How the Metaphysical Arts Can Help Us Tap Into Our Deepest Intuition
When it comes to big life questions, I’ve always been the type to seek input. In my 20s, when I was trying to decide what professional path to take, I sought out a career counselor—but I went to an astrologer, too. In my 30s, when I was considering a move, I visited a handful of cities and set up informational interviews with various companies—and I also consulted a psychic to inquire about the most advantageous locale. In my 40s, I was on the verge of deciding whether to stay in my marriage. My ex-husband and I went to a couples counselor, but I also looked to tarot card readers, astrologers, and psychics to help me make one of the biggest decisions of my life.
On a visit to Kripalu a couple of years ago, I was dealing with health and relationship concerns. I’d been seeing a naturopath and a therapist, but while there, I turned to a kind of cosmic database called the Akashic Records for additional guidance. Readers of the Akashic Records can apparently tap into this etheric library, which is said to contain information about every soul that has ever incarnated and all events, thoughts, and emotions that have happened since the beginning of Creation.
Humans have been seeking metaphysical guidance for major life issues for almost as long. “People have been using divinatory tools since time began—tea leaves, rocks, bones, runes, all kinds of things,” says tarot card reader, psychic, and medium Cynthia Papa-Lentini, who offers online readings through Kripalu's virtual Healing Arts services, which include tarot, Akashic, psychic, and astrology readings, as well as private meditation sessions, Ayurvedic consultations, and life coaching. “There’s enormous wisdom in the ancient ways.”
During readings, Cynthia says, clients might ask about whether to follow a particular health regimen, take a job, go back to school, move to another city or country, embark on a different career, stay in or leave a relationship, and more. “People lately have a deep suffering of the spirit, not just the body,” she notes. “They seek out people like me to ask questions that are soul-searching in nature. It goes from the practical to the esoteric. I’ve had moms asking how to help children who are addicted. Recently, a woman who was given four months to live asked me how she could traverse the bardo—the Tibetan term for the intermediate state between death and rebirth.
Tapping Into Inner and Universal Wisdom
While the tools used in metaphysical practices differ, each of them professes to connect with a ubiquitous energetic force. “Some people call it quantum physics or universal consciousness, others call it the Divine, but it’s the same thing regardless,” Cynthia says.
Even though tarot, astrology, and psychic and Akashic Records readings appear to draw from the same invisible omniscient force, they also help seekers get in touch with their own intuition, says Cynthia. “People have the absolute knowledge within themselves, but they’ve forgotten,” she explains. “They come to us and we assist in helping them find those places within themselves that help them heal.”
Skepticism about metaphysical practices isn’t uncommon, of course. While some clearly dismiss them, Cynthia underscores that “people can be skeptical all they want, but we all have intuition. Everybody knows what it’s like to walk into a room and know who not to sit beside.” The only time a reading might not “work,” she says, is if someone is very angry and has an axe to grind. “Then they might not hear you,” she admits. “Otherwise, no one who’s really a skeptic is going to be sitting in front of me.”
Permission to Heed Your Intuition
Cynthia explains that the various cards she turns over in a tarot spread represent her clients’ unconscious and likely point to the very issue they brought into the reading. “Ultimately,” she admits, “we probably don’t tell people stuff they don’t already know on some level.”
Cynthia says metaphysical readings aren’t a substitute for therapy or counseling, but she believes their short-term, solution-oriented approach can be beneficial. “You aren’t going to come back 100 times and you don’t have to worry about having to wait for six months or a year to get some relief from your issue, whether it’s acute or something that’s been going on since you were a child,” she says. “Something is going to move. It’s not like it gets solved in 25 or 55 minutes, but it does start the resolution process. It’s very rare that someone walks away without some sense of how to clear an issue. Sometimes that involves taking a trip, looking for a new job, or seeing a counselor.”
Mostly, what Cynthia notices is that at the end of a metaphysical reading, people simply feel better. They’re more at ease, less depressed, more energetic and hopeful—even when they realize they need to get off the path they’re on.
“They’ve answered some deep questions; they feel like they can breathe, like they can continue on,” Cynthia says. “They come to trust their own intuition. Often, they say, ‘I knew that. I just didn’t trust it.’ What we’re doing is giving them the confirmation they need to move forward on a course that they already knew was best for them, but hadn’t given themselves permission to follow.”
Portland Helmich has been investigating natural health and healing for more than 15 years, as a host, reporter, writer, and producer.
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