There are many ways to perceive information beyond our traditional 5 senses.  I have come to learn that many psychics and those in the spiritual field call these the “clairs.”  Like with the other sections of connecting with the divine I have written about here, the “clairs” are something we can learn. Or perhaps, more true is to say we have these “clairs” and need to learn how to “tune in” or pay attention to them.  Some types are more natural to some people, and others come more easily to other folks.  In many ways, they really work together.  For me, I am still working on building my skills in this area.  Guided meditations have been extremely helpful, as has just learning about what the experience is like.  At first, I thought, “this is just my imagination.”  What I have come to feel and believe is that our “imagination” is the gateway.  When I look up imagination, one definition is, “the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.”  So, truly, imagination helps us go beyond what we think of as our senses.  We need to learn to trust that we are getting is “real.”  Many people have had experiences with their “clairs,” and just didn’t know there was an actual term associated with what was happening to them!  I also like to think of all of this bundled up as our intuition, or our internal guidance system.  I believe all this comes from a higher, divine realm, and that our awareness of them is key to helping us with things like decision-making, and just living a more divinely-inspired life.

Clairvoyance

This means “clear seeing.” So, visual experiences of the world around us that are beyond just what we normally see with our eyes. For me, this manifests mostly in visualization through guided meditation.  I’ve done numerous exercises imagining connecting to my higher self, of “seeing” whatever the voice of the meditation requests, such as imagining myself in a garden, or connecting to the higher realms.  I’ve used this method to visualize connecting with my spirit guides and with a past life. Clairvoyance is associated with the 3^rd eye chakra (I’ll talk about chakras in the energy section).  For some people, clairvoyance is more closely tied to dreams or seeing auras or other visions. This can also be related to seeing numbers, which may relate to meanings within numerology.  The seeing is described as spontaneous and compelling. Sometimes you may get something that doesn’t make sense at the time. Just accept that you are getting it for a reason.

Clairaudience

This means “clear hearing.” People might think of hearing voices as clairaudience, but there are many ways things come to us in a clairaudient way.  Sounds we hear, music, words.  For example, we could overhear a conversation and there might be a message there for us, or hear a song on the radio that has meaning or answers a question we have been thinking about.  Sometimes what we perceive can be symbolic, which I think is true of the other senses as well.  It can be the voices or songs we hear in our head clueing us in to things we should pay attention to.  In our often overwhelming world, we tend to tune out so much of what seems to assault us.  With the psychic senses, we need to learn to tune back in and pay attention.

Clairsentience

This means “clear feeling.”  This “clair” involves really tuning into your body, recognizing your emotional responses, your gut feelings.  Sometimes this can be confusing because we can sometimes sense the feelings of others and get them confused with our own, so learning to distinguish what is ours vs. someone else’s is important.  It is also important to note that your intuition speaks first, and then your emotional and mental responses follow.  Everything is and emanates energy, and we pick up on this, often very naturally.  Think of times when you have met someone and felt immediately drawn to them, or vice-versa, you immediately felt like you needed to keep your distance.  The likelihood is your clairsentience was on alert and you were sensing the energy of the other person.  With someone is “empathic” or has a strong ability to pick up on the energies of others, grounding and protecting our energy is very important. I’ll talk about grounding in another section.

Claircognizance

This is “clear knowing.”  These are the times when you say, “I just knew it.”  These could be ideas, revelations, ah-ha moments. You might get an inspiration to act (or to not act) on certain circumstances in your life.  Again, this is often spontaneous, and it could also come as premonitions. Claircognizance is associated with the 7^th or crown chakra.

A special “thank you” to Laurie Blomer for her education, guidance, and resources as I learn more about this world of psychic development.