Intuitive Decision Making With Applications in Aromatherapy –

Originally Posted November – December 2009

Intuitive Decision Making With Applications in Aromatherapy *
by Dr. David Stewart

We all rely upon our five physical senses for daily living. Consciously or unconsciously, we also all rely upon our intuitions as a sixth and additional source of information, but few people realize or recognize this fact. Fewer still consciously practice to develop and increase their intuitive capabilities. Furthermore, the most effective use of essential oils requires the use of intuition while the oils themselves provide us with a means to enhance and develop the extrasensory abilities necessary for the practice of therapeutic aromatherapy.**

It is impossible live our daily lives entirely by reason and logic because the mind requires data upon which to base its reason and logic. The urgencies of life require us to make decisions daily for which we have only incomplete information. It is usually impractical to wait until a complete set of data have been gathered before making most decisions. In making a business deal or in entering any relationship with another individual, we must often make character judgments without complete knowledge of a person’s integrity or competence. Hence, we must make our decisions by means other than logic. We can reason to a point, but then must jump to a decision, right or wrong, based on the best information we have, incomplete though it may be.

This situation is particularly true in applying essential oils for therapeutic purposes. There are hundreds of oils that can be applied in dozens of ways. How can we know which oil to use in which way in any particular circumstance? While we have our experience and knowledge of the oils and have access to good references, we still often lack the complete information we need to make a completely logical choice based on fact. Yet we often make a right choice with the right oils and healing takes place. It is impossible to be an effective healer and anointer with oils without some level of intuitive ability.

When our intuitions are working, we can jump to the best and most valid conclusions and live a fruitful and happy life even though our senses have not and cannot provide all the information necessary for logical conclusions based on fact. Successful people in all fields (science, business, government, engineering, the arts, etc.) are people who trust and follow their intuitions, one way or another.

IT TAKES PRACTICE

Without exercise no faculty can be developed. We all recognize the necessity to practice physically to develop coordination and strength in our muscles for achievement in any sport. We also recognize the necessity to practice mentally, by drill and study, to develop memory power and reasoning acumen in our minds for intellectual achievement.

We don’t expect to be expert tennis players the first time we walk out on the court with a racket in our hands. We are neither surprised nor upset when we play poorly in the beginning, but we expect to get better and better with time and practice. We do not say, “Tennis is an impossible sport and I don’t believe in it,” just because we cannot hit the ball with perfect aim in the first game.

Similarly, we are neither surprised nor upset that we cannot work all the problems in the calculus text the first day we enter a college math class. We expect that most of the course matter will be unclear and even incomprehensible for a while. But we do expect to get better in acquiring mathematical facility and understanding with time and practice. We would never say, “Calculus is an invalid system of mathematics and I don’t believe in it,” just because we cannot comprehend or use it to its fullest in the first week of instruction.

The same ideas apply to the development of our intuitions. We all have muscles. We all have a mind. We all know that we can improve our physical and mental abilities with practice over a period of time. We don’t expect ourselves to produce instant demonstrations of success on the physical or mental planes. Yet we sometimes make the mistake of demanding instant proof for the efficacy of our intuitive faculties without any study, training, effort, exercise, understanding, or practice.

FAITH AND BELIEF

We all have intuitions just as surely as we all have minds and bodies. Intuition is a God-given gift, an integral part of the Divine image in which we are all created. The ability for intuition perception is an attribute of our Creator which we naturally inherit as His special progeny. (Genesis 1:26-27) A genetic propensity for music does not make one a great musician. Along with talent there must be an investment of effort to develop that talent. (Matthew 25: 14-19) In order to expand and sharpen our intrinsic intuitive potentials, we must practice and exercise, just as we must do in all other departments of our lives. Before we can do that, we must gain some comprehension of what intuition is, what it is like, and how it functions. But before we can do that, we must acknowledge and believe that we have an intuition.

It is not likely that a person would become a champion weight lifter if they do not believe in muscles. Nor is it likely that a person would become a great chess player or an accomplished mathematician if they have no faith in logic. Neither can a person expect to manifest a sensitive and highly refined intuition if they are overcome with skepticism and have no confidence in their own intuitive potential. The athlete who doubts his or her ability will never excel. The student who doubts his or her capacity to learn severely limits his or her future for academic accomplishment.

Likewise, a person ridden with doubt concerning their intuitive abilities will find that their doubt confirms their disbelief. They will almost surely fail to demonstrate their own latent intuitive talents. At the same time, they will probably not understand that their failure to manifest such talent is self-inflicted. Hence, belief is the first and fundamental requisite in the development of intuition. Some would call such belief a matter of “trust” or “faith.”

Some gifts cannot manifest except in an atmosphere and environment of trust and belief. When Jesus healed people, following the miracle he often refused to accept credit, saying, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Matt. 9:22, 29; Mark 5:34, 10:52; Luke 8:48, 17:19, 18:42) In other words, Jesus’ healing power flowing through him from God was effective only if the receiver was receptive and had a believing attitude. God does not heal us against our wills. Unless we cooperate by our trust and belief, we block His grace and cannot receive his blessings.

The classical scientific attitude is one of skepticism. “One must prove before one believes.” This is a fundamental dictum of objective science. However, when it comes to some topics, such as intuition or a sixth sense, an attitude of disbelief is self-defeating. In the field of intuitive phenomena, the experimenter and his or her attitude are part of the experiment and influence the outcome. Negative attitudes toward intuition result in negative results that would seem to negate the intuitive faculty. The classical scientific approach does not work. To prove, manifest, and demonstrate properties of the sixth sense, “One must believe before one can prove,” or at least, “One must temporarily suspend one’s disbelief.”

There is an essential oil blend that can help us to clear our doubts, increase our self-confidence, strengthen our belief in the innate intuitive abilities we possess. That blend is called “Believe.” It is available from Young Living. Other oil blends designed to reinforce our confidence and awaken our intuitive powers are “Envision,” “Awaken,” “Highest Potential,” and “Magnify Your Purpose.”

We begin this writing by first defining intuition and how it relates to other faculties, such as reason and sense perception. We shall relate intuition to science. Then we shall show how you already use intuition in your daily life, even though unconsciously, and how you can strengthen and develop it for greater practical utility. We shall then discuss some applications of these principles as they may be used in healing and the uses of essential oils.

WHAT IS INTUITION?

Intuition is a directly-perceiving faculty which at once knows the truth about anything. Although it is possessed by all people there are degrees to which it is individually expressed. Some do so daily and consciously to a high level of sensitivity. Others only manifest their intuition occasionally and usually not consciously. Still others are never aware of the latent powers of the sixth sense that resides within them. Nevertheless, it is there waiting to be used by everyone.

Intuitive perception requires no medium of sense experience or reason. True intuition comes to you as a calm, haunting feeling. It must never be confused with emotion, passion, obsession, wishful thinking, or the delusive voices of imagination. Real intuition can never be wrong. It does not consist merely in believing a thing firmly or doggedly in blind faith, but in knowing it directly and unmistakably. Intuition gives us knowledge of things without requiring any objective or inferential data. Intuition is not a matter of simple belief. It is a matter of direct experience.

Intuition will harmoniously compliment a right sense of physical perception or logic. Intuition will never contradict pure reason, accurate discernment’s of the five senses, nor the valid insights of science. All things known by intuition are invariably true in all areas of human consciousness–material, social, rational, physical, scientific, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual. The opposite, however, is not true. In other words, the information that comes to us by the five senses, by our powers of inference, or by scientific methods, alone, may or may not lead us to correct or complete views of reality.

True intuition is not limited by time. It can perceive the past, the present, and the future equally well. Furthermore, intuition can perceive complete, complex pictures of a situation in a flash, just as a camera can record the details of an entire landscape in a split second. Intuition is also instantaneous and not subject to the Einsteinian restrictions of relativity or the upper limits of the speed of light. A message relayed by radio from the moon to earth takes about 1.2 seconds to travel that distance. A thought message from a lunar astronaut on the moon could be relayed and received intuitively by a person on earth instantaneously with no travel time lapse at all.

True intuition is not restricted by space. It can know of things and events nearby as well as those far away. The intensity and clarity of intuitively received information does not diminish with distance like the rays of a spreading light beam. Intuitively received data is not subject to the Newtonian field equations, inverse to the square of the distance, such as with the forces of gravity, physical magnetism, or the transmission of radio waves. A Boston television station may be received clearly throughout a restricted local metropolitan area, but its radiations would be too diffused and distorted to be received a few hundred miles away in Washington DC. However, a clairvoyant in Boston could, through their developed intuition, perceive as well at a distance in the District of Columbia, and beyond, as they could within the radius of the Boston area.

One does not need to be a chess master or a tennis champion to enjoy playing the game. Neither does one have to be an accomplished virtuoso to play pleasant and enjoyable music on the piano. Likewise, you don’t have to wait until your intuition has been developed and tuned to perfection before the benefits begin.

The point we wish to make is that your intuitive faculty is probably your most important in terms of its potential to help you in living a successful and happy life. Even a little expression of your intuition can be applied in useful ways and contribute materially to your life’s accomplishments. The person of highly refined intuitive faculties can always know what they need to know in any situation at the time and place that they need it. The development of such a useful tool costs only the investment of time and right effort. The innate potential is within us all.

