Developing Intuitive Skills
There are many parts to intuition, which is usually referred to as our gut instincts or as listening to that voice inside. Some define intuition as opening our minds and bodies to the vibrations of the unseen, and unheard, which is another vague description of tapping into your intuition. My goal is to provide a step-by-step process on how to connect to and use intuition. To do this, I had to look at my own intuition and break down the process. I discovered intuition begins with what I call the five faculties of the mind: perception, reason, intellect, discernment, and will.
Five Faculties of the Mind
To know and be aware of how we use these five faculties of the mind play an important role in psychism. We use these functions without thought many times a day, but once you begin to use them as tools towards your psychic skills, they improve your skills and mental clarity.
Perception
Perception, the first of the five faculties of the mind, is a concept or idea that you have. The perception I speak of here is different than the perception I spoke of in the first chapter. Here we use perception as a magical tool. To use perception as a tool you apply your intellect to it. Then with intellect, you ask yourself, what do I know about this thing I have perceived? When the five faculties of our mind are used as a tool, it sends a signal, usually to the body. That signal is the “gut feeling” or perception, that there is something we need to pay attention to.
Perception is the foundation for everything in the mind. Without perception, we would not have discernment, intellect, or reason. What would there be to apply those things to if we first did not have a perception or idea of something? We interpret our dreams based on our perceptions, and we react to everything based on our perceptions of them.
Perception give us everything our minds contain. You can have a perception of something without having or using intellect. But you cannot apply intellect to something without first having a perception. You cannot work psychism, Magic, and Witchcraft without perception. Your everyday perception of the world keep you safe and help you relate to others and be a viable person in society. Your perception used as a spiritual tool helps you see this spiritual reality. Your spiritual perception is unique to you. Only you know what it means for you to dream of a house or dog. This kind of perception is more mutable than normal perceptions, meaning it can be changed easily. The tools you use for changing your perception are pivoting, awareness, and the five faculties of the mind.
Reason
In the five faculties of the mind, reason comes after perception. In reason, you ask yourself how this perception makes sense and is it reasonable. In spirituality, reason is the cause or motive for your belief and that which gives you a premise to support the belief.
In spirituality, you must use reason with caution. Reason is a logical function tied to ego and social conditioning. It can reason you right out of your spiritual beliefs if you are not careful. Therefore, applying awareness to the five faculties of the mind is an important function. The following journal entry is an experience I had that demonstrates how tricky reason can be.
[Journal Entry Begins]
4/12/14
I was hosting a public event at my home and posted my address on social media. Five hours before the event, a man came to my door asking about it. The moment I saw him I was filled with unreasonable fear and began to tremble and panic. The man’s appearance gave me no reason to fear him but I was overwhelmed with fear. As my mind began to work, I used my pivoting and pause skills to calm myself and told him to come back later. He did come back and while he was there all of us were uneasy and uncomfortable. My feelings were so intense they were difficult to quickly sort out in the moment. My reason told me there was no reason to fear him initially. My intellect then said, if it is not reasonable to fear him, it must be your issue to sort out, so put it aside. But that horrible gut feeling remained, which told me something was wrong.
I had people in my home waiting for me. I had to let go and set it aside until such a time I could address it. My intuition had worked correctly the moment I opened the door. But in the primal moment of fear, social conditioning and the five faculties of the mind reverted to their linear functions, and reason caused me not to trust myself and to doubt what I felt was real. Later, we discovered he was a very scary person and was wanted by the law. I made sure to tell him not to come back and we all felt lucky it went as well as it did.
