I recently had an interesting experience where an acquaintance who was in my free Facebook group asked me, privately, to interpret a dream for them… “Only if you have time and if it’s not too much trouble,” she said, “I completely understand if not”. She had joined my group back when I used to give pro bono readings, and was fully aware that I was now only offering dream readings as a paid service. I politely replied, explaining that I could only take on paid 1-2-1 work now, since my workload had increased so much. She said that was totally fine, she understood the need to charge for your spiritual services, she just thought she’d check.
Here’s where it gets interesting…
The lady in question had a Facebook group of her own, in an unrelated area, which I was a member of too. A few weeks later, when I asked her to clarify and address some behaviour from someone her group, which other members and I had found offensive, I was a little taken aback when, in response, I got both barrels about my audacity in asking her to pay for a dream interpretation all those weeks ago.
Now, there are a few interesting lessons in this story! But I wanted to focus on it as an example as to why it’s important to charge for your spiritual services. Here are my top 3 reasons:
So that people take it seriously…
In offering only free spiritual services you’re sending out the message that it’s all a bit of a lark, a bit woo-woo, a bit ‘The ladies need an alcohol-fueled, jokey card reading night’. You have a gift for a reason and you can’t use it to help people if those people don’t truly appreciate it for what it is. People place more value and attention on things they have personally had to give something up for, like time or money. Make it easy for them to value your service – put a number on it, value it yourself!
So that you take it seriously…
Linking in nicely from my first point, let’s talk about YOU. Without meaning to sound ‘low vibrational’, the more you give, the more people take. Honestly, this isn’t negative or critical, it just is what it is. The Light attracts. However, you’re not able to fill your cup, to continue giving out so much light if you’re double-depleting it: offering a free spiritual service which takes an hour could have earned you money, which you could spend in ways that light you up, or tend to your own life. I’m talking about self-care. Imagine the danger of ending up in a place so depleted that you RESENT helping people with your gift. That’s not the sort of energy you want to be bathed in, or sending to your clients while you’re Lightworking! Which leads me to my final point…
For a fair exchange of energy…
Asking for money in return for using your gifts is a fair exchange of energy. Money is simply that: energy. In asking for payment, you are showing that you take the best care of your gift in order to provide your client with the best service, and also give them an opportunity to show they take it seriously too. This only goes to further their own spiritual development before you’ve even started the work! Payment for services sends a clear message to the Universe that both you and your client are invested in improving the quality of your own lives, and this can only have a butterfly effect in improving the quality of the lives of people you are both personally connected with. When you are happy, rested, fulfilled and fueled you can serve more people: it’s as simple as that.
[Tweet theme=”tweet-box-shadow”]So many #Lightworkers feel guilt in asking for payment for something which comes naturally and easily to them.[/Tweet]
But do you think plumbers feel like that when they complete a job which took them 5 minutes? Do you think a children’s entertainer shouldn’t charge for an hour of having fun?
When you start to get serious about charging for your gifts it’s very interesting which other areas of your life people start to take you more seriously in too.
