While many chose to charge for the use of their gifts, I
believe it to be unethical & unwise. Too often then not those that charge
for their gifts are perceived poorly and even worse run the risk of letting the
financial gain control the person and can lead them to bull shit with their
gifts simply to maintain their cash flow; sadly I’ve seen this many times.
Even though I do not condone being paid for using your gifts
directly, I do believe in being paid for using your gifts in conjunction with
other talents. If you are on tv, in a movie, an artist, an author, etc. and you
use those talents while incorporating your gifts then I believe you are being
paid for your talent portion, not your gifted portion. I also believe that
being paid for things like promotional merchandise are acceptable because the
person buying the items is paying for the physical materials of the merchandise
as well as whatever artistry went into designing it; they aren’t paying for your
gifts directly, even if the merchandise is in someway promoting your gifts.
Let me see if there’s a simple way to break this down.
Let’s look at the show Paranormal
State on tv, they go to a
client’s house and investigate, but they never charge the client to conduct the
paranormal research. On the other hand you know they are making money to be on that
show, so is that ok? Yes, in my opinion it is. They don’t charge anyone
directly for investigating; they are being paid for their appearance on the show.
Tons of people everyday get paid to be on tv and it typically has nothing to do
with the paranormal therefore the activity they are actually receiving money
for (appearing on tv) is not paranormal.
I hate to use myself as an example, but it may help to have a couple different
examples. I am a medium and I do a lot of different things with the paranormal,
but I was brought up by my Grandmother to never accept money for my gifts. At
the same time I’m also a writer and I do write about the paranormal, my whole
book is about the paranormal. I would like to think I will make money off my
writing one day. In my book I investigate haunted locations and write about it,
like Paranormal State I would never charge the clients,
yet I’d be making money off my books. My writing is what I will be getting paid
for, not my abilities as a medium, even if my gifts come into play with my
books.
I hope these examples help at the very least explain my
personal perspective on the topic. I try not to judge others, but charging directly
for the use of your gifts or for conducting and/or participating in
investigations is a very big pet peeve of mine for sure.
Don’t get me wrong, to each is their own & everyone has
to do what they believe is right for them. Just as well, no one forces anyone
to pay for paranormal/gifted services, those that pay do so on their own and
the person charging can’t be held fully responsible. This is just my current
viewpoint on the topic. What do you think? Go to the discussion boards and let
me know. =)