Comments on Lunar Tunes Astrology: Astrologers should give away their services for fr...

Whether it''s applied to astrologers, New Age spir...

2008-04-19T19:29:00.000-04:00

Whether it''s applied to astrologers, New Age spiritual advisers, witches, or shamans, this idea that it's wrong to charge money is self-serving from two different angles.

One, it's obviously self-serving from the perspective of the potential "customer" who would have you know you have some kind of obligation to give them advice on how to become financially secure, if not outright wealthy-for free!!!

It is also self-serving in that it insures a minimum of competition against the so-called "master" who promote this nonsense.

It's better to be a well-paid whore than a slut who gives it away for free.

ctgentleman, I have deleted your comment due to yo...

2008-03-27T15:37:00.000-04:00

ctgentleman, I have deleted your comment due to your use of profanity and hostile tone. In response to your concerns: I have no astrology credentials. Astrology is not a science. If you don't believe in it, I do not understand why you are spending your time here. I am not going to change your mind, you are not going to change mine. I have no problem with you thinking astrology is bunk.

what is astrology about?

2008-03-25T20:40:00.000-04:00

what is astrology about?

thank you lucky13. I removed my donations requests...

2008-03-14T11:28:00.000-04:00

thank you lucky13. I removed my donations requests a few weeks ago from my blog. i agree with you wholeheartedly.

Jeff, as a reader of your blogs, I would say that ...

2008-03-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

Jeff, as a reader of your blogs, I would say that a way to approach it might be to give a brief answer, but that if someone needs an in-depth discussion that includes charts then i would set up a standard reading fee. That way everybody knows where they stand. I think people look for quick relationship/problem solvers and don't want to get into a paying situation. Which doesn't make it right, but I perceive it to be that way. Also, if I may, donations are a lose/lose proposition. It may seem like an option, but it also allows those who don't pay to freeload from those who do. And that may cost you readers...Just a thought.

David you are not being pleasant. These remarks a...

2008-03-07T19:11:00.000-05:00

David you are not being pleasant. These remarks are uncalled for and deliberately antagonistic. Please understand Jeffrey has a Masters Degree and various professional credentials (just check his links) and he deserves to be paid for his services.

He has already helped two people I know personally and they can attest to this. The 80 minute telephone consultation is well worth the small $120 fee. A regular office therapist charges much more than that, and offers less satisfying and much less reliable results.

I suggest you apologize to Jeffrey before the karmic energy in your statement boomerangs to cause you further personal pain, of which you have had enough of in your life.

I may be liberated in my approach and belief system but I do maintain the fear of God, as in respect for his divine authority and that "as you sow, so shall ye reap."

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/48500.html

And there is no need for Jeffrey to respond in a sarcastic manner. David Lang has Multiple Sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair. He studies astronomy professionally and most scientists are in fact confirmed skeptics of all things spiritual or metaphysical.

Thank you, David Lang. Coming from you, that means...

2008-03-04T15:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you, David Lang. Coming from you, that means the world to me.

jeff, you are truly amazing. i think you have a...

2008-03-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

jeff,
you are truly amazing. i think you have actually convinced yourself that you are providing a service that people need. the reason you should give your services away for free is because they are worthless and not based in any kind of provable fact or science. if im wrong please list any scientists, physicist, astronomers. and any education you have in the psuedoscience of astrology and where you got it other wise look for another line of work because with god as my witness i'll put you out of business and that goes for all you lying stealing friends too

"Freely ye have received, freely give" Matthew 10...

2008-02-27T01:21:00.000-05:00

"Freely ye have received, freely give" Matthew 10:8

For those who have worked very hard and paid good money for their education to pursue the profession of their choice, by all means, they should be paid. Any professional should be paid. That's why I don't have a problem with female escorts getting paid. They are professionals. Whey you pay someone good money, you expect the job done well, with satisfactory results.

If you are asking an amateur to volunteer their services, then of course not, the volunteer should never expect any payment (although gifts are always well received).

Because I have freely received that which I know from the sheer love and hobby of studying astrology, and for my own self-help and personal therapy, that which I have received I can freely give. I do expect to get paid at my regular work because I don't care for it, and I'm paid by the clock to be at a certain place at a certain time to do a certain thing. It is the sheer drudgery of an 8:30 - 4:00 workday and I get paid well, so I don't mind.

To be paid for astrological insight and reading would create an unsavory obligation on my end to deliver. And because I always do readings on a whim, wherever and whenever the wind blows, and the spirit knows not from whence it comes or where it goes, then I can't expect money.

I didn't expect to get paid when I gave my love to a man. When I gave sex then yes, by all means, because that is all they wanted, and I always do a good job. I don't expect to get paid when I share my thoughts and that which is pressing on my mind with someone who is on my mind, to help them along their way, by looking at their chart. However if they demand that I look at it, then I would of course ask for payment.

Or I just wouldn't do it at all, and refer them to a professional who would.

The people who don't want to pay for your services...

2008-02-16T03:38:00.000-05:00

The people who don't want to pay for your services are the very people you wouldn't want for clients even if they did pay you. They don't take you or your work seriously.

I always feel I walk a very fine line between giving the customer what he/she wants and what the client needs. What will keep the client engaged in the conversation? How can you impart it in a way that will slip past their natural barriers? If that isn't a skill worth paying for, I don't know what is.