Luke 17:21 declares that “The Kingdom of God is within you.” That is to say, God’s attributes bequeathed to us by our creation as His children in His image are within each and every one of us. Tuning in with your intuition is tuning in with God’s ever-present guidance within us. Developing our intuition is learning how to eliminate the barriers between our consciousness and that of God within us so that we can always hear his silent speaking voice whispering to us at all times. Because true intuition is communication with God which is why true intuition can never be wrong. It stems from an infallible source.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMOTION AND INTUITION

If true intuition is always right, “How does one know the difference between feelings that are truly intuitive, and therefore true, and those that are mere imaginings and emotions that are fallible and probably not true?” The answer is simple. There is an easy test. If your feelings are calm and you are deeply at peace with your perceptions, then you can rely on them as valid. If you feel even a little bit uneasy, then you need to re-evaluate and check in with your intuition again. When you repeatedly and honestly explore your feelings about something and always find a deep calm reassurance, without even a ripple of restlessness, then you can know for a certainty you are on a right track. That peace is God’s reassurance. What we are talking about here is spiritual discernment, a gift for which we can pray and receive. (I Corinthians 12:10, 31)

Those addicted to gambling experience frequent hunches which they feel are certain winners. But their desire to win and their compulsion to play is so strong that they are not in a proper state of mental calmness and detachment to be capable of knowing the truth. Driven by uncontrollable desire and deluded by their emotional feelings, they repeatedly surrender to the urge to gamble again and again in spite of serial losses. Attempting to use intuition for selfish or otherwise questionable purposes almost always fails. Holding unwholesome self-centered desires, unethical impulses, or immoral thoughts places a block in your consciousness that prevents true intuition from functioning and takes away our ability to discern good from bad, right from wrong, truth from falsehood.

One way to make a quick check on a question you have on your mind is to take a slow deep breath to a count of, say, 10, and then hold it for the same count followed by a slow exhale to the same count. Do this several times and then relax, focusing your attention within. Immediately after a few of these controlled breaths, most people will be in a temporary state of calmness wherein they can think of whatever it is you need to know such that whatever answer comes at that moment will be correct. If, during this calm period, you think of your subject and feel uneasy or nervous, then you know something is wrong. It is really as simple as that, but for most people it takes practice.

When seeking an intuitive answer your mind and heart must be free of desires and preconceived notions without anticipating any particular answer, detached from any thought of what the true answer might be. If we have a preconceived idea of the answer, we are placing a barrier between ourselves and the reality we seek, making it inaccessible to our ability to perceive. That is why a state of desireless, humble, expectant, and trusting calm is the canvas upon which truth can paint its infallible and undistorted picture. A true image of the moon does not reflect from the disturbed surface of a lake; only an unruffled water surface free of any disturbances can reflect a true undistorted mirror image. To receive an accurate intuitive message, our minds must be as calm as a sea of glass, without a wave or ripple. Since such a state would be very difficult to maintain for long periods of time, we will discuss techniques later in this article where such peace and calm can be achieved momentarily, long enough to receive the answers we seek.

The only limit is that some people are in such a state of chronic inner restlessness that much of the time they are unable to calm themselves, even momentarily, to a level where accurate judgments can be made in evaluating the validity of a thought or perception. Our ego must also be out of the picture otherwise personal desires, emotional attachments, or preconceived notions can mask our judgment and blind us to truth. Achieving such a calm state is something that can be learned and sufficiently mastered by disciplined practice. More on this later.

LEVELS OF INTUITIONAL PROFICIENCY

All people possess the same potential for perfected intuition. Few, however, realize and manifest even a fraction of that potential. Accounts of Jesus manifesting perfect intuition are cited numerous times throughout the New Testament. When Jesus intuitively read the thoughts, history, and status of the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is a good example. (John 4:16-29) Furthermore, Jesus stated that we all have the potential to do the marvelous works he did (including applications of our intuitions), “and even greater works we shall do.” (John 14:12) St. Paul mentions the gift of prophecy (which is a manifestation of intuition) to which he adds that we should “covet earnestly the best gifts.” (I Corinthians 12:10, 31)

In practical terms, as it is actually used and expressed by people like us who are as yet unperfected as in Christ, intuition can be classified into three categories: (1) Latent Intuition; (2) Semi-Developed Intuition; and (3) Consciously Developed Intuition.

People with latent intuition are not conscious of their intuitive capabilities and often believe that what they know comes entirely through the senses and by the faculties of the mind. Although they do not recognize the source, even people such as these can occasionally receive information from their undeveloped intuitions. People who believe only in the senses blunder in their search for knowledge because they try to apply only their sensory perceptions and the power of inference, which are built on the data furnished by the senses. If the data is wrong, their inferences will also be wrong.

For instance, seeing a cloud of dust on a distant hill, one may take it to be smoke and conclude the presence of a fire, although there is no fire. The power of the senses depends upon the sense organs and the power of logic depends on input from the sense organs upon which to base its premises. By contrast, intuition is knowledge from within and does not depend upon any data offered by the senses or the mind.

People with only latent levels of intuition still may have occasional intuitive feelings, which they may follow, even though they are unwilling or unable to recognize them as such. Depending upon an undeveloped intuitional faculty is dangerous, however. Errors are made by people who fail to distinguish between a real intuitional hunch and their predetermined convictions. Instead of acting upon true intuitional feelings, many people are more easily persuaded by their conditioned beliefs and emotional biases born of intellectual experience, social environment, culture of birth, family upbringing, early religious training, professional discipline, habits, prejudice, superstition, partial uniformity of events seeming to justify a certain prediction, or the delusion of “because it happened many times before it must happen again.” Such people may think that they are acting “intuitively,” but they are not. They will find themselves often wrong in their “hunches.” True intuition is never wrong.

Men and women of keen intellectual understanding or pure undisturbed feeling usually have semi-developed intuition. This is a result of unconscious but proper development of reason and feeling. Pure reason and calm feeling lead to intuition. Men and women who concentrate deeply over a period of time in the study and pursuit of a single field, business, or occupation can develop true intuitive capabilities in that area because of their dedication and single-minded focus. Thus, a midwife or good doctor or healer with essential oils can unconsciously develop a keen, useful, and reliable sense by which they can successfully apply their skills and knowledge. Although they might not call it “intuition” and do not regularly practice scientific techniques to develop such faculties, they are usually aware of the reliability of their feelings in certain situations and realize that there are times when they know “the right thing to do” even in the absence of an adequate set of intellectual facts or data to guide them.

Those in the third category of “consciously developed intuition,” fully acknowledge their possession of a “sixth sense.” They study and regularly practice ways to enhance and increase their intuitive skills. They also find that as their intuitive abilities become more receptive and finely tuned, they are also better able to apply and analyze what they receive through the senses. Their mental prowess and faculties of reason also improve. Thus, as they seek to make more and more of their daily decisions by intuition, they also receive better data by their senses and can organize and assimilate it better in their mind.

Sometimes factual, scientific, or intellectual data is needed. Those of highly developed intuition can simply broadcast their need to the universe and the universe will respond. (Matthew 7:8, 21:22; Luke 11:10) Many times the desired data will materialize and present itself to the seeker without the seeker actually engaging in a search for it. Other times a bit of searching is required, but during the search you are intuitively led to the right sources in the most efficient ways. By posing an intuitive query with the faith that your request will be answered, it will be answered, but you must be patient and alert to recognize the answer when it comes. I have successfully employed this faculty of intuition many times.

There are many levels of sensitivity among those who consciously strive to develop their intuitive capacities, from those beginning on the path of planned personal growth to those of near perfection. At the highest levels one realizes that sense perception, inferential reasoning, and intuition working together constitute the whole proof about the nature of anything. People who set themselves upon a course of daily self-improvement which includes the conscious development of their intuition are on the road to success in anything they choose to do–be it business, science, politics, spiritual work, professional health care, personal living, social reform, applied aromatherapy, or raising a happy, healthy family.

INTUITION, REASON, AND RESEARCH

We have alluded to the relationships between reason, science, and feeling in the previous paragraphs. In the following section we shall more completely clarify the roles, the capabilities, the limitation, and the interrelationships between intuition, reason, science, and feeling.

In these modern times of reason and science, people like to think that their decisions are logical and scientific. The assumption is that if it is logical and scientific, it must be the best. This, however, is merely an assumption or an act of misplaced faith. Many times that which appears logical or that which is based upon the scientific method is not best. It can even be harmful.

It is not that logic and/or science are invalid forms of analysis and inquiry. It is just that they are limited in their scope of practical applicability. It is also a case where people, in general, and many professionals, in particular, do not truly understand the limits of reason, the limits of science, nor even their correct application. But even when logic and the scientific method are applied to their fullest proper extent, they cannot form the sole basis for decision making in such personal and complex matters as raising a family or with human health and healing. In most of our daily activities, we must apply other means by which to make our decisions for living.

There are two kinds of logic: Inductive and Deductive. Inductive logic reasons from the particular to the general. Deductive logic reasons from the general to the particular. Both kinds of logic can be applied appropriately and validly or inappropriately and invalidly. Even when applied with validity, according to the rules of logic, the conclusion so derived will only be correct if the premises are correct.

Scientific studies in health care deal with populations and averages from which general principles are obtained. It may be a matter of scientific observation that an average human pregnancy is nine months from conception to birth. To deduce from this generalization that somehow every normal pregnancy should last nine months is an invalid application of deductive logic. One does not expect all the apples to fall ripe from the tree on the same day in the Fall even though their parent blossoms may have all bloomed at the same time in the Spring. Data that are true in general are not necessarily true in the particular and, in fact, are not true in particular most of the time.

