Back in 2013, I attended Readers Studio, which is a yearly occurrence and one of my mandatory yearly conferences as an attendee. The conversation became heated during a Breakfast Roundtable moderated by Theresa Reed in which that age-old debate came up: the assertion that spiritual or metaphysical people shouldn’t be charging for their services. Beth Owl’s Daughter calls this phenomena the “purple-collar ghetto”.
I’ve come to realize that even after almost ten years as a professional tarot reader that the concept of the purple ghetto is still alive and well, and is propagated by tarot readers and non-readers alike… which I find stunning. Language such as bartering, sliding scale, discounts, spiritual calling. Guilt trips from OTHER readers for those that charge for readings, in a “how could you turn away someone that NEEDS your help with a reading?” tone. [An aside: a tarot reading is a want, not a need… which I’ll cover in an upcoming post.]… Continue Reading