Introduction: Your Intuition Led You Here
Yes, you are intuitive. Yes, you were born with this gift. Just like every single human on this planet, this means you have the power to always make the right choices for you and to know that you are on the right path, no matter what. But if youâre reading this book, chances are youâve forgotten how to trust, connect to, and work with your own inner guidance system.Â
If you feel like this doesnât apply to you (the gift part, let alone the forgetting how to work with it part), you are also not alone. Perhaps you feel some fear or anxiety come up when you think about intuition. This is very common, as many of us have been shamed or made to feel uncomfortable about our gifts. Maybe you even feel like you need to hide this book away from your family and friends, or feel shy about reading it in public, as youâre afraid of being branded a weirdo. Or perhaps youâre wondering why you even picked it up at all, as this isnât normally âyour kind of thing.â And yet you felt the call. And now here we are.Â
Know that whatever spark of curiosity or deeper impulse led you here, you are being called back to your truth. Part of you knows itâs time to reestablish a deeper connection with yourself and the world around you. To feel more grounded and supported. To find the courage to heal what hurts, and to discover whatâs really blocking you from living the life you know is meant for you. And the same part of you knows that the way to access all of this is to take back your intuitive power.
But before we get going, letâs talk about any expectations you might have about this book. The number one thing to remember is that you donât need âspecial powersâ to connect to your intuition. This isnât a skill thatâs reserved for a select group of spiritual superstars, or an elite, privileged secret society. Itâs for everyone. Itâs for you. And while weâre at it, letâs dis miss any preconceptions you may have about what an âintuitiveâ looks like. Itâs time to scrap the stereotype of a fortune teller sitting in front of a crystal ball, promising to reveal your future. Intuitive people look like you and literally every person you pass on the street. We are your friends, your family, and your colleagues, simply going about our everyday lives. As for the âtelling the futureâ stuff? Yes, itâs possible to a degree once you connect to your intuition. But this goes so much deeper than knowing who youâll date next and when youâll land the job of your dreams. Itâs about re activating a connection to who you really are, and accessing your inner knowing. Which sounds more like why youâre really here, right?
WHAT IS INTUITION?Â
Simply put, your intuition is your own inner source of guidance, know ing, truth, and power. Being connected to your intuitive gifts also means living in alignment with the world around you, and noticing the signs, messages and directions constantly guiding you on. This work doesnât live on some out-there, ethereal plane. It doesnât require a secret map or special language. Itâs work you can do in the here and now, all day, every day, using the most mystical instrument of all: your body. Not that anyone gets taught this in school. We mainly think of our body as the physical vehicle that gets us from A to B. But it is actually your very own extra sensory intuitive time and space machine thatâs here to help you make choices that are in alignment for you, get inspiration, alert you to any red flags, and be a portal to connect to.
You may receive intuitive guidance through feelings or deep knowings, or by hearing, seeing, smelling and even tasting âmessagesâ about the next right action to take. On our exploration together, youâre going to discover exactly how this guidance shows up in your own body and how to decode what these messages mean for you. The beauty being that each and every one of us connects to our gifts in a very personal way. Intuition is not a one size fits all skill. This book is here to teach you how to access your own unique abilitiesâor rather, remind you how to use them. So by now youâre probably asking: if this is such an awesome skill, and one that can help guide me and every other being on the planet to living the lives of our dreams, how did we âforgetâ how to use it? The answer to this question lies in a shared history of fear, oppression, and pain. In the past our ancestors worked with their gifts as part of everyday life. Intuitively following the lunar cycles to produce the best crops. Travelling across the globe with no GPS, using nothing but their inner compass and the stars above for guidance. Determining which plants and trees could be used for healing and medicinal purposes. It was customary for kings, queens and the general population to sit with the local medicine person, elder or priestess, to ask for their help in connecting to their own intuition during times of sickness, famine, and war, or simply for answers to everyday questions about life. But over the millennia, intuition has been forced into hiding, laden with stigma, and shrouded with shame and distrust.Â
Advancements in agriculture in the Middle Ages led to the advent of the patriarchy, and the formation of systems for living that relied on a hierarchical power structure. This meant some people held the power of the material world (money and natural resources) while others worked in service of those who controlled these resources. Those in charge were therefore threatened by people connecting to their own inner power. They didnât want people âbelow themâ creating power struggles and challenging the status quo.Â
