BTP118 money and spirituality — the title of Episode 118 of the Biddy Tarot Podcast — cuts straight to the heart of a question that haunts many spiritual practitioners: Can you charge for your gifts and still be genuinely spiritual? Hosted by Brigit Esselmont, founder of Biddy Tarot, this episode tackles money blocks, abundance mindset, and the deeply personal relationship between spiritual work and financial prosperity. If you have ever felt guilt around charging for your readings, or wondered whether earning money somehow diminishes your connection to the divine, this is the conversation you have been waiting for.
What Is BTP118 Money and Spirituality About?
Released in 2018, BTP118 is a candid, solo episode of the Biddy Tarot Podcast in which Brigit Esselmont speaks openly about the criticism she received for building a profitable business around tarot. She had been told, in no uncertain terms, that she had no right to charge money for something spiritual — that real gifts from the universe should be offered freely.
Rather than backing down, Brigit turned that tension into a five-part argument for why earning money as a spiritual practitioner is not only acceptable — it can be a deeply spiritual act in itself. The episode also examines why some people hold the opposite view, how to stay aligned with your values while building a profitable practice, and what a healthy, loving relationship with money actually looks like.
The episode runs approximately 32 minutes and remains one of the most resonant in the Biddy Tarot catalog for spiritual business owners, tarot readers, and intuitive practitioners everywhere.
The Deeper Spiritual Meaning of Money as Energy
One of the most liberating ideas in the money and spirituality conversation is this: money is not the opposite of spiritual energy. It is spiritual energy in a different form.
Think about what money actually is — a tangible token of an exchange between two people. Long before paper currency existed, a healer or shaman might have received food, tools, or shelter in exchange for their work. The form changed; the principle did not. Money is the contemporary vessel for that ancient exchange.
I strongly believe that money is an exchange of energy. — Brigit Esselmont, BTP118
This understanding connects directly to the root chakra, the energetic center at the base of the spine associated with safety, survival, and material grounding. A blocked or wounded root chakra often shows up as chronic financial anxiety, a fear of charging your true worth, or the belief that prosperity and spirituality simply cannot coexist. Healing your relationship with money is, in many ways, root chakra work.
The solar plexus chakra — your center of personal power and self-worth — is also deeply involved. Underpricing your services or giving everything away for free out of guilt is often a solar plexus wound, not a spiritual virtue. True spiritual confidence includes the ability to receive graciously.
Crystals like citrine and pyrite are classic companions for this kind of internal work. Citrine carries a warm, open energy around abundance — it is sometimes called the merchant’s stone for good reason. Pyrite’s metallic gold sheen has long been associated with prosperity and confidence, a physical reminder that material and spiritual wealth can shine side by side.
Signs You Have a Money Block in Your Spiritual Practice
Money blocks are often invisible until you look directly at them. Here are some of the clearest signs that an unconscious belief is holding you back:
- You feel a wave of guilt every time you set a price for your services
- You consistently undercharge, then quietly resent the exchange
- You believe that genuine spiritual practitioners do not ask to be paid
- You apologize for your prices before stating them
- You freeze or procrastinate when it is time to raise your rates
- You find it far easier to give readings away for free than to receive payment
- Financial success makes you feel somehow less spiritual
These patterns do not mean you lack integrity. They mean you have absorbed a belief — from culture, religion, community, or past experience — that money and spirituality are enemies. They are not. And that belief is yours to examine and, if you choose, to release.
Why the Money-Spirituality Tension Runs So Deep
It is worth understanding where the argument against charging for spiritual gifts actually comes from. Brigit covers this in BTP118 with genuine empathy, noting that people who hold this view are usually coming from a place of care, not cruelty.
The core arguments usually sound like this:
- Spiritual gifts are a blessing from the universe and should not be sold. There is a sense that charging money taints something sacred.
- Spirituality requires personal sacrifice, not profit. Many traditions emphasize service and simplicity — which can be read as an argument against financial reward.
- Turning spirituality into a business makes it fake. The fear is that once money enters the picture, the practitioner is driven by profit rather than genuine purpose.
