Some of the collective are naturally given these gifts. That does not mean another is incapable of developing or harnessing them, because you definitely can with practice and homing in on private intuition and perception.
There are flashes of time where these gifts can become disrupting or challenging to live with, which is why I believe it crucial to understand how to ward, ground, and veil oneself before studying this. There are several methods to expand each of these faculties which I will cover later, for now here are the classifications.
Psychic Ability Classifications:
Clairvoyance:
The ability or aptitude of being able to distinguish things outside of standard sensory in a sight-based approach, often upcoming circumstances, or incidents, such as visions or premonitions.
Clairaudience:
The skill or talent of being able to perceive things beyond normal sensory in an auditory manner, often future situations, or events, such voices, or echoes. These noises can be current, future, or from earlier.
Clairsentience:
The dexterity or capacity of being able to comprehend things ahead of conventional sensory in an emotional manner, often with people around us or future situations, or events. Many refer to this as being an empath.
Claircognizance:
The expertise or flair of being able to observe things further than ordinary sensory in an intellectual and logical manner, often with insight, perception, instinct, awareness, insight, and intuition.
Clairgustance:
The ability or aptitude of being able to distinguish things outside of standard sensory from a taste-based approach, often upcoming circumstances, or incidents, such as visions or premonitions.
Every single person on the planet has psychic abilities, but most people never realize that they’re using them. As Tess Whitehurst says in her book You Are Magical, “There is almost certainly something you assume that everyone can perceive that is actually a perception that is relatively unique to you.”
For example: you may be a gifted artist. Drawing and painting come naturally to you, and you have an intuitive sense of form and color. You probably know people who claim that they “don’t have an artistic bone in their body” or “can’t even draw a stick figure,” but you can’t bring yourself to believe it. Surely, those people are just psyching themselves out, because if art comes so easily to you, everyone must be able to do it to some extent, right?
Psychic abilities are similar. You’ve probably been tapping into at least one psychic sense all your life, but it feels so normal to you that you assume everyone experiences the world this way.
Once you become aware of your innate psychic abilities, you can start to harness them. For this reason, I think it’s a good idea to become familiar with (and comfortable using!) your natural psychic gifts before you try to learn any kind of divination.
Read over the following list of common psychic senses. Does one or more of them sound familiar? Once you recognize which of these you resonate with, focus on strengthening that gift over the next couple of weeks. You’ll be amazed by how easily you’re able to tap into it once you know how!
Clairvoyance: Clear Seeing
Contrary to popular opinion, the word “clairvoyance” does not describe any and all psychic abilities. Someone with clairvoyance receives psychic messages through their sense of sight. They may see these messages with their physical eyes, or see images in their mind’s eye. Seeing auras is an example of clairvoyance in action.
You may be clairvoyant if…
You often see flashes of light, blurred figures, or other visual phenomena that others do not see. [Note: This is NOT the same as visual hallucinations. Clairvoyants typically see things with their mind’s eye, not their physical eyes, and can differentiate between their visions and what is physically in front of them.]
You often experience random mental images that seem to have nothing to do with what’s going on around you.
Your meditations are primarily visual — for example, if you meditate on the element of water, you may see a bubbling fountain in your mind’s eye.
You are a visual learner.
Ways to Strengthen Clairvoyance
Keep a journal of the mental images you receive “out of nowhere.” Do these images mean anything to you? Do individual visions fit into a larger pattern?
Meditate on your chakras, and visualize each chakra in your mind’s eye, starting from the root and working up to the crown. What do your chakras look like? Are the colors bright and clear, or more faded and muddy? Are some spinning faster or slower than others? How does their appearance correspond to your life? For example, a muddy or faded sacral chakra may indicate issues around sexuality.
Do research into auras and what the different aura colors mean. Do you always seem to see or think of a certain color when you’re around a certain person? How does that color represent that person’s energy and personality? Write down your findings.
Clairaudience: Clear Hearing
Someone with clairaudience receives psychic messages through their sense of hearing. They may hear messages with their physical ears or “hear” them in their mind. A medium who hears spirits is an example of someone using clairaudience.
You may be clairaudient if…
You sometimes “hear” things in your mind, as if someone else was talking to you from inside your head. [Note: This is NOT the same as “hearing voices” or auditory hallucinations. Clairaudients usually “hear” messages with their mind, not their physical ears, and they can distinguish between psychic messages and physical, “real world” sounds.]
Sometimes, when you listen to music or watch a movie, a specific lyric or line of dialogue seems to jump out at you, as if it were a special message.
Your meditations are primarily auditory — for example, if you meditate on the element of water, you may hear a babbling brook.
You are an auditory learner.
Ways to Strengthen Clairaudience
Keep a journal of the messages you “hear” out of nowhere. Are they consistent, forming a larger pattern? Do they all seem to be “in the same voice,” or coming from the same source? (If so, this could be a deity or spirit guide reaching out to you.)
Do a meditation with the intention of holding a conversation with a helpful spirit guide. (If you are not comfortable working with spirits, you can set the intention of speaking to your inner self.) What does their voice sound like? Is it different from or similar to your own? Do they speak with an accent or have a unique inflection? Write down your thoughts.
