Suggesting Potential Spiritual Directions: Exercising Your Intuition Part 1

Often, during an astrology reading, I find myself encouraging people to find a comfortable way to utilize their intuitive, sensitive, or psychic side more frequently. Most people have some ability in this area, some have stronger gifts. Up until relatively recently most of modern Western society has discouraged developing and manifesting these traits and abilities… sometimes even ridiculing and marginalizing people who did use them. But they are gifts, and we should unwrap every gift we have, shouldn’t we?

There are many methods and systems available when trying to access intuition in a more direct and conscious way—tarot cards, numerology, astrology, wiccan beliefs, sacred geometry, crystal balls, channeling, palmistry, reiki, all kinds of massage and healing arts—the list goes on.

Since intuition and/or spirituality can be a murky area when you first wade into it, I am offering some basic guidelines for beginners.

• Right off the bat, first universal rule, regardless of which direction you choose to take: if ANY teacher or “learned one” tells you his or her path is the “only correct one,” RUN, do not walk, to the nearest exit. There are as many ways to utilize intuition as there are people. Intuition is very personal. There are areas where beliefs and experiences will overlap from person to person, but to use intuition best you need to trust yourself and your own gut instinct, however it manifests. Someone telling you their way is the only way is presenting limiting concepts that could stifle your personal gifts.

• When you approach any new method or discipline, learn the basic traditional techniques as they are outlined. This will give you a fundamental understanding that you can then customize to your personal instincts and style.

• But the first, probably easiest, most basic thing to try is meditation. There are various kinds of meditation. There is no “right” way to meditate. There is no “wrong” way to meditate. Find a way to get comfortable, close your eyes, breathe steadily with full deep breaths and do not think of anything. That’s it. That is the basic core goal of all forms of meditation. If, at first, you have trouble “not thinking” and your mind wanders to some task at work, or what to make for dinner, try concentrating on counting backwards and picturing the numbers as they go by. If you still have difficulty “not thinking,” there are many available recordings of people leading meditations, kind of like a tour guide when you are on vacation. Or if you wish, you can search out a local group meditation.

Some people might fall asleep when they start trying to meditate. That’s ok. Ideally, meditation should be deeply relaxing, and it is quite normal & very human to drift off to sleep when deeply relaxed. Biologically & scientifically, the meditative state is similar to the sleep state, except you want to remain aware

Once you become familiar & at peace with the process (it takes different lengths of time for each individual) you may or may not see things, or hear things, or sense things as you sit in meditation. Try not to judge or dismiss whatever you see, hear or sense. Just listen… watch… and enjoy.

Once you are comfortable with basic meditation, you have a powerful tool to aid you in any intuitive, spiritual or psychic direction you choose to take