Money magic

Tough times challenge us to be creative, resilient and spiritually-resourceful

Re-stacking this previous post from last year.

No matter what the “official” Jobs Report says, I know times are tough out there. I’ve been hearing from clients and collaborators who want to book a session but don’t have it in their budget given the SQUEEZE, so I’ve discounted my rates for 1:1 client sessions for the foreseeable future.

Learn more or book here: totemreadings.com/about-3

If you know anything about me or TOTEM, you know how rare this is. I work hard and my availability is already at a minimum. What’s more: the SQUEEZE is impacting our business costs, too.

BUT— it’s more important to get the energy moving and offer some insight to so many people standing at a major crossroads. So I’ve knocked $50 off of all of our $200 sessions (prices are updated on TOTEM website and our Calendly booking links).

I’ll be announcing this on IG live today at 3 PM CST with a TOTEM Tarot Deck card pull.

If you’ve been debating booking a session, please take advantage of this deal. Not sure how long I’ll be able to maintain this special pricing as more folks onboard to the TOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching Program in March, April and May.

And, if you feel called, check out this previous post— “Money Magic”— about the disconnect in the economic narrative and what’s going on beneath the propaganda.

Spoiler alert: “They” are lying to you. Things are not universally great out there. And you’re not crazy for feeling stressed. The gaslighting in this space is at peak levels— don’t internalize a system-wide issue (if you can help it)!

-Rachel

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You know how the last several Full Moon TOTEM Tarot Readings we’ve shared HERE and HERE featured that shitty Five of Crystals tarot card? How that card has conveyed a persistent energetic theme of scarcity, fears around money, and the potential of impending economic doom? How this card showing up over and over again was really starting to bum me out?

Well, this card has been showing up in a lot of 1:1 client sessions, too.

Like, a lot of them.

And so have our TOTEM Tarot Deck versions of the Tower tarot card (aka Set) and the 10 of swords tarot card (aka 10 of Metals). Together, these omens and portents are indicating a very, very consistent trend— and it’s not all kittens and rainbows.

As a psychic and former corporate real estate professional, “the math” of our economy and day-to-day economic conditions have been confusing me profoundly.

Like, can an entire economy just passively gaslight you?

I mean, I talk to a lot of people all around the world from a wide variety of walks of life— it’s one of the most rewarding and genuinely interesting aspects of the day-to-day of what I do here at TOTEM. And, in these fairly intimate chats, clients have been expressing intense dread or straight-up panic around money and career matters. At no other point in my shamanic career has this energetic theme been so palpable or persistent.

Now, it seems, that energy is finally manifesting fully in material reality.

The best way I can describe what’s unfolding is with this incredible scene from the movie The Big Short. The Big Short is a cinematic masterpiece from the geniuses behind Succession, detailing the 2008 financial crisis— specifically how the proverbial Jenga tower of our global economy collapsed when no one thought it could:

Just last night, a client and good friend sent me an article about two of my former long-term employers: Cushman & Wakefield and JLL. These are very big, publicly-traded, multinational conglomerates that have consistently dominated the corporate real estate (CRE) industry in almost every market, sector, and service around the world for decades.

They have been the very definition of stable.

And both companies are reporting second quarter 2023 profits down more than 90%.

Read that again.

Down 90%.

That, my dear friends, is the metric of a death spiral, regardless of what any press releases may say.

You can find the details in this article about it HERE.

I believe that this is the first tangible, public indicator of the event horizon being promised by the persistent, aforementioned tarot readings. Sure, there have been layoffs. Sure, a few banks needed bailing out.

But this is meaty.

To say that this metric is unprecedented would be the understatement of a lifetime. And while it may seem like these are just two companies in an industry far, far away from you and your daily life, it’s really not that abstract.

You see, just as with the 2008 financial crisis, the exotic investment products and their interdependencies are where things get really, really messy. And, this time, it’s looking (and feeling) extra f*cking messy. Did you know that most 401Ks and retirement plans and hedge funds and “diversified” investment portfolios contain mortgage bonds and things called “Real Estate Investment Trusts” (aka REITs)?