As another example of wrong inductive logic, an individual who receives a session of Raindrop Technique or other application of essential oils may find no personally discernible benefit and conclude from that one experience that oils and Raindrop, in general, have no value. This is an example of an invalid application of inductive logic, i.e. using the outcome of one particular experience with oils or Raindrop as representative of oils or Raindrop in general. Medically trained personnel are cautioned not to base their practices on individual experiences, which they refer to as “anecdotes,” but to rather rely on bodies of statistical data. Even so, doctors are often guilty of faulty inductive reasoning when they reject whole modalities of valid healing outside of allopathy, (such as aromatherapy), by basing their opinions on secondhand anecdotes. While modern medicine provides many benefits, some lifesaving, especially in emergency situations, it is also rife with many fallacies, both inductive and deductive.

Modern medicine is primarily based on deductive logic, applying general information to particular cases. Allopathic physicians are trained to administer their treatments and prescriptions in a statistical, impersonal fashion, not on an individual, personal basis. Their scientific references provide information in general which is then applied to individuals in particular. If, in general, a significant percent of patients they treat get better, they can be satisfied with their practice even though some individuals do not benefit, and some are even injured or damaged by their statistical approach. For a physician to deal with each individual as a unique person with unique needs and responses, in addition to their objective assessments of blood pressure, temperature, and other parameters measurable by instruments and physical observation, they would be required to evaluate their patients intuitively as well.

Allopathic health care providers are neither trained nor encouraged to develop their intuitive skills and, in fact, are discouraged from deviating from a statistical approach backed by data and reason. Health care tailored specifically to the individual can only be provided by intuitive practitioners who, while applying their logic and intellectual knowledge, also recognize the limits of logic and intellect. It is the same in applying essential oils for healing or wellness. Only by a combination of aromatherapy knowledge, data, and intuitive judgment can one receive the optimal benefits available through essential oils.

The problem with logic or reason is that all logic can do is to manipulate information. Logic is not a means to acquire information, only a means to rearrange it in a fashion consistent with itself. If the information is incorrect or incomplete, logic will lead you astray. One can apply perfect logic to imperfect information and arrive at completely erroneous conclusions. This is a problem with the scientific method which is confined in its conclusions to available data, which is never complete. Thus, science is fallible and during its history has often been unknowingly wrong until years later when new data are uncovered.

The Bible has a cautionary verse addressing this: “Guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the profane chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called science, which some, by professing it, have missed the mark as regards the faith.” (I Timothy 6:20)

Conclusions derived from logic are no better than the premises from which they start. Logic does not produce premises. It only works with them. You must get your basic information in other ways independent of logic, such as by sensory perceptions, intuition, or the scientific method. Logic is good for arranging and organizing information into useful forms and as a test of internal consistency. Logic, alone, is neither a pathway to truth, nor a means to acquire facts.

INTUITION AND THE SCIENTIST

Science is really nothing more than a highly refined methodology for testing and analyzing data received through the five senses, including the data measured by instruments designed to enhance or amplify our physical awareness. A telescope, for example, is but an amplified extension of the human eye. Computers are also of great utility in scientific analysis, but are actually only expanded extensions of the human brain. Science, at its best, is really a sophisticated form of sense perception combined with rigorous and intricate applications of logic, often in the form of mathematics. While intuition is often applied by the best of scientists in the creativity of their experiments and the elegance of their theories, intuition, as such, has no defined place within the scientific method as practiced today.

There are many good scientists who have the insight, foresight, and courage to correctly perceive their conclusions ahead of their experiments. They formulate their visions into a hypothesis and then set up a research plan to acquire the data by which to fill in the gap between their intuitively perceived conclusions and the body of scientific knowledge already established. The most brilliant scientists often perceive the end first and then work backwards in an orderly sequence of logic and data to connect their foreseen conclusion with current levels of intellectual understanding. By connecting what they know by intuition to the level of understanding of the scientific community with a set of logical or mathematical steps supported by experimental data, intuitive scientists can make their insights available to ordinary non-intuitive people who can comprehend by mental processes what they would not be capable of understanding by their currently undeveloped intuitions.

However, when scientists publish their work, they seldom admit to the true order of events. According to the taboos of science, you are not supposed to jump to conclusions. You are supposed to proceed step by step by experiment and inference to whatever conclusions you may be led. So that is the way scientists write up their work for technical publications, whether that was entirely the way it happened or not. They report measurements, A and B, and then the conclusion, C. They are never supposed to admit that perhaps they already intuitively sensed C before they set up their experiment to acquire the data, A and B, which, by logical rearrangement, concludes to C. Therefore, there is sometimes a discrepancy between what processes good scientists use and what they report. Intuition is often employed in the accomplishment of good scientific works, but it is professionally forbidden to admit it publicly.

EXAMPLES OF INTUITIVE SCIENTISTS

Even so, some scientists do talk about intuition. Albert Einstein, whose intuitive senses were highly developed and whose insights unlocked some of the most profound secrets of the universe, once remarked that, “Man’s imagination is the most important faculty of all. It is the preview of life’s coming events.” When he used the word “imagination,” he was referring to what we call, “intuition.” When Einstein envisioned his Theory of Relativity, he knew his vision was true even though, at the time, there were no scientific measurements to verify his theory. Among other things, his theory included the idea that time does not flow at the same rate for everyone, but is relative to one’s frame of reference. In order to present his theory to the scientific community, he had to find a way to make an intellectual connection between what he knew by way of intuition to what ordinary people can only know by way of reason. In the process of articulating and explaining his theory, he developed a field of mathematics called “tensor calculus.”

Isaac Newton was also a scientist of great intuitional insight. The story goes that the natural law of universal gravitation came to him in a flash of inspiration while sitting under an apple tree. By his intuition, he leaped to a conclusion concerning the nature of gravity. It took him eleven years from the time he knew the answer to the time he could logically defend it. In the process he had to create and develop a whole new system of mathematical logic which, today, we call “differential calculus.” We can now use the calculus to deduce Newton’s laws, but Newton knew the laws intuitively before the data and the logical mechanics were available. Newton did two things for us. He first gave us a true answer which he arrived at by intuition. He then built an elegant system of mathematics by which those of us who lack his level of intuitional sensitivity can proceed step by step, intellectually, to arrive at the same conclusion.

Another example of intuition in scientific discovery is given by August Kekule, a German chemist who had long puzzled over the behavior and chemical bonds of a useful industrial compound consisting of six carbon atoms and six hydrogen atoms. Scientists had studied and theorized about this compound for 40 years, yet still could not explain its structure. One evening Kekule had a dream of a snake biting its own tail. Kekule awoke “as if struck by lightning” to the realization that the structure he sought was in the shape of a hexagon or ring. This heretofore unknown property of carbon atoms, the ability to form rings, was later verified by measurements but only decades later when sufficient technology had been developed to measure it. But the discovery and description of the structure of the Benzene Ring first came entirely by intuition. Kekule was awarded a Nobel Prize for his discovery.

D. Gary Young is the founder and president of Young Living Essential Oils, Inc. He is a pioneer and leading world authority on the cultivation of herbs and the distillation of therapeutic grade essential oils. He is an intuitive healer and scientist. Back in the 1980’s Gary developed a protocol called Raindrop Technique for correcting scoliosis. The technique employs seven different species of single essential oils, two essential blends, and a massage oil which are applied to the feet and/or spine. Most of the oils used in Raindrop Technique are highly antimicrobial. Gary conceived and devised the technique on the idea that scoliosis can be caused by viruses hibernating along the spine and that application of antimicrobial oils would kill the viruses and facilitate a correction in the spinal misalignment.

At the time, there was no scientific research to corroborate his theory. Even though thousands of people received Raindrop Technique over the next decade whose scoliosis was corrected through the procedure, Young was criticized and ridiculed by aromatherapists, scientists, and medical authorities for espousing an “unproven theory.” Despite the professional disapproval and lack of scientific corroboration, Young stuck unwaveringly to his intuitive conviction. Approximately 15 years after he first articulated his theory and protocol to address scoliosis as a viral disease, he was proven right. Scientific research eventually emerged that showed, indeed, that there were viruses residing along the spines of many who suffer from scoliosis and that it was a primary causal agent.

Young is particularly gifted in seeing beyond present science and the limited understanding of our times. Over the years, he has made numerous prophetic leaps of faith that have revealed truths which, at the time, were not scientifically substantiated, but where he has been repeatedly proven right when the research became available. When potential clients for his clinic question Young’s methods as being unscientific, he has been quoted as saying, “Do you want to follow what I feel to be an effective protocol for you to be healed right now or do you want to wait until science has proven it before we start the therapy?”

When you are suffering from an acute disease or serious life-threatening condition, you cannot wait to find a “scientific” solution that has yet to be discovered. You need effective therapy right now by whatever means obtained. Calling upon intuition bypasses the delays of lagging science and goes directly to a solution now, in present time.

D. Gary Young is a living example of intuitive science being ahead of traditional science. His many insights are a testimony to the fact that just because something intuitively derived has not been “scientifically proven” does not make it wrong or invalid. However, in choosing a therapy for yourself or family, always test it by your intuition, whether it’s origin be scientific or intuitive. The bottom line is not whether or not the therapy is considered right for you by a doctor of medical science or a practitioner of the intuitive arts. The bottom line, valid for you, is whether your personal intuition says “yes” or “no.” In protecting and maintaining your own health, you must learn to trust your own feelings and thoughts above those of others, however competent and skilled those others may be. It is your body and only you have firsthand communication with it.

