This post is based on a pivotal episode of the Money is Emotional podcast, titled “Money: From Sacrilege to Sacrament.” This is the story of my spiritual evolution with money, one that I’ve hinted at over the past few months: That I’m ready to unapologetically bring my spirituality front and center alongside the money.
Money as Sacrilege
For the first 30 years of my life, I had both a fear and a desire for money. Why? I desired money because I knew firsthand that the lack of it caused stress and suffering. As an accountant, I enjoyed managing money and being well paid for it. Life with money felt much better than life without it.
But in church, I got the message that money was dangerous and maybe God didn’t want me to have too much of it. Like me, maybe you heard messages like these:
“The love of money is the root of all evil.”
“It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
“God doesn’t prosper you to raise your standard of living. He prospers you to raise your standard of giving.”
I got the message that possessing money beyond my needs was greedy, dirty, bad, and wrong. In other words, sacrilegious. In my mind, money and spirituality were like oil and water. You either have one or the other. And of course, being the Christian Good Girl, I chose God.
Money as Secular
Then things began to shift. I started viewing money not as sacrilege but as secular. Not as evil, but simply neutral. I have Dave Ramsey to thank for that, because my foray into teaching others about money began with his Financial Peace University. It’s a live group course about money management taught in churches around the country. The church accountant recruited me to be her assistant for the class because she knew I had gone through the wringer financially and come out the other side. After a few years, I became the person in charge of the Financial Peace University program at my church. All in all, I taught the class as a volunteer twice a year for 10 years.
Dave Ramsey’s philosophy that money is NOT evil really stuck with me. Honestly, he was one of the few Christian leaders who said, “Money is not evil; it’s neutral.” He used the analogy of a brick to explain this concept in Financial Peace University. It went something like this: “A brick is just a brick. It doesn’t care what you do with it. You can take a brick and use it to build an orphanage. Or you can take that same brick, throw it through a plate-glass window, and rob a jewelry store. You don’t praise the brick for building the orphanage, and you don’t condemn the brick for breaking the window. It’s the person holding the brick. Like the brick, money has no morals. It’s neutral. It doesn’t care what you do with it. Whether money does good things or bad things all depends on whose hands it is in.”
This resonated very deeply with me for a long time: Money as a neutral tool. I could get behind that. If I’m a good person and it’s in my hands, money does good things. I don’t have to attach any morality to it. That was so freeing… but not everyone agreed with me. And one of those people was my pastor. I distinctly remember having the discussion with him, explaining Dave Ramsey’s brick analogy. My pastor said, “I disagree. Money is not neutral. It is tainted with a dark spiritual energy. We must be very careful not to let it corrupt us. That’s why it’s so important to tithe – to give 10% back to God (aka the church) – so that money doesn’t get its hooks into us. Money wants to be our master.”
That conversation disturbed me for a while, but I knew my heart. I ultimately decided that, for me, money was a neutral tool that I could use for good purposes. And I also kept up with my 10% tithe, just in case I might be wrong. (For the record, I still donate at least 10% of my income, but not for the reasons my pastor mentioned. The next book I am writing is all about generosity, so that’s a conversation for another day!)
Money As Sacrament
My spirituality has evolved significantly over the past several years. It can no longer be contained by religious labels. My religion is love, and the world is my church. And as my spirituality has evolved, so has my view of money. In fact, I no longer view it as sacrilegious or even as secular. I now treat my interactions with money as a sacrament, something holy where God is present.
And over the past few years, I became very curious. Why did religion want me to believe that money is bad, dirty, or evil in the first place? Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to: We’ve been conditioned to fear money so we can be controlled. If we believe money can corrupt us, then we fear it and push it away, at least unconsciously. My former church said, “Money will corrupt you, so you better give 10% to God, a.k.a. us, so that all is well with your soul and you will go to heaven.”
It’s even more insidious than that. It’s not just that money can cause the downfall of our morality and keep us out of heaven, but they say that we were BORN sinful. If we were born sinful, we can’t trust ourselves, so we have to look outside ourselves for moral authority (usually a religious leader). We outsource our power and look to someone else to tell us if we are good or not. We don’t have spiritual sovereignty when we believe this.
If we distrust ourselves because we fear the power of money, we are controllable by outside forces. We can be guilted and even shamed into parting with our money. But God doesn’t want us to be shamed into giving. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “Each one must give as he (or she) has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) The root word we interpret as “cheerful” is the Greek word Helios, from which we get the English word ‘hilarious’. That means God wants us to have a rip-roaring good time when we give. God doesn’t want us to give out of fear or shame. What a relief!
Honestly, I’m tired of trying to persuade the sweetest, kindest-hearted people that they’re not born sinful, that they don’t need to be guilted into giving, and they have what it takes to command money for positive change in the world, rather than fearing money and distrusting themselves. I’ve spent much of my two-decade financial coaching career teaching people that money is not evil and that it is a neutral tool, an extension of our energy. Yes, money can be used as a terrible weapon in the hands of evil people. But if kind, wonderful people are terrified of money’s power, it can’t be deployed for sacred purposes.
