Free Spiritual Labour

When I brought up free spiritual labour as a potential podcast topic with Andrea (@concreteandcrystals) a year ago, she was excited! It is something that comes up a lot in the spiritual space, especially online, but it isn’t really talked about. This could be a little bit of a hot topic, and I'm not meaning to bring up any shame in anyone, or have anyone feel anything other than informed, but it is something I've wanted to talk about for a while. As an online business owner expanding to in person offerings, I have my energy pulled in many directions and go through cycles with my response to it. There are times when I am energized and overflowing with engagement. I love connecting with all of you! I also have periods, often when I haven’t extended the same care to myself, when I am unable to meet the demand.

There will always be a need for marketing and sharing socially with an online business, but boundaries are required if you have multiple points of contact with your audience and clients. Reciprocity is a core value for me and I believe it should be at the center of our online interactions. We also need to return to the law of reciprocity with Mother Earth to create a sustainable relationship.

Spirit School Links

The Initiation Summer 2023 Registration: https://www.squamishmedium.com/mediumship-foundations

The Initiation 2.0 Summer 2023 Registration: https://www.squamishmedium.com/mediumship-advancement

Spirit School Collective: https://www.squamishmedium.com/spiritschoolcollective

Join us on the FREE Spirit School platform: https://myspiritschoolcollective.com/plans/

Trauma Informed Lightworker Waitlist: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6398f03888aca7e15696b1fa

Visit Spirit School at https://www.squamishmedium.com/ for all courses and upcoming programs

View full transcripts of podcast episodes at https://www.squamishmedium.com/blog

In this episode:

• My free and paid resources are equally as impactful and have the same standards
• Many of us who lean into service are doing it from a place of what we hope to receive
• As an Indigenous woman, I don’t tolerate any racism toward Indigenous people online
• I worked in and was passionate about First Nations healthcare
• I realized how much emotional, spiritual and physical labor was involved in checking racism
• In 2023, the audience shouldn’t have to check the comments for publications
• On TikTok, there are people from all different backgrounds sharing wisdom
• I am grateful for the social justice warriors creating digestible content for people to learn
• I could see how much labor goes into educating others on what it’s like to be a person of colour
• TikTok had stories of BIPOC people expected to educate their workplace on racism
• We all have the resources to educate ourselves at our fingertips
• My thoughts on free labour started in the social justice space
• Inclusion such as in an interview process is often to tick a box for the bare minimum
• I’m going to use my Spirit School space and Instagram as my examples of online spaces
• Instagram started asking a lot of labour of creators to keep up with trends like Reels
• Unlike Instagram, TikTok has a creator fund to reward the work people put into their content
• I hired three creators who were critical of the spiritual space to audit my classes and business
• I want to ensure my body of work is not causing harm or feeling like a cult in any way
• As a busy mom, I made a conscious decision that I did not have time for Reels
• For the past 4 years, I’ve had 4-7 fake imposter accounts at a time pretending to be me
• They mirror my account and scam people by having them pay for alleged readings
• It takes a lot of free labour to report them and respond to the hundreds of DMs about them
• The messages letting us know are well-intended but the notifications are overwhelming
• I have to complete a form and upload a photo of myself with my ID for Meta to report them
• Instagram never takes them down, and I was paying $180/month in admin fees
• I just stopped doing the labour and scaled back my presence on Instagram
• People have crossed my boundaries expecting me to act as Google for them in DMs
• Chris Corsini on Instagram does free readings for every sign with ASL for accessibility
• He is an example of subtly reminding people to support him in exchange for free labour
• You can also support by engaging with free content and helping to answer questions
• There will be more free content coming to Spirit School as the team expands
• Asking questions publicly instead of privately allows more people to see the response
• Some teachers and creators have a “buy me a coffee” sign for donations
• If you DM someone, thank them for their time and energy if they respond
• I thank people who send genuine messages for their time and energy
• Responding to people’s posts as a community member is free labour, and has an impact
• Consider how we can be more reciprocal in the spaces we occupy
• Your energy and sharing experiences is the currency I value over money
• I may be the guiding force, but the people in Spirit School create the culture
• We are in a phase of our humanity where it's every person for themselves
• Indigenous ways of living revolve around the laws of reciprocity with Mother Earth
• Maybe we can learn more and collectively tend to Mother Earth