STATISTICAL HEALTH CARE VS. INDIVIDUAL CARE

Hence, we see that intuition does play a part in the best of scientific endeavors, even though its role is rarely mentioned nor made public. At this time, intuition is not considered an essential or relevant part of the scientific method, as such. The problem with science, as now practiced, is that it is only a method by which we test hypotheses. Science is a good method for research, but a poor method by which to live and make daily decisions, personally or professionally. Given an idea, scientists can set up tests and experiments to confirm or disprove the idea to one extent or another. In complex phenomena, such as the functions of the human body, the best science can do is to describe things statistically. That is to say, that given these conditions there is such and such probability that so and so will or will not happen.

The problem with statistical information comes when we need to know what to do now, today, in this specific situation, when there is no time to wait for science to advise us. For example, in the midst of labor during a birth progress with a particular mother and a particular baby, what does the midwife or birth attendant do now, today, on the spot? In the midst of a crises such as having a seizure, and you have essential oils available, which oils do you apply and where? Or would you opt for another course to take? Statistical data cannot give you the right answer in a specific case. It can only define a set of boundaries within which the right answer is most likely to be found.

Sometimes scientific data can be a hindrance to common sense and good judgment. Sometimes reliance upon what seems scientific can lead to harm and disaster. Science, alone, can never be the basis for making the best decisions in therapy or health care. Too much confidence in science and factual information can block your intuition from perceiving the best answers. Sometimes we know the right course to take by feeling, but allow our rationale to talk us out of it. Our science and our facts can never be complete, but intuition bypasses our incomplete knowledge and gives us direct access to truth.

In recognition of the inability of science and reason to cope with the on-going decision making of a medical practice, doctors are trained to adhere to routines, protocols, and established practices. In this way all a doctor need do is to intellectually and objectively classify the patient into a category already defined in established medicine, at which point the course to follow is already mapped out. This protects them legally and professionally. Given “these types of data” from “these kinds of tests” on “these sorts of patients” they then prescribe “this or that” regimen of treatment. They go by the book or by the established practice habits of their professional community.

If an allopathic physician does have an intuitive flash about your illness or course of therapy that is different than current medical practice, he or she would be taking a serious legal and professional risk to express it or recommend it to you. Such doctors must stick to “the book,” even when they consider the book to be wrong.

Current medical practice is not individualized care because the factors that make up the uniqueness of the individual are replaced by averages for the many. While this approach relieves the health practitioner of the most challenging processes of decision making, the best it can achieve are the statistical odds upon which it is based. Instead of the best possible course for each particular person, tailored and attuned uniquely for that individual, the official medical approach, the one that will stand up in court, is one that shoots for “acceptable outcomes” averaged over numbers of cases.

Of course, not all physicians practice that way. Some are intuitive. But intuitive doctors are rare and do not represent the mainstream of medicine today. Allopathy is the predominant mode of medical practice today, a philosophy that focuses on symptomatic relief rather than true healing. The main tools of allopathic medicine are drugs, radiation, and surgery applied according to statistical guidelines. For intuitive, personalized health care one must usually seek a provider outside of allopathy.

When it comes to the therapeutic practice of aromatherapy, the dominant approach is intuitive since large bodies of statistical data are not yet available for most essential oils and for most situations where oils can be beneficially applied. Thus, for lack of science, aromatherapy healers are compelled to rely on common sense, anecdotal experiences, and intuition. In this sense, the lack of science does not inhibit or handicap the practice of aromatherapy but, instead, actually forces it to function on a higher level than allopathy. For this reason, there are cures available by therapeutic applications of essential oils not available by allopathic medicine.

INSIGHTS FROM PARAPSYCHOLOGY

Parapsychology is a discipline that applies the scientific method in the study of so-called “psychic phenomena” or “extrasensory perception” (ESP). The field had its beginnings as a formal science in the 1920’s. Parapsychology concerns itself with four different types of extrasensory phenomena: (1) Telepathy (mind reading or thought transference between individuals); (2) Clairvoyance (perception of events or objects at a distance remote from detection by the senses); (3) Precognition (the perceiving of future events); and (4) Psychokinesis (use of mind power to exert forces over external, physical matter). Together, these four areas have come to constitute what is now called “psi,” a word derived from the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet, used in scientific equations to stand for an unknown quantity.

While the field of psi has always had its critics and it’s share of those who refuse to believe even in the existence of its subject matter, it has had the support of some of the world’s most brilliant minds. In the 1920’s, for example, the well-known author, Upton Sinclair, conducted an extended series of experiments in mental telepathy with his wife, Mary. They published a book containing the results of their research that included a preface by Dr. Albert Einstein who endorsed the book and its contents.

Dr. Carl Jung, one of the most influential scientists and psychiatrists of the 20th century, believed in the reality of psi phenomena and studied it. Even the incomparable Dr. Sigmund Freud noted wistfully in 1921, “If I had my life to live over again, I should devote myself to psychical research rather than to psychoanalysis.”

Edgar Mitchell, the astronaut of Apollo 14 fame who visited the moon in 1971, is, by training and experience, a professional engineer, scientist, and test pilot. He excelled in these three categories to the extent of scoring higher than thousands of others who also sought to be selected for the Apollo missions. Since his voyage in space, he has founded a center for the scientific study of psi and collaborated in writing the book, Psychic Exploration.

Thousands of articles and hundreds of volumes of published research data exist in the field of psi. The real existence of the four types of psi phenomena has been repeatedly and conclusively verified. The challenge of parapsychology today is to refine its descriptions of the properties of the various forms of psi, to find and develop practical applications, and to develop ways by which people can awaken and expand their own potential psi abilities.

The term, “intuition,” as it is used in this article, includes all of the first three kinds of psi (i.e. telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition). The fourth manifestation of psi, psychokinesis, which is mind acting on matter, has implications for healing through prayer and affirmation, but this leads us into quantum physics. For a discussion of this aspect of psi, see the booklet entitled, Quantum Physics, Essential Oils, and the Mind-Body Connection, by David Stewart, available from Sound Concepts, (800) 524-4195.

SHEEP-GOAT AND EXPERIMENTER EFFECTS

We can learn something about intuition, how it works and how best to apply it, from the discoveries of parapsychology. There are many insights one can gain into one’s own intuition by the study of parapsychology and we would recommend visiting libraries to find additional reading in this field. For purposes of this article, we wish to discuss only two of the general findings of psychic research: (1) The Sheep-Goat Effect; and (2) The Experimenter Effect.

The so called “sheep-goat effect” was discovered in the early years of psi research and has been reconfirmed many times since. It is simple. It addresses the fact that some people seem to experience or express psi and others not. When subjects participating in a psi experiment believe they will score well, they generally do score well. Such persons have been designated as “sheep” because they are “trusting and accept the possibility of paranormal success” in the experiment. By contrast, when subjects are skeptical about the whole idea of psi or do not believe they will score well, they tend to score worse than chance. These subjects were designated as “goats” because they “balk at the possibility of demonstrating positive psi results” and err in the opposite direction, i.e. below chance. When people consistently and significantly score below chance, this is called “psi-missing.” If there were no such thing as psi, then a person’s attitude in a randomized trial would make no difference. Hence, the fact that disbelievers (goats) score below chance is as much a proof of the existence of psi as the high scores of believers (sheep).

The relevance of the sheep-goat principle to matters of health and healing is relatively obvious. Doubt and fear serve to lock in a disease while belief in a cure is the prelude to healing. This concept is articulated in the New Testament in several places (Matt. 8:13, 9:28, 21:22; Mark 11:24; Luke 8:50). Only the person who is ill is in direct touch with their bodies and the afflictions thereof. The healing process requires the participation of the patient and, among other things, it requires the belief and resonance of heart and mind with wellness and the expectation of healing. This is not only a principle verified by science, but a spiritual principle of the Bible as well.

Similarly, healers and health care professionals who believe in their capabilities for intuitive judgment will manifest such judgment more frequently and reliably than those who do not. Conversely, because of the “psi-missing” phenomena, a person who harbors emotionally charged prejudices against the idea of intuition may, by that strong disbelief, behave less reliably than if they had no opinion at all.

The so called “experimenter effect” in parapsychology is extremely interesting and one that has created great challenges in the accomplishment of psychic research. The effect is this: If psi is real, then how does the experimenter avoid becoming a part of the experiment?

For example, suppose an experimenter is going through a deck of cards one at a time while another person (the subject) is attempting to identify the cards by clairvoyance (seeing at a distance without visual contact). Suppose the results are significantly higher than chance would allow. How does one know if it were, in fact, clairvoyance? Perhaps it was telepathy between experimenter and subject, in which case the telepathic transmission powers of the experimenter might be a more significant factor in the trial than the receiving or clairvoyant powers of the subject. How is one to know?

As another example, suppose an experiment is done where the subject lists the order of a deck of cards in advance of its being shuffled as a test of precognition. Let’s say that after shuffling it is found that there is a high degree of correspondence between the final arrangement of the deck and the list compiled beforehand which cannot be explained by mere chance. Was it precognition? Or was it, perhaps, a case of experimenter clairvoyance after the list was made, followed by psychokinetic forces exerted during the shuffling to bring about a higher than expected correlation. It may sound far-fetched, but if all these different psi phenomena exist, who is to deny the possibility of experimenter interaction in any experiment?

