Honoring Money

I believe that money is sacred. Yes, you read that rightly: money.  While I am owned by Odin, I honor many other Gods as well. One of those Deities is Andvari. Not many people know about Him. We don’t have very much left to us in the surviving lore. According to those who have a devotional relationship with Him, Andvari is a God of money, craftsmanship, and resource management. To properly honor Andvari, and there’s really no getting around this, one must fully address any issues that one has with money. That means owning up to any discomfort or shame. That means learning how to budget. That means dealing with any debt. One of Andvari’s most important lessons is learning to recognize what is ours by right, as opposed to what might come to us by accident, or what was given to us in order that we might be a conduit for it to go to its rightful owner.

More than anything else, Andvari teaches us that money is not only a sacred thing, but a living thing worthy of respect. Just as we honor the spirits of a place, of earth, and hopefully honor our ancestors, it is also important to honor the spirits of money and of exchange. If we respect money, it will respect us in term. Furthermore, it’s important to respect it in and of itself, whether or not it is ours to own. Respecting money means dealing with our fear surrounding it. Wicca and many other Paganisms came of age in the 1960s, a time when money represented “the Man” and the social order that everyone was revolting against. Instead of considering the way that money has the power to transform our lives, money as a positive tool got tossed out the proverbial door.

Money’s gift is that it transforms. That is its inherent nature. It transforms into food that will nourish your family, the rent or mortgage that will keep shelter over your head. It transforms into all forms of sustenance. Money is what allows you to fulfill dreams. It is what allows you to put bread on your table. It is the food you eat and the gifts you share with others. I’m always boggled when the subject of paying for services comes up on Pagan e-lists, or in interviews, or group discussions. To me, this is a “no-brainer.” This is where Andvari’s lessons in knowing the value of one’s craft comes forth. Of course we should charge, unless the Gods tell us otherwise. We are providing services, like divination, that we have worked long and hard to master and gain skill in. I bled for my right to read the runes quite literally. It is a very hard won skill and craft.  Moreover, we are providing services that our clients cannot provide for themselves. I doubt many people would balk at paying their therapist, or dentist, or doctor. Yet time and time again I have not only had clients balk at paying me as a diviner but have seen my colleagues struggle with setting and maintaining appropriate fees. It all comes down to learning to value who we are and, moreover, what we do. It comes down to learning to value the dynamics of exchange. This is surprisingly difficult even for those like myself, trained in magic.

One thing I have learned in honoring Andvari: Wealth is abundance of who you are. Money may flow from that (or not). Some of the wealthiest people I’ve met have no money.  Its opposite is impoverishment. These are spiritual states of being.  I’ve never felt more wealthy than when I had money to give because then money becomes my wealth. Wealth is something you spread, not something to be hoarded, whether it be wisdom, or a smile, or money. Wealth is something to be shared. It is meant to enrich everyone it touches. I would take from this the lesson that money is not the problem; the attitudes with which we have been taught to approach money are the problem. Witness the current financial crisis – that speaks volumes to the unconscious messages we have all grown up with regarding financial responsibility.

Money, the most tangible aspect of transformative wealth is alive. I am an animist. This means that I believe that everything can have a spirit. This includes money. The spirits of money are the spirits of exchange, they are the spirits of resource management and they can be honored just like any other spirit: get to know them. Be wise in your dealings with them. Be respectful. Honor them like you would honor a person who is important to you. Do not bore them by obsessing over them and do not be impertinent by ignoring them. There is a grace in knowing how to honor rightly, be it the spirits of money, one’s ancestors, Deities, or a living friend. Pray hard to gain that grace.

I will be writing more about magic and money in the next issue of “Witches and Pagans, “due out this Summer.