This is not a bashing post, but a post about how easy it is to be manipulated when you are on Spiritual path. At the end of this post you will understand what I mean.

A few weeks ago I received a message in my Linkdin inbox from Sibyl English. She is a lovely singer and also the founder of a spiritual magazine for women, created in the U.S. Sibyl Magazine,  for the Spirit and Soul of Woman.

The message was an invitation to submit an article of my work, and if chosen by the magazine I would then be a writer in this magazine for one calendar year, writing one article per month. She sent me a free online copy of the magazine. Looking through it I felt that its intention was basically for advertising individual women and their work, as every article written by one of the contributing authors was accompanied by their advert. The magazine felt like a ‘healer’ catalogue. But maybe I was misreading it? I read the submission guidelines anyway.

HERE ARE YOUR EASY-TO-FOLLOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

“Would you like to submit a contributing article sharing your insight and expertise for women, wisdom and wellness?

Our editorial staff have an ACCEPTANCE SEASON which runs for a brief 3½ month period within the calendar year.

• The start date to send in your article submission: April 1, 2016
• The DEADLINE for all incoming submissions: July 15, 2016 *Don’t delay! Send your article in at your earliest convenience.

Only one (1) article submission should be sent in at this time for review by the editorial staff. *If your article is selected for publishing, you will be contacted and given further details as to how Sibyl Magazine will go about showcasing your talent for the duration of 2017.”

Each article was only 500 words and there are 30 women writers, each one submitting their short article every month. I decided not to submit one. A week later my guides came in and started to give me info so I wrote down what they told me. As I was writing I began to ‘get’ that this was the 500 words for the article submission. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was supposed to write for them. Maybe it was just my fear of being out in the world? The writing was exactly 500 words!

I sent it off and my guides kept telling me that it would be accepted. It was, but I didn’t feel excited about it.

This morning I received my congratulations email with instructions on how to proceed. I had been selected to have my literary works (??) published in the pages of Sibyl Magazine. Literary works? Who am I, James Joyce? I began to read the accompanying pdf, which I had to respond to with a yes or no. The entire piece of writing was one big manipulation of spiritual beliefs.

I could go through the whole piece of writing, pointing out which bit is designed to make me feel like an important spiritual writer, using flattery and telling me how I manifested this opportunity with the help of the Universe, etc, etc. And how lucky I am to have been chosen; not everyone gets this opportunity, AND I had to act fast or someone else might take my ‘place’. And, then we all know how important it is that us women work together in this world, sharing our knowledge and expertise.

But I was still waiting for the biggest hook of all… the Incoming Writers Offer! And quoting all the usual stuff, i.e. the Law of Attraction, not keeping yourself secret (God-forbid), you need to get your message out there stuff and all for a 75% discount!

At first, I thought this offer might be optional, so I had another look through the magazine, and sure enough, there was an advert on every written article. But did I have a choice, could I choose not to have an advert? Then I saw it, on the PDF, in smaller print and off to the side:

“As it is a requirement to purchase some form of advertisement, even if it is only a business card-sized advert, we dramatically slash our advertisement rates by 75%.”  So for the smallest, business card sized advert beside my writing, I would only have to pay the sum of $450, down from $1800. How generous of them! Effectively I would be paying them to write for them! They must be raking it in. But maybe I am being unfair, perhaps there are many women who benefit from this.

BUT, I don’t agree with manipulating and seducing women into believing something which is not true. And being seduced by a woman professing to be spiritual? Some might say that she was just being smart, entrepreneurial, etc. But I dislike and mistrust how these businesses capitalise on people’s spiritual work. This client-getting is very old-school and is a negative, male business model.  It feels greedy and dishonest.

Do you think, as someone who embodied the Divine Feminine energy, that you would have to go out and hook into people’s fears in order for them to buy your service, your energy, your creation?  Can you imagine the Goddess going out and looking for people, trying to convince them to buy from her? A door-to-door sales-goddess? If I am a person who wants to learn from the Goddess, do I sit down and wait for her to come and knock on my door or do I go in search of her?

Divine Feminine power lies in trusting. She gets on with her life, filling the world with energy, and people find her! She does what she loves, be it art, writing, healing, etc. But she doesn’t push! She allows. She does not tell you that if you don’t hurry, you will miss her. She doesn’t tell you she is the one who will make your dreams come true. She might make your dreams come true, but she never tells you that, that’s not what she is there for. She trusts your soul, and she trusts her own knowledge and the Way of the Goddess. THAT is woman’s way… fear is not!

So do not allow other people’s desire for money to make you scared. The people who need you WILL find you, because you share your work, you share your knowledge; you share your art. You might well sell your art/writing etc. but you are putting it out there on your terms and no-one else’s. Trust yourself always. You won’t miss the boat!

Just make yourself available, and when you are ready, the people you are supposed to meet, you will meet. Trust your Goddess-self to know the way!