Intuition/Spiritual Senses/Inner Knowing

Recently, I was given the opportunity to share my thoughts on the various forms of Intuition and how these are (or are not) at play in my work as a Spiritual Director and Supervisor of Spiritual Directors. I will share my reply to this here, as a number of you have asked questions that veer into these arenas.  This may be a bit thick, unless intuition happens to be your cup of tea.  If so, or if you are curious, read on!

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Clairvoyance. Clairaudience. Clairsentience. Claircognizance. Glairgustance. Clairaliance. Precognition. Clairempathy. Clairtangency. Channeling. Spiritual Senses. Pre-birth Memory. . .

The universe of Intuition is one of my personal home bases.  I experience each of the types of intuition listed.  I believe that every one of us is born with access to these, and that through our various life experiences, familial or cultural fears or customs, bit by bit most of us are taught to shut these down or out.  

People have asked me why it is I have access to such freedom in the area of intuition, what did I "do" or how was I "gifted".  I do not see either of these - doings or giftings - as the answer. Rather, what I was blessed to experience was enough open human beings around me who did not extinguish that which was within me.  I was never told that the "invisible" friends I spoke to were "just" my imagination. I was not scolded for knowing things many would say I "could not know", my peace was not broken when I stayed alone in a field communing with God-as-I-understood-God as a child.  I was led to teachers and mentors throughout my early life who were supportive and let me know I was not "weird" for the things I experienced.  And so I kept these gateways open - to sense, and see and hear and feel, to smell and taste and Know and dream and vibrationally align myself with the Divine - these things that we are born with were not taken from me. Further, I have been blessed to have had on and off along the way, mentors who have assisted me in deep study of the body, heart, mind and spirit, so as to learn to discern what I am experiencing.

My caution, I suppose, or advice, to anyone exploring re-awakening the intuitive senses, is around discernment. The best training for discerning intuitive experiences is any training that leads one ever more deeply to knowing The Self.  Every heart is connected to God/Goddess/Goddex/GreatMystery/Soul-of-Nature/Your-own-deepest-heart/Source; to the Sacred, however you perceive and relate to this. That connection can be deeply lost, even to the point of being inaccessible in a lifetime for some (namely, the DSM5's Cluster B Personality Types), but most of us have access to Source-as-we-know-Source through our deepest heart.  My view is that any training in intuition worth it's salt will begin and end with exercises to Know the Self.  Early lessons around discerning one's wounding and how that may be coloring sense of self, around particularly those which make one susceptible to a need to be seen, a need to be validated, a need to be special. . .  as long as one is still wrestling with these (very human) issues, intuition may be anywhere from mildly to greatly unreliable.  This, in my understanding, is because as long as we WANT a certain thing, we are no longer a fully open receptor, and could be liable to receive what we desire, rather than a true, pure intuition.

The way I assess any intuitive knowing I receive is by reading myself first.  Is my body settled - both today, and in the bigger picture? If not, in what ways am I still ungrounded or not present?  What would I WISH the intuition to be? If the answer is the same as the thing I believe I am intuiting, how might I know if it is my projection/desire/ego vs. a true voice of Sacred Mystery?  Tuning in to my BODY-wisdom is always my deepest and most trustworthy barometer. The mind can think its way into something, the emotional body is swayed so easily, but the body has no judgement, only truth in it. So, when people are working with me on this subject, it is many, many exercises on learning one's body's language with which we begin.

Whew. If anyone made it through all this, I hope you found some tidbits of use to you on your own journey.  

Wishing Grace upon you each and all,
With Love Always,
Rev. Maya