Zsuzsanna Budapest: The Woman Who Fought for the Right to Read the Cards

Discover the story of Zsuzsanna Budapest, the witch and feminist who was arrested in 1970s America for reading tarot—and changed spiritual freedom forever.

In the 1970s, while the women’s liberation movement was reshaping politics, art, and identity, one woman in California stood trial for something astonishingly simple—reading tarot cards.

Her name was Zsuzsanna Budapest, and her case became a landmark moment for spiritual freedom and women’s rights.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1940, Zsuzsanna (often called Z) grew up surrounded by stories of magic, goddess worship, and the resilience of women. Her mother, a practicing witch and medium, introduced her to intuitive arts at an early age. After fleeing the Soviet occupation, Z emigrated to the United States, where she became a leading voice in feminist spirituality and one of the founders of the modern Goddess movement.

By the early 1970s, she had opened a small shop in Venice, California, where she offered tarot readings, spiritual counselling, and rituals celebrating the divine feminine. But in 1975, she was arrested and charged under an old California law that prohibited fortune-telling. Her “crime” was giving a tarot reading to an undercover police officer.

Rather than quietly accepting the charge, Zsuzsanna turned her trial into a powerful act of protest. She argued that tarot reading was not fraud or entertainment—it was part of her spiritual and religious practice, rooted in centuries of women’s intuition and sacred art. With courage and wit, she stood before the court and declared that women had the right to practice their spirituality freely, outside patriarchal or religious institutions.

Her trial drew national attention and united feminists, pagans, and free-speech advocates. It became more than a legal battle—it was a cultural confrontation between old laws that sought to control women’s voices and the emerging era of personal and spiritual liberation. Though she was initially found guilty, the case was later overturned, paving the way for the legal recognition of tarot, astrology, and witchcraft as legitimate spiritual practices in the United States.

Zsuzsanna Budapest didn’t just defend herself—she defended every intuitive, healer, and tarot reader who came after her. Her courage challenged centuries of stigma around women’s wisdom and the label of “witch.” She reminded the world that the act of divination—of seeking truth through symbols—is an ancient, sacred language of the soul.

Since that time, Zsuzsanna has written influential books such as The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries and The Grandmother of Time, and continues to advocate for women’s spiritual autonomy. Her legacy lives on in every reader, healer, and intuitive who chooses to share their gifts without fear.

Zsuzsanna’s story is a testament to how tarot, once condemned as superstition, became a tool of empowerment and resistance.