âPowerâ is a word you will read a lot in this book. Power is my word for the part of our life force energy that gives us agency to act on our free will, and just like intuition, we all have access to it. But because of the way power is often abused, we sometimes think of it in the negative. But when in balance, being in our power means being giving, flexible, supportive, and in flow. On the flipside, where use of power energy becomes controlling and authoritarian, it manipulates and appropriates. People can become addict ed to power (which also materializes in the energy of money) and will try to hoard it and keep hold of it by whatever means possible. We only need to look at whatâs currently happening on our planet to see this in action.Â
As weâve already touched on, when we are in our own intuitive power we are a force to be reckoned with. Power works hand-in-hand with intuition to enable us to act on our authentic truths and live in alignment with who we really are. It has the energetic force of actionable change. So you can see why, throughout history, and even to this day, those hoarding the power also want to control access to our intuitive gifts. When we are connected to our intuition, itâs like we are plugged directly into our own inner source of powerâversus being beholden to the power structure that governs over us.Â
So in this new patriarchal establishment, the power was typically held and controlled by a select few, and they made it so that women (females and female identifying individuals) had to be obedient and dependent on them. To make this a reality and gain control, they required women to forget, mistrust or hide their âfeminineâ intuitive spiritual beliefs and practices. In the case of the white colonization and slave trade of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, all people outside of the dominant power structure were forced to submit to the dominant power structure and give their personal power away. To ensure that people stayed submissive and disconnected from their gifts, there followed a global campaign to brand intuitive practice as the âdevilâs work,â instilling fear and mass hysteria about any communication with outside of organized religion. In Europe and across colonial North America between the 14th and 17th centuries, the practice of any form of intuitive craft was outlawed. Although thereâs no exact number on record, itâs thought that tens of thousands, perhaps even millions, lost their lives in the âwitch trialsâ that bred a climate of fear during this era.
Targeting mainly lower-class women (although masculine identifying people were killed too), punishment included being tortured or death by hanging, drowning, or being burnt. These were the healers, herbalists, midwives and other forms of intuitives. And while this all took place centuries ago, anybody descended from this lineage is still holding onto the ancestral fear and pain of these traumas. Passed from generation to generation, this alone could be enough to block a person from feeling safe to embrace the gifts they were born with; the power that is their birthright.
This book is also an opportunity to begin to heal this shame. And in doing so, to prevent the stigma about intuition from being passed on to your descendants, keeping future generations separated from their power. Imagine a world where it is encouraged for us to trust our inner knowing, instead of fearing it. A place where people are free to connect to their own sovereign energy and see intuition as an integral human and spiritual technology. I see this as a vital missing piece in us forging a stronger connection between ourselves, our planet, and the global collective energy. And it begins with each of us acknowledging, healing and taking back our own intuitive gifts TODAY.Â
So who am I to be telling you all this?Â
First and foremost, Iâm writing this book because I am you. Meaning, Iâve been exactly where you are now. Everything youâll find in this book is what I wish Iâd known when I first started to connect to my intuition. When I was looking for support, all the information out there was super âwoo-wooâ and had a New Age vibe I found unrelatable, stale, and clichĂ©d. I didnât vibe with any of the people teaching on the topic as I didnât see myself in them. I wanted straight forward, real-world advice that made connecting to my intuition seem as ânormalâ as brushing my teeth. This search led to me creating my podcast, So You Think Youâre Intuitive?, and eventually here, as itâs become my personal mission to make this work accessible, engaging and grounded in the world we live in.Â
But when I first started to connect to my intuition it brought up doubts and fears for me, too. Am I making all this up? Can I trust what Iâm hearing? What if I see something scary? Do I even want to connect to this gift? Will I be able to turn it off? But as I grew more confident, it began to feel like I was coming home to a part of myself that had been buried away for lifetimes, waiting to be reactivated. It made me feel powerful. It made me feel whole. And it also made me realize that I am never alone.Â
On this journey you will discover that you also have a âSpirit Teamâ to support you every day of your life. I like to think of them as my personal cheer squad. This team is made up of Spirit Guides, ancestors and deceased loved ones who are here to help guide you, protect you and send you messages. As part of this team we all have one main guide, which you can simply think of as a supportive spiritual energy that is with you from the moment youâre born until you die. Chances are they have been our guide in multiple lifetimes, meaning during any past lives you have led before this one. They know you on a deep soul level, and if, for whatever reason, your tie has been severed, reconnecting with them is a very special experienceâand one that I will guide you through in this book.
