Is the future really in the palm of their hands?
Photo: Gavin Mills/SXC
The number of psychic ability types in existence depends wholly on who is asked. While the opinion of this writer is that kinds of psychic abilities are numerous, let us begin with the three most often recognized psychic gifts as a base from which to work.
Clairvoyance. Tracing back the root words, we learn that to be clairvoyant is to be one with clear vision or who sees clearly. In the medical community, this may be one who sees 20/20; however, it means something much different in the psychic community. Clairvoyants are individuals who experience their gifts visually. Perhaps this manifests itself as visions or picture flashes when working with a spirit guide or during meditation.
Sadly, that nutty woman who bursts into the police station at the critical moment of a cop drama declaring, “I’ve had a vision of where the child was taken!” is the image most often associated with clairvoyance.
Clairaudience. If you guessed that a clairaudient is one who hears clearly then you get a magic gold star. Clairaudients are the lesser known of the “clair” family of gifts. Very rarely does Hollywood portray someone hearing voices or mysterious sounds in a positive light. For that matter, the medical community may label clairaudients as schizophrenic. The difference between a schizophrenic and one with clairaudience is that sufferers of schizophrenia are typically driven by the voices to harm themselves or others. Clairaudients receive information that is meaningful either to them or to others; never are they instructed to do harm.
Clairsentience. Although common, clairsentience is misunderstood. Some say it is the ability to know things by touch while others say clairsentients simply know things they have no reason or opportunity to know. For our purposes, let us agree on the latter and look forward to a discussion on the former in the future. (Try saying that three times fast.)
What is unusual about clairsentience is that it is so intertwined with the other members of the “clair” psychic family. How do clairsentients know what they know? Do they see an image in their head and interpret it? Do they hear words and repeat them? Do they just open their mouth and wait to see what comes out right along with everyone else?
The answer is yes.
And no.
Truly, one with clairsentience just knows and more often then not, they have no idea how they know. To the novice, they are amazed to get it right with no evidence to support their words. Some may have a touch of clairvoyance; others a smidge of clairaudience. Still other clairsentients may have a mixture of other psychic gifts.
Perhaps this is why the scientific community has not been able to create a controlled laboratory experiment to once and for all prove or disprove psychic abilities: No two psychics experience their gifts or use their abilities in the exact same way. And, as we all know, the scientific community does not recognize that which cannot be readily duplicated in a lab.
Good thing we don’t all live our lives within the four white walls of a lab, huh?
Reader Feedback: What are your thoughts on psychic abilities? Have you had any experiences with clairvoyance, clairaudience or clairsentience? Don’t be stingy…Caring is sharing. (Anyone having a kindergarten flashback yet?)
Comments
ok, I'm Clairsentience and I'm not even sure how to pronounce it :D I never knew there was an actual word for it. I thought it fell into the psychic catagory in some sort of way. You think I would have *known* better :P
Any idea the name for someone that knows what time it is? Or does that also fall under clairsentience?
You're cracking me up, Jen!
If I had to guess, the ability to know what time it is without a watch probably has less to do with psychic abilities and more to do with your body being very in-tuned to the natural timing of things.
Of course, if I HAD to make it a kind of psychic gift then I'd say clairsentience since it does have to do with knowing things. :)
Jen, I'm both psychic AND in the mental health profession! What I am coming to "know" is that I believe the severely mentally ill are often VERY psychic and can't separate what comes in and their circuitry gets tipped...and some never recover. Interesting balancing act.
once at the store I asked the produce guy if I could help him doing something...he looked at me funny and said "WHY?", and I said without thinking "because your back hurts" and he looked freaked and said "HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT???", and I said..."um.....I don't know."
Now I'm off to eat some Kindergarten paste on a stick.
And you're off to eat paste because...why?
I'm in agreement with you on the mentally ill. I'm sure there are those who legitimately suffer from the various mental illnesses, but at the same time, medical science doesn't recognize psychic gifting as real. If you tell someone who says they talked to Jesus that they're crazy long enough then you can't be surprised when they think they're crazy. I find it really sad. If people were taught to process all the information they get, as opposed to just the logical information, then there might be less prescriptions floating around out there...I know I wrote about that somewhere...I'll never remember where.
Hey!
I wish that I didn't See. I have paid a huge price for this "Gift". I wish that I were "Normal", like everbody else.I try to hide it the best that I can. I don't like knowing what people are thinking. Sometimes it's ugly. I'm not crazy-I have degrees.
I appreciate your words because I'm alone.
God Bless and Love You
clairsentience - I have this all the time. The only place to admit it is here. great article.
Great article! I wasn't sure how I was fitting into the types of psychic until I read this. (I'm clairsentient and somewhat clairaudient.) But some part of me just keeps INSISTING that maybe we all are so fascinated with this that we are believing what we want to believe. Should I consider this a "gift"?
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