To charge or not to charge? That's the question!

The other day, I listened to a radio programme with Donal MacIntyre on BBC five. The programme was about Psychic Scams and the change in the Fraudulent Mediums Act. This brief discussion took place with a representative from the Bad Psychics site Dave Anderson.

Although I agree that the consumer should be protected, it seems that the other problem many Sceptics have, is that Mediums and Psychics Charge for their services. Mr Anderson’s idea was that none ought to charge until it has been scientifically proven that either contact with Spirit is possible or that ‘fortune-telling is possible’ (Sorry, but that is how they incorrectly describe the work of a Psychic).

Apart from the scientific bit, the dispute between Sceptics and Spiritual Workers can also be found amongst Spiritual Workers themselves. To Charge or not to Charge?

There seems to be some kind of assumption that the majority of Spiritual Workers are people that have become extremely well off by giving consultations to the Public. It is only a minority that have been able to make a living out of it and these are the ones that travel from Fair to Fair throughout the country and of course the ones we see in the Media.

Many though, run cost covering societies, even charitable societies, associations or churches. They outweigh the few that are dedicated enough to make a living out of it.

In an ideal world, I wish for Spiritual Consultations to be free of charge but I would like to visit my Dentist free of charge as well and not have to donate anything when I attend a church service... everything these days has a price and some a very steep one!

How can people find out about a Spiritual Worker’s services? In the Local Paper, the Yellow Pages, Psychic Fairs and Festivals etc. Unfortunately these services aren’t free either. A Midlands Psychic Fair organiser charged £100 for a table and later increased it to £120 for a day. Travel Costs and Hotel costs on the Spiritual Worker.

He placed one advert in the local news paper for the value of £60 - £100. And had at times as many as 10 - 12 readers working at a venue. Do the maths yourself... Many of the readers went home at a loss as the one advert didn’t generate enough public to at least cover the costs for the readers. The only one that went home with a profit of just over £900 was the organiser.

Not bad for a day’s work?

Yes, he did do work, he charged the public an entrance fee of £2.00 as well and for that he had to sit at the door the whole day. Giving the 'consumer' entry tickets and drinking a cuppa whilst doing so.

One known large organiser charges for a 1x1m stand for a weekend close to £600!! Needless to say, I never attended this organiser’s fair and never will. Consultations at this organiser’s fair are ranging between £40 - £60 for a mere 20 minutes (if you are lucky). The general public doesn’t know about this side of the coin. The argument of this organiser is that the consultant will get a good exposure from a marketing point of view. Do they really?

Judging from what the Sceptics say, obviously not. And I cannot help but again, agree.

I just find it a pity that the Sceptic doesn’t realise how far and deep the exploitation in some cases runs.

I have come across many, wonderful and lovely talented mediums and psychics that have stopped giving their genuine services because of the very hard underlying core that you can come across amongst the Fair organisers. If for example the SNU is not your cuppa tea, there isn’t much for a psychically talented person to turn to Nationwide.

An alternative is often found through trial and error and many never get there as they simply ‘give-up’.

Where do we draw the line between Spirituality and a Commercial enterprise? To me Spirituality from this point of view, is at this moment in time, from this perspective indeed completely lost.

Yvonne Welch - The Source Spiritual Society

How to be taken seriously as a psychic reader or medium?

Of course there is a lot of talk and speculation maybe even concern about the appeal to the Fraudulent Medium’s Act.
Personally, in a way I think it is good that the responsibility ought to change to the Spiritual worker instead of the customer. As long as the guidelines and conditions are sensible.

