"I Don't Believe In You!"
I almost added "I don't believe in you" as a frequently asked question to my web-site today when I abruptly realized the silly fact that it wasn't a question at all. And yet, it is certainly posed frequently to me! I have been asked, "you don't really believe in this stuff, do you?" as a barbed rhetorical from those who revile me and as a well-meaning inquiry from friends who respect me. I can certainly see the underlying questions... The ones that aren't frequently asked at all.
"You aren't just a con artist, are you?"
Okay, so I actually do get asked that one at fairs and festivals, when an anonymous public, drunk with revelry gawks at me like I am an alien. Of course, I tell them that it is my belief that I am not, but that there are those whose belief system does not allow for any true fortune-telling at all.
"By what mechanism do you think these things work so well?"
I think this is the subconscious probe from those who subscribe to the Tinkerbell theory that you have to believe in readings for them to work, or that if you shout enough that you don't believe in readings, I won't be able to read. As a follower of an orthopraxic rather than an orthodoxic religion, I come from the point of view that sometimes it's what you do that matters, and beliefs can be left up to the individual. I have a friend who doesn't believe in witchcraft, but he practices it because it works. Likewise, to some people I am the voice of their spirit guide or even their God, while to others I am merely offering Jungian archetypes that help them analyze what role they're playing in their own psychological hero's journey. I don't think it matters what you believe or even what I believe for it to work. However, for the record, I do believe that divination can be used as tools for messages from the divine or as psychological props.
Regardless of whether or not you believe in readings, they happen every day, and they can happen for you.