingabetsen, who refuses to apply for a Long Beach license. “I’d be afraid too.”

“I only have to pay $60 (for a license) in Los Angeles,” said Helin, who does his predicting out of the San Fernando Valley.

A Long Beach deputy city attorney, Bill Keiser, said, “We believe we have them (the clairvoyants) in the appropriate areas. We’ve researched the legality of it.”

The sensitives also expressed displeasure over a psychic fair at a Long Beach hotel that was disbanded by police last month.

Wrong License

“They said we had the wrong license, but the city gave us the wrong license,” Ingabetsen contended.

However, Janice Bradley of the city’s business licensing section said the fair promoter misinformed officials over the nature of the event.

“He was given a promoter’s license, because we thought it was a display-selling event, such as an antique show. We were not aware they were conducting fortunetelling.”

Ingabetsen, whose business activities include psychometry (“I pick up vibes off the pictures or jewelry of missing people”), said she was upset over the psychic fair incident but not really surprised.

“Before I left, I asked a friend of mine where he was going to be,” she related. “He said, ‘Why? Are you sick?’ I said, ‘No, I have a feeling I’m gonna be busted by the cops.’ ”

While police made no arrests, Barry Fisher, a Century City attorney representing the sensitives, said they may sue.

The pickets’ concerns weren’t all of a legal nature Tuesday.

Clairvoyant Robert Edwards was late because his car broke down on the way from Panorama City. Not that he was surprised.

“When I awoke this morning, I received a thought that I should take my wife’s car here, but she had to use it,” he said.

Edwards said that he is also a healer but admitted that he couldn’t do anything with his disabled water pump. He had to summon a tow truck.