I had my first encounter with what Iâve come to know as my main Spirit Guide aged five (youâll hear the whole story later). But I didnât realize I was intuitive until age 16, when my mum took me to my first ever psychic circleâa gathering of women led by a local psychic in her home in a suburban village in the South of England.
I was so nervous, especially as I was the youngest there by at least 20 years, but I was made to feel welcome by the group. And it was on this evening that I really opened myself up to receive messages from. During the guided meditation that opened the session, I felt an energy envelop me that Iâd never experienced before; a feeling of floating and rising up, but at the same time being completely grounded and connected to my body.Â
It was that evening when I also gave my first ever âmessageâ to someone. After being paired with a woman named Wendy, I was instructed to try it out to see if I could share any messages with her. I was nervous and didnât think Iâd be able to do it, and I kind of felt bad for her that sheâd been partnered with the rookie. When I shut my eyes all I could see was CAKE. Floating cakes of all different colors and sizes all around her. Then I saw her in a cake shop. I thought: Am I making this up? I opened my eyes, and with nervous anticipation I shared what Iâd seen. She replied excitedly: âOh yes I love making cakes. Itâs my favourite thing to do! Itâs my dream to one day open a cake shop.â So what I saw was real! I could do this. The sensation that flooded my body was electric. I left the circle feeling inspired, more confident in myself, and as if I was seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes.Â
Yes, Wendy went on to open her cake shopâbut was this the start of me sharing my newfound gift with the world? Hell no. This was when I began to hide my intuition, a pattern that stretched into my late teens, twenties and early thirties. I was so worried what friends, romantic partners and work colleagues would think of me. I didnât want to be labelled as weird, woo-woo, or downright crazy. I didnât want people to think I was making stuff up. It felt safer just to be Normal Nat. But my gifts didnât go away. I would occasionally âknow thingsâ about people without them telling me, or Iâd feel the presence of loved ones who had passed. Sometimes Iâd see other peopleâs Guides walking down the street next to them, and I definitely made intuitive life choices based on âHell Yesâ feelings in my body that went against all logic. At home, my mum and I would sometimes share messages with each other or mention if a deceased family member was around. Or weâd play spirit guide dominos, where you let your guide pick the domino for your turn instead of you. But during this period in my life I wasnât consciously choosing to call on my Guides or tuning into my intuition for answers. I guess you could say I was an intuitive in hiding.
Which worked fine ⊠until it didnât. In 2012, a series of rocky life changes led to my Spiritual Reactivationâa phenomenon we all experience, and which I discuss at length in Chapter 1. In fact, it could be your own âreactivationâ that led you here, coupled with a feeling that something bigger is unfolding in your life. In which case, youâve definitely come to the right place. Ultimately, it was my Reactivation that kick-started me taking back my intuitive power. I got the completely illogical knowing hit in my whole body to leave my job, my family, and my friends in London, and move to Vancouver, Canada. Iâd visited on vacation a few years earlier and said to myself then, âone day Iâm going to live in this city.â It was here, without the safety net of my regular routine, and feeling lonely, lost and questioning what I was doing with my life, that I was divinely led to find another psychic circle where I could practice connecting with my gifts. Part of me knew that this would be the start of a deeper healing journey.Â
Vancouver became my city of death and rebirth. I began proactively connecting to my gifts by attending weekly psychic development circles. Now that I turned the tap back on, there was no going back. My mentor at the time said to me one day: âNat you know youâre going to do this full time, right?â I laughed and didnât believe her. I was still working at a production company, telling my colleagues I was going to âmeditation circlesâ after work so they didnât judge me. But had other ideas and I was let go, my boss simply observing: âNat youâre not happy. Go and find what makes you happy.â Which, in turn, began the journey to leaving film and starting up my own intuitive led business giving psychic readings for people.Â
Finally, I was beginning to not only trust but embody my own truth. By tuning in daily, I learned to trust my own inner guidance rather than re lying on external sources. I had more confidence expressing myself. I experienced a new sense of direction and purpose. To my amazement, my life began to transform physically, energetically, and spiritually, and I was able to use my gifts to find love and create financial abundance for myself (more details on this part later, too!). I felt like I was tapping into an immense source of power that had always been flowing all around me, but which I was now inviting to play and express itself through me.Â
Which all sounds great, doesnât it? And I want all of this for you, too. But this isnât just a book about how to connect to your intuition. It is also an invitation to reclaim your own Energetic Self-Sovereignty and take the steps to heal what hurts in your life.
