by Last Updated on October 7, 2024 by Avia
About Psychic Perception and Exploring Our Psychic Abilities: Everybody has psychic ability; the real question is, which area of psychic perception are you most attuned to? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
The Five Human Senses and Psychic Perception
The classifications of psychic perception relate to the five human senses:
- Hearing
- Seeing
- Tasting
- Smelling
- Touching/Sensing
Most of us have at least one area of psychic perception that is more strongly aligned than others. Some of us will experience heightened psychic perception in more than one of these sensory areas too.
This article discusses these classifications of psychic perception with a goal to help you identify the psychic areas you are most inclined towards.
Psychic Perception and the Idea of “Non-Local”
Just a note before plowing further…as you read this article on psychic perception you’re going to see terms like ‘non-local’ or ‘non-physical’ or other odd phrases.
I really want to elaborate on the term ‘non-local.’ I picked up the term from Deepak Chopra many, many years ago. I liked the descriptor a lot, and I borrow it often. Non-local data is simply energetic info, stimulus, and messages we receive that is not in our locality. To say it in woo-woo terms…it means spiritual and energetic information we obtain outside of our consciousness, and outside of our physical environment.
Other terms that might make you scratch your head are pretty simple to figure out if you give it some time, but if you have questions, feel free to contact a top psychic here.
So without further ado, let’s delve into various classifications of psychic perceptions, and what these psychic abilities potentially mean to us.
“The concept of psychic energy should be easy for most people to imagine. After all, it’s just one step beyond intuition – and almost everyone is comfortable with the idea of intuition.”
~ Ann Krentz
Different Kinds of Psychic Perceptions and Classifications of Psychic Abilities
The following are the five prime types of psychic sensory perceptions and what each of these classes represent.
Psychic Hearing: Clairaudience
The term clairaudience is French which translates to mean “clear hearing.” If you are a natural clairaudient, you will report hearing sounds or voices on a psychic (non-physical) level. For example, you may hear music in certain rooms of a home when in reality, there is no music playing. Heightened audio perception also comes in the form of an “inner voice” speaking to you.
This inner voice is quite different than your inner critic (what I call the “munchy mind”). It’s also different from that “Jiminy Cricket”…that voice that is your conscience or instinct. Hearing voices like your inner dialogue and inner intuition is normal. Hearing voices outside of these examples is defined as unusual in that it could be defined as clairaudience. I’m not a medical professional – so I’m not even going to touch the realm of hearing voices in a state of mental instability. I’m just talking about the psychic hearing here.
Clairaudience is often employed by gifted Mediums who can hear the voices of loved ones who have transitioned into non-physical. You can differentiate between your inner ‘Jiminy Cricket’ voice, the inner critic (munchy mind) voice and the clairaudient voices by identifying the tone. Your instinct speaks in your voice. Your inner critic speaks in your voice. Sounds, voices, conversations that don’t seem to originate from your mind and do not speak in your own tonal voice are potentially clairaudient episodes.
At least, that’s how I figured it out. It takes time, meditation and investigation to better understand this phenomenon. It took me years to get a handle on my clairaudience. Truthfully, it was a freaky time…sorting through who or what was speaking within me, and who or what wasn’t. I’ll never have it fully figured out…but at least now I absolutely know when my antennae are hearing something going on in the spiritual/energetic realms. You’ll get the hang of it and discern the differences in time, if you haven’t already!
Psychic Seeing: Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is also French and means “clear seeing.” If you are inclined to clairvoyance, you are able to see non-physical phenomenon. This could come in the form of seeing emanations (spirits), seeing auras and seeing actual scenes from past, present or future superimposed in your present moment.. Having the ability to see psychically is sometimes compared to a video running through the third eye of the mind and spirit. This kind of psychic perception is experienced internally (inner vision), but some psychics also claim to see events as if they are happening in common (physical) reality too.
Clairvoyance isn’t really my bag, baby. But, I have had a few encounters with it. Pretty hair-raising, actually. In my case, it felt as if I were in a hologram. Everything in the ‘real world’ was moving along as usual…but there seemed to be another layer of people, animals, plants, activities that I could see amongst the current, real situation. Let me tell ya…that tweaked my melon in a big way. As it turns out, it was something I really needed to know at the time, and I can clearly see how my guides and spirits just kinda ‘plugged in’ to my mainframe to alert me of what I needed to know about that situation.
