Note from Catherine Carrigan: This article is the subject of a talk I’m giving on Saturday, July 4, at the Online Global Burning Woman Festival at 12:30 p.m. EST/5:30 p.m.

For ticket information, to listen to this and other talks, please visit this link.

What does it mean to live a soul directed life? 

How does our native intuition empower us to understand what it is our soul is being led to experience in this lifetime? 

How can we transcend beyond the chaos and suffering of the world we live in to be guided to all that leads to our happiness, soul purpose, abundance and a life of meaning?

I want to start off by sharing a story.

In 2018 – just a mere two years ago now – my guidance kept insisting I write a book about breathing.

I’ve now taught yoga for 25 years.

At the age of 61, I still teach six yoga classes and one qi gong class every week, most of that online. You are welcome to join me if you like – just email catherine@catherinecarrigan.com and I’ll share how you can log in from anywhere in the world. 

Although the main way I make a living is through my work as a medical intuitive healer, I am still very dedicated – like many of us in this audience – to my personal yoga and qi gong practice and I enjoy using yoga as part of my healing repertoire to empower people to get of pain.

You can learn the 41 yoga poses I use most often to get people out of pain as well as all about my approach to relieve suffering naturally without drugs in my book The Difference Between Pain and Suffering. 

The Difference Between Pain and Suffering by Catherine Carrigan

The Difference Between Pain and Suffering by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

At the time I was receiving guidance to write a book about breathing exercises, my ego mind kept arguing with my soul. 

Now who amongst us has not had this experience?

Your soul insists it’s important for you to do something.

Your ego mind disagrees.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” you tell yourself.

“I won’t make money doing that,” you argue with yourself.

“Why should I do that when other people are doing something similar?” you hear inside your mind.

“Are you SURE?” your ego argues with your soul.

So this battle between my soul guidance and my ego mind went on for some time.

But my soul kept insisting.

Your soul insists.

You keep getting woken up in the middle of the night.

You need to do this thing.

You need to go here, meet that person, follow this path.

Your ego mind wants to understand everything – why, for what purpose, how will this pay off for you. 

This is often the nature of the battle between our soul and the intellect.

You keep receiving intuitive information – even if it’s way in advance and doesn’t make sense at the time – and your ego wants to walk away, not follow your soul guidance and go off in a direction that appears to make logical sense.

In my case, finally after undergoing this inner turmoil for about a year, I finished writing The Little Book of Breathwork in March 2019.

As soon as I finished writing the book, I thought to myself, “I get it now. I understand why I had to write that book.”

As a longterm teacher and practitioner of yoga I had read countless books about breathing, most of them highly academic or full of yogic jargon.

The Little Book of Breathwork is friendly. Accessible to everyone. You can pick it up, do the Eight Minutes to Inner Peace that I describe, follow the hand mudras and affirmations and voila your anxiety will be cut AT LEAST by half in a mere eight minutes.

The Little Book of Breathwork by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

The Little Book of Breathwork by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

Psychiatric anti-anxiety medications don’t even work that fast.

Plant medicine, herbs and flower essences don’t work that quickly.

The Little Book of Breathwork was my 9th book and became my 7th out of 8 Amazon number 1 bestsellers.

But it wasn’t until a year later – this year, in March 2020 – that it became abundantly clear why I had to write that book.

All of a sudden, we as a global society found ourself in the midst of a global pandemic. Within five days of contracting coronavius, people have trouble breathing. When they die, their breath is so restricted they feel like they’re drowning. 

Learning how to breathe at this time has literally become a matter of life and death.

I have now given away The Little Book of Breathwork to people in 12 different countries.

And – by the way – if you would like a FREE copy just email me at catherine@catherinecarrigan.com and I’ll be more than happy to send you a free copy, no strings attached.

I’m not Bill Gates. I don’t have $100 million to give away. But I can help you right now in immediate and powerful ways.

