Dealing with someone who believes in tarot, psychics, horoscopes etc?

[Kouyate42]

I would really appreciate some help on this one. In my talks about religion, I often come across people who, whilst they reject traditional religion, seem to accept with great pleasure and really take seriously things such as newspaper horoscopes, tarot, speaking with the dead via mediums and the like.

I’m really unsure how I should approach this kind of topic with them, partially because of all the excuses I seem to get:

‘‘Oh, but my horoscope was so accurate this week!’’
‘‘If mediums are fakes, why do they come up with such accurate information sometimes?’’
‘‘Horoscopes are not new faddy ideas, they’ve been around a long time’’

One question I did ask is this:

Why, if psychics are using exactly the same cards/stones/spirits to tell them stuff, WHY do they come up with such radically different and often contradictory information to each other?

The response I got was something along the following lines;

‘‘Well, they’ve all got different gifts and tune into different energies/spirits’’

Seriously, how should I go about discussing the subject reasonably with people?

EDIT: I should add that I reject psychics and mediums not on religious reasons but scientific ones.

 

[puzzleannie]

I don’t know that there is any effective way using an apologetics of logic since reliance on such occult practices is inherently illogical, and in fact IMO part of the fascination of this world view is that it defies logic as we see it in Western rational thought.

My sister for instance makes fun of us, loudly and longly, for praying a rosary which is merely reliance on “a string of glass beads”–yet she hangs crystals all over her house, studio and office because they have “energy” or some such rot. How can you argue with that thinking?

 

[Kouyate42]

I don’t know that there is any effective way using an apologetics of logic since reliance on such occult practices is inherently illogical, and in fact IMO part of the fascination of this world view is that it defies logic as we see it in Western rational thought.

My sister for instance makes fun of us, loudly and longly, for praying a rosary which is merely reliance on “a string of glass beads”–yet she hangs crystals all over her house, studio and office because they have “energy” or some such rot. How can you argue with that thinking?

I’ve had similar logic in that those people who mock me for seeing nature as being a sign of God’s creation and beauty are often the same people who go on about ley lines and electromagnetic disturbances caused by ghosts.

 

[Tomcmaj]

In my talks about religion,

What exactly are these “talks”?

 

[Bezant]

I would really appreciate some help on this one. In my talks about religion, I often come across people who, whilst they reject traditional religion, seem to accept with great pleasure and really take seriously things such as newspaper horoscopes, tarot, speaking with the dead via mediums and the like.

I’m really unsure how I should approach this kind of topic with them, partially because of all the excuses I seem to get:

‘‘Oh, but my horoscope was so accurate this week!’’
‘‘If mediums are fakes, why do they come up with such accurate information sometimes?’’
‘‘Horoscopes are not new faddy ideas, they’ve been around a long time’’

One question I did ask is this:

Why, if psychics are using exactly the same cards/stones/spirits to tell them stuff, WHY do they come up with such radically different and often contradictory information to each other?

The response I got was something along the following lines;

‘‘Well, they’ve all got different gifts and tune into different energies/spirits’’

Seriously, how should I go about discussing the subject reasonably with people?

EDIT: I should add that I reject psychics and mediums not on religious reasons but scientific ones.

Ask along the lines of, “Why does your nonsense make more sense than mine?”

 

[Kouyate42]

What exactly are these “talks”?

Mostly people asking me questions which develop into conversations, or simply it coming up in conversation.

 

[Lokabrenna]

Hi, Pagan here, collector of tarot decks and regular watcher of “Penn and Teller’s Bullsh*t!” which debunks all of the things you mentioned.

First of all, I don’t think “X is old so it must be true” is a valid argument. Hundreds of years ago, people believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe, that didn’t make it true. The popular conception of astrology is that the stars are able to influence one’s actions, but if that’s true, the influence all the other planets hold would absolutely pale when compared to the sun. I’ve always found newspaper horoscopes to be rather canned, generalized statements that apply to everyone.

As for psychics, I had an encounter with one at a Psychic Fair a few months ago. She went on about how she saw more education and training in my future. Now, I was not currently a student, but I’m often mistaken for one (I look younger than I actually am) so it’s natural that someone would look at me and say “student”). It’s a technique called “cold reading”. In this case, she was completely barking up the wrong tree. (When someone actually does background research on people prior to a show, it’s called “hot reading”).

Now, I like to read tarot cards, but I don’t think they can tell the future, the future is constantly changing. The thing about tarot cards is that while there are acceptable “traditional” meanings, the interpretations are often wide open. Some of my fellow tarotists will call me insane, but I don’t believe in trusting major life-changing decisions to…ink and paper, that’s also why I don’t pay attention to the “tarot is evil” crowd–why be scared of ink and paper? It makes no sense to me.