November 17, 2004

• “If You’re so Psychic, Why Aren’t You Rich?”

  
  

  This question comes up a lot in my work and the work done by my wife Kathy, who has done psychic readings professionally for over twenty years.  Sometimes it is a variant  of the  head-game called “Stump the Shaman” in which people ask silly, inappropriate questions, just trying to be cute, or in hopes of showing me up.  (Like the guy who said “How many tattoos do I have, and where are they?”  My reply: “If you can’t answer that question for yourself, you need more help than I can give.”)  Sometimes the questioner is more or less sincere, but so unevolved that he cannot imagine any sort of success that is not coupled with material wealth.  Sometimes the question comes from a client who is impressed by my work,  and knows how modest my life-style is.  (For instance, I live in a 10×12 cabin with no running water; drive a 1988 Dodge Vista that cost $550; sleep between sheets and eat food and use meds I fished out of the local dumpster.)  Well, there are many ways to answer that question, other than the obvious, which is simply “Fuck you.”

  
  

  But seriously folks, in some traditions, it is considered infra dig at best, sinful at worst, to use ones gifts for material gain.  Other traditions say that if you use your powers to gain wealth, you will lose those powers.  This is fear-based bullshit. The truth–the real answer–is not so pat, not so easy to put into words.  But I’ll try.

  
  

  For one thing, people who have some considerable degree of psychic ability are  often  highly evolved spiritually, and material wealth is simply not an issue.  I often say that I have never in my life had  less money or more happiness, and I mean it with all the earnestness at my command.  And there are  ways to be rich other than by piling up absurd, not to say obscene, amounts of wealth.  Living in Alaska, anyone who has eyes to see with  and a heart to appreciate with, is rich in beauty, it surrounds us and enriches our lives  in ways that city-dwellers cannot begin to imagine.  By living close to nature and close to Spirit, we have spiritual riches that many, probably most, people cannot hope to attain.

  
  

  And anyway, in point of fact, we do and have used our gifts for gain.  For instance, when my wife was in Nevada on a trip with her son and didn’t have much money, she used her gifts to win at the casinos.  But she didn’t get greedy.  I myself have never, ever left a racetrack a loser.  I get a sense of who will  run in the money, and bet accordingly.  But I don’t get greedy and even try to hit, say, a big trifecta.  A few small winners over the course of the evening is plenty for me.  There are very practical reasons for this too–anyone who wins big at the track or at the casinos gets the attention of the mobsters who run the joints–this can be very hazardous to one’s health.

  
  

  What’s more, even though our income is close to the federal poverty level–it is around one-third the national average–we are not without material goodies.  Kathy’s trailer, while not even a double-wide and lacking central heating, is replete with more or less valuable art works and museum-quality rocks and crystals and mineral specimens that have come our way through various means over the years.  (FYI, we maintain separate households, for reasons that are not germane here.)   Like more affluent Alaskans, we have an enviable arsenal of guns and rifles and pistols and knives and swords.  I collect coins and first editions–not exactly hobbiers one associates with trailer-trash.  And our collections of metaphysical books ,and various oracles,  are, I think, darn near worthy of the Smithsonian.

  
  

  So maybe the best answer to the question “If you’re so psychic, why aren’t you rich” is simply this:  “Oh, I am–I just don’t flaunt it.”

  • 2:31 pm
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