by Melissa Kitto

Every now and again I get emails from people criticizing me for charging any money for my products and services. Their argument usually sounds something like, “If you were truly spiritual, you would offer this for free to be of service,” or “God’s gifts cannot be charged for.”

There is still a belief out there in the spiritual community that any spiritual service should be given away for free. Where do these beliefs come from? The belief that spirituality and money do not mix started a very long time ago. For example, in the Franciscan monk order it was believed that a vow of poverty was the only way to Godliness. The monks gave away all their possessions. The female order was named, “The Poor Clares.” What a label!

In medieval times, society was structured so the rich nobility relied on the poor peasant classes to work their farms. The peasants were taught to accept their poverty with the use of Bible verses that praised the merits of being poor such as Matthew 19:24 – “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” In truth, the catholic church was the richest institution in the land! So the priests were definitely not practicing what they were preaching.

These ideas that money is the root of all evil have been passed down from generation to generation. You may have picked up these concepts from your family, or you may have experienced them in previous lifetimes. I gave the Franciscan monks as an example because this was one of my past lives. I have still carried a subconscious belief that I should only have as much material abundance as I need to get by, but no surplus. If I had extra money, it would somehow slip through my fingers with an unexpected car repair or bill.

Subconsciously, I was still acting from beliefs I had from many lifetimes ago. Do you have patterns around money? Like no other area of life, money seems to bring up a lot of our blocks and fears. Do you relate to any of these feelings about money? Guilt. Fear of not having enough. If you get any, you give it away for someone else. Selfish for wanting more. Etc. Take some time to figure out where these ideas came from.

So what is the truth about money and spirituality?

The truth is that money and spirituality are two different things. Your value as a spiritual being has nothing to do with money. Your spiritual gifts and talents are amazing and incredible, regardless of how much money is in your bank account. However, in order to stay balanced you need an exchange of inflow and outflow. When you are being of service to others in some capacity, such as energy healing, coaching, counseling, channeling, etc., you are outflowing energy. In order for there to be balance, the client will give you an inflow of energy in return. Without a clear energy exchange, you will end up depleted and not able to serve anyone.

The means of exchange that our society has chosen is money. Dollars and cents. The way that our society is structured means we simply can’t get by for very long without money. So, because you live within the game of society, the best way to receive inflow energy back from what the service you share is in the form of money.

You have real bills to pay and you need money to pay them. In past lives, you might have lived in a monastery or a community where you didn’t really need money. Your basic needs were provided for by the community. Unfortunately, we just don’t live that way anymore!

The idea that money is evil is just a concept. And any concept can be changed. Money in itself has no good or bad. It just is. It is just a means of exchange in our society. If you have trouble with money, take a look at how you feel about receiving. Do you feel that you are not good enough, and therefore feel guilty when you receive money? Remove this guilt by simply seeing money as another form of energy. Open up your receiving to bring in abundance. The more abundance you have, the more freedom you will have in your life!

In our society, if you don’t have much money you have very little freedom. If you desire to have more freedom in your life, get used to being comfortable receiving wealth so that you can do more of what you desire, and you have more capacity to share your gifts with the world.