The question came to me from a student diviner earlier this week.
“When did you begin to realize that the orisas were communicating with you through divination?”
He asked the question because he was struggling with something many diviners struggle with – self doubt.
I wished more diviners would open up because the battle with self-doubt isn’t limited to student diviners. Many seasoned diviners struggle with it too.
And the issue of self-doubt goes beyond diviners in the orisa community…
Aspiring mediums and tarot readers battle with self-doubt too! And it goes even further. Most of the clients that come for readings struggle with issues of self-doubt and/or low self-esteem.
Self doubt is the human condition and it’s holding you back in many ways, preventing you from reaching your full potential, the greatness that is yours to achieve on earth!!
But here’s the advice I gave to my fellow diviner..
Whether you divine with obi, opele and ikin, it all comes down to consistent study, practice and experience. I recommend daily practice, and if you do it long enough you’ll get to the point where you see patterns emerge – patterns that tell powerful stories.
It’s also important to realize that you’re not the one doing the reading. Ifa, the orisas are doing it; you’re merely the messenger. Your focus should be on the orisas and the egun (ancestors), not on yourself. It’s not about you; it’s about the message.
Self doubt creeps in when you focus too much on yourself instead of the orisas.
So keep your ego out of it. Say what you see, hear and feel, even if it doesn’t make sense to the client right now. It might make sense to the client later. Sometimes days later, weeks later, months later, or even years later.
You see, once you invoke the ancestors and the orisas and you work from a place of integrity and compassion, you have to trust that everything that comes through in the divination is relevant to the client even if you’re not sure how. Your job is to step out of the way.
And what’s my advice to those who battle with self-doubt but are not training to be diviners?
Trust your intuition, your feelings, your dreams, your heart. Know that the Spirit World is always attempting to communicate with you, to guide you. You are not only connected to Spirit, you are Spirit yourself. Make time each day to sit in silence to get in touch with your inner world. Don’t over-think the subtle messages that come to you; allow them to flow freely.
And trust, trust trust…You can’t be a vessel for Spirit unless you learn to trust!!
Blessings
James Weeks
Producer/Across The King’s River