Hello everyone,
As a professional in the metaphysical field, you figure out there are a lot of hurdles to overcome. I'm not just talking about tarot readers, of course--we are astrologers, mediums and other psychics, Reiki masters and herbalists, and Ministers without brick-and-mortar churches. We're all lumped into the same category.
Many people have negative opinions of these professions, and sadly, they are well-earned. Years of people posing as "psychics" fleecing people out of their hard-earned cash, removing bogus family curses and casting spells to remove bad omens from desperate clients leave a bad taste in many people's mouths. And if you're not part of a religion that people aren't familiar with and are a Minister, they think you paid some fee through an online church that must be disreputable. Of course at that point you're just pretending to help people, right?
In some cases I can't say I blame them; like any stereotype there is an element of truth. Of course, we're not all crooks...many of us are hardworking, ethical professionals who want to earn an honest living helping people. You'll get assholes in every line of work, but those people are remembered and we are all tarred with the same brush. So that's one big hurdle. The only consolation is that many other professions--lawyer is the first one to come to mind--have as bad if not worse reputations than we do. [As my dad used to say, "All lawyers are assholes until you need one."]
Get over that one and you've got religious discrimination to deal with. I'm not talking about the overt kind that makes headlines; I'm talking about the behind-the-scenes stuff. People who feel the need to come up to you to "save your soul" because they feel you're on the road to hell or other such nonsensical arguments. There are lots of different scenarios but it comes down to people who are closed-minded, and there are plenty of them out there, especially in small-town America.
Once you're over that hurdle you begin where most other professionals begin: Trying to earn the trust of their clients. You build a nice practice and love your work and you feel like maybe, just maybe, you've overcome the hurdles through your persistence, dedication to others, and ethical conduct.
And then you see crap like this: http://www.regretsy.com/2011/07/20/crack-head/
WARNING: Please ensure that if you go to this site you do so in the privacy of your own home, because 1) You will likely laugh so hard that your colleagues at work would wonder what you were doing, and 2) There are pictures of naked asses on this page. (Don't get your hopes up about this, either.)
The fact that it's a Regretsy post should tell you something already. Regretsy is not known for pointing out the good and noble things it finds online.
I saw this and all I could do was sigh and shake my head. RUMPOLOGY?? Come on now, people. And people think that telling the future with cards, crystal balls, and tea leaves, as well as consulting astrological charts, is bizarre? What do you think the average person will think when seeing RUMPOLOGY? I'll give you a hint: It starts with "They are all crackpots!" and goes downhill from there.
I wish Regretsy hadn't pointed out this lady's site; it is probably getting a lot more hits now since they did it. The fact that Sylvester Stallone's mother is the "expert" on this form of predictive metaphysical analysis is also scary. How many people will look at this site and say, "They are all just freaks anyway!"?
Despite all of these hurdles, I sincerely thank those of you who consult metaphysical service providers on a regular basis and treat us with the respect that we deserve. As we've seen, it's way too easy to be down on us.
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