The Sacred Craft of Divination: It's Not a Parlor Trick!

Personally, I think this unwillingness to pay for services goes right back to the general lack of respect in some New Age, Wiccan, and Pagan circles for money and exchange. I've written about this extensively, most recently in my column for Witches and Pagans magazine, and prior to that in Root, Stone, and Bone: Honoring Andvari and the Vaettir of Money with Fuensanta Arismendi. To quote my recent column in Witches and Pagans:

As we honor spirits of the land, of the elements, of our dead, so we should honor the spirits of money. If we respect money, it will respect us in turn. Part of that respect means dealing with any ambivalence, fear, and tangled issues surrounding our own finances. I believe this ties in strongly to what I like to term the doggedly downwardly mobile aesthetic of modern Paganisms. Money, after all, represents "the man" and we all know that Wicca and other Paganisms came of age in the ‘60s when everyone was revolting against "the man." What no one seems to consider is that money has the power to transform into things that can better our lives. Money is not the problem. The problem lies with us.

Part of that respect, by the way, also means respecting craft, and understanding that as a responsible, fiscally solvent human being, one shouldn't expect something for nothing. Part of that respect is respecting the services others provide.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine, Lady Ruth, and she pointed out that people who believe that a reading should be $5 do not believe the reading when it is given. It is the metaphysical equivalent of casting pearls before swine. Such people see divination only as a means of entertainment, and believe the diviner is just making up a pretty story to tell them. Granted, some of these may be the same type of people who would corner a doctor at a dinner party to ask about their anal polyps, but most, I suspect, are simply clueless. Their only concept of divination comes from often bogus storefront psychics and celebrity television shows. Truly, who can blame them for their ignorance?

I think it's really up to every serious diviner out there to educate their public, even if that public is other Pagans or Wiccans or Heathens. It's up to every serious diviner to cultivate their skills and talents, and part of that means not exaggerating them. Utter integrity of practice must be our watchword and our covenant: with ourselves, with our ancestors, with our craft, and most of all with our clients.

As S. said (on the air, bless her), you wouldn't go to a doctor expecting the check-up to be free, or hire a gardener expecting his work would cost nothing. Nor should you go to a diviner expecting that they will utilize hard-won skill on your behalf for nothing. The key words there are "hard won" and "skill." Doctors train for years to have the skill necessary to treat patients competently. A good diviner does the same, one way or another. We need to treat divination as the sacred profession it is. This is a useful craft, one our ancestors recognized as such. The sense of entitlement in treating it as anything else is disrespectful in the extreme. Ours is a craft that was once highly valued and respected. We need to aspire to the standards such a prized tradition once demanded, in those who come to us and in ourselves as well.