Discover Your Intuitive Gifts: The 4 “Clairs” of Psychic Ability Explained

Have you ever had a moment when you just knew something without a logical reason or evidence? Not just a gut feeling but being absolutely certain of something happening without knowing how or why? Or maybe you had your eyes closed and you still kept seeing – even things that later became true? Or you heard a quiet, inner voice offering guidance? If any of that feels familiar, you’re not alone. These are signs that you may already be tapping into your intuitive, spiritual gifts – your psychic, extrasensory senses.

Image by Selianthe Ka

What are the 4 Clairs?

In the world of spirituality, energy work and psychic development, we often speak about the 'four clairs' – four ways that intuitive information flows through us:

• Clairvoyance – seeing beyond the veil (visions, open 3rd eye)

• Clairaudience – hearing beyond the veil

• Clairsentience – feeling spirits, emotions, vibes and prana

• Claircognizance – knowing without evidence

  
  

The 4 clairs are ways we pick up extra information beyond the veil and the physical senses. We can develop our psychic abilities or even have them opened up by a high vibrational healer - or even directly over Spirit. The 4 clairs are the language of energy, ways of reading energy, as everything in the cosmos at the heart is this. Energy never lies, and understanding how to read this is very valuable extra information. However this comes with a warning: you have to be careful and set straight boundaries and intentions. Be willing to see / hear / know the Truth, avoid judgement, and only listen to that which feels expansive, uplifting and light. This article is here to help you identify your strongest clair(s), understand how they work, and begin to trust the guidance they offer.

Painting by Edward Robert Hughes

1. Clairvoyance – Clear Seeing

Clairvoyance is perhaps the most known of the intuitive abilities, and often what people imagine when they hear the word 'psychic' – the ability to see visions, symbols, or energetic imagery. Most often, it shows up as:

• Images that suddenly pop into your mind's eye (scenes, symbols, faces)

• Seeing aura colours around people, objects and trees

• Ability to 'remote view' places

• Ability to 'view' into someone's energetic body and register disease

• Flashes of colors, shapes, or light

• Outlines of spirits, 'see-through' people (earthbound spirits) and perhaps even fairies, unicorns or angels

• Dreamlike scenes or symbolic visions while in meditation

• Vivid dreams that seem to carry a message

You might be clairvoyant when:

• Visualisation is very easy for you

• You think in pictures or love creating visual art

• You daydream easily and vividly

• Looking people in the eyes is overwhelming

• You see the face of a person in your mind's eye and then they write you

• You see energy fields or lights and colours around people

• Meditation brings you strong visual imagery

• You see the chakras and sacred geometry in the body through your minds eye or even regularly

• When you pick up an object you receive visual information about it's journey

• You see the Angelic Beings and Ascended Masters in all their glory

How to practice:

Find a comfortable, quiet spot and close your eyes. Make sure to ground yourself and call in your Higher Self. Ask the Beings of the Light to clear your space, to protect you and affirm only information from the Highest Light may come forward and what is in your highest good to know right now. Then ask your question and relax, allow the first image or symbol to arise. Don’t judge it – just receive, and let go of any control. Ask your question in such a way that you still maintain sovereignty, i.e. "please help me understand where I need to be right now". The spiritual realms will never take away your power by doing things for you, however they can offer guidance and give clarity to understand next steps (this is due to the law of Free Will and Karma).

"Clairsentience is deeply tied to your overall nervous system being very open. It’s the psychic ability to feel the energy or prana around you."

2. Clairaudience – Clear Hearing

Clairaudience is the ability to hear subtle messages beyond the physical world. This might sound like:

• An inner voice in your mind that feels separate from your thoughts and has no 'tone' or sound like your own thinking mind has

• Hearing your name or words repeated when no one’s around (swearwords when it's coming from lower astral beings and a clear, calm voice offering guidance when coming from Beings of the Light)

• Receiving answers through lyrics

• Tunes that suddenly play in your head, conversations, or random phrases

• Ability to communicate with animals

• You can intuitively describe what kind of person someone is based on their voice

You Might Be Clairaudient If:

• You often hear voiceless voices in your mind (positive = coming from the Light and spirit guides, negative talk comes from lower astral beings)

• You love music, sound baths, or chanting

• You hear other people's thoughts in your mind (i.e. telepathy), like they're thinking out loud (without you necessarily wanting to hear these thoughts)

• You notice certain words or phrases that suddenly stand out or are amplified

• You can have a dialogue with your spirit guides in your mind
  

How to practice:

Sit in stillness and close your eyes, ground yourself and call in your Higher Self. Ask the Beings of the Light to clear your space, to protect you and affirm only information from the Highest Light may come forward. Then ask your question and relax your mind. Ask your question in such a way that you still maintain sovereignty, i.e. "please help me understand where I need to be right now". Softly breathe and feel how your mind becomes empty and open. The answer may come as a word, a kind whisper, or a melody.

