Now, the original question I posed in the previous entry was: Does accepting money for using our psychic gifts deplete them?
I was taught that yes, it certainly does, however after many years of observation, I believe that no, it doesn’t.
As mentioned, money is a tool and there is nothing wrong with being paid for a service you provide.
But, you may ask, what about all those stories about people who lose their power once they start charging?
In my own case, in the mid 90s, in my attempt to grow and heal myself, I saw a couple of psychic healers.
At the time, it was $60.00 a session, which was a fair amount for me back then and I saw them at least once a week. (Though one was in 1995 and the other in 1996.)
Both were very impressive when I started going to them, but by the end, they made me feel like I was just a cash cow. (Though the second one I only saw her for three months.)
Nothing really got resolved and their system was set up so that no matter what you did, it could be taken as a negative or a problem to be fixed.
For instance, the first one I saw had this system where at the beginning of each session, I had to pick four cards from the Californian Flower Essence range. She used that as what needed to be done for that session.
However, as I made progress, she did not stop using it, and I realized that no matter what happened, being forced to choose four cards was always going to suggest I had problems that needed to be fixed.
She also become more invalidating and egotistical as the year went on, and in the end, my intuition screamed at me to get out and stop going.
Being an Empath, I found this very hard to do at the time as part of me felt guilty about it, and didn’t want to offend, , but one day she told me that I wasn’t a spiritual person on a spiritual path, and I knew that was my last session. After all, I had pretty much dedicated my life to the pursuit of knowledge and helping everyone I could.
As it was, I had another psychic healer who I was going to see, who happened to be an old family acquaintance who told me she could help me, and so I agreed.
In fact, while I know this lady was very psychic, it turned out that she was after my powers. She told me I was powerful and and she made several attempts to try and convince me to board with her in her house and become her student.
My intuition also gave a very strong ‘no’ to this, and she became angry and offended.
As negative as those experiences ended being, though, they were critical to my path, and timing was everything so certainly no regrets.
What it did teach me was that the more success these people seemed to have, the more their ego appeared to take over.
They could admit no wrong. They could not be told that something might not be right. They certainly weren’t happy to listen to anything I might have to say, and both would attempt to invalidate what I was feeling.
I’ve seen plenty of good psychics and healers who do charge, and they are genuine and while they certainly don’t always get it right, they are sincere, and do provide the information they need to when they need to. (On an interesting note, those people offered their readings to me for free, which was appreciated at the time.)
Being humble (not falsely humble, which is irritating), trying to help and lift others, and not separating yourself out as special and better will prevent losing any gifts and abilities you have.
If you don’t know the answer to a question, then just say so. It might not be what they want to hear, but it will be what they need to hear.
If you were wrong and they tell you, then accept it. You can justify your reading six ways from Sunday, but all that does it hurt your powers and bring such things into disrepute.
There are already too many scammers out there on the market and they already do more harm to our credibility than you can imagine.
Sceptics are having a field day and dismissing us all as frauds, charlatans and self-deluded kooks. And I don’t blame them.
Stay true to yourself. It doesn’t matter if you charge or not. What matter is that you’re honest and you don’t let your ego take over.
Next: What if nobody took anything for anything?
Thank you for this post. It is a debate/discussion that comes up often with me. If you are going to help people, why should you charge, etc? Well, for me, I guess I feel if I am going to devote my life to this, I need to sustain that life. It is the same as all the years I worked in customer service. I was paid a wage and I provided a service. The trick, as you stated, is not to get greedy and not to let the ego in. I especially liked you saying to be honest if one doesn’t know the answer. Honestly, to me, has always just seemed like the way to go. It is not complicated to just say “I don’t know” and help where I can. Thanks for addressing this issue in a well thought out presentation. Have a blessed day.
Thank you and you’re welcome. 🙂 And yes, I suppose if your help is valued, but you’re too poor to help others, then people will go without that help in the end.
Well, I think one does have to take into someones circumstances. There are lots of ways to be compensated that are not just money. And, sometimes one has to just do something for free. Even lawyers take pro bono cases. I am just saying that overall, it should not be assumed that just because we are gifted, we need to never ask for something in return. Artists sell their paintings, etc. Sure, sometimes not. I can’t draw but stick pictures and am willing to pay for something beautfiul created by someone else. As in all things, it has to be weighed and balanced. (OK, my Libra just kicked…hehe)
Thanks, though with those kind of things, they are tangible and you either get results or you don’t. This area is a lot more grey.
Personally, I’d rather work on a ‘if you get results, then pay me’ type thing, but I have doubts that would work anyway.