THE PASSION PROFESSION PROBLEM
The Economics of Magic
Unfortunately, this is not about how to value the worth of a particular sacrifice or exchange with the Other. It’s that kind of economics.
“The Magical Economy” series will explore the socio-economic function and factors of magic, religion, and mysticism. We will explore the history and current practice of magic, from the “worth” of a reading to the value of scamming the faithful. Through this lens, the possibility of mitigating the negative and promoting more ideal outcomes also comes into focus. I will try and make a case for rethinking the relationship between practitioner and professional in Western cultures. Before I go any further, it’s worth clarifying what this is not.
While I will be ‘harsh’ and critical at times, this is not a criticism of the practice of magic directly for money. Whether that’s selling books, classes, readings, ongoing consultations, or any other variety of commercial activity. There are certainly trends, practitioners specifically, and ethical questions worth exploring with a critical lens, but this series won’t focus on that in particular. Rather, this is a question of how we can apply sociological and economic theories to magic in society now and in times past to understand why certain trends continue, how those problems can be addressed, and why we should re-evaluate the symbolism of the mystic in Western societies broadly to create the kind of magical culture many different branches of contemporary practice push toward.
This will also not necessarily aim to increase the number of professional magical practitioners. Indeed, I will argue that there are too many professional “firms” (people acting in the supply-side of the market) to sustain a healthy economy given existing demand. My goal is to increase the number of practitioners as a whole. Whether that’s a good thing or not, without an incentive to practice magic, its reproduction and continuation throughout the generations is unlikely. Whatever keeps bellies full and families happy tends to be what passes on. By understanding the economic landscape as it exists, how it functions elsewhere, and how mundane factors impact what magical knowledge does and doesn’t survive through the ages, we can help ensure a greater quality of life for practitioners of all stripes while supporting professional practitioners and their economic endeavors.
PASSION PROFESSIONS
For our first “harm”, we’re going to look at the “Passion Profession Problem” – when the only way you keep people in the job is “passion”. Educators, medical professionals, and magicians share plenty in common: they do a lot for a little. Some states in the U.S. have invested in teachers over the last 20 years, but most have seen a significant drop in their direct salaries. What lists like Business Insider’s leave out are the significant cuts to benefits. Retirement matching, health insurance, and other quality of life benefits have been slashed, especially where union busting and standardized funding formulas undermine local authority over education priorities. Entering the profession was a risky bet in 2003, but 20 years later, it’s almost foolish. That isn’t a mistake: it’s an intentional effort from conservatives since at least the 1980s to shift public investment away from public schools and into private, for-profit institutions. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions from politically active conservative majority further eroded divisions between religious, for-profit schools and public dollars. Tragic as it is, we’re not here to discuss teachers. We are here to criticize the problem in for-profit societies as it applies to magic.
Economic theories rely on one big assumption that I’d say has some big problems: that people are rational actors. The more nuanced assessment of theory would hold that “rational” means “will behave predictably given the circumstances” rather than “respond correctly to circumstances” but its application tends toward the latter, especially in popular opinion. The “Passion Profession” is a good example of people acting irrationally in an economic sense. Because they feel strongly about the work or what it allows them to achieve, they suffer a loss in potential profit in return for personal satisfaction. Honorable as it is, relying on passion for anything is a horrible idea. Passion is a limited resource, fickle even at the best of times. A good marriage isn’t built just on love and our careers can’t sustain themselves on passion alone. Eventually the losses become too great and people burnout. It’s usually the ones who try hardest and care the most who suffer the most.
Magic has been a passion profession for the last century or two throughout much of Europe and North America. There are a number of reasons for it: the proliferation of reliable information technologies, advancements in physical sciences, decline in spirituality, state-funded public education, religious orthodoxy and market monopolization, and no doubt other factors I have yet to consider. It’s also worth recognizing the historical importance of religion in sustaining economic activity in Europe for the last millennium. Whether the Catholic calendar organizing feasts to maintain the balance of labor politics and feudal profit extortion or the infamous Protestant Work Ethic, nowhere does religion exist as a purely theological or spiritual practice. Even where economic activity is not an intentional function of human religious activity, commerce and exchange are a seemingly inevitably byproduct of it. Indeed, there’s a strong case to be made in the anthropological record that rather than religion being a byproduct of agricultural societies centralizing power, agricultural societies rose up as a byproduct of religious activity. Essentially, that human societies existed prior to agriculture and only did religious ceremonies (likely fueled by early alcohol production) and a shifting climate push people into more permanent settlements.
Whatever the chicken/egg debate’s resolution here, let’s start with a general assessment of the contemporary magical landscape and where we can start to price out the cost-benefits of professionally practicing magic.