Maybe we don't do a good enough job promoting our services provide. For so many years people have heard "for entertainment purposes only" they believe it. In a era where all you have to do is turn on the TV or fire up the internet for free content, people have come to expect free entertainment. Strange as it may seem, people get a curious sense of being entertained when you talk about them.

The blog readings are a free sample of your work. Its an advertising piece and there is nothing wrong with that. When someone wants something for nothing there is nothing wrong in saying "I'm glad the little bit you've seen here has impressed you. If you would like to schedule a full reading that will address all the questions you have. I have this or that date open."

Its refreshing to hear that someone with counseling credentials has the same problems as the rest of us who don't quite has many letters after their name. It just reminds me that the challenge does not lie within ourselves but in the people who come to us for advice.

This is an interesting subject for me. I am a pro...

2008-02-09T11:08:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting subject for me. I am a professional musician and Tarot reader and this post brought back memories of the times I was expected to provide these services for free or minimal charge. In 2002 I went for some past life regression more out of curiosity than anything else but after one of those sessions I came home to find that a "boss" of mine had called asking me to revise a piece I had already orchestrated and revised twice. This is time consuming and often frustrating work when you have a slow computer and I was expected to do it for free. I was angry. But I called her back and left her a polite message saying I've thought about it and have decided to decline this assignment, and why don't you call P.S., I'm sure he'll do a wonderful job. After that day, nobody asked me to do music work for free.

Tarot was another story, but in '03 I got to the point when I simply decided I'm charging and that's that. If you don't feel my work is worth something, then you don't really need it, and I'll spend that time practicing, riding my bike or watching The Simpsons, thank you very much. Peace out!

I do think it was confusing to the person the way ...

2008-02-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

I do think it was confusing to the person the way you described your PayPal link.

As a spiritual counselor and astrologer I have heard this statement from clients. Usually it's from someone who has money problems to begin with...a second house issue of their own value system, related to self esteem and self worth that they project onto others. Somehow it hooked you too. Interesting.

I don't get paid to blog, like Lynn it's a choice I made to share the joy of astrology and SoulCollage.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

Lynn, I do offer my "blog readings" free of charge...

2008-02-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

Lynn, I do offer my "blog readings" free of charge, which is why I make it clear that a donation does not give someone preferential treatment on the blog. That is what paid consultations are for. The donation is simply that -- a donation. But perhaps in combining my request for a donation with a reader's submitted question, I am creating a false expectation. (?)

We should definitely be paid for our work, but I t...

2008-02-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

We should definitely be paid for our work, but I think we have to be clear when we want to be paid and when we are offering something free of charge.

I've had a "donate" button on my blog now for about six months, and I've received -0- donations. I've debated whether or not to try to collect advertisers and decided that for me it's more productive to build my client base which certainly the blog is doing.

Every now and then I get some nasty comment on the blog from someone thinking readings should be free and I just delete it. The nerve

Well said, by both you and the previous commentors...

2008-02-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well said, by both you and the previous commentors. I've been lucky in that I've only run into this openly a couple of times in my 20 odds years of practice (I have very well behaved clients!) but when I have it is invariably someone who approached me as if I shouldn't expect payment. My answer has become in part, "Would you approach your physician, who has taken an oath to aid mankind, and who has spent countless hours in study and training, and demand diagonoses, tests, and treatment, without expecting to pay?" Thanks, Jeff, for helping to shatter the prevalent expectation that those who counsel or heal outside of the establishment should give their work away, when all we're asking for is a fair exchange of energy (money) for our time, effort, and accumulated skills.

What about spreading good for the sake of good. I ...

2008-02-08T20:06:00.000-05:00

What about spreading good for the sake of good. I understand that is how true astrologers work anyway.

BZZT. No true Scotsman fallacy! Also: how rude.

I do not answer so many reader questions that I feel I am giving "too much."

Nothing wrong with that. 100% acceptable. I do note that it is perfectly possible to be paid... and then have the person demand far more than they should get, which amounts to the same thing.

I think this reader subscribes to this toxic New Age belief that "spiritual workers" should not accept money for helping people.

If I have caused you problems (by saying I didn't want to get paid), sir, I apologize. (My case has nothing to do with New Age 'belief' (or not like that, anyhow); I am technically bound not to accept cash, and I don't want to anyways, since then I'd have people pestering me all the time. I spent not a few years pulling 60$/hr for dinking with computers, back when that was real money. That often sucked, and I can imagine how much more it would suck if I was charging 25$ a reading.)

I don't even give preferential treatment to readers who have offered a donation.

I am perfectly happy to see you get paid (and now I have to put you on my Xmas list) if that's what you want. I'd think it would perhaps be kind? sensible? useful? good training for others? to give priority to someone who sends Ye Olde Folding Green Applause. Other than that... that person is an asshole.

max
['So fuck 'em.']

Do "true" astrologers only spread good for the sak...

2008-02-08T13:39:00.000-05:00

Do "true" astrologers only spread good for the sake of good?

Not hardly!! We are professionals, and usually well educated professionals. Why the heck should we give our services away? Besides, to be honest, I don't see myself as a "spiritual" counselor. I know you give solid, practical astrological advice based on real world experience and training, as do I and most other good astrologers. So asking a reasonable fee for your time and expertise makes sense to me!