If money is so evil, then why is the Catholic Church one of the richest organizations in the entire world? The Church is one of the world’s largest landowners. Have you heard of the Vatican Bank? It’s a private financial institution founded in 1942 that serves the Catholic Church by managing assets for religious orders, clergy, and Vatican departments, with roughly $3 billion in assets under management. Estimating the total net worth of the Catholic Church isn’t easy due to decentralized, private finances, but conservative estimates suggest at least $73 billion in assets, while some estimates, including global real estate, range from $1 – 2 trillion. And this is just ONE denomination of the church.
How do you think cathedrals were built? With money. How was the golden chalice purchased? With money. Money buys the communion wafers and the wine. Money buys the prayer candles, the incense, and the holy anointing oils. Jesus had many benefactors, including wealthy women who supported his ministry.
Here’s the truth: Money is power. And the bible verse is correct: you cannot serve two masters. BUT you can serve the divine, and if you master money, it can and will serve you and your mission in the world. It’s time to move money from a place of sacrilege to sacrament.
Money is a sacrament if we bring our holy divine energy to it. Money can purchase beautiful paintings and sculptures from artists. It can be used to provide food and shelter to people in need. Money can be used to plant bountiful gardens and build community gathering spaces. And yes, it can be used to create a beautiful and meaningful life for yourself and your family. This is what happens when you command money with a positive spiritual authority… Which you already have, whether you acknowledge it or not. We were not born sinful, pitiful, or powerless. Our only affliction at birth is amnesia of our divine nature and spiritual authority.
For example, let’s use a simple business transaction: a person buying a drink from their local coffee shop. When someone thinks money is sacrilegious, they have a disgust for money and bring that energy to the exchange. Maybe they toss crumpled-up dollar bills at the cashier. If you’re that cashier, you might even feel bad or dirty for accepting the money.
When someone views money as secular, money is just money. They’re buying this coffee, and the price is $7, so here you go. It’s neutral. You feel neither positive nor negative about the exchange.
When someone believes money is a sacrament, the energy is very different. The person respects you, the money, and what they are purchasing. You feel their positivity, gratitude, and even love. It’s a joy to transact with this person.
In The Four Elements of Money, I talked about bringing spirituality into our finances. The Earth element is the practical and physical management of money. Water is understanding the emotions behind our money. Air represents the mental aspect of money, our mindset. And fire is the spiritual aspect of our money. When we balance the four elements, we create a solid, healthy foundation for a beautiful financial life that benefits us, our families, and the world.
This is how I have been living the past four years. My spirituality is integrated fully with my life, my money, and my business. In fact, my best business and money downloads happen at my altar. I ask for and receive divine guidance for all the areas of my life, including money.
God Talks to Me
Yes, God talks to me. How do I know it’s not just me talking to myself in my head? Because God says things to me that I would never say to myself. Things that are very far out of my comfort zone, yet they land deep in my bones.
Six months ago, as I was pondering the direction of my business, I asked, “Okay God, what’s next?” The answer was immediate: “It’s time to reprise your role as the Merchant Priestess. She who has one foot in the marketplace and one foot in the temple.” Full body chills. Both fear and excitement. I knew what this meant. God was asking me to lead my business with my spirituality right alongside wealth building. The Magic and the Money, front and center. Because spiritually attuned individuals (especially generous women) who build wealth do good in the world.
When we release the fear around money, we respect it as a powerful tool. When we claim our spiritual sovereignty, we command money to create miracles not just for ourselves, but for the good of all. When we choose to do this, we enter onto what I call The Merchant Priestess™ Path. We have one foot in the marketplace and one foot in the temple. Each of our paths is unique to us, but the reason we choose to step on it is the same: To direct the power of money to make the world a better place.
Because we’re spiritual beings having a human experience, we won’t be perfect on the Path. But the more of us who are walking this way, the more we can pick each other up and dust each other off when we stumble. Are you ready to join me on the Merchant Priestess™ Path?
There are two ways to do this. First, you can subscribe to my new Substack, which is called The Merchant Priestess™. There you will find more spiritual conversations about money. Subscribers who choose the paid option will go deeper with me behind the scenes and get the rest of the story on certain posts. There are certain truths I want to express, but only with my inner circle people. You know who you are. I’m also publishing my next book on Substack, chapter by chapter as I write it, so be sure to sign up as a supporter to get early access.
Second, you can join the inaugural round of the Merchant Priestess™ Path. This group experience is the embodiment of “One foot in the marketplace and one foot in the temple.” It’s 13 women, 13 weeks, and we start on July 13th. Each week, we alternate between Marketplace Mentorship, where I’ll be showing you the money management principles of millionaires, and Temple Ceremonies, where we’ll be together in sacred space, experiencing breathwork, holy anointing oils, crystal energy, and somatic movement. That’s all I’m saying for now. If the Merchant Priestess™ Path calls to you, click here to join the waitlist.
I know not all of you will want to join me on this new path, and that’s okay. I bless you and release you. Those of you who read this far and felt a zing of excitement about this new direction, then let’s freaking go! I want everyone to shift their view of money from sacrilege to sacrament. This is how we change the world, one person at a time.