Experiment with shufflemancy. This is a modern form of divination where you put a playlist on shuffle and receive a psychic message from the song that plays first. (You can find playlists specifically made for shufflemancy online, or make your own.) How does the song make you feel? Are there certain lyrics that jump out to you? Write down your thoughts.
Clairsentience: Clear Feeling
Someone with clairsentience feels psychic messages, either through their body or through their emotions. They may feel physical sensations, like an upset stomach, or may be very sensitive to emotional energies. Intuitively picking up on someone’s emotions without needing to ask is an example of clairsentience.
You may be clairsentient if…
You often feel physical sensations, like a hot flash or a cold chill, out of nowhere.
You are able to feel other people’s emotions — you can always tell when someone has had a bad day, even if they’re trying to hide it.
You can sense the “vibe” of a room as soon as you walk in. Do certain buildings feel “angry” or “sad” to you? Can you always tell the energy of a party even if you just arrived?
Your meditations primarily focus on tactile sensations — for example, if you meditate on the element of water, you may feel waves lapping at your feet.
Ways to Strengthen Clairsentience
Pay attention to your “gut feelings.” Do you feel a sinking sensation when thinking about something, only for it to go badly later? Do you feel a warm, fuzzy sensation thinking about something, only for it to go really well? Write down your experiences — and be honest. It’s okay if your gut feeling doesn’t always match the outcome.
Do a pathworking meditation (this is just a type of meditation that focuses on taking a mental journey) to a forest, or a beach, or some other location that appeals to you. Try to feel as many tactile sensations as possible, as if you were really there. Feel the grass or sand under your feet, feel the wind in your hair, feel the sun on your skin. Write down your experience.
Practice feeling the energy of a plant or crystal. Reach out and touch the plant/crystal, and try to feel it out. Does it have a calm, stable energy, or is it more bright and zingy? Try feeling a different plant/crystal and see how it feels different. Write down your experience.
Note: Some (but not all) clairsentients are also empaths, people who take on the emotions of others as if they were their own. All empaths are clairsentient, but not all clairsentient people are empaths. You may be an empath if you often find yourself matching the emotions of the people you’re around — you cry when they cry, laugh when they laugh, etc.
Claircognizance: Clear Knowing
Claircognizence is the gift of psychic knowing — people with this ability often “just know” things, even if they should have no way of knowing. They may know what someone is about to say before they say it, or know personal information about someone they just met.
You may be claircognizant if…
You “just know” what’s going on with your friends and family, even if they haven’t told you. For example, you may suddenly feel like you need to call your sister, only to find out after you call that she just broke up with her boyfriend.
You always know who a text is from as soon as your phone dings, or always know what song is going to play next on shuffle.
You often know things about new people as soon as you meet them, only for them to confirm it later. Did you know your friend was a vegetarian before he told you, even though you’d never shared a meal with him?
Your meditations often include “downloads” of information, where you feel like the answer to your question or some other revelation has just been dropped into your brain.
Ways to Strengthen Claircognizance
Every time your phone goes off, try to guess who the message is from. Keep a tally of how often you’re right vs. wrong.
Do a meditation with the intention of receiving the answer to a specific question. Retreat to a place of stillness and focus on your breath until the answer to the question “just comes to you.” Write down your experience.
This is a game I used to play with my sister before I knew what claircognizance was: have a friend show you a picture of someone they know, but whom you have never met before. Focus on the picture, and see if you get any info about the person — are they a jock? Do they like rock music? What’s their personality like? Get your friend to confirm or deny the info you got from the picture, and keep a tally of how often you’re right vs. wrong.
The Other Clairs
There are two other “clair” senses that are less common, so I’m not going to talk about them at length here. Clairalience, or “clear smelling,” refers to receiving psychic messages through smell. (If you smell roses out of nowhere, with no roses in sight, you may be using clairalience.) Clairgustance, or “clear tasting,” refers to receiving psychic messages through taste. (If you taste chocolate out of nowhere, you may be using claigustance.)
In my experience, these psychic senses are less common than the ones listed above. Most people I know who have clairalience or clairgustance seem to use it as a secondary sense, in addition to a primary sense like clairvoyance or clairsentience.
Conclusion
You are probably using at least one of these psychic senses every day, without even knowing it. Most people have two to three “main” psychic senses, but some may regularly and easily use all of them. For example, my primary psychic senses are clairsentience and claircognizance, but I also find myself receiving messages through clairaudience fairly often. It’s rare for me to receive clairvoyant messages, but it has happened.
Once you’ve identified the psychic senses that you naturally lean towards, you can begin to develop and strengthen them.
Resources:
You Are Magical by Tess Whitehurst [Specifically the chapter, “Reading the Signs.”]
The Fat Feminist Witch Podcast, Episode 68: “Clear Knowing”
The Angel Code by Chantel Lysette [Specifically the section on the psychic senses.]
