What Is Intuition — And How Do You Actually Use It?

You have felt it before. That quiet knowing that arrived before the thinking did. Here is what it is, where it comes from, and how to start trusting it again.

At the end of my last post, I left you with a question — and invited you to notice what came up before your mind had time to analyse it.

That first flicker of response — before the doubt, before the second-guessing, before the voice that said don't be ridiculous — that was your intuition.

Most of us have been taught to dismiss it. To wait for evidence. To think things through logically and arrive at a rational conclusion. And while logic absolutely has its place, it was never designed to carry the full weight of a human life. There are things that logic simply cannot reach — and that is precisely where intuition lives.

What intuition actually is

Intuition is not magic, and it is not guesswork. Psychologists describe it as the brain's ability to draw on accumulated experience and pattern recognition at a speed far beyond conscious thought. It is the part of you that has been paying attention all along — even when you weren't aware of it.

But I believe it is also something more than that. I believe intuition is the channel through which the Divine communicates with us. It is the quiet voice of something greater — offering guidance, direction, a gentle nudge toward what serves our highest good.

Here is what is important to understand: that guidance is always an offering, never a command. We each come to this life with free will — the freedom to choose, to change, to move in any direction we decide. Divine will exists, but it never overrides our free will. Our soul chooses the human experience, and with that comes the extraordinary gift of self-determination. Intuition is simply Spirit's way of whispering — here is a path worth considering.

Whether you hear that through your body, through a sudden clarity in your mind, through a feeling you cannot quite explain — it is the same thing. It is you, and something greater than you, in conversation.

Why so many of us stop listening to it

We are not born distrusting our intuition. Watch a young child — they move toward what feels safe and away from what doesn't, without needing a reason. They have not yet learned to override the signal with analysis.

Over time, life teaches us to doubt. We follow our gut and it doesn't go the way we hoped. We are told we are too sensitive, too emotional, too much. We learn that the rational answer is the respectable one. And slowly, the intuitive voice gets quieter — not because it stops speaking, but because we stop listening.

Trauma, in particular, can scramble the signal. When we have been through experiences that made the world feel unsafe, our nervous system learns to be on constant alert. The body — which is one of intuition's most powerful messengers — becomes hard to read, because everything can start to feel like a warning. Healing that relationship with the body is often the first step toward hearing intuition clearly again.

How to begin trusting it again

You do not rebuild trust with your intuition all at once. You do it in small moments, with low stakes, consistently over time.

Start by noticing. When you are faced with a decision — even a small one — pause before reaching for logic. Ask yourself: what does my body say? Where do I feel a yes, and where do I feel a contraction? The body speaks in sensation long before the mind forms words.

Notice your first response to things — before the editing begins. That instinctive reaction carries information. It may not always be correct, but it is always worth acknowledging.

Begin a practice of stillness. Intuition speaks quietly. In a life full of noise — screens, obligations, the constant movement of modern living — it is easy to miss. Even five minutes of stillness each day creates space for the signal to come through. Meditation is one of the most powerful tools for this, because it trains us to move from talking to listening.

And when something keeps returning — a thought, a feeling, a pull toward or away from something — pay attention to that repetition. The Divine is patient, but it is also persistent. If something keeps showing up, it is worth sitting with.

The relationship between intuition and Tarot

This is why Tarot works so well as a tool for people who are learning to reconnect with their intuition. The cards do not tell you something foreign — they reflect back what is already stirring within you. They give form and language to the knowing that has been there all along, waiting for permission to be heard.

A reading is, in many ways, an exercise in learning to trust yourself again. The cards open the door. Your intuition walks through it.

Something to try this week

Before you reach for your phone in the morning — before the news, the notifications, the demands of the day — sit quietly for five minutes. No agenda. Just breathe, and notice what arrives in the stillness.

You don't need to do anything with it. Just notice. And write it down if something comes.

That is where it starts. One quiet morning at a time.