Money Magic: Unleashing Your Potential for Wealth & Prosperity by Deborah Price

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Deborah Price, One of Thousands of Money and Finance Coaches on Noomii.

(Partial Chapter of Money Magic Unleashing Your Potential for Wealth & Prosperity by Deborah Price – Copyright © 2000 by Deborah L. Price. All rights reserved.)

Chapter 1 – The Money Game

During my seventeen-year career as a financial consultant and money coach, I have frequently observed the game people play with money. The primary objective of this game is to hide the deep layer of anxiety, fear, and shame we feel about money. Silently, we live with this discomfort, accepting it as out fate. We become skillful players at this game of hide-and-seek, but we forget that what we hide still lives within us.

We become disconnected from our inner reality, making it difficult to understand our relationship with money and its meaning in our lives. Having relinquished our conscious awareness of our feelings about money, we have become the pawns in the money game and let money rule our every move. Unconsciously, we accept that money is our greatest resource, but then we feel we have wasted, neglected, abused, avoided, or coveted it. Secretly, we feel guilty and ashamed and are unable to communicate these feelings to others. How did we, as a civilization, come to not only surrender our power to money but also to deny the control it has over our lives and well-being?

Many civilizations existed before us that never used a currency or even knew what money was. When money finally came into use, it began to shape history and our belief system in profound and lasting ways. Even centuries later, we do not fully understand how money affects our lives or how it shapes our world. Money’s meaning continues to elude us. Today, because of the inconceivable power and emphasis we have given it, the money game dictates our daily lives. We make decisions based on our feelings of not having enough money, we change careers because we want more money, and many even marry or divorce because of money. Practically every major decision we make is somehow shaped or influenced by money. Yet rarely do we examine what we’re truly seeking. Never before has humankind created a game so widely played that has no rule book, guidelines, or training. It is no wonder we hide. We don’t even know the rules!

Some Essential Truths about Money

How did money become so powerful when, in fact, it consists of pieces of paper that only have value to the extent that we believe they do? We have not understood that money, quite literally, is worth nothing without our belief in it. We created it. We gave it value. We made it powerful. And then, as the money game grew, these pieces of paper became our greatest resource, a resource so valuable that many people unconsciously worship money above all else. Now, our greatest misfortune is that without money we feel that we are nothing.

Money is both mysterious and elusive. The more we are defined by it, struggle to get it, and greatly need it, the harder it is to obtain. One of the most amazing keys to having more money comes from universal spiritual law – the greatest of these laws being to surrender to what we cannot control.

We cannot and do not control money. Money is a commodity. Its value changes not only in relation to the economy but also in relation to our consciousness. We cannot control money, but by understanding it, we can obtain what we need. Money is not a part of us. We can never truly own it, because it isn’t really ours. And to the extent that we maintain the illusion of money as our safety net, we will be prisoners of our own making. Money will own us if we let it.

Defining the Money Game

Our currency states the truth in four simple words printed across each bill: “In God We Trust.” It might as well say, “In Money, Our God, We Trust.” That would be more honest. That would let us off the hook by stating openly that money is what we truly believe in. Whether or not we are conscious of it, this truth is woven into the fabric of our existence. We have put our faith and trust in money. This is one of the unspoken rules of the money game. Few of us possess the insight to recognize this basic paradox. We have been programmed to believe in the material and the tangible. As a result, no matter how much money we have or how many possessions we accumulate, we do not experience fulfillment, and our endless search for substitutes to fill the void continues.

Looking deeper into the symbolism found on our dollar, we find many other subliminal messages. First, our money is green, a color that symbolizes growth and resources. On the front of the dollar is a picture of our founding father, symbolizing the patriarchal nature associated with money. In our society, money has a distinctly male energy and is equated with winning and success. The largest money game in the world, Wall Street, is still largely controlled by men, with women representing less than 12 percent of stock brokers. (This patriarchy, however, does not extend to having money. While stock markets are dominated by men, over half of this country’s wealth belongs to women.)

In today’s world, the Wall Street money game stands at the top of the hierarchy and is the game everyone wants to play. However, the deck is loaded and the stakes are high, since we don’t have access to the rule book. Money has even more hidden meanings. When you turn the dollar bill over, you find the two great American seals: the American eagle and the pyramid with its Latin motto. This more obscure seal is quite telling: inside it is a pyramid, consisting of thirteen stones, representing the original thirteen colonies. An “enlightened eye” stands at the top of the pyramid. The words above the all-seeing, all-knowing eye, annuit cœptis, are taken from Virgil and mean “He, God has smiled on our endeavor.” At the bottom of the pyramid are the words novus ordo seclorum, which translate as “the new order of the ages,” also adapted from Virgil. For a country founded on the principle of separation of church and state, there certainly are plenty of references to God on our money!
All evidence suggests that money, God, and religion were intertwined from the beginning of civilization. So it is no small wonder that money has become such a powerful force. Beneath all the symbolism is another hidden message that cuts to the core of the money game: If you’re good and you play by the rules, we, the gatekeepers, will show you the way to this powerful resource. In fact, the creation of the dollar was the birth of the first pyramid scheme, more popularly referred to as capitalism.