This has happened a few other times. Each time, I make an effort to absorb all the details, and understand more clearly this phenomenon of clairvoyance. I would highly recommend the same for you.
Outside of the occasional clairvoyant ‘visions’…I can see auras. Quite clearly, I’m happy to report. But it didn’t come overnight. Psychic ability in the visual realm isn’t hard-wired in my system. But that’s okay…and that emphasizes a point I want to make. We ALL have psychic abilities. Just because some psychic bits aren’t in-your-face, that doesn’t mean the latent potential for psychic awareness isn’t there!
At any rate, I worked for years to improve my psychic vision. Eventually, I was also able to detect shadow people in addition to enhancing my aura vision.
Psychic vision – clairvoyance – is especially switched on in physical locations that have big juju. Battlefields, holy grounds, cemeteries….the Earth soaks up human energy…it retains a memory of massive joy, sacred events, pain, etc. That’s pretty much what a haunting is, and a clairvoyant can see these memories and impressions that have happened in the past.
Often, a clairvoyant can also see impressions of what is happening now, and a version of what may happen in the future. To be sure, it’s some pretty funky stuff. If your psychic abilities lean towards clairvoyance…I don’t envy you. I had a hard enough time with my handful of visual episodes. And I have challenge enough with clairaudience (which is my prime channel of receiving non-physical, non-local communication).
Here again, I’m no medical professional. If you’re seeing things, and it whacks you out to the point of being concerned about it, seek out help, talk to a pro, get advice.
Psychic Tasting
I know, it sounds weird…psychic taste buds!?! What?! But it DOES happen! I don’t know the fancy French word for psychic tasting, but it DOES exist. This is a not-so-common aspect of psychic perception, but it can be an incredibly powerful way of interpreting non-physical and non-local information. I’ve experienced this phenomenon a few times. Well, in truth…I experience it a lot. Maybe it’s because I’m an unapologetic foodie. Or maybe it’s because I’m mouth-oriented (hey…get your mind out of the gutter! Oral fixations aren’t as bizarre as they’re cracked up to be! LOL!).
For example, as I was conducting a reading for a client, an overwhelming taste of salt and copper came upon me – very metallic and cold tasting. I conveyed this sensation to my client, and she validated this by telling me her husband had transitioned into non-physical from a heart-attack, and he had reported the same coppery taste in his mouth before passing. A bit more Q&A with her husband confirmed his identity and we had a marvelous connection. In the realm of psychic perception, it’s important to keep your awareness attuned to any form of sensory communication.
The phenomenon of psychic tasting is a tricky thing. It’s hard to identify non-local taste from the toothpaste you applied first thing in the morning. Mostly, psychic mouth sensation and taste happens when in meditation or trance.
At least that’s how it is for me. I remember connecting with a client’s daughter through psychic tasting. I was in deep trance and tasted salt water. Later, I learned her daughter had drowned in sea water. We were able to have a cathartic moment through the simple act of tasting that tang on my tongue, and knowing her daughter was coming through in the session.
Anyway….psychic tasting is a weird, quirky thing..but it does exist, I know ’cause I been there, and I got the t-shirt on more occasions than I can count. But it’s a fickle sense because it’s best detected while lucid dreaming, or in meditative, trance-like state.s Let’s just say I’ve never been gobsmacked by the taste of gummy bears while I’m shopping for work boots. I gotta be ‘in the zone’ to get the psychic taste buds going. This sense doesn’t work the same way the others do.
In truth, none of these psychic perceptions work the same. But this just proves my point…we’ve got to investigate the impressions, episodes and stimulus that comes to us. Non-local data will come to different strokes for different folks!
Psychic Smelling
This is another uncommon way to experience psychic perception, but no less important. The olfactory system is a vastly underutilized sensory detector. Have you ever caught a whiff of something that catapulted you into a long-lost memory? Something you haven’t thought of for years? We can have the same kind of transcendental experience through psychic smelling too.