Meanwhile in the next two months after that – in April and May of 2020 – levels of anxiety and depression skyrocketed. 

I had already published not just one but two books about how to heal depression naturally – Banish the Blues Now being my most up to date.

Banish the Blues Now by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

Banish the Blues Now by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

But here I came to the global pandemic party totally prepared to help people, to serve from my soul with the book I had written because I had followed my soul guidance. 

The research showed that in the US over 30 percent of adults have been experiencing clinical levels of anxiety and depression during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Meanwhile George Floyd, a black man killed under the knee of a Minneapolis policeman,  repeated “I can’t breathe.” 

We who saw the photograph of George Floyd losing his life through police brutality had our own breath taken away, our hearts collectively broken by the impact of centuries of systemic racism.

We all need to learn how to breathe through this challenging time – through the anxiety, through the injustice, through the chaos, through the depression, grief, loss and uncertainty.

And because I gave in to my soul guidance and followed my intuition I have The Little Book of Breathwork ready for you.

And it’s FREE because my soul purpose is healing and my soul longing is to make a contribution to your total well being right now.

If you’re listening to this story, you may recall a time in your life when your soul tried to speak with you loudly, clearly, insistently.

Maybe you listened.

Maybe you followed your soul guidance.

Maybe your ego was so successful in arguing that what you knew, felt, saw or heard didn’t make any sense that you turned away from your own inner direction. Maybe you later came to regret not following your intuition.

At age 61 after 27 years in natural healing, as a professional medical intuitive healer, I have learned to trust my intuition because I know how my soul communicates.

Hopefully today I can empower you to remove at least some of the blockages to you following your own soul guidance.

I’m going to start by sharing with you some of the information from my book Unlimited Intuition Now. This book – like seven of my 10 books – is available in audiobook format so if you are someone who doesn’t like to read the paperback or ebook you can listen and absorb the information while you are commuting, exercising or driving.

Unlimited Intuition Now by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

Unlimited Intuition Now by Catherine Carrigan, available in paperback, ebook and audiobook

There are four different ways your soul communicates with you:

  • Claircognizance – that’s my primary gift – where you just know stuff
  • Clairaudience – where you hear stuff
  • Clairsentience – where you pick up information by feeling the energy, emotions and vibe of a person, place or thing
  • Clairvoyance – where you receive information from your soul through visions, inner pictures, signs in nature or by quite literally seeing the energy around others such as being able to read an aura.

As I’m always saying, all of these gifts are valuable, informative and important.

Although over time you may be able to open all these gifts, more than likely one or two will come most easily to you. 

Above all it’s crucial that you learn how your soul communicates with you. 

To make matters a bit complicated, you also use one gift primarily for your soul communication.

You use another gift for receiving information about your body.

You use another gift for your family, the people under your roof, your tribe.

And finally you use another gift in your work.

I’ll take myself for example.

My soul communicates with me through claircognizance. This is the same gift that the medical intuitive Edgar Cayce had. 

Just like Edgar Cayce, I do not need to see someone, put my hands on them or even talk to them to know what is wrong or what will make that person better.

For the past three years I’ve been working with a healing center in Costa Rica run by the great healer Darin McBratney.

I do a complete medical intuitive reading going over what I refer to as the five levels of healing: the physical body, the energy system, the emotions, the mind and the soul.

In my 10th book Reading the Soul, I explain what I look for at the soul level. 

Reading the Soul by Catherine Carrigan

Reading the Soul by Catherine Carrigan

Before anybody ever gets to Costa Rica, I receive a short form that person has filled out. 

Joe Blow lives in Seattle, eats peanut butter and jelly for lunch, and wants to get rid of Parkinson’s Disease.

Then I write a full report for one hour to one and a half hours explaining what’s going on with his body, energy system, emotions, mind and soul. I also make recommendations for the people at the healing center in Costa Rica so they will know what will work to make that person better.

