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.

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“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.