The conclusion of parapsychologists is that you cannot rule out experimenter influence, no matter how you try. One of the problems that plagued the progress of parapsychology in the early years was the difficulty in replicating experimental data. In the physical sciences, it is customary in the development of a specific endeavor for separate researchers to perform the same or similar experiments to see if results can be repeated independently of the researcher.

Corroboration of results by independent researchers at different times and places is one of the most powerful tests of validity in science. What was found early in parapsychological research is that such corroboration was not consistently forthcoming. One group of researchers might repeat an experiment and get results corroborating the first, while a third group might get contradictory results. The sheep-goat effect played a part. Researchers who obtained positive results in support of psi were confirmed by other independent researchers who, like the first, were believers. On the other hand, scientists who were hostile to the idea of psi found that they could repeat the experiments of those with positive indications for psi and obtain data that showed no indication of psi whatsoever, even when both used the same subjects.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS AND HEALERS

An interesting project was designed to test experimenter effects that gives insights of important applicability in the healing and teaching professions. It was observed that when experimenters (the testers) and subjects (those whose abilities were being tested) engaged in simple card identification tests for clairvoyance, telepathy, or precognition, scores were higher between persons who liked one another or who had some mutual rapport.

This observation suggested the following experiment: Two groups of people who did not know each other were given a series of psychological tests to determine their personality traits, likes, and dislikes, etc. With such data, a trained psychologist can predict in advance which pairs of people will like each other and which will not. Based on the tests, experimenters and subjects were paired up into four groups: (1) Experimenter and subject both like each other; (2) Experimenter likes subject, but the subject does not like experimenter; (3) Experimenter does not like subject but subject likes experimenter; and (4) experimenter and subject both dislike each other. (Groups (1) and (2) both scored significantly higher than chance. Group (3) scored no better nor worse than chance. Group (4) scored below what chance statistics would predict. The results of Groups (1) and (4) were predictable by common sense. The results of the two middle groups were surprising. Apparently the experimenter can have a greater influence on the outcome of such a trial than the subject, even though it is supposed to be an experiment to test the subject, not the experimenter.

These results have clear applications in practical life. In education, it is important for teachers and pupils to have an amiable and friendly relationship or the process of learning is going to be inhibited. We know this from our own experience where we have a strong dislike for a teacher, or vice versa, and found it very difficult to learn under those circumstances. In parenting it is of the utmost importance for parents and children to like and love one another for the optimal personal growth of both. When anointing a person with oils or in doing a Raindrop, better results can be expected when both giver and receiver are in rapport. Common sense would tell us these things.

Parapsychological research suggests something to us that common sense may not indicate. For optimal learning on the part of a student, it is more important for the teacher to like the student than for the student to like the teacher. For optimal outcomes from anointing and applications of essential oils, it is more important for the anointer or facilitator to like the client or receiver than the other way around. In other words, teachers who love their students will witness a higher level of learning in their students regardless of whether the students like the teacher or not. Likewise, facilitators who love their clients will witness a higher level of healing in their clients regardless of whether the client likes the facilitator or not. It is important for teachers and healers to know that when they teach or anoint in love, they have provided the optimal environment for learning or healing regardless of the attitudes of the students or receivers. This also applies to parenting. It is more important for parents to love their children than vice versa.

HOW YOU USE INTUITION ALREADY

A number of public opinion surveys support the idea that psi is ubiquitous among people. Well over half of those surveyed report having had at least one extrasensory experience with 15% to 20% reporting that they experienced telepathy, clairvoyance, or precognition “often.”

One of the most common occurrences of spontaneous psi is between parents and children, particularly with the mother. Most mothers who read this will verify that. How many times have you mothers simply thought something in the presence of your child only to hear them express what you were thinking out loud, almost word for word. Sometimes the words orally spoken by the child are not even yet in their vocabularies. How many times have you, for no reason, had the urge to go look in on your sleeping or playing child only to discover them in distress or about to encounter danger and requiring your help? Such experiences teach us that we should not ignore our impulses and feelings regarding our children, because they communicate to us even a distance and without words.

Another area where mothers excel is in the diagnosis of disease in their children. An attuned mother will know her child is sick sometimes even before the child does. By her intuition and rapport she may diagnose her child’s condition more completely and accurately than the best of doctors. Smart physicians know this and will query the mother concerning a sick child, treating her thoughts on the matter with the respect and value they deserve.

In raising five children over a 30-year period, my wife, Lee, has never failed to accurately diagnose any sickness of our children. We use a combination of intellect (we have some good lay medical books), sensory input (feeling for fever, looking for rashes, etc.), and intuition. Usually our visits to the doctor serve mainly to get an outside, second opinion from the medical approach. There have been times when the doctor was initially wrong, only to find later that Lee, the mother, was right from the beginning. My wife and I do not take a doctor’s advice unless our own evaluation, including our feelings, concurs. This is an important place for parents with developed intuitions to apply their correct feelings.

One must be certain, of course, that their feelings are truly intuitive and not emotional reactions to the stress of the situation. The test of truth, as discussed earlier in this article, is whether you feel at peace or uneasy when meditating on the question at hand.

THE CASE OF THE BROKEN BOXER

A striking example of spontaneous psi took place with our middle child, Keith, who was seven years old at the time. We were living in North Carolina. It was February and one of the new Christmas presents that year was a game consisting of a pair of plastic boxers with articulating arms who slugged it out for points to a knockout. Late one night, around midnight, as the rest of the family slept on the second floor of our house, I was in the basemen packing for a trip to the West Coast. I was to leave for the airport early the next morning. In my haste, I did not see one of the boxers on the floor and stepped on it, breaking an arm. I inspected it and saw that it was fixable with some glue, but did not have the time to fix it right then. Not wanting the children to find it broken in my absence and be distressed during the three days I was to be gone, I simply hid it well inside a large closed cardboard box on the top of the shelves in our basement. I was careful to put the box back exactly as it had been stored undisturbed for many months before.

The next evening I called my family from San Francisco. In talking with my wife, Lee, she casually asked if I knew anything about the broken boxer. I was astonished! “Why do you ask,” I replied, “How did you know it was broken?” Lee explained that Keith had come to her that day and asked if she should reach up and get a particular box down off a high shelf in the basement. “One of our boxers we got for Christmas is in there,” he explained. Lee got the box down and, sure enough, the boxer was in there, but it was broken. She asked Keith how the boxer got into the box and how it got broken. Keith replied, “Dad stepped on it and broke it. He is the one who put it in that box.” In describing the incident to me over the phone, Lee commented that she figured that Keith had probably been the one to break it and had somehow gotten a chair or step ladder and put the toy up in the box himself.

I then told Lee the full story. Keith, while asleep in his bed two stories above, had correctly and clairvoyantly perceived not only where the boxer was placed, but exactly who broke it and how, i.e. by my stepping on it. So parents, watch what you think and do. By their special attunement with you as their parents, your children know more about you and your activities than you realize. Your example to them extends beyond what they observe in your physical presence.

INTUITION APPLIED IN BUSINESS

Another area of spontaneous psi is in business. Almost all highly successful businessmen use their intuitive abilities to some extent, many quite consciously. William C. Durant, founder of General Motors, was one who was known to proceed on a course of action guided solely, as far as outsiders could tell, by some intuitive flash of brilliance. He never felt obligated to make an engineering hunt for facts, but had an uncanny ability to know what he needed to know without such external efforts. Conrad Hilton, creator of the vast Hilton Hotel and Resort Empire, described his manner of solving problems this way: “I know when I have a problem and have done all I can–thinking, figuring, planning–I keep listening in a sort of inside silence until something clicks, and I feel a right answer.”

One of the most interesting cases of applied psi in business concerned the case of Tract 57 on the North Slope of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. In 1969 two huge oil combines were competing in a sealed bid auction to obtain drilling rights to what eventually turned out to be a fabulously oil-rich four-square-mile plot. Although the site’s value was as yet unknown, both groups, Mobil-Phillips-Standard of California and Hess-Getty, submitted bids in the same amount of $72.1 million. On the weekend before the bids were to be opened, Leon Hess suddenly got a hunch that their bid would not be high enough to win the tract. Accordingly, he revised it upward to $72.3 million, thus winning the prize site by a scant $200,000.

Psychic researchers have tested the psi abilities of numerous businessmen at various levels of business success. The researchers found that the proportions of successful executives believing in psi were much higher than proportions of believers among the population in general, thus suggesting that it may well be their greater belief and reliance on intuition that gave them the extra competitive edge in the business world. Perhaps you are a business person yourself and have also experienced instances where you have made business decisions on a hunch which eventually turned out to be correct, even though at the time you did not really have enough information to make a sound judgment based on data alone. One thing seems to be well demonstrated, and that is this: Generally speaking, successful business people do rely upon intuitive decisions, and the most successful of them do so consciously.

PROFESSIONAL PREJUDICE AGAINST INTUITION

Another area of spontaneous psi can come in the practice of certain professions. This includes engineers, scientists, lawyers, and health care providers. It is obvious that a well developed intuition would be an invaluable resource in these or many other professional fields. Yet, as a matter of “professionalism,” such notions are generally regarded with disdain and ridicule. This unfortunate state of affairs can put the professional with an active intuition into some difficult situations. I have been in such situations myself. I will tell you about one of them.

At the time (1976) I was a geophysicist teaching at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill when I was called by a Chicago engineering firm to analyze some seismic refraction data. They sent me copies of the seismic data, which consisted of numbers, traces, and points plotted on large sheets. All I was told is that the information was gathered “on a site somewhere in Illinois.” My assignment was to translate these esoteric numbers and traces into a meaningful, three-dimensional picture of the rock and soil formations beneath the ground surface.