This is an important key to unlock, to further develop psychic abilities/senses. If you want to explore your psychic self fully, your shadow self is worth illuminating and working on. Why? Because the nature of psychic abilities. This is the ability to perceive, process, and bring to light incredible information from realms that are usually in the dark. This is considered “abnormal” to the majority, and while we are in this human body, on this earth, that darkness involves the shadow-self, and the subconscious mind. Often times psychics and those with strong connection to the spirit realm/divine/ ethers/ whatever you want to call it, *have* been through darkness and explored it themselves. This is not to say there aren’t psychics there who have had perfect lives, this is pointing out how the two coincide with one another. The unhealed shadow acts as a blockage. The Shadow Self is a part of you that resides in the deep state of your subconscious. This is a part of your psyche that has awaiting untapped power and knowledge. Where all our trauma, shame, deepest desires, potentially forbidden, hidden/suppressed emotions, most fragile and intense part of ourselves lie in. But the more we suppress, the more it bleeds into our life. The reason most never willingly embrace their shadow is because in our current society, we are taught to look down on our own darkness and anything that can make us “imperfect”. We are fed fear from a young age, we are met with societal expectations and pressure in every direction we look. The shadow can and should be transmuted and empowered to induce the psychic senses in a way that is healthy and certain.
I am officially opening my first free tarot readings! From 8/20-8/31 I will be taking asks for one free tarot reading. Here are the conditions and instructions:
1. Please don’t ask as anonymous! I will answer privately, I just need to make sure that each person is only getting one!
2. Depending on how swamped I get with asks, I will prioritise my followers UNLESS if my spirit guides and I sense urgency from a non-follower ask!
3. The questions are limitless, you can be as specific or vague as you would like, you can inquire about your life path, etc.
4. I will answer back as soon as I can, I don’t want to keep anyone waiting!
So many people have heard of the term clairvoyance and are often disappointed when they find out that they do not fit in that category. However, fear not! There are plenty of other “Clairs” out there, so of you felt some sort of connection to clairvoyance, you might be on the right track to deciphering your abilities!
I, too, had a similar beginning to my journey as a clairsentient. There is barely any information out there about what clairsentience is, so I’m here to help!
Define clairsentience
Clairsentience literally means “clear feeling.” It describes the heightened sensitivity around people, animals, objects, etc
What is the difference between clairsentience and being an empath?
The difference can be tricky to understand, but to put it simply, clairsentients not only pick up emotions like an empath, but they experience them on a higher level. Keep reading to understand what this means
How can I tell if I’m clairsentient?
Here are some common traits that clairsentients share:
“I just know” is something you say to people on a daily basis
If you tell your friend not to touch an object, or not to interact with a person without any justification other than your gut feeling, you may be clairsentient. Whether the spirits are telling you or you are picking up on a lot of negative energy, that is your abilities sensing more than the average person could possibly know.
2. You know what is on a person’s mind before they say it
This is not “mind reading,” it is instead sensing their emotions and thoughts before they reach the physical plane. That is why clairsentients make great psychics and mediums, because they can feel what the person wants to ask before a single word comes out!
3. You have a gift with divination
Whether it’s tarot readings, pendulum boards, or scrying, clairsentients are able to give very accurate readings because of their abilities. They don’t need to look at a reference book to see what tarot cards mean, they know it once they look at them.
Some of your abilities may overlap eith empathic abilities, which means that you are an empathic clairsentient! I have been blessed with that special gift, and I love sharing it with the world through my friendship and tarot readings.
I am officially opening my first free tarot readings! From 8/20-8/31 I will be taking asks for one free tarot reading. Here are the conditions and instructions:
1. Please don’t ask as anonymous! I will answer privately, I just need to make sure that each person is only getting one!
2. Depending on how swamped I get with asks, I will prioritise my followers UNLESS if my spirit guides and I sense urgency from a non-follower ask!
3. The questions are limitless, you can be as specific or vague as you would like, you can inquire about your life path, etc.
4. I will answer back as soon as I can, I don’t want to keep anyone waiting!
Thank you so much to everyone!
Be well, be love, be positive!
Day 2 out of 12! Also if you would like to tip me or request additional divination methods, my PayPal email is [email protected]
I am officially opening my first free tarot readings! From 8/20-8/31 I will be taking asks for one free tarot reading. Here are the conditions and instructions:
1. Please don’t ask as anonymous! I will answer privately, I just need to make sure that each person is only getting one!
2. Depending on how swamped I get with asks, I will prioritise my followers UNLESS if my spirit guides and I sense urgency from a non-follower ask!
3. The questions are limitless, you can be as specific or vague as you would like, you can inquire about your life path, etc.
4. I will answer back as soon as I can, I don’t want to keep anyone waiting!
In celebration of my official business logo, I will be doing a SALE on my tarot readings! Here’s how it works:
Find a friend, mutual, or family member that is also interested in a tarot reading for themselves!
Both of you must contact me separately, either by my email, my blog, or my Instagram (posted on my bio)
Once I receive confirmation from both of you that the other’s name is correct, I will find a reading that works for each of you and give you 20% off both your readings!
