Parasociality of Divination

Believe it or not, clients have ethical responsibilities to diviners as well.

For instance, hiring a diviner for a question about the character of an unnamed third party without disclosing that the diviner has a relationship with that person violates that responsibility.

As the diviner, I might figure it out myself. I might not. Either way, I learned something about someone I know that I did not consent to know.

At least as fraught are the kinds of parasocial projections likely to obtain in the overly familiar environment of social media, and how those can distort the calculus.

A client might think it perfectly fine to drag a diviner they “know” into such a situation because — from the point of view of the client — all the players are in this together. They’re “in community.” The diviner will surely understand they have a personal stake in this.

In reality, if a diviner is not consulting for someone they actually know — an entirely different situation — they are in their professional posture of impartiality, not involving themself in any part of the question that isn’t explicitly and directly about them.

To trick them into being entangled in it because of some solipsistic psychodrama they’re part of in the client’s mind is manipulative, predatory behavior.