(Most of my Oracle and Tarot deck collection – I need some more don’t you think?! I have my eye on a few…)

 

 

So it has been a while since I uploaded a post about starting a business/going freelance.

This is because I have been busy with my part-time job, and writing blog posts on the side. (and sleeping, eating, having fun, getting sick, the usual jazz)

Those who have been reading my blog for a while and/or these posts on becoming self-employed, will know that I when I started blogging I was completing an MA Creative Writing with Pedagogic Studies – which I have now passed with merit! (yay)

My plan after completing the MA was to start running poetry writing workshops more regularly,  and to declare myself as self-employed alongside my part-time job.

Yet what I have ended up doing and getting paid for, is something I truly NEVER expected to be doing.

If you read this blog often you know that I am a part-time Academic Librarian, a part-time Poet/Blogger, and also a Tarot/Oracle card reader and Channel for the spirit realms. (Yes really!).

Yet the idea of doing Tarot readings for anyone other than close family members and friends seemed like a very daunting prospect for me, and it still does if I am honest.

I don’t really advertise myself as a Tarot reader, though I do have a section on this blog about it.

I have always maintained the idea that whoever wants/needs my readings will naturally find me.

So it is with both surprise, and not surprise at all, that people have begun to find me and seek me out for Tarot readings.

From friends of friends, to random people in coffee shops, I find myself being asked more and more if I will read for people.

This has meant I have had to address the question of whether or not I should charge people for the readings I do.

This got me thinking, why are we sometimes suspicious of the things that come easy to us, and why do we have such a hard time charging for creative/spiritual work?

Poets, writers and artists of all kinds reading this will know how challenging it is to find paid work, but also how hard it can be to truly know what kind of monetary value to put onto a piece of work.

It has never been my intention to make money as a poet, and certainly not a tarot reader, and though a lot of this is because I make a living from being a Librarian, a lot of this is also because I genuinely feel uncomfortable charging for what I consider to be gifts.

It goes back to being a child really.

I have always found writing to be exceptionally easy.

 English Literature has been my academic focus since school, and I have known since school that it is not something I have to work particularly hard at.

Time management yes, stress management of course –  but the actual act of writing and what I produce? Easy.

On some level I have always felt a little guilty about this, but on a more damning level I have never taken this skill seriously simply because it comes easy.

Completing an MA in Creative Writing was for me about learning to take that part of me seriously.

Running workshops, submitting poetry to magazines and competitions also helps me to work on crafting my poems more, and continues to help me take it seriously.

So it is with Tarot Reading.

I started reading a couple of years ago through spiritual and intuitive guidance.

Even though I am now a certified reader, I didn’t need this certificate to read, it comes naturally and easily – just like writing.

And so just like writing – I find it hard to value it seriously and to feel comfortable receiving money and recognition for it!

 

So what to do about this?

 

I read somewhere once that reading for another is about an exchange of energy. It takes a portion of my energy, and the easiest way to balance that out is to receive money in exchange.

There is nothing wrong with money.

Yet as a ‘spiritual’ or ‘artistic’ person we kind of take that saying “Money is the root of all evil” as gospel.

Yes money is the root of a lot of curruption, strife and imbalance in our world. But the ability to look after yourself and help those around you, maybe even helping those further afield with money is a wonderful thing.

So now I charge for most of the Tarot reading I do.

Phew! I said it!

Now I will move forward working on being comfortable with this, and continue to build on my careers with this awareness that even though something is natural or comes easy to me, it still holds material value – and that is ok.

Much love always Txx