This article was first published in the website Tarot-Study run by Troi in England. I recommend you check out her website and her excellent blog posts.
“Deep inside us we know the feelings we need to guide us. Our task is to learn to trust our inner knowing”
Sonia Johnson
All beings have intuition but the problem with our current society is that intuition is often educated out of us from an early age. The current rational and scientific mind is given more importance. What happens when a society leans more towards the rational scientific brain? We lose touch with our intuition, out instincts and our deep knowing.
For women this is especially detrimental. We lose our power. We ignore our instincts, our gut feelings and our ‘knowing’. We believe ‘the other’ knows what is best for us.
I witnessed that when women ‘found’ their intuition they came to a place of wholeness and healing inside. They gained more confidence which is an amazing thing to behold. A confident intuitive woman knows who she is, what she wants and more importantly what she does not want. She has clear boundaries, deep self-understanding and the ability to follow the ‘signs’ that the universe reveals.
I believe now more than ever before, we women need to step into using our powerful intuition and I cannot think of a better way to do this than using the Tarot cards. Tarot is a fantastic guidance system to help you get to know that ‘inner knowing’. I believe it is one of the best tools for opening us up to our intuition.
Tarot speaks through the language of symbolism which is more ancient than words. When we pull a Tarot card we try to find an answer within the symbol/picture and we use our intuition to find that answer. Imagine each time you pull a tarot card and look at it, that you are in fact working a muscle. The more you practice Tarot the more that muscle will grow.
I believe there are three stages to increasing your intuition…
Learning how to recognize our intuition is the first step.
Learning how to trust it is the second step.
Learning how to manage it is the third step.
EXERCISE ONE – RECOGNIZING YOUR INTUITION
For some of us it is easy to recognize when our intuition is speaking to us. For some of us it is not. We cannot work out if it is emotions or intuition, gut instinct or fear. Before we can start working with our intuition we need to recognize it and when it is stronger and weaker. We are not 100% intuitive all the time. Intuition works in waves and cycles following the ebb and flow of life.
Try this exercise below to recognize when your intuition is working and when it is stronger or weaker:
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Get a diary/calendar/journal with enough space to make notes for each day.
Every day at a time that is convenient for you, pull two Tarot cards.
Write two words that immediately come to you when you look at the cards. Two words only. Try to do this as fast as possible. No dallying!
Write down if the exercise was easy/moderate or difficult to do.
As you go through the month you will notice that some days the exercise is easier to do. Ask yourself why that is.
Some days are terribly difficult to do the exercise. Ask yourself why that is.
At the end of the month notice what days were easier? Where they days before during or after your menstrual period. Where they good hormonal days? Was it a full or dark moon?
Did you have a difficult exercise the day you were very tired? The day you had many hot flushes? After the stressful day at work?
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For example my intuition is stronger when I am hungry, before my menstrual period, during the full moon, each of my pregnancies, and early in the morning (5 am). I also notice that if I am reading Tarot for people my intuition gets stronger with each reading. By the time I get to reading five or six in a row I am practically channeling without the cards. My intuition is weaker when I am tried, stressed, emotional or sick.
Finding out when YOUR intuition is stronger or weaker is the first step to understanding it. This exercise may seem very simple but you can gain great insights about yourself by doing it.
STEP TWO – TRUSTING YOUR INTUITION
Once we recognize our intuition and what makes it stronger or weaker, we are well on the road to having a healthy intuitive muscle. The next step is to learn how to trust your intuition and that takes practice. One of the best ways to test your intuition (and thereby learn to trust it) is by reading Tarot cards for strangers. When you trust the messages that come to you, relay them to the other person and they confirm that you were correct, you gain confidence. Reading Tarot over and over again for strangers helps you trust your intuition more. Then you can start applying your intuitive muscle to other areas of life.
I have created a beautiful guided meditation to meet your Inner High Priestess who can help you access your amazing intuition. You can get it free here… High Priestess Meditation
STEP THREE – MANAGING YOUR INTUITION
Managing your intuition means learning how to recognize it, listen to it and act on it. As we develop our intuitive muscle we might feel tempted to ‘open up’ and become super psychic. In the early days of Tarot reading I would be literally wiped out after reading for a few people. I felt like a flattened pancake on the floor. Scrape me up please! What was I doing wrong? I was being psychic and intuitive and yet I was hardly able to function afterwards. My intuitive muscle was young and instead of being satisfied with climbing a hill I wanted to get to the top of Everest. I was trying too hard.
How do you manage your intuition so you don’t burn out?
= Learn how to create boundaries.
= Learn how to understand what your ethics are and who you will and will not read for.
= Learn how to be emphatic without drowning in the emotions of another.
All this takes practice and understanding. I am a big fan of psychology because it helped me understand concepts like transference, projection, defense, passive aggressive styles and so much more. Once I understood myself better and my reactions to others in their pain and wanting I could be intuitive and empathic without getting exhausted. However, that’s a whole other blog post.
For now, check out my
13 practical tips on how to avoid psychic burnout.
CONCLUSION
I wish for you an amazing intuitive muscle that you can bring to the gym of Tarot every day. I cannot think of a better way to tune in and tone up than the wonderful 78 cards we hold in our hand.
