Understanding the popularity of psychics

It is difficult to know what to do after the loss of a loved one who has been the most important part of your life.

Although I know I am certainly not the first to find herself widowed after half a century of marriage, I am left wondering how people get through this. It is like losing an entire world. The grief is not just sorrow, but rather a profound disorientation, creating a void—an emptiness that can never be filled. Each object in our home becomes a relic—a reminder of the days lived together, and an echo of the absence that now remains.

For those who are grieving, it can be a great temptation to want to find a way to communicate with a departed loved one. In our Connecticut summer house, there is a shop that I pass by every day near the cemetery called “Mystics by the Sea.” I am always amazed at what a busy little place it is. I had never understood how they had built such a thriving business by selling tarot cards and crystals–and offering “readings.”

But having experienced this loss so recently, I am beginning to understand the desire many people have to find a way to reach out to those who have died. And although the Church forbids consulting psychics to “reach” loved ones, in an increasingly secularizing society, the attraction is powerful—even for Catholics.

The Catholic view of death is intricately woven into the fabric of the Faith, reflecting a deep belief that the soul survives bodily death and awaits the resurrection promised by Jesus Christ:

Christ, “the first-born from the dead” (Col 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls (cf. Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf.: Rom 8:11). (CCC, 658)

For a faithful Catholic, this is comforting. The most recent Pew data indicates that 90 percent of all Catholics believe in heaven. And although these percentages reflect a somewhat lower belief in heaven than the 96 percent of Evangelical Protestants who believe in heaven, they are slightly higher than the 88 percent of mainline Protestants who believe.

In contrast, those without faith have little certainty that there is anything beyond the grave. Only three percent of atheists and 26 percent of agnostics believe in heaven. Of those who are unaffiliated with any religion, 37 percent believe in heaven. While most U.S. adults also believe in hell, this belief is less widespread than belief in heaven. Pew found that roughly six in ten American adults (62%) say they believe in hell, but once again, Catholics are much more likely to believe in hell than those who are unaffiliated or without faith. Seventy-four percent of all Catholics believe in hell, while only one percent of atheists and 14 percent of agnostics believe in hell.

In addition to asking about general belief in heaven and hell, the Pew survey queried respondents about specific characteristics of these two destinations to determine what Americans think heaven and hell are like.

In the case of heaven, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that in heaven, people are definitely or probably free from suffering, with roughly seven-in-ten holding this view. This perspective is nearly unanimous among those who express a belief in heaven. Likewise, large majorities of Americans express confidence in the ideas that, in heaven, people are reunited with deceased loved ones (65% of U.S. adults say this), can meet God (62%), and have perfectly healthy bodies (60%). Pew also found that almost half of all U.S. adults (48%) believe that people in heaven are reunited with pets or animals that they knew on Earth. More than four in ten say that people in heaven can see what is happening on Earth (44%).

For those with faith, grief can be alleviated or at least attenuated with the hope of eternal reward. But a 2023 Pew Research Center survey among a nationally representative sample of 11,201 American adults found that 7 in 10 adults describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” Those without a grounding in organized and traditional religion are more likely to believe in spirits or unseen spiritual forces. They are also more likely to believe that they can communicate with those who have passed on. They are much more likely to be attracted to psychics.

In the Pew study, 45 percent of all American adults claim to have had a sudden feeling of connection with something from beyond this world, and 38 percent say they’ve had a strong feeling that someone who previously passed away was communicating with them from beyond this world. Three in ten say they believe in spirits or unseen spiritual forces and also say they have personally encountered one.

Faithful Catholic theologians warn that psychic practices can open individuals to spiritual deception or even malevolent influences. The Catholic Church holds clear teachings regarding the practice of consulting psychics, mediums, fortune tellers, or anyone who claims to reveal knowledge of the future or communicate with the spirits of the dead. Rooted in Sacred Scripture, Church tradition, and the Catechism, these teachings are shaped by a concern for spiritual health, the integrity of faith, and the avoidance of practices that could be spiritually harmful or misleading.

The Church’s position is based upon several passages from the Bible. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 18:10–12 explicitly warns against divination, soothsaying, omens, sorcery, and consulting the dead: “Let no one be found among you who … practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. … Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.” Similar warnings are found in Leviticus 19:31 and Isaiah 8:19.

The Catechism addresses the issue directly:

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone (CCC, 2116).

Paragraph 2117 of the Catechism further elaborates that these practices are contrary to the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

Although forbidden, there are many Catholics who are drawn to psychics. I can certainly understand the desperation that might lead them there. Even though they may know that prayer, the sacraments, and Scripture are the true ways to seek God’s will and understand the meaning of death, the need for such comfort outside the faith is certainly powerful. But the urge to use psychics and other false attempts to communicate with the dead needs to be rejected.

As faithful Catholics, we are blessed to know that at the heart of grieving is a belief in eternal life. In To Die is to Gain (Emmaus Academic, 2022), a recent book by Ave Maria University Theology Professor Roger W. Nutt, we are reminded of the “Catholic Way” of death through the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and its broader place in a Catholic understanding of life and death in Christ. Professor Nutt writes that we need to remember that death is not an end, but a passage to a new form of existence, as the Sacrament provides the graces we all need for that journey. And although it can be very lonely—and sometimes dark—for those left behind, the Catholic practice of the Anointing of the Sick, praying for the dead, especially through Mass intentions, and praying the Rosary, gives a sense of continued connection.

Entrusting our loved ones to God and remembering them in prayer helps us begin to find comfort in believing that our relationship endures, transformed but unbroken.