Important to know is when something is negative, rude, pushy or using swearwords these are NOT beings or informations coming from the Light. In that case you ask Archangel Michael (the protector Angel) to come forward and clear your body, your space and your complete hologram.

3. Clairsentience – Clear Feeling

Clairsentience is deeply tied to your overall nervous system being very open. It’s the psychic ability to feel the energy or prana around you. Emotions, environments, and even people’s intentions all carry energy and have a vibration that you can pick up on. Almost everyone knows the reference of 'good vibes', and most people can sense if the vibes are good or off. Being clairsentient shows up as:

• Feeling what others feel, sometimes before they say a word

• Getting goosebumps or a rush of energy in certain situations

• Strong sensing of moods and atmospheres

• Physical sensations like tingling when you’re around specific people or spaces

• Strong gut feelings or emotional waves that come out of nowhere

• Being able to feel energy with your hands and perhaps your whole body

• Clearly feeling if something is right for you or not
  

You Might Be Clairsentient If:

• Crowded spaces overwhelm you

• You often quickly feel people 'stand in your personal space / aura'

• You don't like second hand objects and clothing as you sense the vibe of the previous owner and experiences of the object

• You sense what others need without being told

• You feel other people's emotions like your own – possibly even remotely

• You can feel other people's physical pain in your own body

• You clearly feel when something doesn't feel right or when it does

• You feel very clearly when a place or a person feels light or heavy

• You 'sense' spirits, like a wave of energy caressing you

• You might even feel energetic cords and your ancestral load lodged on your back

• You might even feel the romantic fantasies of people about you (like hands on your body)

How to practice:

Sit in stillness and close your eyes, ground yourself and call in your Higher Self. Ask the Beings of the Light to clear your space, to protect you and affirm only information from the Highest Light may come forward. Softly breathe and feel how your whole body becomes empty and open. Ask your question and feel if your body contracts or expands. Feel into the situation without any bias or judgement. The answer may come as a feeling or a wave of energy.

Important is when you suddenly feel very cold or fearful, you call in protection (I strongly recommend Archangel Michael, the protector angel). Ask your space, body and hologram to be cleared and affirm that "only that which is of the Highest Light is allowed to come near me". Also suddenly sensing a lump in your throat or a tightening feeling in your heart can indicate darker energies.

"Often your psychic abilities can suddenly open after a life-threatening traumatic event."

4. Claircognizance – Clear Knowing

Claircognizance is the most clear one of the clairs in my opinion. It’s the gift of knowing something without knowing how you know it. This knowing is often quick, quiet, and incredibly accurate. Claircognizance shows up as:

• A 'whooshing' feeling coming through your crown after which you suddenly 'know' something

• Sudden ideas or insights that seem to appear out of nowhere

• Strong hunches that later prove to be true

• A sense of truth or falsehood, instantly

• A strong gut feeling to do something that only becomes clear later why

You Might Be Claircognizant If:

• You often say “I just know”

• You get the answer before the question is finished

• You think about someone and then they write you

• You’re a deep thinker with strong instincts

• You tend to make fast, accurate decisions without overthinking

• You often know something out of nowhere, without evidence

How to practice:

Again set up your sacred space and when you feel safe and comfortable, start free-journaling your thoughts and insights. Don’t edit or analyze anything – just allow the words to flow. Just like with the other clairs, your claircognizance speaks clearest when you stop trying to figure it out.

Image by Selianthe Ka

The Two Extra Clairs

Some people might also have their natural physical senses amplified to such an extent they can 'smell scents of the past' or perceive the extra information over their nose. Clear Smelling can show up as:

• Perceiving the smell of illness in a person or animal

• Smelling a deceased person / earthbound spirit

• Intuitively knowing through smell that something is unhealthy

• Being able to determine dietary deficiencies via smell

In addition, some people might also experience this through taste. Clear tasting can show up as:

• Tasting that something is not good / healthy for you

• Perceiving the taste of products without eating them (intuitively or by focusing on it)

• Tasting the released waste products for example during a medical treatment

Ways to develop your psychic ability

Developing your inner spiritual gifts is a beautiful process that can bring you closer to your inner being. We all have these intuitive channels and we can cultivate them by bringing awareness to ourselves and when we clear our energetic system to be more receptive. With exercise you will discover which intuitive abilities are already within you and which ones you can learn to amplify. Each of us has access to these gifts within and psychic abilities can be (gently or intensely) opened up and amplified in different ways:

"We perceive more when the veil is more thin. These days your abilities will also be heightened, as more light is washing over the planet."

