An ex-psychic said a new survey showing a substantial portion of Americans consult with horoscopes, tarot cards, and other means is “horrific” but unsurprising.
Listen to the latest episode of “Quick Start”
“I thought it was horrific, to be quite honest with you, but I can’t say that I’m completely surprised,” said Jen Nizza, an ex-medium-turned-Christian who hosts the “Ex-Psychic Saved” podcast.
Nizza’s comments came in response to the Pew Research Center’s latest findings surrounding “New Age practices, such as astrology, tarot card reading, and fortune-telling.”
“A fall 2024 Pew Research Center survey finds that 30% of U.S. adults say they consult astrology (or a horoscope), tarot cards, or a fortune teller at least once a year, but most do so just for fun, and few Americans say they make major decisions based on what they learn along the way,” Pew reported.
Some of the other takeaways: 27% of U.S. adults believe in astrology — that the position of planets and stars can impact people’s lives. This proportion is much higher among women between the ages of 18 to 49 (43%), with the proportion going down to 27% among women 50 and older.
One of the most interesting elements is the motivations people have for engaging.
“Most Americans who engage in astrology, tarot cards, or fortune-telling say they do it for fun, rather than for insights or guidance on life decisions,” it reads. “Overall, 20% of U.S. adults say they engage in at least one of these activities mostly ‘just for fun,’ while 10% say they do them mostly because they ‘believe the practices give them helpful insights.’”
Despite these latter statistics, Nizza offered an important caveat.
“Many people are going [to psychics and other tools] because they think it’s entertainment, but I want to argue something,” she said. “As a former psychic, how sure are we that they don’t believe a little bit? How do we know that, when they go for that reading, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I wonder what they’re going to say or what’s gonna come out for me in the cards or the astrology chart?’”
Beyond that, though, Nizza made another point: the motivation doesn’t matter as much as the impact.
“Whether you believe or not and you’re just doing it [or it is] for entertainment, you’re opening a demonic door, which is so heartbreaking,” she said. “That’s just the truth of it. If you’re going to use a tool of divination, you’re going outside of God’s boundaries.”
Nizza said, as a human, she understands the desire, but warned of the consequences.
And she knows from experience, as she spent decades as a psychic medium, going from mere interest as a child into working as a professional reader — something she abandoned in her late 30s when she became a Christian.
What’s sometimes misunderstood, she said, is the motivation psychic mediums have, as she said some people working in the New Age truly believe they’re helping others.
“I truly had a compassion for helping people, and I believed I had this gift from God,” she said, noting the dangerous reality soon became undeniable. “When I was doing readings on a regular basis…anywhere I went, I was followed by this multitude of demons feeding me information and using me as a PA for the evil one.”
Ultimately, Nizza believes there’s a “spiritual battle” at play and a “tug of war” between God and Satan — one impacting what’s happening in both the seen and unseen realms.
“It’s a battle for souls,” Nizza said.
She’s hoping to help people through her Ex-Psychic Saved ministry and podcast and through a feature film she’s currently crowdfunding to make — a movie that tells her story of going from darkness to light.
