Protection on a path where you're including the metaphysical services of others begins prior to them being in your life. You have power of protection in the decision of what or whom you involve yourself with to begin with. What I want to talk about is what you encounter when you're in metaphysical communities and how that can impact your path for better or worse.

Most who are here, are here because they do work with services of other practitioners and may not necessarily practice themselves (or a mix). Many here are sensitive and open to experience, and so all the more reason to be mindful of what you are taking in from your fellow explorers of the unseen, and especially from practitioners - who have, whether they realize it or not, a responsibility to the community that includes a reasonable degree of transparency and being capable of handling the demand for it.

When true colours are shown.. believe them. Pay attention, because no you cannot 'separate the art from the artist' when it comes to a practice that touches upon and offers to augment the lives of others. Look at what people are like, how you feel about that on a personal level, and know it will play a role in what they are offering you on some level. Even if a practice can be compartmentalized, you're letting this person touch your life through that practice. A spiritual path, which does include spirit-keeping and any magic, is sacred and while you can have fun with it all - you need to be serious about who you are indulging and letting influence your mentality as well as matters in your life.
Yeah them being good at what they do may mean the most to you in a moment, whether or not what they do is going to work for you or not, but how they approach you and how they approach their life does matter and this is not just about morality. Because these are not 'products' you're buying the same as you would buy a new appliance, it reaches deeper and it affects the community as a whole as well. What kind of people do we support? Why? What does that say about us individually and collectively? Should we not have high standards? I think we should when it comes to our spiritual world.

This goes with any source, person, presence, institution that you may be dealing with or entreated to deal with. Especially on forums like this, where your spiritual integrity and path are often being slightly or wholly entrusted to people you don't completely know. Sometimes resonance is immediate, and other times education is key to navigating the terrain, but the final effort is personal - as many are used to giving an experience a chance out of openness, or desperation for result. You need to be able to protect yourself as soon as you are there, before you take another step, by knowing yourself and by accepting when something is off. You need to have standards about what you're allowing to walk alongside you, get inside of you, etc. that reflect what you want for yourself. If you don't care, you don't care.. but the majority do and don't realize how quickly they can send their path off course by dealing with the wrong people (for their true needs, at the very least.)

People will usually out themselves as being manipulative, incapable of controlling themselves, having a god complex, being ineffective (lesser importance but still applies if you want progress), lacking self-awareness or other such tells that you don't want actively involved in your situation.
It's quite easy to see who/what not to buy into, who/what not to let onto your path, who/what has overstayed, etc. when you've been exposed to it a multitude of times.
The difficult part is trusting in your own judgment, or being able to acknowledge the obvious - prioritizing yourself over what you may feel you cannot be 100% sure is correct judgment of a situation. Look out for yourself, understand what you're getting yourself into, and be patient instead of thinking you have to go with the first option that presents itself and moderately fits what you are after.

A tip - any person, authority, institution, etc. that would have your best interest at heart will understand your prioritization of self in the face of uncertainty and not demand (by words or reactions) that you take a chance on them or their suggestion because they know better than you. Even if they really did know better (though, this behavior does not exhibit wisdom). They get that at the end of the day, it's in your hands, and you have to be confident in your choices, one way or another. They would appreciate that you question, and that they have a chance to show themselves or their methods to be trustworthy if that's important to them. They will not condescend you or seek to instill fear in you.. this is counterintuitive in so many ways to a genuine belief in their capability. They will be consistent. A facade is only so thick before it fails. When you see this kind of stuff from someone, they themselves are desperate and you have to wonder how that would impact the help you're seeking from them.

Thoughts coming from an entire life so far lived around metaphysical outlets and the personalities within them. Or 'just my opinion' because it really is about cleansing of problem patterns, empowering and then heeding your gut instinct - governed by the solar plexus - that brain below that shows you where to go.

Double post.

Hear hear.

If you come to a practitioner with questions or doubts, how they respond to that is very telling. Same with criticism from one experienced practitioner to another; an opportunity to clarify or learn is not an attack. If you feel something is off, trust your intuition. While some of the new shops that pop up can pique one's curiosity, it may not always be worth trying if there are red flags getting your attention, because you don't always know exactly who or what you are making yourself vulnerable to and how that will affect you.

As always, it's refreshing to see someone with experience posting topics like these bringing awareness to issues in the community. Ever-present problems in a community where old members tend to drift away and fresh faces are always coming through, trends and thoughts tend to get buried until the cycle turns and it becomes a common occurrence once again. Thank you, Vipera. Once again clearly expressed and relevant thoughts you share.

Thanks for the great post! I always feel a sense of calmness and a touch of wisdom whenever I read your posts.

Thank you so much Vipera for putting it into words. This post is needed more than ever.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight. It gives me a new way to look at things. Being a newer keeper I will definitely take this to heart when I am working with any practitioner, especially for the first time. But I think it will be sometime before I work with any more unknown practitioners. I will stick with the trusted ones I have now.

Thank you for sharing. I’ve learned to always trust my gut.

All of this. The first time, the first strike, the first doubt, the first feeling of feeling sus and raising my brows is more than enough. Or the first time you start seeing feelings of being overtly offended, threats being made, and weird displays or strings of "announcements" of clients from the seller. Anything messy. I don't care for sellers that display victimhood constantly, it is already telling.
Learning to spot and recognize manipulation and pathology is important too when it comes to who you're going to.
I've entertained certain things too much that when things get dragged out it just irritates me now when I know I had my intuition telling me things.

Trends is a good way to put it. It's easy to jump on bandwagoning what seems like a promising seller in the community who pops up, wanting to explore and try out new services. I'm personally learning to not just buy and get a profile, but observe.

I appreciate those who've contributed here with their insights, and who've supported the post.

I want to add something to it-ish

There are of course those practitioner/seller/gurus who can or will try to insert themselves into a community and become trusted by 'fitting in', once they realize how wise to the same old manipulations people are becoming. The bright side of that is, this becomes telling as well, because they didn't really want to have to do that in the first place.. so they aren't prepared enough to keep up whatever facade works best for making sales in their exchanges. When you find yourself giving them 'the benefit of the doubt' more often than not, you probably shouldn't be working with them.

And.. educating yourself on the magics you are looking for a practitioner to perform, can also clue you into a seller being misleading. You should be very aware of what you're getting yourself into with magic anyway.
Some sellers will cover up their ignorance by not offering any info at all on what they do, how they do it, how they learned, etc. Others will create a whole grandiose system of belief unique to their works that you're adhering to by buying in, because they are the sole authority. Then you have copycats, stealing minimal amount they need (or more for the bold) to convince you they're legit from those they see have sales and respect.