THE OWNER-OPERATOR
For most of history, readers were limited to their geographic region, either owning a small, direct-service business or a retail store with services as an additional offering. The local psychic where I grew up was named Amanda and so she’ll be our imaginary business owner. Amanda rents a retail space in the high-foot traffic area of her local downtown, an American city of 60,000 people. Let’s use Ashville, NC as an example: this nice downtown storefront goes for $33/sq ft or $22,704/yr. The average work week (at 40 hours per week) leaves 2080 labor hours in a given year. Just to cover the rent costs, Amanda needs to be making at least $10/hr while working. Assuming she’s the breadwinner for her household, if Amanda wants to make the average income of $54,000~ she needs to bring in at least $80,000 revenue. Considering a good chunk of that will go to taxes, she realistically needs to run closer to $115,000 at a 40% tax rate to reach the average income. Per labor hour, Amanda needs to make $55.28.
Now let’s consider the feasibility of making that mark. Amanda needs to market the business, operate it, handle the taxes, cover other overhead, provide training for herself, and manage her own health insurance and benefits. All of that requires a significant amount of time. Marketing and promotion (social media, content production, ad buying, digital ad buying, website development) is at least 20 of those labor hours, assuming Amanda makes 1 short video or blog post per weekday and engages in a passive marketing campaign. Most business owners would laugh at the notion of spending just two hours of 5 days of the week doing promotion, but we’ll stick with that for our example. Business administration and property management is probably another 5 hours assuming she has no employees or uniquely demanding landscaping or office maintenance requirements. That means more than half of Amanda’s 40 hour week is spent on non-revenue labor. There’s no money coming in from any of that unless her marketing content is monetized, but that would require a significantly greater time investment than 2 hours a day.
If Amanda only offers services, she has roughly 15 hours of revenue-generating labor time a week. Assuming she can always fill that time with clients (a big assumption), she needs to generate that entire $115,000 in just 780 billable hours. If Amanda charges hourly, her rate needs to be $147.43. Even if Amanda has more humble aspirations and a partner who worked full time, she would need her hourly rate to be $53.84 to make a pre-tax, pre-benefits salary of $29,500~.
Most businesses realize that services alone can’t be priced that high: your hairstylist or nail artist upsells products because that helps them hit that per-labor-hour rate. If your haircut is $50, your styling and dye another $60, and they sell you the $40 shampoo, that $50/hr isn’t insane after you account for overhead. Successful service-industry businesses make most of their profit off the service itself and use products to help pad the price. For a reader, added products can be a bit trickier: crystals and maybe some essential oil mixes. Selling divination tools might be an option, but you also risk losing a service sale if your customers start DIY-ing their way through life. Therapeutic practitioners, like reiki energy workers or holistic healers, have a more reliable demand than divinatory/consultation-based practitioners. People will always get sick, but they don’t always need insight from the Other Side.
As a result, single proprietor businesses are hard to keep running. Retail stores of any type have the same kinds of problems: decreasing foot traffic, global corporate competition, and rising prices of local production. That’s no less of an impact on occult shops, whether their book sales faltering in the face of Amazon’s same-day delivery or the difficulty in sourcing small, glass bottles since 2020. Eurasian conflicts makes blood crystals and gems all the more prevalent, Instagram instant sellers scamming under false names with false sources, and growing awareness of longstanding unethical practices all impact the end consumer’s experience.
THE FREELANCER
Another common professional archetype is the freelancer. This person often rents a table or space from a retailer or at events, then selling their services ad hoc. Some have regularly established relationships, working at different shops or venues on rotation throughout the week or month. Without as much overhead, the freelancer still needs to secure their own benefits and manage their own marketing and administration. The venues they work out of might help some there, but the burden is largely on the freelancer to promote their availability and services. In a recent conversation on Twitter, Andrew B. Watt gave a 60/40 split. The reader gives 40% of their revenue to the store for the space and the reader keeps 60% + tips (possibly).
Anecdotally, most freelance readers work multiple jobs or shore up ends through other means. Where the gig does pay the bills, there’s no overhead but the amount of billable hours is significantly less reliable. Where the business owner-operator needs to supplement with upselling, freelancers need to bill for dead hours. Assuming that 40 hours is a reasonable workload expectation and the walk-ins are lined up around the block, at 60% the reader would need to work non-stop for the 40 hours and charge $25/hr to make a $30K salary, pre-tax. If we account for another 40% tax on that income, the reader would need to charge $35 a reading. Based on my conversation with Andrew and conversations with freelancers elsewhere, 2-3 readings a day is doing well. If we assume for every 8 hours worked, 2 of those hours are billable, that $35 per hour needs to be quadrupled to make that $30K salary after taxes. Freelancers should be charging at least $140/hr to live in relative poverty.
The proprietor-operators have a slightly higher price point, largely due to rent costs but can also expect a steadier income and have other means of securing their income (like having readers rent space and making 40% of their readings) which freelancers lack. A recent disruption to the economy is the online reader. Whether Facebook, Twitter, a streaming platform, or directly from a digital professional, the internet’s influence is difficult to measure without further research. Pinning down the rate to which in-person readers face competition or the proliferation of tarot and astrology created a new demand met online is hard. I suspect the latter is more the case, but there are a few other market factors that we need to consider before considering a proper price point online.
