Developing intuition and Jungian Creative Depth Work go hand in hand seamlessly supporting each other as you traverse the landscape of the Soul and discover deeper self-knowledge.
Intuition is a deeper way of knowing.
Intuition is a way of knowing associated with the feminine, the yin and the anima. By extension it belongs to the archetype of the high priestess and the goddess.
Goddesses of Wisdom include Metis, Athena, Minerva, Brigid, Sophia, and Isis, for example.
In esoteric traditions there is something known as The Way of the Lily and The Way of the Rose. The Lily being associated with the mind, the intellect and the purity of rational thought and The Rose being associated with the inherent knowing of the heart.
Somewhere in between those two lies a third way, and that is the way of intuition or the Soul’s Knowing.
Intuition aligns with those elusive mysterious qualities that we only lightly grasp. Things that our conscious awareness perceives and holds for only a brief second before it slips back into the recesses of the unconscious.
Intuition is first and foremost an unconscious way of knowing.
Intuition is unconscious, but you can become more consciously aware of it and use it in daily life
With intention and active attention, intuition as an unconscious way of knowing can become far more conscious and valuable to you in your life.
Intuition is a natural part of the human unconscious.
Intuition is inherent and essential to the human experience. It is suggested that intuition is encoded into your DNA, a product of millennia of human evolution.
Intuition is a different kind of knowing because it allows you to perceive in both more subtle and more heightened ways.
It is aligns with, and is an essential component of, the anima, the feminine yin energy of all humans.
It has the potential to save your life by allowing you to perceive subtle almost undetectable warning signals about a person or situation.
Intuition helps you move in harmony with the soul’s longing and purpose and leads you to deeper levels of psychological and spiritual understanding of yourself and the greater Mysteries of the universe
Intuition has amazing and wonderful qualities, so why is it dismissed?
One reason is because intuition is part of the unconscious, which is always veiled, shadowy and difficult to grasp. Therefore, the rational, conscious mind shuns it or holds it at arms length.
Intuition is also an expanded state of consciousness that goes beyond everyday awareness. It is a way of knowing that challenges conventional “safe” wisdom.
Intuition is often the catalyst for profound stirrings in the soul that may lead to extraordinary experiences outside of the monotonous, predictable, safe, homogeneous ways of thinking, being and acting. Therefore it is feared, and what is feared must be discredited and dismissed.
Herein lies the root of the wounding so many of us have experienced.
When your deepest knowing is questioned and doubt is cast on your ability to intuit what you feel, what is right and aligned for you, what your truth is, and what your true needs are, you abandon your intuition. You are cut off from a powerful source of inner wisdom and knowledge, leaving you in a state of reliance on external authorities and others to prescribe what you should know, feel, do and think.
For example, you may have an intuited sense that you are called to a certain field of study or career. This is more than an interest or even an aptitude that can be measured on a test. This is the soul’s knowing and recognition of a calling. It is your intuition that allows you to sense that call.
However, when expressed, that deep seated knowledge that you are meant to pursue this thing is often met with dismissal from others. This is especially true if it’s something like pursuing a creative passion, or it involves a major life change or entering into any arena that is outside of the ordinary, or not “safe” and practical.
The intuitive sense that you have about people, the world, your family situation, spiritual beliefs, knowledge that you feel deep within you but can’t readily provide a clear line of reasoning for is often attacked, because it comes from a deeper place, a place where many people rarely if ever go within themselves.
Intuition is a process that allows the unconscious content with you, like a hunch, gut feeling, or something you feel in your bones, to suddenly burst into your conscious awareness.
It takes courage to follow your intuition and live your inner wisdom.
Why connect more deeply with Nature to develop intuition?
The mythic landscape always provides rich material to illuminate deep soul level truths. Nature and her children, the plants and animals, all seem to have a type of knowing that is both instinctual and intuitive.
In the cosmologies of many people who live close to the land and in harmony with the natural world, trees hold a special place. They are often seen as kin, as standing-people. They are gate keepers of knowledge, including intuition, and ways of sensing and knowing that support intuition.
Nature is not only an excellent teacher about matters of survival, but also of thriving and beyond that, as a portal into the understanding of all life and consciousness as an interconnected web of being.
Of course, the Earth and Nature is an embodiment of the feminine, yin principle and as such becomes a perfect metaphor and conduit of intuition.
To delve deeply into the mythic and symbolic aspects of trees is to work with guardian spirits that offer knowledge and understanding of what you must always intuit for yourself if you are going to survive, thrive and become at once an individual with personal agency and authority and an integral part of a greater web of community, life and consciousness.
Why use myth as a way to develop intuition?
In so many ways myth is a carrier of deep human intuition about what is important to the soul’s journey through life.
The shamans, bards, mystics, poets, seers and sages of our ancestors all had a deep sense of the human condition, the path of the soul, our connection to the collective unconscious and the images, symbols, motifs and archetypes that are universal within the human family.
To speak to that inner life, myth is essential. Myth shows us who we are, and part of who we are is an intuitive self that recognizes and responds to the power of myth.
Myth allows us to grasp the part of our being that resides below the surface, below the ego and public persona.
Whenever you need to retrieve and reclaim a part of Self that is lost or cut off from your awareness, myth is a powerful vehicle for transporting you into the kind of inner work that helps you find that piece and add to your growing wholeness.
Embracing the Intuitive Self
Embracing the intuitive self means that your comfort level with intuition and intuitive knowing needs to be expanded.
To live authentically and confidently, allowing the intuition of the soul’s knowing to guide you in both your life’s choices and everyday matters requires that you develop your intuition.
If you feel cut off from your intuition or had your intuition challenged, diminished or dismissed in the past you need to restore your trust in that part of self.
This will take courage, concentrated effort and opportunities to explore how you sense your own intuition.
You’ll need space, time and tools to test and hone your intuition. You will need to build up a set of experiences that affirm your intuitive self and lay a firm foundation of trust within yourself.
Over time and through personal experience you can become more at ease and even courageous trusting and following your intuition.
When that happens your life’s path opens up. You will step into your own power and have the ability to create your life on your own terms and in a way that is true to who you are and what you value.
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