How i learned to trust my intutition: part 3

Part 3 - in which I learn to use my intuition to guide others using tarot cards

I began using cards just for fun, pulling them for friends and at informal gatherings. Initially I had to rely on the definitions I found in books and from teachers, but with practice I became more and more able to let the words flow through me during readings. The definitions of the cards were a starting place that opened up into a vast territory of meaning that would come to me as I opened myself up and trusted.

As I did so, I learned that tarot was another way I could doula people.  After all, the term doula simply means a person who holds space for someone else as they move through something challenging and transformative. There are death doulas, surgery doulas and now - just because it makes sense to me -  tarot doulas.

Why do I use the word doula in this context? Because - kind of like birth - the aim of my sessions is to guide you through something tricky that leads to a transformation. It’s also different from “regular tarot” because I’m not trying to predict your future or be the expert who tells you what the cards are instructing you to do.

Instead it’s a dialogue. The cards are clues for both of us as we try to unpick the Mystery of what the Universe is asking of you. As we sit with the cards and the whisperings of our guts, the puzzle gradually reveals itself. Honestly, it’s way more fun than any traditional reading I’ve ever gotten. It’s raw and real and filled with insights, ah-ha moments and - quite often - tears, laughter or both. By the end you will have more clarity but also way more courage and fortitude to face the uncertainties that are most certainly ahead of you.

In this context, just like I was as a birth doula, I am deliberately avoiding the pitfalls of positioning myself as an expert or guru and instead offering myself as a witness, a guide and - potentially - as someone who can provide a safe space where you can look at the stuff you were avoiding or just needed a shift in perspective around. You already know the answers; the cards are just there to help.

 Some of my favourite readings recently have been with young women who are going through their Saturn Return - an astrological event that occurs at the ages of approximately 29 to 30. It’s a challenging time with much opportunity for growth and it’s helpful to have guidance as one navigates its rocky terrain.

 The Universe also sends me a lot of women who are traversing the tender territory of getting pregnant, staying pregnant, being pregnant, birthing or being a parent. Here is where my training as a birth doula overlaps beautifully with tarot. Again, I’m not the expert, I am offering sisterhood in transition, a place to be real, a chance to explore taboos and a way to make decisions that fall in line with your soul. It is a privilege to be able to hold space for these women and I love every second of it.

 Occasionally a man shows up and asks for a reading. These are often the sessions that stretch me the most as a human as well as a tarot doula, forcing me to navigate my own sense of not being good enough or not knowing enough. I learn vast amounts every time and am humbled by the ways in which knowings show up only in the moments that we are open and receptive enough to hear them. I am reminded to trust my own process - just as I ask others to - to let the cards speak for themselves and to allow the universe to speak through me. These are the building blocks of intuition and the ways I am currently forced to expand my own. I come away breathless, grateful and in awe of how it all works.

And so ends the story of my transition from psychology professor to tarot doula. It’s one that mirrors the shift in many of my sisters as they step away from traditional structures and societal “shoulds” into a boundless new reality. In this reality we get to be a more authentic brand of human, more connected to our own souls and thus, more able to be stewards of the major changes that need to occur. These changes include forms of leadership structures, ways of gathering knowledge and decision-making-processes that reflect a desire to live in harmony with each other and with nature. And as we build these new ways of being this kind of knowing - the kind that comes directly from our guts - is invaluable.

May you learn to trust yours as much as I trust mine.

And if you need a reading, feel free to grab a “personal podcast” reading HERE or to make an appointment below for a live reading.

Love,

Laura