There are standard mathematical algorithms which geophysicists can apply to such data to produce what appears to be picture profiles of the underground. The problem is that if the subsurface conditions are very complex, the data become mathematically intractable and uninterpretable. Instead of a single definite answer, the data produce many possible and contradictory solutions, with no objective way to determine which is the best representation of reality. Under these conditions normal geophysical analysis fails.

In that circumstance, the first task of a geophysicist is to decide if the established analytic procedures of the profession are applicable. If not, then he or she must accept the fact and proceed no further, having exhausted the available tools of the science. I realized this soon after looking at the data. One could apply the established procedures in so many equally alternative ways that a single, unique solution was impossible–by intellectual means, at least.

As I pondered over the data for several days and late into one night, suddenly I began to receive glimpses of what must be underground at that site to produce that data. It was as if I were there hovering over the site with x-ray vision, peering into the earth and seeing what was there.

I began drawing three-dimensional contour maps of the region, layer by layer, until the picture was complete. I sketched in varying thicknesses of the strata and their relative permeability’s. I even included what seemed to be the directions of groundwater flow. I stayed up working on it most of the night. I felt sure that what I was seeing was right, but I also knew that I had not obtained it by the usual scientific, mathematical, or technical methods. The next day, I packed up my subsurface maps and mailed them to the Chicago firm, not telling them how I obtained the information I had mapped for them.

Two days after I had sent my results to Chicago, the head geologist of the firm called me in excitement. “How did you do it?” he exclaimed. “Your interpretations are almost perfect!” It seems that before they had sent me their geophysical data they had, unknown to me, already done extensive exploratory drilling to sample the subsurface soils and rocks of the area. They already knew what was below the surface in detail. Their problem was that they had also gone to considerable expense (to be billed to their client) to obtain seismic refraction measurements across the area which, until then, had been interpreted in various ways by the geophysicists on their company staff, none of which corresponded to the reality they knew was there by drilling test holes. So without telling their company geophysicists and without informing me, the head geologist was using me to obtain another geophysical opinion as to the meaning of the data and as a check against the other geophysicists whose interpretations were known to be wrong and unusable.

This placed me in a difficult situation with the company geophysicists when they found out what had transpired. They had to admit that my maps were correct, but wanted me to explain how I could have deduced such detail from the data, since by conventional geophysical means such data would have been impossible to obtain. They were upset both with me and with the geologist who had sent me the data for a second opinion. To satisfy their geophysicists, the company sent me a plane ticket and paid me a consulting fee to fly to Chicago and to explain their staff geophysicists how I did my calculations when theirs had failed. They were angry and hostile.

What could I say? The results I had obtained were mainly by intuition and only partially by mathematical deduction. The final picture I had drawn was the product of extrasensory perception. I knew that, but how could I tell them without making them even more angry and upset. They wanted me to give them an explanation that was logical and mathematical, based on methods they could understand and apply themselves. But I could not do it because the modality I had successfully applied was not something they could understand and apply themselves.

It was a challenging and tense experience for me, but I learned a lot. The geophysicists were unhappy because someone outside of themselves had solved a problem they had been unable to solve. As for the geologists of the firm, they were very pleased. They did not care how I got my answers. All they cared was that I got it right and they could now justify the expense of the geophysical data they had acquired since my interpretations of the data corresponded with their geological survey.

That episode taught me a valuable lesson about professionalism. So long as you follow established professional practice, doing whatever your professional colleagues are doing, you are not going to be criticized by your peers, even though your results may be wrong and your outcomes bad. Confining your work to conventional methods also protects you legally, should you ever be challenged in courts. You cannot be legally faulted for doing what everyone else in your profession is doing, even though flawed.

On the other hand, if you deviate for from established procedure, you are in professional trouble. You are especially in trouble if your departure from established practice gains superior results. So, if you consciously rely upon your intuitive capabilities, then be aware of the consciousness of the times in which we live and the resistance you may receive.

Some day intuitive techniques will become fully integrated into the routine methods of science, medicine, and engineering, as well as in police work and the practice of law. But that day has not yet come.

The experience described above was neither my first nor my last collision with traditional science. It is hard to remain silent when you see things so clearly that others don’t see and when you are subject to attack when you speak out. I ultimately decided to leave formal fields of occupation, like a college post, and to remain independent and self-employed so that I could pursue the directions my intuition led me without the threat of professional censorship and ostracism. As I write it is the end of 2009 and it has been more than 16 years since I held a formal job. I am much better off for my freedom, free to exercise my creativity and express my perceptions without suppression or censorship.

FACTORS THAT HELP OR HINDER YOUR INTUITION

Intuition will naturally surface in anyone whose state of mind is right. Our state of mind is influenced by what we inwardly choose to dwell upon, mentally and emotionally, as well as what we choose outwardly as our surrounding environment, especially the company we keep.

Qualities or activities that allow intuition to flow freely include calmness, inner peace, self-confidence, good self-image, willingness to accept personal responsibility, courage, broadmindedness, not criticizing others, being nonjudgmental, willingness to listen, humility, a sense of conscience, feelings of good will and love towards others, and a belief in the validity of one’s true feelings. Other factors that promote the functioning of intuition include good health, associating with people whom you like, with whom you feel at ease and feel uplifted to be in their company. Proper diet is also important, which would be a diet that calms our bodies and minds emphasizing fruits and vegetables accompanied with appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. A life-style that includes regular periods of solitude and contemplation also help. Engaging in a personal daily prayer life also helps to bring our intuitive talents to the surface.

Qualities or activities that tend to inhibit intuition include restlessness, nervousness, anxiety, worry, anger, fear, hate, jealousy, prejudice, critical nature, being judgmental, narrow-mindedness, unwillingness to listen to others, greed, inferiority complex, egotism, self-centeredness, status consciousness, habitual skepticism, and too much concern over what other people think. Other factors that can block intuition include poor health, physical discomfort, wrong company, and improper diet–meaning a diet containing too many starches, sugars, heavy meats, and stimulants which make our bodies and minds restless. Too much reliance on living by intellect can also be a barrier to intuition. Too much reliance on instruments and technology can also dull one’s intuition.

Guilt is also a deterrent to intuitional applications. Guilt should not be confused with “conscience.” True conscience is a still small voice within that is felt in calmness and which unerringly guides us in the right, the moral, and the spiritual thing to do in everything. True conscience is actually directly related to intuition and is actually a manifestation of it. Guilt, on the other hand, is also an inner voice, but is one felt in anxiety. Guilt is always related to what we fear others will think of us and does not offer us reliable guidance in the best pathways to follow. Guilt always considers the opinions of others. Conscience does not. Guilt wonders, “What will my parents think? What will my friends think? What will the members of my church think? etc.” Conscience wonders “What will God think?” Conscience also goes beyond thinking at all, but brings us to an inner peace where we meet infallible guidance. So don’t confuse guilt with conscience. One blocks intuition. The other is intuition.

The most important factor in expressing your innate intuition is a state of inner peace and calmness. In several places, the Bible speaks of that peace and stillness within as the place where we can hear the speaking voice of silent God. When Elijah sought God’s counsel in a cave in the wilderness, God sent a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but God did not speak to Elijah through the wind, the temblor, or the fire, but rather in “a still small voice.” (I Kings 19:11-12) Elijah had to be very quiet and calm to hear that voice. In Job 33:33 we are instructed, “Hold your peace, and I shall teach you wisdom.” God’s inner voice heard in a state of peace is the source of wisdom and of intuition.

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR INTUITION

Intuition is developed by avoiding the mental states and outward circumstances that impede its functioning and by seeking the factors that encourage it as listed in the pervious section. In particular, intuition is developed by exercising and applying common sense in our day-to-day living. Common sense, at its best, flows from intuition. By exercising it we strengthen it.

A second way to increase our intuitive powers is by daily introspection and self-analysis during times of solitude and contemplation. Only by coming into close contact with our inner feelings can we become aware of our personal shortcomings and overcome them, including those personality traits that inhibit intuition.

Another pathway to the development of intuition is by concentration, depth of thought and continued activity in one direction. Scientists, writers, artists, musicians, and others who spend many years of their lives in concerted effort in a single field of endeavor often develop a sixth sense in that field.

As mentioned earlier, another vehicle to facilitate intuition is peace and calmness. Whatever things you do that make and keep you calm will serve to awaken your intuition. Whether this is by music, communing with nature, seeking solitude, study of scriptures, rest, or relaxation—a state of deep calmness is the window through which intuition can clearly shine.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that “God will keep us in perfect peace when our minds are focused on Him.” (Isaiah 26:3) This is to say that concentrating on God creates the perfect environment for intuition to function. In this regard, St. Paul advises us to “Pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17) By mentally and silently keeping an inner conversation with God throughout the day, practicing His presence continuously, we create the inner environment where intuition grows and works best. Practicing the presence of God is something we can do anywhere and everywhere, not just during formal worship once a week, but continually at work and at home.

Probably the most powerful means to build and strengthen your intuition is by regular, daily practice of some form of meditation. The word, “meditate” or “meditation” has different meanings to different people. The words occur 19 times in the Bible with several meanings implied. Different religions teach different methods of meditation. For some it is simply reading and study of scriptures. For others meditation is repetition of a prayer or affirmation, sometimes with devotional beads as a way to count the repetitions. Some teach meditation in a seated posture, others standing up, while others recommend a cross-legged position. The most general and universal definition of “meditation” is simply “concentration upon God.”