Apart from Spiritual Work, I am also a fully qualified therapist. And if we look at it from this perspective you’ll find that we are already responsible to take every care in the world not to harm our patients. We have strong guidelines in place which are being reviewed by our Governing bodies.
Surely we Spiritual Workers can figure out something similar? And maybe we should consult a most unlikely group of people... The Sceptics!
There are so many sceptical web-sites telling us what the problem is with our ‘readings’ be it psychic or mediumship. Maybe instead of ignoring them, we should take note of them.
The main complaint you’ll find on these sites, which you most likely all have heard about is: Leading Questions, something done by magicians that falls under ‘Cold reading’. I can of course only speak from my own perspective but honestly fellow spiritual workers, asking these questions are indeed not necessary and a bad conduct on part of the Spiritual Worker.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand why some of us are itching for these questions to pop out of our mouth. The main reason is that we are human and often insecure. We are checking up to find out for sure if we are on the correct wave-length so to say. But honestly, it isn’t necessary.
Questions like: Is your Grandfather in Spirit? Or who is the person that died with a heart condition, is indeed not good enough!
I for one don’t ask any questions at all, apart from asking ‘Does that make sense’ and if it doesn’t make sense, I’ll try to explain the subject of discussion better but never changed the content to make it fit!
If they still don’t understand, I have recorded it all on tape for them to listen to and always ask for feedback. Because feedback will show me where I have gone wrong so I‘ll learn from my mistake. To date I have had no bad feedback at all... but who knows, never say never.
As I didn’t grow up in the UK and am self-taught, I have never been influenced either and find it indeed astonishing with what some spiritual workers here can get away with. Mind, I said some. I have overheard a medium say to her customer that she had to get rid of her husband as he was no good to her... Honestly, even if it is true, is this truly the correct way to bring a message across? Another one I’ve overheard was a Psychic reader telling her client that she was cursed and that for a certain amount of money, she would be able to lift the curse. Of course could well be possible that this person was cursed, but it turned out that almost all of this Psychic’s customers that day had curses... Questionable isn’t it?
I run a development circle and everyone that join from beginners to advanced are being taught not to ask questions. This has put some ‘advanced’ spiritual workers off but the ones that stayed are amazed by the results and how accurate they have become without having to ask questions.

I also make a point of how to bring a message across. For example there could be two separate messages but if that isn’t explained, a customer will put them together and misunderstand the message completely. For example: (1)“I see a red car”. (2)“You have to be careful”.
What conclusion do you draw out of this? Along the lines of, am I going to have a car accident that involves a red car? Both Messages could well be separate and if not, don’t utter such a message unless you have the full details to what the person should be careful of!
The second part of working towards a good consultation is to ‘educate’ your customer. Explain clearly what your capabilities are and what they can expect from a consultation with yourself. Many people mix up a ‘psychic’ consultation with ‘mediumship’. A lot of people are looking for clair-voyance but want to hear names of their loved ones. This falls under clair-audience and if that is not your strongest talent explain what you are capable of and what you aren’t capable of...
There is so much that we can improve on but there seems to be such a resistance towards changing our conduct.
Why? If you have true paranormal talent, why not become more constructive and work towards a better conduct?

Channelled message versus Channelled message.

Who is wrong and who is right…

Channelling is for the general public a lesser known quantity and often the messages channelled are shared by people with a similar interest. When a spiritual ‘newbie’ first learns about it, it can come across as something pulled out of a science fiction book. But for some there might be a certain amount of intrigue that can encourage them to read more and when one does… a person with a good memory becomes, well, confused??

I certainly got confused. So many channelled messages and when you compare the different guides that talk about similar subjects…

Wow!

It starts to look like some war of the Masters and Spirit Guides or even Aliens! It seems that one Master or Guide cannot agree with another, or… does the problem lie with the Medium?

I have put the question concerning this topic on a variety of well attended spiritual forums. Apart from the usual abuse from people that felt ‘threatened’ about the authenticity of their own channelled messages, it seemed that the majority of members got confused too. Some of the members actually asked their spirit guides and replied in the name of these guides.

This was very interesting, as the replies were very diverse and at times contradicting each other too.

What is your thought on this? Do you think that channelling is often used to utter an opinion or thought process of the Medium him or herself which they don’t dare to share under their own name? (Personally, I think this sometimes happens).

For example: “My guide says this and therefore it is true” how can you reply to something like that?

Maybe something like: “But my guide says this and therefore your guide is wrong!” You see where I am coming from?What is your idea about this? Or if you are a medium that channels messages, how do you verify the content of these messages especially if they contradict another medium’s channelled message?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this…

Yvonne Welch - The Source Spiritual Society