Listen to this.

Excerpted from the book Astrology Is Real




“Intuition” refers to the capacity to get insight without calling on logic and rational thinking. It seems to enable us to skip steps as we quickly and directly home in on a clear insight. We may have the sensation that the crisp, lucid realization has been fully formed for some time, and has been waiting for us to pounce on it.

Surprisingly, many scientists don’t regard intuition as being the province of pseudoscience. Researchers have studied it in lab experiments.

But as I meditate on intuition here, I speak as a poet and creative artist, not a scientist.

In seeking intuitive help, one reliable spur comes from formulating specific, timely questions, like:

“What is it I most need to learn right now?”

“Who is it I most need to learn from?”

“What practical measure can I initiate to live my life with more vigor and rigor?”

“How could I attract new experiences that will enhance my intelligence and decision-making?”


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Intuition often reveals the action we need to take next. It doesn’t necessarily show us the entire plan of the big picture and all the particular steps required to assemble the big picture.

So we shouldn’t try to pressure intuition to give us a mountaintop perspective. Instead, we might ask, “What one or two things should I do in the immediate future?”

Four more things I’ll mention about intuition: One is to work with dreams. That takes study and expertise. Our nightly adventures speak a different language from that of our waking life.

But if we develop even a modicum of skills at translation, we can draw a steady stream of useful clues from our other brain in that other world.

Dreams have been crucial in helping me do shadow work— dealing with aspects of me that are unripe and dumb. And that has helped me transcend my imprints and conditioning, thereby fostering my true intuition.

Another good practice for intuition is to ask the question, “What does my death say?” On one’s deathbed, what does one want to look back at and say, “That was important. That was important. That was important. No, that wasn’t so important.” This exercise can be a tonic informant that helps intuition focus and work with maximum efficiency.

Another aid to intuition, at least for me, is walking and moving. Nature hikes and strolls around town often rouse realizations that turn out to be useful and enduring. I take a notebook or recorder with me to capture them.

Here’s one more aspect of my relationship with intuition. I’m most successful in accessing sudden outbreaks of fresh truth when I have gone as far as I can in doing research, thinking hard, employing logic, and being objective and reasonable. This usually involves invoking the help of the scientific method.

Then I hand over my ruminations and questions to intuition and say, “What more can you tell me, given that I’ve come this far with all my analysis? What treasure can you add?”