OUR BUILT-IN TWO-WAY RADIOS

In Psalm 19:14 we read, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 4:4 instructs us to “Commune with your own heart.”

Physiologically, from the research in parapsychology and related fields, we know that human beings have two transmitting and receiving organs: The Heart and the Pineal Gland located in the brain just behind the forehead at the point between the eyebrows.

Saints and devotees of all religions have, for thousands of years, have prayed, meditated, and felt God’s presence and power flowing through these two centers of the body. As children made in God’s image, these two points are like radio receivers and transmitters placed within us as gifts from our Father. These are instruments of communication, not only between us and God, but also between our brothers and sisters. They are also the seats of our intuitions.

When Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He made a mysterious statement, seldom mentioned or discussed in Sunday Services. “If therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22) The pineal gland, located in the forebrain at the point between the eyebrows, is sometimes referred to as the “Single Eye” or the “Spiritual Eye” For many people with closed eyes focused at this point during prayer or meditation, they see a beautiful light that comes with a great peace and sense of joy and love. Perhaps you have experienced this yourself. Is it possible that Jesus was referring to this in that statement? You can decide. Use your intuition.

We now know, scientifically, that when the pineal gland, located in the brain behind the forehead, is stimulated it helps us to forget our worldly concerns and focus on spiritual things. This gland is stimulated by fragrances such as Frankincense, Myrrh, Cedarwood, and Sandalwood. Religions of all kinds, for thousands of years the world over, have diffused incense in their sanctuaries as an aid to worship.

Young Living has a blend called “3 Wise Men” formulated to stimulate the pineal gland as an aid in prayer and meditation. “Inspiration” is another blend created for the same purpose. Inspiration is one of the very first oil blends formulated by Gary Young years ago. Most people don’t know that Gary’s original name for this blend was “Prayer and Meditation.”

Women have certain advantages over men. It is a physiological fact that women have pineal glands twice the size of those of men. Women, in general, also have more sensitive hearts. Perhaps this is why women are usually more intuitive than men and are often more inclined to attend worship services and engage in spiritual activities than men.

There are oils that can assist us in prayer and meditation, as well as in the development of our intuitions. Besides Frankincense, Myrrh, Cedarwood, and Sandalwood, and the oil blends of Inspiration, and 3 Wise Men, there are other oils and oil blends that facilitate the peace and calmness that enhances one’s intuition and increases our ability to pray and meditate effectively. In fact, Young Living has an oil blend called “Peace & Calming.” Essential oils are effective tools in enhancing our intuitive abilities, as well as instruments of calmness to enhance our prayers and meditations.

There is also a Holy Anointing Oil mentioned in Exodus 30: 22-31 used to anoint Aaron’s sons to consecrate and uplift them spiritually as priests and holy leaders of the people. Young Living has an oil called “Exodus II” that contains all of the ingredients of the Holy Anointing Oil of Exodus, but several other Biblical oils as well. It, too, has been formulated to stimulate the pineal gland and to support intuition.

To enhance one’s devotion and concentration on God during prayer and meditation, you can select one or more of these oils to anoint your forehead and crown along with rubbing them on your heart and the soles of your feet. They may also be diffused as you pray and contemplate.

Some oils can irritate the skin, so be careful how you use them. Be especially careful to keep essential oils out of the eyes. If you do find your skin or eyes burning from an essential oil, apply any available vegetable oil to stop the discomfort. Don’t use water. That will increase the discomfort.

PRAYER AND MEDITATION COMPARED

Depending on how you define them, prayer can be meditation and/or meditation can be prayer. Here is how we define them:

Meditation, in the sense of “concentration on God,” is different than prayer. Prayer usually implies our speaking “to” God in some form such a praise, honor, adoration, commitment, supplication, request, or petition. Meditation is communing “with” God. Prayers are usually one-way conversations, i.e. us speaking to God. Meditation is a two-way conversation involving both, our expressions to God and our silent listening for his response (mostly listening).

Many people pray their requests to God and then get up and leave before He can answer, thus missing the very thing they had asked for. It is like asking someone a question and then leaving the room before they can answer. We wouldn’t do that to another person, but we do it to God all the time. Meditations usually start with prayer, often silently spoken and in private, followed by long periods of focused attention, listening for God’s response in a state of faith, trust, and readiness to receive.

This type of meditation must be done in a quiet place and in a comfortable, stable posture such as seated with spine erect and hands placed on the thighs or clasped together on the lap. The point is that you do not want your body to be a distraction by being tense or uncomfortable so you can give your complete attention to God.

“Be still and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10) is one of the most direct statements for meditation in the Bible because meditation is the practice of “being still” physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is only through inner stillness that we can know God, and inner stillness is achieved by focused concentration on perceiving God’s presence within, which is what meditation is, concentration on God. The barrier to achieving that stillness is restlessness. Restlessness involves physical things like bodily movements, breathing, and the beating of our hearts. When in a state of deep concentration, one’s breath and heartbeat automatically slow down and, with super concentration, can all but cease.

When the body is seated comfortably, silently and still, and physical distractions no longer bother us, the next hurdle to achieving calm concentration on God in meditation is mental restlessness. Mental restlessness consists of memories of experiences past, thoughts the days responsibilities, daydreams, imaginings, and worries about your worldly responsibilities or what may happen tomorrow, etc. Once the body has been stilled, then we must learn to still the mind. There are techniques for this and for increasing our ability to concentrate with single-minded purpose. The best technique is learning to feel and express your love and devotion directly to God.

Psalm 4:4 instructs us to “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” This is a perfect description of meditation (concentration on God) where, before you go to sleep and when you arise in the morning, you sit up on your bedside, spine straight, either cross-legged or with both feet on the floor, with eyes closed, and focused upwards to the forehead. Then pray deeply and silently to God within yourself to reveal Himself and His will for you feeling His peace in your heart and at the point between the eyebrows. In the morning, you can ask for God’s constant presence to guide you throughout the day and to ask Him to bless everything you say and do and to bless everyone you meet.

Various religions teach various ways to meditate. Perhaps you practice a form of regular meditation yourself already. An effective meditation technique will increase your calmness, help overcome your shortcomings, and make you happier and happier day by day. If you do not know how to meditate, perhaps you have a friend who does. You may also try the library or inquire at a place of worship to get information. Not all meditation techniques are equally effective. You should shop around intelligently. Use your intuition. St. Paul advises us to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (I Thessalonians 5:21)

This is an article on developing intuition, which unavoidably leads to a discussion of prayer and meditation, two of the most direct ways to develop your intuition. The best way to build your intuition is by asking God for it, persistently and regularly. Intuition is “Wisdom from above.”

St. James says, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.” To that he adds, “You have not, because you ask not.” (James 3:17; 4:2) So if you lack intuition, ask for it. We forfeit many blessings from God simply because we don’t ask. God is not holding back on us, but neither will He force his gifts upon us unrequested. It is by the asking that we create the open spirit within ourselves that is necessary to claim and receive God’s gifts.

PUTTING INTUITION TO PRACTICAL USE

Intuitive perceptions are received by calming one’s self and feeling within. The resultant feedback is your answer. Intuition is a receiving faculty that brings you knowledge, wisdom, and answers. As mentioned before, everyone has intuition. Our task is really not to develop intuition, per se, because it is already there within each one of us, full blown and waiting to be used. What prevents us from using intuition is not its absence, but the many layers of mental and emotional obstacles we have placed in our being that hides our own intuitions from us and prevents its use.

Our task, then, is to remove those obscuring layers. Our task usually boils down to putting ourselves in a proper state of calm awareness. Our success will be dependent upon the depth to which we can achieve inner peace at will. That is why the best way to develop intuition is by the daily practice of some form of calm-producing meditation. In this way your intuition will become more accessible to you, ready for your service every day.

The best and most direct way to solve a problem intuitively is this: Go into deep meditation or silence. Don’t think of your problems during meditation. Meditate until you feel a sense of calmness filling the inner recesses of your body, and your breath and heartbeat become calm, steady, and quiet. What you seek is “the peace of God that passes all understanding,” spoken of in Philippians 4:1. As you feel the peace, focus your attention simultaneously at the point between the eyebrows and in the area of your heart. In that peaceful state make your request to God. Then sit in stillness and wait and listen.

You may receive God’s answer as a soft whisper or flash of insight. Sometimes the answer comes later in the day from an unexpected source. Remember, making your request is only the beginning of prayer. Listening for the answer is the next part. The conclusion is expressing your thanks for receiving the answer you sought. Thanks should always be made even if you don’t think you have received an answer. Sometimes God responds to us at a later time and place. Sometimes God’s answer is not what we expect and we don’t recognize it, thinking that He did not respond. That is why we must pray with no preconceived expectations. Many people pray and don’t wait or listen and, thus, miss the God-given wisdom they were seeking.

PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVES TO PRAYER

You cannot always drop everything and go into meditation to solve a problem in an ideal state of calmness and concentration. There are many times, almost every day, when we need to know what to do in a few minutes, or perhaps immediately. Most of life’s big decisions can be made slowly over time with careful deliberation. Most of life’s routine daily decisions must be made without delay, before the day is over.

The ideal atmosphere for intuition is calmness. Since intuition is an instantaneously seeing power, if we can muster even a few seconds of relative calmness, we can apply our intuition with concentration and receive the information we seek on the spot, when we need it. Momentary calmness can be achieved by taking a deep breath and then concentrating in the ensuing moment of quietude. Even a couple of seconds of calmness with one’s breath temporarily still can produce a short interval of time during which we can apply our intuitions.

