They are however fantastic for shaping the lives of fictional characters. I love using them for NPCs in my games

It's a random number generator. It's shuffled cards put in random order to tell a story, or focus someone on their own thoughts without distractions of self doubt. To bring order to a chaotic existence. Not all mysticism is superstition. Not all rituals are pointless, many attempt to bring people to a liminal state, an attitude of being in-between, standing at the threshold. We can keep the useful elements of these things and discard the rest. No one needs to base there life around anything they don't like.