THE ONLINE PROFESSIONAL
While the “quality” of a reader is a complicated question in and of itself, the ease of entry to the market online does raise valid questions of legitimacy and quality for buyers. Unlike someone in a shop or running their own brick-and-mortar business, most online operators are working part-time, informally, or under a brand that isn’t a legally registered business. The risk is considerably lower on their end and it’s much easier for bad actors to enter the market than previously. Additionally, the internet has no walls (theoretically) and competition among readers is much more intense. Where the number of readers or shops in a given geographic region is relatively stable and the community is likely familiar with members over time, the internet is incredibly dynamic. New readers are offering services every day and old ventures collapse into obscurity behind an artificial avatar without much lasting consequence.
There’s also some competitive advantages to consider, especially when evaluating the question of market demand/competition with in-store professionals. The wider selection of practitioners makes choosing someone whose practice aligns with your own (or your idealized practice) much easier. Potential clients can shop demographics and other aspects of identity to find readers whose perspective speaks more authentically to their perspective. The ability to network and collaborate on content projects as well as digital native’s social media sensibility helps to reach different audiences than your traditional brick-and-mortar clients. Finally, because there is such an excess of firms in the market (people selling various psychic/spiritual services) the price point is significantly lower and allows for impulse buys. While often criticized for deflating market prices, I think there’s probably an argument to be made for creating demand for higher quality readings by having experienced one in the first place. $15 dollars for a tarot reading vs. $150 is a significant difference in the impulse buy category for most consumers.
All of that to say, pricing digital professionals is difficult because the market is incredibly volatile. Marketing is significantly more important as is considering how you structure your business model. While returning customers are ideal for all professionals, digital practitioners have the advantage of “content” justifying price points. If their video content is monetized or their podcast has ad sales, services are more about marketing and getting positive reviews. Conversely, it’s also very easy to fake a busy schedule or artificially restrict “supply” where other channels are more profitable. “I don’t have time for new readings but you can follow my patreon for updates on transits!” is not only much more reliable than direct service business models, but it also makes conducting direct services a form of marketing. Client reviews become indirect content reviews.
That said, there are some ways to get a sense of what a fair price would be. With 40 hours of labor as our standard and assuming legal compliance, the overhead is significantly lower than the operator-owner but with an otherwise similar time distribution. 780 billable hours a year (that’s assuming 15 hours of client-facing service per week with no weeks off) to earn $50K USD would require a price of $64.10. Add in taxes and the price jumps to just under $90/hr. Skimming different prices on the timeline at any point will get you quite the range: $15/hr up to $300/hr without any real delineation between practitioners from their presence and follower count. Without better data on the number of purchases at different price points, it’s hard to meaningfully suggest whether that $90/hr price point is well above the digital practitioner’s average rate or not.
RETHINKING MASTERY
Before we wrap up this very long treatment of the passion profession problem, we need to emphasize what a professional practitioner is and does. I consider myself to be a pretty top-tier magician (whatever that’s worth) but I am not a professional. I work magic for people from time to time and teach classes, but my actual practice is not professional. It isn’t for sale, it isn’t part of a business, nor is it how I make my money. There isn’t anything wrong with having professional practitioners: indeed, I think professional practitioners are good but professionals should be the best at what they do. When that comes to things like astrology, tarot, or really any art, we need to remember that being a professional is by no means the highest form of the practice. Far too many people have become obsessed with being a professional astrologer as if that’s the correct response to a profound astrological experience. No doubt a relic of the Evangelist’s influence.
For much of history, professional astrologers answered questions we would find very boring. They predicted weather and agricultural cycles, noted potential military conflicts and auspicious times to have children. The role of the professional astrologer in modern society is considerably more narrow. We have meteorologists who can predict the weather much easier than an astrological chart can, political scientists who develop models to predict (or schedule…) conflicts, and nifty apps on our phones that report to the state when we’re ready to breed. A professional astrologer is more a therapist than a psychic, applying the predictive art to a more reflective format. Even those who do forecast predictions do so cautiously, forbidden by law or by fear of delivering bad news. Turns out, being right doesn’t actually matter to most clients. It helps, but they’re looking for something different from professionals.
If you feel that astrology, tarot, or whatever other magical art is truly your passion, don’t immediately imagine it needs to be your profession! Take it from someone who made his passion his profession: there’s a big price in it. When you have to do something, even something you love, it becomes exhausting. Your measures of success change from expression to efficiency, from engagement to impact. Rather than rushing to compete in a market that’s already flooded, think instead about how to use your passion for the occult in other ways. As a journalist, I used astrology to find stories no one else did. Practice making predictions, attempt to make a solid election, and if you find yourself struggling, go ring up a professional and get some advice from someone who spends 40 hours a week doing this.
They are an important part of our community, but professionals alone do not a community make. Reimagine the possibilities your passion holds – astrologers, do a better job of showing your clients how to make use of astrology, not follow after your path. Plumbers and teachers have just as much use for astrology as the professionals do. Once we start to advance our understanding of how a passion for the mystical expresses itself, we can start to rethink this unhealthy economic situation and create more stable labor conditions for the pros.