Yah. They do.

And those REITs are comprised of small or large groupings of real estate assets and portfolios, like office buildings or apartment complexes or mixed-use buildings.

So, as cities hollow out and look like donuts (being called the “urban donut effect” in white papers) and vacancies in office buildings in mid-town Manhattan hit 70% and banks and investment firms like Blackrock literally just walk away from office buildings they own and manage without bothering to sell them, the downstream effects on all of us, individually and collectively, are going to be palpable.

And, before you get worried that I’m turning into a financial dork or real estate writer or that this Substack is going to start to suck, let me reframe it for you: this post isn’t about money or real estate or financial markets.

This post is about money magic.

And not the good kind of money magic.

Rather, this is the black magic that seeks to exploit or harm others, transferring their hard-earned resources into the hands of the unethical “magus”, as is explained masterfully in this scene from the Wolf of Wall Street:

This is what causes the event horizon we’re all approaching: small groups of spiritually-bankrupt individuals seeking dominance for themselves in a zero sum game that only works if there are losers.

This money magic is made of short-term thinking, materialism, and nihilism.

Those who practice it are in a financial death cult that wants to grab what it can before the tower comes crashing down. And with no real effort or even exchange of energy.

This is the behavior of those that believe in nothing beyond the ignorant present. Those that believe in nothing beyond material reality. Those that don’t believe in any spiritual realm or the existence of the human soul or even a greater game within the game that asks us to grow and evolve as spiritual beings.

To them, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”.

This is the behavior of the inherently fearful. The small. The psychically and energetically disconnected individuals that cling only to what’s right in front of them.

These are the psychologically- and emotionally-damaged and disjointed magicians that don't do their shadow work and, instead, repeat the same destructive patterns over and over again.

This isn’t just about money. It’s about our lives. Our energy bodies. Our families and loved ones and hopes for the future. Our sense of self. Our identities. Our self-worth.

When the money magician’s screw the pooch, as it were, we all pay the price in very real and meaningful ways.

But, to be totally transparent, this time feels a lot different.

It feels both better and worse. Deeper. Existential. Consequential.

Perhaps the money magic spell will finally be broken.

Perhaps there will be a moment for us to evolve.

To really change.

To get down to the marrow of our imbalance with money magic and our own mortality and our treatment of our fellow human beings.

Perhaps, on the other side of this event horizon, we build something new.

Do some new magic.

And, for my own part, I’m going to take a bit of the abundance medicine I prescribe others navigating the choppy waters of such scarcity.

So, what’s the best prescription when times get tough and the ghost of scarcity comes to haunt us?

Expand instead of contract. Release instead of white-knuckle. Share and give instead of hoard and take. Remember that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, not a bunch of meat puppets limited by the value sitting in our bank accounts.

As of today, I’m going to do my own benevolent money magic in an attempt to usurp the dark powers permeating our shared commerce.

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If nothing else, please remember that spirit is always around to help— especially during challenging times. While I’m not a fan of “hopium” or toxic positivity or spiritual bypassing or lighting an abundance candle instead of getting to work, shamanism can actually offer real tools, resources and even necessary comfort when we need it the most.

My own shamanic practice has made me resilient in orders of magnitude. When it seems like everything is coming apart, I now have a solid muscle memory to release and surrender— and, every time, things really do work out.

The key? Honesty.

We can’t access the help we need if we play pretend. If we deny reality. If we hit “snooze” on the spiritual alarm clock that’s blaring inside of our souls. If we hide our anxiety or our pain because we’re embarrassed or don’t want to be judged by others.

Spirit knows what’s in our hearts and minds, and our guides don’t want to enable the worst in us. To this end, we need to meet spirit halfway.

From that convergence point, everything becomes possible.

The future isn’t already written. We can make changes. We can rebuild.

And, most importantly, we will endure this kick-back on our money magic.

-Rachel