- Commerce corrupts the spiritual message. There is concern that business practices slowly replace authentic spiritual content with manipulative sales tactics.
These concerns are understandable, and they contain a real warning: it IS possible to let the pursuit of profit override spiritual integrity. But the fact that something can go wrong does not mean it always does. Ethical, value-led spiritual businesses exist, thrive, and make a genuine difference.
5 Reasons Earning Money Can Be a Spiritual Act
In BTP118, Brigit outlines five reasons why money and spiritual work can flow together beautifully. These are not rationalizations — they are genuine reframes that can shift your entire relationship with abundance.
1. Money Is an Exchange of Energy
When you offer your gift and someone pays you for it, an energetic exchange takes place. You give your time, skill, wisdom, and presence. They give you a token of equal value. This mirrors the ancient barter economy — and it is just as sacred now as it was then.
2. Money Represents the Value You Deliver
When money flows into your practice, it signals that real value is being created. Brigit describes feeling genuine joy during a successful launch — not because of the revenue itself, but because revenue indicates her students are receiving something meaningful. Reframing money as a measure of value rather than a measure of greed transforms the entire conversation.
3. Money Is an Enabler
If your mission is to reach thousands of people with a spiritual message, money is what makes that possible. It funds the tools, the platforms, the team, the free content. Money does not replace your vision — it amplifies it. A spiritual business without financial support is a spiritual business that eventually disappears.
4. When You Pay, You Pay Attention
People who invest financially in their healing and growth tend to take it more seriously. They show up. They do the work. They act on the insights. Brigit shared a personal example of paying a significant amount for a psychic reading and taking meticulous notes — an investment she would not have made the same way had the session been free. Offering your services at a fair rate actually serves your clients better, because they arrive more committed to the outcome.
5. Spiritual Practitioners Need to Make a Living Too
If spiritual practitioners cannot earn a sustainable income from their gifts, those gifts will remain a side hobby at best. The entire ecosystem that so many people rely on — teachers, readers, healers, coaches — simply could not exist without financial foundations. Asking the spiritual community to work for free is not noble. It is unsustainable.
How to Stay Spiritual and Profitable: 5 Practical Steps
Building a spiritually aligned, financially healthy practice requires active intention. Here is how to walk that path with integrity.
1. Make Value Your North Star
Every pricing decision, every offering, every session — ask yourself first: Is this delivering real value? When your answer is yes, money becomes a natural, clean expression of that value. When it is not, no amount of marketing will make it feel right.
2. Stay Rooted in Your Personal Values
Check in regularly with your intuition. Does this pricing feel honest? Does this copy feel like you? Brigit describes re-writing marketing language that did not match her voice, even when it might have performed well by conventional standards. Your spiritual business must feel like an extension of who you are — not a costume you wear to generate revenue.
3. Be a Custodian of the Money You Receive
When abundance flows to you, let it flow through you. Give back to causes that matter. Donate. Sponsor. Support your community. Becoming a wise steward of money — using it to create more good in the world — is one of the most genuinely spiritual things you can do with financial success. Brigit describes how this realization made earning more money feel exciting, not shameful, because she knew where it would go.
4. Be Generous Alongside What You Charge
A thriving spiritual business does not have to be all paid content. Offer free resources, educational content, community spaces. The beautiful reality is that earning a solid income makes you MORE able to be generous, not less. Profit and generosity are not opposites — they feed each other.
5. Cultivate a Loving Relationship with Money
Bless the money you send out when you pay a bill. Open your bank account with gratitude rather than anxiety. Work with your sacral chakra — the energy center of flow, creativity, and healthy give-and-receive — to release the grip of scarcity thinking. The way you feel about money affects how money moves toward you.
If you have been noticing the angel number 888 lately, pay attention. In spiritual numerology and angelic guidance, 888 is deeply associated with financial flow and the principle of balanced exchange. It is a nudge from the universe that you are either in the energetic stream of abundance — or being called into it.
