Rebecca Moore speaks with tarot reader and spirit guide, Faidah Lawal.
Born and raised in Nigeria, Faidah Lawal shares channelled messages and spiritual guidance, expressed through spoken word and poetry, to awaken and uplift those who cross her path.
She has an international audiences whom she connects with via YouTube, TickTock and her experimental podcast series Alternative Perspectives with Vivian.
Now based in the UK, Faidah is on a journey of self-development and expansion, using astrology, tarot and dreamwork as her tools, whilst continuing to share her spiritual teachings at private sessions and events.
In this interview, Faidah tells Rebecca Moore how she came to discover her intuitive gifts and the ways she uses them to support herself and others. She speaks about the power she has found in dreamwork and poetry as allies for healing and shares with us a collective reading for the summer.
It is something that has always been with me and in my twenties, I started to deepen my knowledge.
Before I knew it, I could predict and calculate what the planetary shifts would bring without trying. When I attempted to trace back the roots of this gift, I found out that I was an astrologer in a past life. I have never received training on astrology in this life and yet, I can do all the math. I love how mathematical it is, I love the ease with which I can read the planets and predict what may come. It’s a natural gift I rediscovered and have continued to build on in this lifetime.
I began in 2018 following a message in a dream. From the very first day, I was already picking the cards my favourite tarot readers were picking for the day.
Within two months I had memorised what each card meant and found I didn’t even need the definitions as my heart already had its own.
My Tarot journey has been the most interesting because just like astrology, I realised I must have definitely been doing this in other lives. It is so easeful forme. It makes my soul sing to break down symbology. I can read playing cards too and just know what they are telling me.
I use astrology to stay aware of different changes in my life and different themes depending on where the planets are. I use it to be ready for what is to come in future and also to do the work in the present.
Astrology has helped in my personal development, inconnecting deeper to my higher self and to Spirit.
I also use poetry to heal in small doses. My writing is a place where I cannot hide. These tools have helped me realise my mission of helping myself and people connect better with their higher selves and with their destinies. Healing myself has helped me to support others in their healing, and by supporting others I also feel I am healing myself even more as we are all connected.
Possibly around the age of six or seven, I would hear guiding voices and felt a higher power around me that made me see beyond what others could see. It came in the form of feelings and a knowingness about the vibe of environments and people. I also discovered I could manifest so quickly. If I thought about something and believed it, it would happen without any hassle. It was also a bit unnerving considering no one could affirm those things but me.
Coming from a society that is close-minded meant I had to hide these gifts of mine.
Being gaslighted for my intuitive feelings from a young age made me abandon them completely for a long time.
I stood out as different and felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere I went. It felt like no one understood me or wanted to take the time to understand me. I encountered heavy opposition towards my light that made me seek to bury my gifts as I had been targeted numerous times in the most heartbreaking ways. However, with maturity came the realisation that my calling was much bigger than these challenges and that if I was blessed with these gifts, I was also blessed with heavy protection in order for my power to be realised. These challenges helped me discover my inner strength which is more powerful than those in fear. This made me step up to my responsibilities and be intentional about being seen and sharing my gifts with those who are receptive.
Trust yourself. You are right. It is only a matter of time until the physical affirms your spiritual inklings. Your gifts are a blessing, continue to enjoy them.
I practice Tarot every day. The symbology trains my clairvoyance and claircognizance. I also practice automatic writing from time to time, which expresses itself through poetry. The things that come up for me when I open up to write are very complex. It’s like I am opening up a portal and I can sometimes be afraid of what will come through. As I practice free writing more and more and make an effort to openthat portal I feel myself improving my mental discipline. I also practice dreamwork, which has been a powerful tool for my development.
Dreamwork allows me to tap into that limitless being that I really am in order for me to bring at least a fragment of information and messages about what is to come.
It has been such a blessing to me. Within my dreams, I am open to more possibilities than I am aware of when I am awake.