• Often your psychic abilities can suddenly open after a life-threatening traumatic event (big T trauma) as your whole system has been blown open and your nervous system has been sensitised.

• A high vibrational healer can gently open up your system and place sacred geometry in your chakras, allowing you to receive and read more information of the field of existence

• Being a period in complete darkness. This method of sensory deprevation is know to have been used by the ancient Greeks, Gauthama Buddha, and even Buddhust monks and a tribe alive today. The secluded Kogi community in Colombia sends their chosen children for the first nine years of their lives into a dark cave to attune their being with the cosmic consciousness they call 'Aluna', a powerful sacred force representing nature and the interconnectedness of all things. These children are initated and grow up to be highly enlightened healers called 'mamos'. Also famous psychics today use this practice to sharpen their abilities. They also made a beautiful documentary 'Aluna - An Ecological Warning by the Kogi People'.

• Psychedelics also open up your system and allow you to see beyond the veil (it is NOT recommended to use this path as you might bite off more than you can chew, only do this under proper guidance if you feel called to explore this path)

• Being young: as children still very open and willing to see the truth, we're not socialised yet

• Like muscles, your abilities strengthen with awareness and practice. Having a spiritual practice or sadhana that clears your energetic body (recommended path)

• Being at a high vibrational sacred site or place, or even in untouched nature

• Guides of the Light (spirit guides and light beings) can also tweak your energetic body and make you more psychic (they will only do this upon request of you / your Higher Self)

• We perceive more when the veil is more thin. Some days are portal days due to cosmic alignments, and the veil is more thin. These days your abilities will also be heightened, as more higher energy/light is washing over the planet. More information is being made visible and people start to be able to see the Truth. In general, the veil is becoming more and more thin, and people are not able to dismiss their spiritual experiences anymore and have to acknowledge that there is more than meets the eye.

Image via Pinterest

The Role of Shame

I feel it's important to point out that throughout recent history (last 500-1000 years) there has been a lot of shame cultivated around these abilities. In ancient times the spiritual gifts and channels were revered and respected, and were seen as highly sacred. These were ways to gain higher wisdom and sacred knowledge, ways to learn which plants to eat, which miracle cures nature offered (such as Kambo) and even messages to pass on from Spirit. However during and after the Dark Ages, the witch burnings, and the war against everything feminine (which includes the feeling centers and intuition) many of us carry bad memories in our DNA or soul surrounding these intuitive gifts. For that reason we hide them and ignore them – which can lead to unpleasant situations. It leads to many people having spiritual and intuitive experiences without being able to talk about it with anyone out of fear of being talked out of the experience or worse. However, I have noticed in my private 1:1 conversations that so many of us have had these experiences, and how it also paid off to listen! (Think: not getting on that plane or car that is about to crash). My goal is to normalise these experiences and take away the fear and the shame by talking about it, sharing my hard won lessons and creating a space for it. The gifts are sometimes difficult to handle, however I hope that my article helps bring light to the topic and makes you feel less alone – especially our children! It's definitely in your advantage to see what's really going on and be willing to see the truth, although this might sometimes be challenging. Remember, the truth is still there, also when you choose to ignore it.

To handle these extra sensory experiences It is important to stay grounded (drop your grounding cord to the center of the Earth) and use calming techniques like walking barefoot, deep belly breathing, or energy-clearing baths to stay centered while feeling deeply.

"During and after the Dark Ages, the witch burnings, and the war against everything feminine many of us carry bad memories in our DNA or soul surrounding these intuitive gifts."

A Small Note on Being a Medium

I wanted to point out that this is again a different trait. Someone who is a medium can communicate and perceive earthbound spirits specifically. They will be able to be the interface between your loved-ones and you. Also an animal communicator is a specific gift.

Final Thoughts: You’re Already Intuitive

Some people have one clair that dominates. Others experience a beautiful blend. The key is noticing which signals feel most natural, and gently build up trust in yourself. There’s no need to 'try hard' or force anything. Psychic ability isn’t a performance – it’s a listening. It's nothing that you can control, it's only through what you're open to receive.

By embracing your intuitive nature, you return to the part of yourself that already knows, sees and feels. That already hears the sweet whispers and melodies of the Universe.

if you read this, sending you good blessings for your journey

Want to Explore Further?

If you’re ready to deepen your intuitive gifts, check out my guided meditations, upcoming workshops, or join me for a private healing or reading session.

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