Tarot Cards That Reflect a Healthy Money-Spirituality Relationship
Tarot offers powerful mirrors for our relationship with abundance. A few cards worth knowing when you are working through money and spiritual alignment:
- Ace of Pentacles: The seed of new material beginnings. A gift of potential from the earth. If this card appears as you are considering charging for your gifts, treat it as a clear invitation to begin.
- Ten of Pentacles: Lasting, generational abundance built on genuine contribution and community. This is what a spiritually aligned business can grow into over time.
- The Star: Hope, faith, and the trust that the universe is benevolent. A reminder that receiving is as sacred as giving.
- The World: Completion, fulfillment, the reward of genuine mastery. Your spiritual gifts, fully expressed and fully received.
The new moon is a natural time to set intentions around your abundance and your relationship with money. Try pulling one of these cards during a new moon ritual and sitting with the question: What does receiving look like for me right now?
When to Trust That Money and Spirituality Are in Alignment
You will know you are in the right place when your pricing feels honest — not inflated, not apologetic. When your clients receive real results and say so. When you feel at peace looking at your finances rather than bracing for bad news. When you can give generously without resentment, because you are resourced enough to do so. When your work feels like purpose expressed, not purpose sold out.
Trust the process. Money and spirit can coexist. When they are both grounded in genuine value and genuine care, they often thrive together.
Red Flags vs. Divine Signs in Your Spiritual Business
Red Flags to Watch For
- Pricing that feels inflated relative to the genuine value you are offering
- Fear-based or high-pressure marketing tactics designed to manipulate rather than serve
- Making financial decisions from scarcity or desperation rather than clarity and confidence
- Losing touch with your clients’ actual wellbeing in the chase for revenue
Divine Signs You Are on the Right Path
- Money flows more easily when you increase your value, not just your prices
- Clients experience real, meaningful transformation through your work
- You feel genuinely good — not just relieved — about your pricing
- Your generosity increases as your income grows
- Your business feels like an extension of your spiritual purpose, not a compromise of it
Final Thoughts: You Are Allowed to Prosper
The central teaching of BTP118 money and spirituality is not really about money at all. It is about permission. It is about whether you believe your gifts have real, transformative value — and whether you trust yourself to receive in proportion to what you give.
Brigit Esselmont built Biddy Tarot from a place of deep love for tarot and a genuine desire to help others connect with their intuition. The fact that it became a profitable business did not diminish that love. It amplified it — funding a team, supporting families, enabling millions of free resources that people access every year.
You are allowed to prosper. Your gifts are worth charging for. Money and spirituality are not enemies. The world needs spiritual practitioners who are resourced, supported, and able to show up fully — and that means getting paid for the work you do.
Check in with your heart right now. Are you making a conscious, values-led choice about money? Or are you letting fear make the decision for you? You deserve the former. Always.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you be spiritual and still charge for tarot readings?
Yes. Charging for spiritual services honors the ancient principle of energy exchange — you offer your time, skill, and gifts; the client offers money in return. Many experienced practitioners find that paid readings are taken more seriously by clients, which often leads to better, more lasting outcomes for the people they serve.
What is BTP118 about?
BTP118 is Episode 118 of the Biddy Tarot Podcast, hosted by Brigit Esselmont of Biddy Tarot. Released in 2018, it addresses whether you can build a profitable spiritual business with genuine integrity, and presents five clear reasons why earning money as a spiritual practitioner can itself be a deeply spiritual act.
What are signs of a money block in a spiritual business?
Common signs include feeling guilty when setting prices, consistently undercharging, giving away services for free out of fear of judgment, and feeling shame around financial success. These patterns usually trace back to an inherited belief that money and spirituality are incompatible — a belief that can be consciously examined and changed.
How can spiritual practitioners heal their relationship with money?
Start by identifying the specific beliefs underneath the discomfort. Working with the root chakra through grounding practices, using abundance-supportive crystals like citrine or pyrite, and reframing money as an energy exchange rather than a spiritual compromise are all powerful first steps. Journaling during a new moon about what receiving looks and feels like for you can also be deeply clarifying.
