The term “spiritual life coach” is a hot commodity. If you want to become one, there is even a lucrative market for those who provide certification. So, what exactly is behind this role?
It’s a good idea to seek professional advice for complex life issues. We hire consultants for a variety of things. For example, we ask an attorney for legal advice or call a plumber when we have a water leak. So, seeking help for personal development or spiritual matters is only natural. It’s why people want to find a spiritual life coach. How about you?
Need a Fortune Teller, Not a Coach?
The right coach can help you meet your goals. Life skills coaching isn’t new. The hard part is finding a legitimate spiritual counselor because the field isn’t regulated. This arena of spirituality is full of grifters. They have learned how to market fortunetelling under other names.
Do you know what rebranding is? It’s when you rename something to make it more appealing. You have likely seen things that companies have rebranded, but you didn’t realize it.
Are you sure you want to find a spiritual life coach? Or are you looking for a fortune teller? Do you want to contact deceased loved ones or conduct past-life therapy? You are in luck. These fall under the same roof. All these methods come from the Spiritualist Movement in the 1800s. (1) All the same psychic parlor tricks, just nice new shiny names. More about this a little later.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) tactics are not new. It is just a new name for previously unacceptable practices. The techniques of EI are what mental health professionals call psychological manipulation techniques. Grifters and con men use these methods to take advantage of people. These tools teach people how to deceive, coerce, and manipulate others. None of these health or ethical concerns matter. Businesses train managers to use them because they drive performance.
Spiritual Life Coach Certification?
The spiritual counseling profession is not new. Many ancient cultures had these types of counselors, known as Seers, Soothsayers, and Shaman.
They didn’t have professional certifications. Some shamans are specialists in herbal medicine, while others have counseling specialties in everything from relationships to dream interpretation. They were our first marriage and financial counselors. You found a shaman with an excellent reputation in the area you needed help.
Spiritual life coach certification is a booming business. If you complete one of these courses, you get someone’s authority to teach. Wow! The cost for these certifications ranges from $500 to $10,000.
The National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) does not recognize life coaching or provide accreditation for schools with this specialty. However, that does not stop some from offering their own certification.
So, they create their own credentials. Some copy their course curriculums from legitimate clinical programs. However, they are not certified to provide this level of training or counseling. Most of the standard practices these coaches use are free on Google.
Organizations like the International Coaching Federation (2) sell wellness certifications. They claim that 99% of people who complete their certification would do it again. Of course, if you’ve spent $1,000 or more on something, you will likely view it as worthwhile.
People attribute the success of these coaches more to their “likeability” rather than any measurable means of success. It isn’t the first time the role of the Shaman has gone through a rebranding to make it more marketable. The most recent example is the spiritualist movement, which began in the 15th century.
What Exactly Does a Spiritual Life Coach Do?
How do they do what they do? Spiritualists always do their research, and it’s much easier today because of the internet and social media. They set up multiple social media accounts and run ads.
These con artists use the same bait they always have: they make promises. For example, they can promise to help you find your soulmate and become rich or healthier. They still have the same mystical products. They can put you in touch with deceased people. They still do past-life regression and tell your future, and people trying to find a spiritual life coach or fortune teller come to them.
Grifters use the internet to do background checks. They gather personal information on family history, credit, and criminal background data. After they gather this personal data, they can sprinkle this information back to you in your counseling session. In this way, it gives the impression they have spiritual insight. That’s how they do it.
Origins of the Modern Spiritualist Coach
The Spiritualist Movement developed the blueprint for a personal coach with mystical insight. This movement has its roots in the Gypsy and Traveler cultures of Europe known as the Roma (3). This movement was the home of traveling sideshows and circuses.
The Roma were among the first to rebrand or rename the Shamanic Journey. They called it past life regression.
Spiritual counseling and psychic and clairvoyant powers have always been popular entertainment. The rich aristocrats made the Roma or Gypsies of Europe and the Americas rich. Everyone likes a good show. The more extravagant the showmanship, the more they could charge. The séance became one of the most popular events on the spiritual circuit.
In the 1800s, Evangelical Christians adopted the tactics and showmanship of the gypsies and Roma. They rebranded the tactics and made millions.
The focus of the traveling gypsy shifted toward “prophetic personal counseling.” This con gave the spiritualist a constant cash flow stream from their wealthy patrons. The spiritualist established a personal relationship with the client. Their relationship gives them access to family secrets. They can then leverage this knowledge for their financial gain. People do not publicize being victims of these schemes. It is embracing. Fear of being exposed works in favor of the grifter. With their knowledge of family and friends, they can branch out to take advantage of others.
One of the most influential life coaches was a Russian holy man named Grigori Rasputin. He leveraged the fears and weaknesses of the Romanov family members. Rasputin gained access to the ruling family by treating the son of the Emperor, Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. The,n he used this relationship to befriend Emperor Nicholas II. It is well known that he encouraged Nicholas II in his desire for an autocratic dictatorship, leading to pointless conflicts and wars. Historians say it was the advice of Rasputin that led to the revolt of 1918 and the assassination of the Romanov family.
The Internet opens new markets for selling these services. Here, the age-old ideas of the spiritualist find new ways to generate cash. The roles associated with the spiritual life coach found new life simply by rebranding the names of their products. People market themselves under fortune teller and various other coaching titles.
The Shaman
Shamans are the pioneers of consciousness research. Shamanic cultures developed processes that combine imagination and rhythm to enter an altered state of consciousness. It was the shamans who created the healthcare profession. They pioneered counseling techniques used today and pharmacology through experimenting with plants. So, in indigenous cultures, their spiritual life coach certification was the training for a shaman.
Indigenous cultures were very cohesive because of the depth of information they shared. Every member knew the other parties’ histories, strengths, and weaknesses. The Shaman was a part of this shared knowledge, so they knew how to help the people in the group. They passed along generations of cultural knowledge, but this isn’t possible today. The modern cultural narrative is fractured into multiple subcultures.
The best coach you’ll ever have is a simple paper journal. It is the most cost-effective, honest, and always available friend. If you learn to use it regularly, your spiritual journals will be your trusted advisor. Never take your spiritual journey without one.
Do You Still Want to Find a Spiritual Life Coach?
Perhaps you need more guidance than your journal or close friends can provide. If so, seek the direction of your intuition and common sense. You can learn to use the Shamanic Journey on your own. There are many good books that can get you started. Some have a CD with a drum track specifically for the journey.
Seeking a teacher may lead you to a shaman who can help you journey to find your answers. Take your spiritual journal with you. A good shaman will ask if you keep one. Take an Enneagram workshop. You’ll meet many people looking for answers, and they can help you just like you can help them.
A reputable shaman will typically help you in exchange for a donation amount of your choice. In contrast, those who peddle their services with phony titles or certifications charge upward of $100 per hour. The quality of the counseling is far better and more accurate with your journal and a shaman.
Instead of seeking advice, find a resource that can provide you with tools. You don’t need a spiritual life coach certification to help others. Learn tools to explore consciousness and share them. Learn to meditate and then help others learn how to do it. Try the Shamanic Journey and Spirit Canoe. Investigate your subconscious mind. Use the Enneagram to discover how to move beyond the default settings of personality and instinct.
References
(1) Spiritualist Movement or Spiritualism: Wikipedia
(2) International Coaching Federation: Wikipedia
(3) The Roma: Britinica.com