I'm not sure we're talking about the same things here Ilkka. The unconscious does not express itself in words heard in one's head. That is the conscious mind (ego) giving a filtered and processed answer.
Intuition also doesn't suggest things. The conscious mind (ego) suggests things because thats its job. It takes input (even from your sub/unconscious), processes it, and spits out a result. You don't see anything behind the result unless you know how to look for it. All you get is the "suggestion" or the "answer". Some call what is behind it the "creative subconscious" but whatever it is called doesn't matter - its based on programming by society, media, etc. Its not intuition. Its reflex thinking.
If we meet and I ask you what is your name, that same voice in your head immediately answers in your head what your name is. If you want to know the time, even before you think the words "i wonder what the time is", it immediately gives you an idea of what you should expect the time to be or how to get the time (like look at your watch). Its reflex. Its not intuition, its just your conscious mind doing what it does well. It makes it easy for you to keep your attention on what it thinks is important for you to pay attention to, and it loves hiding the rest.
Look up protocols used by military for remote viewing. "Blind" techniques are used to gaurentee that there's no influence of the conscious on the information coming from one's "intuition" or "unconscious" senses. THAT is intuition. It is reproduceable results that are verifiable but your conscious mind never had a chance to "interpret" anything to give answers or suggestions. It was pure information - no filtering. No suggestion. No motive. Just open focus and relaying what comes in. No judging it or understanding it. It just is. Only after the process of receiving the information is there an attempt to interpret or understand - but not during the process of receiving it.
You know so much about this subject so maybe you should listen to yourself more to make yourself more comfortable with yourself.
If I knew much about it I wouldn't need to ask. I only know enough to know what it is - I don't know enough to master it.
The old cartoon thing was just a reference to separate two parts of ones mind, so that to know which one has more positive solution than the other one.
Ego and shadow has nothing to do with positive or negative. The one is simply "conscious" rational linear thought (active or driving) and the other "unconscious" non-linear knowing (passive or still) without applying rationality. Neither is bad nor good. They're just two different functions of your mind responsible for different jobs.
havent really felt any different
You will know when your awareness covers both conscious and unconscious areas more and more. For instance, time will seem strange, like it doesn't exist. It feels like you have to stare at your watch and watch it tick because the moment you look up you won't believe the time is moving on, because things feels timeless. It will seem like everything is moving in slow motion but you can clearly see everything is still moving at the same pace. Yet it feels different to you, as if it is slow motion.
You will also feel an overwhelming peace and joy, you will be high. Very high. But its nothing like being relaxed. Its different. Being relaxed is a "physical" or "mental" thing. This peace and energy is way different than a "physical" or "mental" experience of being very relaxed. It will feel sacred (to be respected, revered and honored) yet it will feel childlike (complete freedom, care-free, innocent) at the same time. You become aware of the cells in your body, and of the molecules in the air - almost like you can touch every single one of them. You also won't feel tiredness or fatigue.
It is defintely not a vague thing. You KNOW when things become different. It is so different that you do'nt know if you're dreaming or awake and you really seriously start to wonder if it matters. As if everything is real yet nothing is serious, like a vivid dream. Yet there you are, fully conscious, in the middle of a crowd of people - some looking at you in a funny way by now because you are completely taken into the present moment and the intense awareness of everything around you as if everything is alive somehow, even the rocks and the wind.
But that is barely the beginning of the difference you start to notice. I've been up to this point. But later on things get really wacky and I didn't keep the momentum with discipline and "backslid". Very anti-climatic but hey, I'm human - who knows maybe i would've gone crazy because I wasn't ready for the rest yet.