It’s incredibly rewarding and fun for me to be part of a team of healers dedicated to serving the planet.

Sometimes I receive a photograph, often I don’t receive a photograph.

Sometimes people fill out their form in depth and often they don’t say much other than their name, address and birthdate. 

And still I use my claircognizance to listen from my soul to their soul about what that person needs at this point in their life.

My second gift – the gift I use for my body – is clairaudience. That means I will hear information specifically related to my physical well being.

My third gift – the gift I use for my family – is clairsentience. That means I can tune in to how anybody in my family feels and can tell you very specifically how they are feeling. Since clairsentience is my gift for my home and family I also like a home that is incredibly comfy. The dog can sit on the couch. People come and never want to leave. Even one year the pest control inspector, after inspecting my home for bugs, said to me, “Your house has really great energy.”

Finally my fourth gift – the gift I use in my work – is clairvoyance. I will receive a picture, a symbol, an image. I will see the organs that are calling out for attention. 

I understand how my gifts work and which gifts I use most often in particular areas so when energy and information comes in I comprehend what’s happening.

For you to lead a soul directed life you must learn how your own intuitive guidance actually works.

That’s such an important concept I will say it again another way.

If you don’t understand how your soul communicates with you, you may waste a lot of time or even miss important signals.

And I’ll say it again yet another way.

If you don’t understand how your own intuition works you may never learn how to trust yourself fully and completely.

So let’s now go into the weeds and learn about claircognizance, clairaudience, clairsentience and clairvoyance.

Let me give you the short version.

If you want more, please read or listen to the audiobook Unlimited Intuition Now by Catherine Carrigan.

Claircognizance:

Strengths:

You just know stuff

You get advance warning

You know what you know with zero supporting evidence

You know information about topics you have never studied, people you have never met, places you have never been 

When you want an answer you receive the answer within 30 seconds. If it takes longer than that, it’s your ego mind.

Downside:

There’s no supporting evidence so people may think you’re a bit crazy

You receive information so fast it’s easy to come off as brusque or blunt even if you’re not meaning to hurt anyone’s feelings 

In July 2005 I was in London. I was supposed to go into the city on a Thursday to see 10 clients who had been scheduled for appointments. 

A few days before, every time I thought about going into the city I knew I would have trouble coming back. 

I even went into Covent Garden on the tube the day before, in and back, no problem.

But I cancelled all 10 clients for that Thursday.

I’m sure everybody was put out with me until terrorists blew up the subway that mornings, killing over 50 people.

That’s claircognizance.

Clairaudience:

Strengths:

You are an excellent public speaker

You are good at channeling 

You hear what’s not being said

You receive information very very quickly, also within 30 seconds.

Downside:

Because you literally hear information inside your head, it’s easy to confuse your soul guidance with your own thoughts

You receive information so quickly and communicate so rapidly you may overlook how that needs to be said, thereby hurting other people’s feelings inadvertently, such as “That shirt makes you look old.”

Years ago I was at a stoplight. The light turned green and by all legal rights it was my turn to move ahead. However, I heard very clearly, “Stop.” So I stopped. At that exact moment a speeding car on the other side of the intersection ran the red light on their side. If I had been in the middle of the intersection I would have been legally correct and also dead.

That’s clairaudience.

Clairsentience:

Strengths:

Probably the easiest of all the psychic gifts to develop

You pick up the vibe 

You feel what other people are feeling

You are able to communicate kindly because you intuitively know what others are feeling 

You have strong emotional intelligence

You are good at Reiki and other forms of energy healing 

Downside:

You confuse what you’re feeling with what other people are feeling

You lack good boundaries

You process other people’s emotions becoming easily overwhelmed, anxious or depressed 

You suffer from low self esteem because you don’t honor your own emotional intelligence

You are easily overwhelmed and don’t know how to stay out of other people’s stuff, world crises or bad news 

When I’m doing a medical intuitive reading I can often feel where the energy is stuck in a person’s body. “You’re feeling congestion in your throat and chest,” I will say to my client.

