It Scares Me To Talk About This

Sometimes the projects I take on keep me in knots.

Again and again, I questioned myself:

Is this wrong, or right?

Am I making a huge mistake?

Am I deluding myself?

Is this a complete waste of time, or does someone actually need to hear what I have to say?

This is the emotional rollercoaster that comes with talking about money.

And in spiritual work, money gets weird.

Why?

The roots can run deep and stem from a range of beliefs and feelings. Some spiritual practitioners, including tarot readers, feel guilty for charging for their work. They aim to help as many people as possible, burning themselves out in the pursuit of their labour of love rather than creating a fair exchange of energy.

It doesn’t help that in this industry, there are plenty of potential clients who are happy to take advantage of guilt-ridden, people-pleasing practitioners. Have you ever heard someone say that it’s wrong to charge for tarot readings because diviners have been “given a gift from God”?

It’s quite a common belief, and one that is usually shared by people who would be happy to exploit you for a free reading.

And then there are those who relentlessly scroll through Instagram, sending direct messages to every tarot reader they can find asking, “Do you read for free?”

As I’ve said before: This industry has an entitlement problem.

And when you pair that up with practitioners who are compassionate and who have been called to this work because they genuinely want to help other people, you can start to see why some tarot readers struggle to keep themselves afloat financially.

Recently, someone commented on one of my Instagram posts that if they ever turn pro with tarot, they would just read for donation.

Which is a beautiful intention and if that makes them happy, I won’t stop them. But after having worked for eight years in the charitable industry, the word “donation” brings up instant flashbacks of the intense burnout me and my colleagues experienced working in careers that had high demands and low compensation.

Tarot is an unpredictable way to make money. I do believe that if you want to do this work professionally, and you intend to be in for the long-run, you really need to be determined to find a way to make it happen – without burning yourself out in the process.

Because this path is fraught with emotional ups and downs that will challenge your beliefs about money, self-worth, and deservedness.

Six months ago, I don’t know what was in the air, but I was hit with a rash of freebie seekers online. People were sending me DMs out of the blue asking for free tarot readings. I had even set up an Instagram for my dog, posting little card-of-the-day messages, and people were asking him for readings, too.

Yup, asking for tarot readings from a dog.

So much of this entitlement centers around a few things:

• The culture of giving that the tarot community has created (and that doesn’t always get the appreciation it deserves);
• A lack of boundaries from the people who shop around for freebies and discounts;
• And confusion about the true cost and value of tarot in the first place.

In the last five years, I’ve seen a lot of my peers close their businesses or change direction.

Some of them hoped to make tarot their full-time income, but couldn’t ride out the unpredictable cash flow of appointment-based work.

Or they weren’t charging enough for their work in the first place, spreading themselves too thin and leaving themselves with no wiggle room for slow periods.

And others just got tired of feeling like their skills were going underused and unappreciated.

This isn’t to discourage anyone from taking the leap into full-time tarot work: It’s just part of the reality we need to face if we’re serious about reading professionally.

All of this is what inspired my most recent project: Money Mastery for Tarot Readers.

There’s a big difference between thinking like a tarot reader and thinking like a business owner.

And that’s a step that I see a lot of my peers needing help with.

I didn’t want to create a business course, because there are tons of programs out there already that can teach you how to do the basics.

What I felt driven to create was something that would help the tarot readers out there who need help taking their own advice.

You know the advice I’m talking about.

We spend so much time and energy helping clients take charge of their lives. We tell them how to assert their boundaries, stop acting small, and step into their dreams…

And yet when it comes to our own self-worth or deservedness as tarot professionals, we struggle.

I wanted to create something for tarot readers who give so much away already, from card of the day posts on social media to YouTube videos to tarot tips…and yet they feel guilty when it comes to making a sale on their website.

There are too many readers out there who don’t want to promote their paid work or programs because they feel guilty or shy about marketing, so they just keep giving in the hopes that the clients will come.

How can we help others if we have money wounds we haven’t healed?

How can we prop others up when we’re struggling with our own self-worth and feel insecure about the paths we’ve chosen for ourselves?

I don’t know if the answers to these questions always come easy. I know that for me, they certainly don’t always feel comfortable.

Even writing this down, I feel all kinds of defenses come up. I can hear people arguing back with me about why it’s wrong to want…what? Security? Predictability? Sustainability?

Why do we resist these things? Why do we feel guilty about doing what we love and succeeding at it?

I had a lot of discomfort in creating my Money Mastery course because it stirred up so many of my own questions and reflections around these very questions.

But in the process of making this program, I kept seeing the hopes and fears that others tarot readers have about how to bridge the gap between helping people, and helping themselves.

And I truly believe there’s an important conversation waiting through this work.

If this sounds like something you need help with, I hope you will you join me in Money Mastery.

Until next time,

Liz xo