As we move through the new millennium, spirituality has become a multi-billion dollar industry, where the focus is often on inviting in âlove and lightâ and âmanifesting your dream life.â Which can be very healing and lots of fun ⊠but is only half the picture when it comes to inviting intuition, or, into your life. Language like this, and practices which focus on improving your external world, can easily flip us into âspiritual bypassingâ mode, where we begin to focus on using our gifts as a âquick fixâ for everything we donât like about our life. But we can also use our intuition to go deeper into our souls, and to look at the pain we are holding onto in our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies.
Connecting to our intuition and experiencing a Spiritual Reactivation is actually an opportunity to look at our shadow. To recognize the parts of our personality we might see as negative or weak and that we hide away. This may be our anger, our jealousy, our desire, our fear, or our feelings of being unlovable or ânot enough.â We all have a shadow, even if we see ourselves as happy or a âgood person.â Society has conditioned us to see certain traits as âbadâ and to focus on the âlighterâ ones. But we all embody both sides of the coin and itâs time for us to embrace this.
Personally, this shadow work gave me insight into unconscious beliefs about myself that led me to self-sabotage and stay small and allowed me to look at past trauma from childhood and my adult life. then led me to look at healing my âAncestor Story.â This concept first showed up in my one-on-one sessions with clients, when I was able to see that the blocks and themes showing up in our lives were often the same as those experienced by our ancestors before us. I was then shown a practice for how to identify and, more importantly, heal them. When we acknowledge and heal these blocks, we arenât just healing ourselves but our ancestors before us and the future generations to come. It was a game changer for me when I discovered what my Ancestor Story theme was.Â
Throughout this book, Iâll be inviting you to consider what this part of the journey means for you, too, and to look deeply at whatâs holding you back. Rather than simply asking your intuition what the future holds, this is about feeling into any pain and discomfort you may be experiencing in the present moment and learning to trust in your inner power to heal. I think of this as the practice of âConscious Intuition.â
On a deeper level, cultivating Conscious Intuition means understanding that we are each a unique expression of the collective energy of the planet, and that while we live our lives as individuals, we can impact and be impacted by the energy of the whole. Living from this place, we begin to understand that each and every action creates a ripple effect, and that the more aligned we are with our inner guidance, the more we can have a positive impact in the world. The fact that intuition, crystals, and other spiritual practices are being embraced by the mainstream like never before, tells me that more and more of us are ready to tap into and contribute to this collective energy. The transformational potential for our planet in these times is unprecedentedâbut we must try not to feel overwhelmed that the task is too big, that thereâs not enough time, or that change isnât possible. Above all, itâs time to change the narrative that change is out of our hands and decisions can only be made by the elite or world governing powers. I believe we are standing at a planetary crossroads, where we can either continue on a path of destruction, or consciously choose a new way. The fact you are here shows that you are feeling this too. From political tensions, to abuses of power, and the environmental crisis, looking at the chaos in the world around us, you could say that the planet is undergoing its own Spiritual Reactivation, as the shadow parts of our collective are being brought up to be healed. We must remember that this is a vital part of the process, and that us being guided back to our gifts is less about manifesting a perfect partner or a six-figure salary, and more in service of a deep shift within the collective.
What role does intuition play in all this? As the patterns of the past crumble so that we can all transform, it will become your guiding light. It will support you in practicing discernment with your thoughts, words, and deeds, and therefore your impact in the world. It will remind you not to feed on the fear we see in the news and on social media. And it will give you the inner strength, hope, and faith that any uncertainty weâre moving through is for the greater good.
When we learn to truly work with our intuition, we can anchor into our bodies for grounding and reclaim our Energetic Self-Sovereignty. We begin to embody a deep presence and alignment with ourselves and with the world around us. Rather than resisting change, we learn how to lean into the chaos. Above all, we come to truly understand that we are part of something greater than ourselves, and that each and every one of our lives has the power to bring about positive change. You donât need to âknowâ the specifics of your impact; you being YOU is all thatâs required.Â
Maybe you think this sounds cheesy or idealistic. Or maybe you feel like youâve heard this all before, and are frustrated that nothing seems to be changing. But the shift lies in being guided, right now, to show up for ourselves and each other with a different frequency. This means that it is time to trust your truth. To take back your power. And to remember that.