Why Intuition is Needed—Now More Than Ever

Another chapter from my book, "Word Magic"

As we work to regain our intuitive self-trust, I find it helpful to remember the bigger picture, that our individual struggles are part of a much larger, global struggle, and that everything we do to empower ourselves as individuals also supports the collective. As hard as it is to trust ourselves, I want us to remember that the very notion of self-trust is revolutionary. It’s revolutionary because everything in our culture has historically (and violently) discouraged it. This is especially true for women and minorities.

Our current cultural thinking—what is often called “patriarchy” or “rule of the father”—tends to split things apart: man from woman, thought from feeling, brain from body, humans from nature, and “white” from “other.” At the deepest level, patriarchy teaches us to separate ourselves from the light, to disregard the light inside of us and defer exclusively to external authority, to defer to the male god or king or boss or priest or doctor or expert who exists in a realm “above us.”

This outer focus, the idea that goodness or divinity is “out there” and “separate” from us, trains us to discount and distrust everything that exists inside of us, particularly the wisdom of our body, our heart, and our intuition. The reason for this conditioning is obvious, because if we believe some external authority knows more than we do, we will obey them. Likewise, if we are conditioned to disregard our emotions, if we manage to repress the inner-pain of modern life, we will never protest against what we’ve been tasked to endure. This is why our work to build a more just and balanced world requires a radical paradigm shift, a return to the time-tested, indigenous wisdom of our in-tuition.

According to the social systems scientist, Riane Eisler, the period of human history regarded as “prehistory” was, in fact, a time of unprecedented human collaboration, what she calls “a partnership society.” Not only was there partnership between men and women, but also between humans and nature. Before the genocidal effects of European colonialism, indigenous cultures had learned to live in balance with the world around them. But as Europe shifted from a partnership society to “a domination society,” we disconnected from nature, ourselves, and each other.

The pathological need for control—over nature, women, and other cultures—has resulted in slavery, genocide, femicide, and ecological destruction. Although we are collectively becoming more heart-centered, the old patterns are still playing out as ferociously as ever, particularly the pressure to stay quiet, to remain in a state of unquestioning, non-reflective compliance.

With all the pressures we are under (to work, pay the bills, stay on top of our favorite TV series, and “build our brand” on social media), when do we have time to question things? We don’t have time. And that is precisely the point. Now, while the planet is imploding under the weight of a thousand man-made crises, we need to be waking up, not numbing out. I share this not to scare us but to galvanize us—because it galvanizes me. When I think about the systems designed keep us small, I get angry, and that gives me the “oomph” I need to face my fears, knowing any little bit of progress I can make—to trust myself a little bit more today than I did yesterday—will indirectly support those around me, as well.

If you are alive today, know that you are needed here.

Your DNA was passed down to you through thousands of years of violence and trauma... so that you could be here at this moment...so that you could tell the story of your lineage... so that you could share your gifts and continue the story. It is only as we learn to assert our own voices, to say what we do and don’t want, what is and is not okay, that the world will come back into balance. As the famous saying goes, “Hurt people, hurt people, but healed people, heal people.” The most universal impulse among women and girls is to share with everyone, to make sure that everyone is healed and nourished. Now more than ever, this is the impulse we need, the collective energy of empowered women working in partnership with open-hearted men.

As women, our intuition connects us to each other like the network of roots under trees. Like indigenous cultures around the world, ecologist Suzanne Simard has recognized that trees do, in fact, “talk” to each other, engaging in a continuous back-and-forth, chemical “conversation” that holds their ecosystem in balance. The leader of each ecosystem is the oldest, largest tree, what Simard calls the “Mother Tree,” who focuses her energy on protecting and nourishing the younger trees. To me, tree ecosystems most closely resemble female communities, in the way that women instinctively tune in to those around them, especially the young.

As each of us learns to trust ourselves and do what is right for us, we become like trees, automatically synchronized with each other and the planet as a whole. As we align with the wisdom within us, we become the roots that heal and reweave the world.

Possible writing/pondering prompts:

1. Write a letter to your female ancestors, either an individual woman or the whole lineage, expressing your appreciation and asking questions. Then take a moment to breathe and write a letter back to yourself—from her or them. Don’t think about it rationally. Just see what comes through. What advice might they give you? What might they want you to know?

2. When I do what I think I “should” do to make others happy, disregarding my own needs, I feel...

3. If I did what I secretly WISH I could do, I would feel...

4. Imagine you are “The Mother Tree” to other trees/people around you. What message would you want to send them?

5. Write a tribute to all the women in your life who lift you up, praising their beauty and power. Then read it out loud to yourself—because the beautiful things you see in others are also inside of YOU.