Aloha,
On 8/20/2006 at 12:58 PM Sabina Magliocco wrote:
>1) Why and how did the prejudice towards money/ spirituality develop in
>the West? and
>2) How is instruction in contemporary spiritual and esoteric practices
>inserted into our current economic structures, and with what consequences?
A few comments:
a.) Looking at a little picture, I mostly figure that the notion of
*teaching for free*
comes into Neo-Paganism from the British Craft revival. As a response to
then-
existing British laws governing fraud (that is, there is no possibility of
legal fraud
if money does not change hands).
Plus, perhaps, an effort to distinguish the Craft movement from any
fee--based
magical lodges or traditions. Recruitment into British Craft could--sans
any fees--
be quite simple and casual and take place in a pub.
b.) I think that all students of magic or spirituality pay for their
instruction,
and that the question for social science involves describing just how the
payment gets made over time. I look toward the tuition vs. non-tuition
models
of today's higher education for one possible model.
c.) As a graphic artist, I have no difficulty paying for instruction and no
difficulty
charging for skilled services rendered. A standard reference--*The Handbook
of
Pricing & Ethical Guidelines*--exists in the field.
Similarly, I am willing to pay for instruction in the magical-spiritual
field. And I
do charge for some skilled services rendered.
d.) I think that often to discussion of *fees for instruction* is often
actually one
of what can most adherents afford. Plenty of folks I know would like the
costs to
come down. But they recognize that money costs are more or less inevitable.
e.) I think that there is sometimes a current of envy and resentment
flowing
through some of these discussions about money in
magic--personal/psychological,
class-based, ethnic-based, trad-based, gender-based, politically-based, or
some-other-things-based. That may complicate the ethics and economics in
unexpected ways.
Musing O Mammon! Rose,
Pitch
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that,
you've got it made. "
-- Julius Henry Marx [Groucho]
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