Demystifying Intuition
People often use the word "intuition" like they would "ESP" or "psychic." If you're able to guess what card someone's holding behind their back, its "intuition." If you're able to greatly feel a spirit's presence without having contacted it prior, you're "intuitive." And if you don't have the gift of intuition, you're gonna suck at magic!
This obfuscates the actual meaning and importance of intuition. Intuition is not a magical, born-with-it skill that allows you to read minds and predict the future effortlessly, and to claim such is to gatekeep things that ought not be gatekept.
Intuition, put simply, is having information become so rote, that you don't need to consciously recall it to access it.
Archive.
Really? it's That Simple?
Well... that above definition is a synthesis of what researchers define as intuition, which is still something we don't fully understand on a scientific level. But from reading up on it, that's how I summarise the research.
Now, stripped away of its magical meaning, what does the research say about intuition'?
Intuition and rationality are not opposed. This is something I see a lot in spiritual spaces, a false dichotomy between the ~*healing, loving*~ intuition and the cold, cruel logic. If you're looking down a dark alleyway at night, and you get the feeling that something bad will happen if you go down it, and decide to not go down there based on that feeling, is that an illogical decision? Violent crimes are more likely to happen at night. Alleyways are inherently small, confined spaces, which would make it hard to escape from an attacker, and because of the restricted line-of-sight, it would be difficult for someone to see you be attacked. Thus, the idea to not go down that alleyway is still a rational decision, even if its felt as a sense of dread or fear.
Intuition is not a replacement for rationality. Again, because intuition is seen as a ~*magical*~ feeling (as opposed to the sterile logic), people put undue emphasis on what it is saying to the detriment of what they can actually observe. Emotion alone is not enough to make up for a lack of objective information. Intuition works best when there is enough information from prior experience to make up for a lack of objective information.
You can learn how to be more intuitive. While some people are born more intuitive, intuition is not something you must be born with to have access to. Intuition is built on past experience, enough experience that you don't consciously need to remember it. Think to the alleyway example: How many times have you heard of people getting hurt in dark places at night? Have you ever been in a situation where being in a confined place made it easier to be hurt? Are you afraid of the dark and why? What scary things do you associate with the night? There's so much input of "dark confined places mean harm" that you don't need to remember all the discrete bits of information to tell you to not go down that alley. You see it, you get a bad feeling, and you avoid it. Without that input, would you see a dark alleyway at night as a dangerous place to be? I doubt it.
What Does Intuition Feel Like?
For me, intuition feels like a knowing. A thought that comes up that I can't prove 100%, but still feels certain. That thought could range from "I feel like something is wrong" to "That person is full of shit." My experience is mostly negative intuition, but intuition can be a positive experience. Intuition can feel gentle, like someone calmly explaining something, or like someone yelling at you to drop what you're doing and run.
For example, I was looking for magical resources, and I found a video I thought would be helpful. However, the longer I was watching this video, I felt this... dread. Something about this video was off for me, off in a way that told me I shouldn't trust what this person was saying. I check their channel, and I see ancient aliens and Atlantis nonsense. Clearly, my intuition was right.
Another similar situation: I was looking for demonological resources. I find another video, and I get this knowing vibe from the way this woman was discussing the topic. I thought, "This person sounds like a New Ager and is thus biased against demons. I should not take her claims seriously." Lo and behold, when I checked her channel, she was self-proclaimed "Pleiadean starseed" and a "lightworker." Clearly, my intuition was right.
Developing Intuition
How do you develop intuition? You get out there and learn.
If intuition is "knowledge made rote," the only way you can build that intuition is taking in input, or by experience and learning. This is supported by the research: it may be possible to distinguish someone's expertise in a subject by their intuition and how quickly they respond. The quicker the response, especially if it turns out correctly, shows that a person is working more off intuition than conscious thought.
Think of chess. When you start playing chess, you're going to make a lot of stupid mistakes because you don't have enough input to even consciously plan decisions. But the more games you play, the more your mind picks up on subtle patterns. You may not even recognise you're remembering them until you start to know what moves are best, even if you can't explain your reasoning.
Chess is also a good example because it involves the second key to developing intuition: feedback. If your intuition was wrong, you get direct feedback by having your pieces taken or getting checkmated. If your intuition was right, you get direct feedback by taking pieces and winning games. If you have an intuitive answer, check it, because that's more input for you to build upon. My above examples demonstrate that as well: I had a thought, and I checked their channels to see that my suspicions were correct. You need feedback to grow with any skill, and intuition is no different.
Intuition has its place within magic, and viewing intuition as a magical skill isn't what I'm talking about. But intuition is not a special skill that you have to be born with to do magic. If you keep practicing, you're going to eventually develop some degree of intuition. You're going to know what certain tarot cards mean in certain readings without having to consult a book. You're going to learn how your god's presence feels to you when they're with you without second-guessing. You're going to know what to use in certain spells without looking up a correspondence. All that is because intuition is based on information, and you only get that information by learning, making mistakes, and improving upon yourself.
Sources
"Measuring Intuition: Nonconscious Emotional Information Boosts Decision Accuracy and Confidence", Psychological Science.
"Intuition: A Review of the Literature", Psychological Reports.
"Intuition in chess: a study with world-class players", Psychological Research.
64 notes
·
View notes
★ OPEN 𓄿 Murder Readings ★
A murder is a collective of crows — a fitting title for the free/pay what you can readings I’m opening up for my new deck.
• Asking for a Reading: Send me an Ask with 1 Question you want answered
★ Private readings through ask or dm will cost 2$.
→ Free Reading = One Card | Reading by Text on ask
→ 3$ Tip = Two Cards + Designed Reading Card
→ 4$ Tip = Two Cards + Designed Reading Card
→ 5$+ Tip = Three Cards + Designed Reading + Energy Reading
Tips through → Ko-fi or Donations
𓄿 Reading Example
21 notes
·
View notes