Hi Steve
I don't know much beyond the basics , but I have always got the feeling Spiritual guidence is a bit different than healing .
Probably it is different in different places , but the way I have seen it ,appreciation for assistance in personal healing is usually shown with a gift after the healing . This seems to be done in a similar way to buying groceries and giving something as a gift when you stay at someones house . I have never seen a set fee or advertising , and I have heard many comments from traditional people and Elders that this is not rightly done . I once saw someone who saved a childs life helped out decades later , by the extended family of the child that was saved . When people are helped in communities where
they have life long relationships, people remember that help , and show their gratitude. But I haven't seen a set fee before hand . My intuition is that is partly because it would be arrogant to presuppose the outcome of a healing done mainly by Spiritual agents that are not owned by the healer .
Advertising also seems to be offensive . I am guessing one of the reasons might be because healing that involves more than basic plant medicines, can be dangerous if things aren't right , and traditional healers might not be comfortable assuming they can help everyone with any sort of problem . I know people who felt they needed one type of healing who went to a medicine person , and they were offered something very different than what they expected , so advertising for a specific type of a healing ceremony , might be seen as prematurely nailing things down .
In a traditional community people usually know to make sure Elders and Spiritual leaders have what they need , and if something takes a lot of time , or energy , people usually know enough to make sure that no one suffers a loss for having given of their time and energy . But it is only the New Age or non native community that tends to see "Spiritual teachings" as something for "self improvement", which might be "gotten " in exchange for money . Within a traditional community the morals and values taught by Spiritual leaders benifit the whole community , and the idea that anyone would charge someone to learn to be a better member of the community , or that someone might have a right to charge admissioin to a relationship with powers greater than ourselves, seems really disrespectful and arrogant .
As Freija says , just the fact that in most traditions Native Elders feel charging for ceremonies , Spiritual teachings and ceremonial items is wrong, should be enough . Elders usually know what they are talking about , and there is good reasons things are done as they are .
All over the world , most religions find the idea of charging people an admission fee to have a relationship with a higher power offensive , and most Spiritual traditons manage to run on some system of collectiong donations . There is probably a good reason for that .
Moral teachings and values seem to be the backbone of all the worlds Spiritual traditons , but when people start charging this backbone gets downplayed or even removed . Charging money for Spiritual support and guidence reduces the function of Spirituality in our lives, to a personal feel good experience . Charging for Spirituality shifts the focus away from our responsibilities , and learning what we as individuals have to give , to what people stand to get . For themselves . Which right away is not what Spiritual teachings were originally intended to be doing .
While it might make sense to charge people for something they are going to get , it doesn't make sense to charge people for learning what they have a responsibility to give back to the community . Reducing the moral values of a culture to a feel good experience that involves mainly the more colorful dramatic parts of the culture , and a consumeristic desire to "get more of the good stuff" , degrades and trivializes the true purpose and function of a cultures Spirituality .
Money attracts the wrong people with the wrong motivations , and can create a subtle pressure to pass on knowledge to those who can pay , rather than to those with the characters best suited to serve the community with this traditional knowledge. Within a traditional community it seems just the help of someone who had the ability to contribute more , as a result of having been taught , would be more than adaquet compensation .
Money can also motivate people who don't know what they are doing to become "healers" or "Spiritual leaders' , and healers and Spiritual leaders that don't know what they are doing can be dangerous .
I only know very basic information , and I have pieced this together from various comments and things I have seen. If any of this is incorrect or if anyone has a better or different understanding , I hope they will share it.
Every tribe probably has slightly different traditions , but Richard Allen who is a spokesperson for the CNO wrote an article explaining the Cherokee traditions around advertising , charging , and payment , which is helpful . It can be accessed through the link below .
http://web.archive.org/web/20051207172424/users.pandora.be/gohiyuhi/articles/art00001.htmRichard Allan
Cherokee medicine people and spiritual leaders are known to the Cherokee people and do not practice medicine for a fee nor sell "shamanic" lessons to anyone. They do not advertise their services through any form of media and certainly not over the internet. Traditional Cherokee healers and spiritual leaders provide their services to the Cherokee people. A Cherokee medicine person or spiritual leader is fluent in the Cherokee language and would conduct any medical or spiritual practices by using the Cherokee language. Therefore, our medicine people are those who were born of a Cherokee mother and a Cherokee father and would have been reared within a Cherokee community speaking the Cherokee language. Our traditional Cherokee healers and spiritual leaders are humble people and would not present themselves as such nor "hang out a shingle" so to speak. Cherokee medicine people are acknowledged and recognized by members of the Cherokee community as effective healers and leaders.
It is the recognition of the Cherokee people that validates these persons as medicine people and healers not self-proclaimation. We may provide them small gifts, a token amount of money or foodstuffs in payment for their services. They do not charge for their services nor would they withhold their services when asked and they certainly would not prescribe payment by credit card.
