How to Develop Strong Intuition: Begin With Dignity

So much of spirituality has been focused on transcendence. There’s always an insistence on “getting out” or “getting higher” or “getting better,” with an undercurrent of sadness that this world is not good enough. Therefore, we must escape the matrix to go somewhere more divine and perfect.

The way of the witch, shaman, and healer is immanence. It is recognizing, seeing, and working with the divinity in everything. It works with an individual’s state of being-ness, while at the same time recognizing this being as holy.

With transcendence, we reach for the divine. With immanence, the divine sits with us. While both are necessary for a balanced spiritual life, our understanding of the divine has been terribly one-sided, with the divine being on the other end of desperate phone calls.

If I had to offer one key to accessing this spiritual immanence, it would be dignity.

The Power of Dignity to Develop Intuition

Without dignity, there is no intuition. One is simply “hearing” what they want to hear and misinterpreting intuitive clues.

Without dignity, one can become misled by toxic spiritual teachers, or become attracted to unbalanced energies.

Without dignity, one confuses fantasy with spirituality. Spirituality stops becoming the science of one’s life and starts becoming something similar to an episode of Game of Thrones.

Without dignity, it’s easy to misunderstand spiritual teachings as one big “get what you want” scheme, and to become depressed, dejected, and disappointed when it doesn’t happen.

Without dignity, one confuses the voice of intuition with their inner critic, victim archetype, or convenient guidance.

For all these reasons and then some, dignity is the very root of your intuition tree.

3 Ways to Develop Dignity and Intuition

These three methods of working with archetypes allow us to cultivate more dignity and strengthen our intuition.

Cultivate The Sovereignty of the Divine Child

Everyone has an inner child. The divine child specifically is connected with the divine in a pure, unabashed, sweet, and innocent way. They don’t have a concept of a “right” or “wrong” way of connecting to the divine. They only have their own way of connecting to the divine that’s special and unique to them. They embody that famous line by Rumi: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a field. I'll meet you there.”

In a way, the divine child is our first glimpse into what it means to have true sovereignty. Sovereignty is being in our personal power, not hyper-independence or hyper-collectivism. Sovereignty takes the best of both worlds and combines it into a way of relating with others that is based in respect, gratitude, encouragement, and soul gifts.

In a way, the divine child is our first glimpse into what it means to have true sovereignty.

The divine child cannot fathom a model of a punishing, cruel, torturous universe or god. In a way, they are the original bhakti yogis and Sufis of the world. There is an undercurrent of love beneath everything they encounter. It is this love that will run as an undercurrent in your intuition as well. Intuition is on your side. It does not cause calamity just to “teach you lessons.”

Manage the Wisdom of the Victim

Everyone has an inner victim. The inner victim is on guard (as it should be) against victimizing external and internal forces. The inner victim rightly knows that there is much to protect ourselves from. It instinctively knows that there are numerous forces in the world (and within us) that rob us of our power, vitality, clarity, and potency.

This knowledge, when imbalanced, can run counterintuitive to the divine child, who trusts in divinity. The inner victim can make us shut down when our sincerest desire is to open up. It can make us speed up when we really want to slow down and savor.

The inner victim can make us shut down when our sincerest desire is to open up. It can make us speed up when we really want to slow down and savor.

An enlightened victim realizes that while there is much to fear and guard against, there is also much to delight in and welcome in. Remember: Your intuition will almost always speak to you in a way that leads you to joy. Intuition does not coddle your pain. It does not sound like your inner critic either. It is highly invested in your joy and will nudge you out of your dysfunctional comfort zone.

Understand the Leadership of the Warrior-Guru-King

Dignity doesn’t seek to control others. In fact, there’s more being than seeking in dignity. Your intuition is mostly concerned with putting you in the driver’s seat of your own life..

Dignity is an energy that is immediately calming and beneficial to others. A true guru is one who teaches mostly by energetic example, not by instruction. And this is what you become once you embody dignity—a type of guru king.

A true guru is one who teaches mostly by energetic example, not by instruction. And this is what you become once you embody dignity—a type of guru king.

This is why your intuition can sound cutting, direct, and fierce, especially when there’s immediate danger or a slippery slope in sight. In moments like those, intuition takes on a warrior aspect to wake you up. For example, when on the battlefield, you wouldn’t want someone asking you about your feelings when you’re bleeding. You want someone who will pick you up, carry you to safety, and close your wounds.

Never, ever expect intuition to always sound like a frou-frou, soft yoga teacher voice. This expectation is rooted in performative spiritual behavior that robs people of their better instincts.

A Simple, Potent Exercise to Cultivate More Dignity

In this exercise, we will combine chanting, affirmations, and prayer. If you have a set of mala beads, break them out, or count your affirmations with a pen and paper. If you’re utilizing a mala, look at each bead as a precious seed full of potential and life. Imagine that each bead that you touch as you chant this affirmation receives your words and encodes them into physicality. Chant one of these affirmations 33 times or for the entire length of your mala.

Feel free to use these affirmations or make up your own. Or combine them all into one affirmation.

• I receive my sacred dignity.
• Sacred dignity seeps into my blood and my bones.
• My sacred dignity is my compass.

Remember that as with all exercises, it’s the practice, not intellectual understanding, that will give you the wisdom you seek. The words are but a delivery mechanism for a particular energy. And energy needs to be experienced.

Try these four intuition meditation scripts to get in touch with your higher self.