That’s clairsentience.

Clairvoyance:

Strengths:

You receive information in pictures, symbols or signs from nature

You can see other people’s energy field

You are good at interior decorating, art and outer beauty

You make the world a beautiful place 

You are good at planning 

Weaknesses:

Because you are stuck in your picture of the world you often need to visualize not just one but two alternatives to get unstuck

If you can’t see it you don’t trust it 

You are so focused on making things appear beautiful you often overlook how things will feel underneath

For me, I receive signs from nature.

Recently in March of this year, a barred owl came and sat in a tree in my garden. You can read the blog I wrote about it at this link.

I could go for years searching for owls and never seeing a single one and this year I have owls following me everywhere, following me when I walk my dog, staring deep into my soul, spreading their wings and flying directly over my head. I know that I’m currently working with the Owl power animal, symbol of wisdom, ability to see in the darkness, hearing what isn’t being said and fearless magic.

That’s clairvoyance.

So as you hear about these various soul gifts you may find yourself recognizing how you receive information.

In my work as a medical intuitive healer, I also identify how your soul communicates with you, how you get in the way of your own soul guidance and what you can do to remove the blocks to living a more soul directed life.

So what gets in the way of your soul communication?

  • Your shadow. You can read more about how to keep your shadow from ruining your life at this link.
  • Your ego mind
  • Thinking you have to know everything
  • Wanting to be right – and who doesn’t enjoy being right at least occasionally?
  • Wanting to know how everything is all going to turn out before you put in any effort
  • Not making time to listen to your soul
  • Being too busy 
  • Not trusting yourself 
  • Wanting to appear perfect
  • Wanting to appear like you are a spiritual person even though you don’t allow yourself to be guided by your soul
  • Lack of a personal practice to connect with your soul, e.g., no prayer or meditation practice
  • Fear of being alone
  • Fear of facing what you’re really feeling
  • Fear of hearing what you don’t want to hear
  • Fear of the supernatural
  • Thinking that if you listen to your soul what you hear might go against your religion
  • Repetitive thoughts, worries and obsessive compulsive disorder
  • Anxiety and depression 
  • Not knowing how to get to neutral so that you can be open to receiving whatever information your soul wants to share
  • Living in survival mode so that you think everything is about money
  • Not trusting the universe to take care of you
  • Taking drugs – either psychiatric drugs or what I refer to as “stupid” drugs e.g. marijuana, cocaine, LSD, etc.
  • Thinking you have to go somewhere else or take something to receive your inner visions or hear what your soul wants to say
  • Being an uncontrolled empath
  • Not having good boundaries
  • Overusing your psychic gifts for others and not enough for yourself
  • Thinking you are all alone in the world when you are actually surrounded 24/7 by angels. You can see photographs of angels around my home and healing room at this link.
  • PTSD, being trapped by old dramas and never having overcome your wounded child
  • Wanting everything your soul communicates to make sense immediately
  • Not being okay with the mystery of life
  • Wanting to have your entire life mapped out ahead of time

As you can see, there are many ways that you may get in the way of your own soul guidance.

In my work as a medical intuitive healer, I do healing work to release the blocks to you receiving your own soul guidance.

When I was studying medical intuition, I learned, “Our job is to show up and get completely out of the way.”

Even though I have published 10 books, run the Natural Healing Show for UK Health Radio and have studied all over the world, even though I was Phi Beta Kappa at Brown University, I know that I quite literally don’t know anything.

My job is to listen. My job is to be totally present and allow the soul of the person I’m reading to share with me whatever it is that person needs to know right now. 

What is healing? Healing happens when you learn to follow your own soul guidance.

To set up an appointment for a medical intuitive reading or healing work, please email catherine@catherinecarrigan or call 678-612-8816. If you are calling internationally, please call me at the same number through WhatsApp so I can return your call toll free!