Many people hate the idea of a paid reading.

Like many psychics, I will do some free readings, but all of these will hopefully lead to a paid reading. However, I work as a full-time psychic. I don’t like in a psychic community where I can offset the costs by doing events and tours, nor do I care to write books full-time like some of my other colleagues.

Some people wonder why I (and all other psychics) don’t work for free. But why doesn’t anyone work for free for that matter?

You’re paying for talent AND skill.

You are also paying us for our willingness to remove ourselves from the conventional marketplace in order to hone our skills and be available to help others. It’s exhausting to be psychically sensitive, and even more exhausting to hold down a full-time job and work as a psychic on the side. Then there’s also the issue of putting one’s professional reputation in jeopardy at a conventional job by working a psychic on the side.

Moreover, while psychic work may seem effortless, it’s not at all. There is a lot of effort that goes into the work, and a lot of technique. Obviously, if everyone could do the work, everyone would do it. You wouldn’t ask an architect to design a house for free, a doctor to treat you for free, or for your lawyer to try a case for you for free, but people will ask a psychic to work for free, as if there is no skill involved.

Psychics are people. We have to eat, too.

A paid reading means that the psychic is compensated and can pay the bills. Just as you can’t concentrate when you’re hungry, neither can a psychic. In fact, it’s very difficult to do any sensitive work while worrying about how one will pay the bills.

People take seriously what costs them something.

Moreover, the more you work for free, the less people value what you do. If gold was given away on the streets, it wouldn’t be valuable. One thing that plagues psychics, tarot card readers, and astrologers, are demands to work for free from people who are only asking for the reading to waste time or to annoy the reader. Charging a fee helps weed those people out. Also, a psychic can’t spend their entire life doing free readings. Charging keeps people exploiting and abusing the work we do.

So, the next time you wonder why a psychic is charging for a reading, realize that this is a real person.