THE FIRST IMPRESSION TECHNIQUE

A useful example of this can be practiced in meeting people for the first time. Most of life’s activities and achievements involve dealing with other people. It is therefore essential that we be able to accurately judge a person’s character and to do so rapidly.

Try this. The next time you know you are going to meet someone new, just as you are introduced or when you put out your hand for a shake, take a deep breath and then exhale and relax, looking them right in the eyes. Concentrate on the feeling you have in your heart and at the point between your eyebrows. The impression you receive will always be right. You will know if the person is honest or not or whatever quality you wish to know about them. Try it. It is a good way to practice and develop your intuition because after you have met the person and get to know them you can see how accurate your feelings were or not. This technique is especially helpful in choosing business or professional associates.

The above simple technique is for instantaneous, on the spot evaluations of people. We call it the “First Impression Technique.” It works because the intuition lies in readiness just beneath the surface of our restlessness, just as the ocean is relatively quiet even a few feet below the restless waves rolling on the surface. Just as a camera can take a whole picture in detail with even a hundredth of a second’s exposure by the shutter, intuition, like the eye of a camera, can take a complete and accurate impression for you in a flash.

This technique is especially useful because it is simple, it takes no time, and it can be used as many times a day as needed. Just take a breath, let it out, relax, and concentrate on your impressions throughout the heart and forehead. That’s all there is to it. This technique works because your mind is usually free of prejudice about new people since you have not met them before and know little or nothing about them. The more you practice, the better you will become.

THE SLEEP TECHNIQUE

Suppose you need to make a decision about something and have a few hours to do it. You have considered every angle intellectually, but still cannot decide based upon the facts on hand. Nevertheless, you have to come to a decision right away. Here is one thing you can do. Lie down and take a short nap. When you awaken from sleep there is a transition period between sleep and wakefulness during which your intuition is free to flow. Hence, after a brief nap you should awaken and carefully note your feelings, thoughts and impulses. Follow them and the answer to your problem should be there. We call this the “Sleep Technique.”

I once employed the Sleep Technique successfully in a very interesting situation. I was in North Carolina at the time. The year was 1975. An organization of which I was an officer had invited a well-known person to come to our town and speak. I will call her Gloria Jones. She was an author as well as founder and president of an international organization. The program for her appearance had been publicized widely and we expected a large turnout, including a number of attendees coming from a distance. I had not been the person designated to keep contact with Gloria and had only assumed that all arrangements were firm and she would arrive on the appointed day.

Three days before the she was to appear I got a frantic call from the speaker liaison representing our organization who had been the one to personally invite Gloria to come, and who was supposed to have maintained contact during the three or four month interval between the invitation and the date of Gloria’s scheduled appearance.

The problem was that she had not communicated with Gloria since the invitation made several months earlier. The day she called me, she had called Gloria’s office in California only to find that Gloria’s whereabouts were unknown and that her secretary knew nothing about a speaking engagement for Gloria that week in North Carolina. There appeared to be no way to find or contact her to confirm if she was still coming or not. All her secretary in California could tell us was that Gloria had gone on a personal business trip “somewhere in the U.S. or Canada” and wasn’t planning to return for two weeks! Since we needed to know right away if Ms. Jones was still coming to speak or not, we needed to find her that day, if possible.

I told the anxious speaker liaison person not to worry, that I would find Gloria’s whereabouts and see if she still planned to come present a program or not. I hung up the phone, laid a sleeping bag on the floor of my office, locked the door, and pulled the window shades. I then laid down and fell asleep. After about 10 minutes I woke up and immediately had the urge to call a friend in Alexandria, Virginia, named Patricia Fielding. Following that urge, I made the call.

“Pat,” I said, “This is Dave Stewart. I am trying to locate Gloria Jones. Do you know her and would you have any idea where or how she might be contacted. She isn’t in California at her office and they don’t know where she is or when she is returning.”

” I’ve never met her,” Pat replied, “but I know who she is. I have no idea where she might be, but you might try calling someone I know in New Hampshire who I believe is a good friend of Gloria’s. She might know where Gloria could be. I have her phone number right here.”

I then immediately called the New Hampshire number and Gloria Jones, herself, answered the phone. She was visiting her friend in New England.

In less than ten minutes after waking from my nap and following my intuitive impulses, Gloria had been located with two phone calls.

Gloria and I had a nice conversation, during which she explained that since she had never been contacted again after being invited several months back, she had concluded that the speaking engagement must have been cancelled and so she, unless she heard otherwise, she was planning not to come. Gloria had experienced what is called “post speaker acceptance liaison letdown” or PASLL. When a person is invited to travel and speak at a function, it is crucial that contact be made periodically during the time before the program, up to the week and days just before, or they may think they are no longer welcome or that the program has been called off, just as Gloria had thought.

Anyhow, I apologized to her for not getting back to her during the intervening weeks after the invitation and told her that we still very much wanted her to appear and that there were lots of people planning to come to her talk. Luckily, she was free and agreed to travel from New Hampshire to North Carolina. So the program was saved by a timely application of the Sleep Technique.

ESSENTIAL OILS FOR INTUITIVE PURPOSES

Those engaged in a healing mission with essential oils are constantly called upon to rely upon their intuitive faculties to decide which oils to use and how. This is necessary because there simply is not enough factual or scientific data available to make such decisions by intellectual means. This deficiency in applied research will eventually be remedied in time, perhaps over the next two centuries or so, but for the time being intuition is our best tool and, often, our only tool.

Fortunately, the oils themselves facilitate clarity in making intuitive decisions. We have already mentioned several oils that stimulate the pineal gland and/or calm the heart thus energizing our transmitting and receiving centers for intuitive perceptions. Simply inhaling these oils or applying them to our bodies will enhance our intuitive faculties.

Oils already mentioned include Frankincense, Myrrh, and Sandalwood as well as the Young Living blends, 3 Wise Men, Inspiration, Awaken, Highest Potential, Peace & Calming, Magnify Your Purpose, Believe, Gratitude, Exodus II, and Joy. By inhaling these oils or diffusing them during your prayers and meditations, you can enhance your focus. Applying these oils on the forehead, over the heart area, on the soles of the feet, on the temples and crown of the head will enhance your intuitive sensitivities. In addition to using oils with your prayers and meditations, oils can also enhance the “First Impression” and “Sleep” techniques discussed above.

ANOTHER APPLICATION OF THE SLEEP TECHNIQUE

The Sleep Technique is really only a method of placing one’s mind in a relaxed and peaceful state where intuition can shine forth. Any method that places your mind in such a state will serve to facilitate the use of intuition. Another time and place you can apply this technique is just when you wake up in the morning.

When I have a problem or question for which I need a definite answer to by tomorrow, I will pray for an answer that night as I am going to bed. I then go to sleep. The next morning I wake up in anticipation of the answer. By calmly listening and focusing on my heart and the point between my eyebrows, the answer will come in specific terms, almost like a voice speaking to you from above. The answer usually comes quickly, during the first few minutes or seconds after you regain consciousness following the night’s sleep. So you have to be ready, attentive, and listening, or you could miss the voice of intuition you were waiting for. You need also to remain alert during the day because sometimes only part of the information you need comes immediately after awakening while the rest can come later in the day at the point you need it.

I always take this as God’s voice speaking to me in answer to my prayer request of the night before. I am always quick to thank Him for His gracious answer. This is where an intuitive perception actually seems to be more like a direct response from God. In my opinion, there may be no difference, that is, intuition may really be the voice of God speaking to you. In any case, when you receive wisdom in this way, your appropriate response should always be gratitude to God, as St. Paul reminds us, “In everything give thanks.” (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Inhaling the oil of “Gratitude” or the oil of “Joy” can assist us in maintaining a proper attitude of thankfulness, as suggested in Psalms 45:7 and Hebrews 1:9, viz. “God has anointed you with the oil of gladness.”

CONCLUSION

There are many more things that could be discussed on this topic, but let me conclude by saying that you have intuition. I have intuition. Everybody has intuition. Believe in it. Practice it. Nurture it. Develop it. And use it.

At the same time, learn to discern the differences between prejudices, imaginings, and other feelings and thoughts that come not from intuition, but which can be confused with it. Pray for the gift of discernment. (I Corinthians 12:10) Cedarwood, Clarity, and Brain Power inhaled and applied to the head are oils that can sharpen our reasoning faculties and discrimination in this regard.

And lastly thank God for the gift of your finer senses, because true intuition is a direct link to Divine wisdom and an ever-present line through which God can speak to us and guide us in all aspects of our lives, both small and large.

THE END

* This article has been adapted from a chapter in a book entitled, The Childbirth Activists’ Handbook by David and Lee Stewart, published in 1983. For a list of the Stewarts’ other books on childbirth and related topics, as well as David’s books on earthquake seismology,

** All references to essential oils in this article are for those available from Young Living Essential Oils, Inc., a company dealing only with pure therapeutic grade oils with proven healing properties. The company website is www.YoungLiving.com and their phone number is (800) 371-3515.

(For information on Raindrop Technique, see the book, A Statistical Validation of Raindrop Technique and the DVD on Raindrop Technique available in the internet from CARE at www.RaindropTraining.com, which also lists many training seminars on Raindrop. For more on the practice of intuitive science as well as a chapter on the Limits of Science, see the book, The Chemistry of Essential Oils Made Simple also available at the above website, as well as other sources.)