Money Unconsciousness As the Root of Our Pain

Capitalism and its underlying drive toward consumerism greatly influence the financial infrastructure of our lives and how we deal with money. Perhaps our need for money is as much about sustaining our way of life and the survival of capitalism as it is about feeding our own unconscious needs and desires.

Of this I am certain: Money plays far too great a role in our lives for us to remain unconscious of what it means to us as individuals. We must become aware of its impact on our lives and our choices. Continuing to play the money game and denying that we live in the thrall of money only perpetuates our fears and anxieties, chipping away at our souls. As stated by philosopher Jacob Needleman in his book, Money and the Meaning of Life: “Money enters so deeply into our personality and into our psychophysical organism that the personal exploration of money is necessary for the discovery of oneself, the discovery of those hidden parts of human nature … that need to be in relationship to our consciousness. “ 1

Our lack of awareness about our relationship with money is undoubtedly at the root of much of our pain. It often saddens me to witness the shame people experience over money. In conversations with my clients, I have discovered that much of our money shame comes from feeling like we don’t handle it well, that we’re “bad” with money. Each of us needs to carefully reexamine the path we are taking toward fulfillment. Fulfillment is not about filling your life up with material possessions. I know the thrill of spending money can feel like an adrenalin-pumping, action ride at Disneyland, but when the ride is over, the rush is gone. This is the experience of pleasure, not fulfillment, and it wears off. The quick-fix approach to money will never cure us; it merely masks our deeper desire for meaning.

Searching for Meaning in the Material World

When I was twenty-nine years old, not long after my divorce, I started to experience an unfamiliar restlessness. Although my marriage had failed, I was in a new relationship that was loving and fulfilling. My business was beginning to take off. I was making more money than I’d ever made before. I was the master of my own destiny, and yet I felt oddly detached from my life. I remember saying to myself, Okay, you’ve done all this, now what? Then one day, as I was driving to work, I suddenly made a left turn and found myself sitting in the parking lot of a Porsche dealership. I had never even thought of buying a Porsche. Stunned, I sat for a while in my old but perfectly fine Mercedes-Benz, wondering to myself, What in the hell am I doing here? I truly didn’t know. Finally a salesman approached my car and asked if he could help me. I looked him directly in the eye and said, “Yes, I came to buy a Porsche, but I have to do it quickly because I’ve got to get back to my office.” He chuckled, but said he’d do his best to accommodate my schedule.

Two hours later, I drove out of that dealership in a brand new midnight blue 944 Porsche coupe, fully equipped. I couldn’t really afford it, but that salesman just happened to be the owner of the dealership. After talking with me, he thought the car was just what I needed. So, he cosigned for it, telling me if I was ever late on one payment he would personally come and take it back.

How to Know What Is Real in Your Life

For a while that car brought me a great deal of pleasure. I felt successful. People thought I was successful. Some even thought I was rich. It was an enlightening experience. I was the same person I always was. All that had happened was that I purchased an expensive sports car, a status symbol (and one usually owned by men), but it changed my life. I was perceived and treated differently, and not always for the better. People were envious, and my car was vandalized several times. One time, someone carved their feelings about my car into its sides with a key. I also began to attract people who were more materialistic than I was comfortable with. The Porsche never really mattered much to me. It was a fun toy, but I didn’t really identify with it. Getting the car did not cure my restlessness. It did, however, motivate me to work harder so that I could keep up with the payments.

My experience with that car forced me to look more closely at what I valued. I had everything I had ever wanted. My problem was, I didn’t believe that it was real. Subconsciously, I was looking for some external way to make my success more tangible, and I manifested the car as proof. It did not work. It took a good therapist and doing my own spiritual work to finally learn what was real.

What I learned, and what I hope to impart to you, is that only one thing is real: your connection to Spirit, however you define it, and your faith in that Spirit. There is no other security. Without this connection, we will never feel that we are loved enough, that we have enough, that we are enough. Without this faith, we will not know true fulfillment, regardless of how much money we have or how many things we try to fill our lives with.

Copyright © 2000 by Deborah L. Price. All rights reserved.