In the beginning, I trained myself to remember my dreams by making an intention before I went to bed. Upon waking I would write about each of the dreams I’d had and break down the symbology and feelings I received in them. The messages that came through helped me to refine myself. Some were guidance around releasing trauma and others were strong premonitions about what was to come. Nowadays I don’t have to set the intention to remember my dreams. I can remember every scene and when I wake up I break down the messages by writing or by voice recording. It is a blissful exercise.
There is definitely a stark difference. In Nigeria, being a society that is extremely religious and superstitious, my expression of tarot and astrology wasn’t always well received. There was heckling and name-calling by the close-minded who put down what they did not understand. Some people would express silent support but weren’t brave enough to support me in public. I am grateful for those experiences as they toughened me up and made me hold my head high.
The majority viewed me as a strange woman while I saw myself as a forward thinker in the wrong environment.
On a positive note, I had clients, believers and actual supporters. I was booked for quite a number of events and interviewed for magazines. I definitely still have a love for Nigeria. I view my more challenging experiences there with amusement now and gratitude for the training it provided for me to be here, strong in myself, my medicine and the way I share my work.In many ways in Lagos it was easier for me because I knew the environment, I knew what my people would like. It doesn’t mean that I was able to win the hearts of everyone but I was sure of what I was doing because I was sure about my environment. In London, it’s a wider audience, a global village. There is a gentler reception and respect from most but the stakes are higher for me here because I am almost like a nameless person. London kicks my ass a bit more, but I love it.
This was a favourite project of mineback in Nigeria. It was co-facilitated with my best friend with the idea to have intimate circles where we bring women together and discuss a theme each month. We did this for six months. We spoke on topics such as intuition, self-assertion and authenticity, and we would have other activities pertaining to the theme of the month. It gave the women a space to share and express themselves. I hope to bring it back eventually, here in the UK. We feel this is a good place to expand on the idea, fingers crossed.
This summer is about you doing the work, putting in the effort, and being disciplined and consistent. This summer is the president for what it is that you will be building for yourself ten years from now. What is your long-term vision? What is your long-term goal?
This summer is the starting point of that. Time is at your disposal but use it wisely.
In order for us to obtain what we want we have to go through a personal transformation which is what this summer is ushering in for us. We are building up from the spring in which we went through the death of our old selves. We are now debuting the newself that we have achieved or attained. Some of us have achieved some kind of balance within ourselves and as a result, we have extra fire and passion to direct toward our projects and business.
We will be in our creative mode over the summer. We are in a space where what we desire can easily come to us as a result of us holding that energetic space for it. What lights you up and how can you have more of it? That is the question you should be asking yourself because what is to come with summer is a new beginning.
With summer there is an increase in momentum. There is an understanding of how abundant you really are.There is an understanding of how you can manifest what it is that you want and you can manipulate energy to create what you want to create for yourself.
You are the Empress this summer. The Empress is an attractor, she’s not a chaser. She is a miracle manifester, she is a creator of her own life. You are going to change your life in the best way possible this summer and this is going to light you up in a way that you haven’t been lit up in a while.
Summer is also a time of energetic upgrade and a new way of being. There will be a presence of ancestors because it is a transformational time. There are higher fertility rates for new projects and babies. Allow this time period to be a time period in which you expand your mind and enlighten yourself. Tap into that through ancestral work. By communicating with them you are able to know how far you can expand as a person.
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You are upgrading, you are integrating new codes and new ways of doing things, and you are going to be the best version of yourself because you are doing the work.
The last thing to take into consideration is the people around you. Think of people as your mirrors,reflections of yourself. And the aspects of them that you see are possibly telling you things about yourself that you need to know. Be aware of what triggers you, because what triggers you is what is there to help you change.Summer may be a bit triggering for some it’s all for our growth and development.
So let us remain self-aware, and compassionate to ourselves and other people, and everything will unfold more beautifully than we could ever expect.
Find out more about Faidah Lawal
Youtube: EtherealFai
TikTok: EtherealFai
Podcast: Alternative Perspective with Vivian
