Is It Acceptable to Charge for Spiritual Services?

[rrneck]

12. You may not be able to buy spirituality. ..

(maybe), buy you can buy fellowship. Megachurches sell it by the boatload. They are able to do so because it's mass produced.

It takes training and not a little work to bring people together. I could write what I know about paganism in a matchbook with a grease pencil, but I'm willing to bet that there are important communal aspects related to the practice.

I appreciate the distinction you make between spirituality and practice. People should be compensated for doing real world stuff with real world money. By the same token, spirituality is its own reward. When any practice of faith is involved, compensation can become problematic. When it comes to faith, if experienced fully, doing and being become one in the same. And the effort expended to facilitate that experience for others becomes a function of the emotional investment of the facilitator. Should s/he be paid for a "labor of love" or starve in the name of faith? Certainly on no account should one be compensated for fostering spirituality. If you do that you're just selling people something they've already got.

Good OP. I appreciate the chance to sort this out.