A friend of mine who is a psychic healer, consistently smelled fresh baked bread when one of her clients came for her massage session. After thinking about it, my friend realized this smell is primarily composed of yeast. She mentioned it to her client, and her client confessed to being an epic fail of a baker…after almost burning down the kitchen while trying to bake bread…she gave up on the art years ago. So my friend ruled out the idea of a remnant scent of yeast on her client’s clothes. After talking further, her client confirmed she was struggling with recurring depression about the loss of her brother, who owned a bakery where he made artisan yeast-baked breads! From there, my friend and her client were able to discuss her feelings about her brother’s recent passing.
After a couple of sessions, and just hashing out impressions and feelings, my friend was able to give an emotional healing to her client and she able to resolve some issues she had with her brother. How cool is that!?!?
I know, it sounds outlandish, but this is often how the subtle art of psychic perception works. Just paying attention to slight cues like this, and acting on them (as my friend did with her client) causes natural psychic connections to unfold.
I’ll give you another example. Once upon a time, I served as a Medium at a spiritualist church. I’ll spare you the history of spiritualism (which I know well) – that’s another article altogether. But this church trained me in mediumship and soon after I graduated I found myself on the podium giving readings. Golly, I was so nervous the first time I stood in front of a packed church, upon that high podium, praying to all that is sacred that SOMETHING might come forth!! What did I get?? Smoke. Yep. Lung-squeezing, nose-sneezing pipe smoke.
Now of course, there is no smoking in the church. I did not smoke at that time. I was so removed from anybody in the congregation, I wouldn’t be able to smell smoke on any one (my sniffer ain’t that great anyway). AND the scent was distinctly pipe smoke, which I had very little reference to. What the heck?
So, I just trusted my training, trusted my guides, trusted the universe, and just dove in, asking: “Who here has a heavy pipe smoker who has passed? He’s coming to you with a message.” Turns out, I gave a message to a woman who needed key information about this dog her Uncle left behind. The dog wasn’t eating. Uncle William (yeah, the pipe smoker) spoke through me, telling his niece that the dog wants sardines. I know…it sounds crazy..but that’s what happened! Honest to goodness!
I’ve gotten sock-rot smells, burning house smells, nasty cheese smells, lovely gardenia scents, specific perfumes, etc., etc…all of them leading to a psychic connection (stinky and otherwise!).
All this to say…if you get into the zone, and you’re intent is to connect on a psychic level with non-physical, non-local energy…smell-o-vision can be QUITE effective for creating that bond. Just sayin’.
Psychic Sensing: Clairsentience
Last but not least…this psychic perception, in my opinion is the most common and most accessible. Why? because clairsentience is very much akin to empathy and compassion. Not necessarily physical touching, but more of a visceral knowing is what clairsentience is about. The term ‘clairsentience’ is French and means “clear sensing, clear feeling and/or clear knowing.”
Clairsentience can come in many forms and can also manifest itself in our perception by using all our senses at once. The most common form of clairsentience is the ability to feel the emotions of people around you. If you have ever entered a room and felt the tension hanging in there – that is an experience of clairsentience. Or if you have ever just sensed something without a rational explanation – you have psychically encountered information – this is also a form of clairsentience.
Clairsentience is often interchangeable with the term “intuition” or “empathy” because it’s an inner knowing – a visceral assurance about the information that has come to you outside of the realm of common reality or logic.
Gut feelings? It could be intuition or it could be clairsentience. The two are intertwined, and hard to pull apart when you put them under an analyzing microscope.
I love this classification of psychic perception because I truly believe we all have it. It’s a powerful feeling that is so strong, and we’ve got to act upon it. It’s that punch in the gut feeling that demands us to pay attention. It’s that undeniable instinct that compels us and puts our short hairs on end, and demands us to respond.
Some of the most profound moments in my life were served up by clairsentience (instinct, intuition…whatever you want to call it…at the end of the day… it is ‘clear feeling’ and ‘clear sensing’).
I’ve had times where I get this kick in my balls (if I had balls) that just feels like I’ve got to move myself and whomever is with me out of a situation. 100% of the time, I’m right. My action to get out, run, move, take action was the right thing to do, and in some cases, saved lives.
Clairsentience is a slippery concept. I’ve come to think on it as a skill that a human has that encompasses the whole package of his or her essence.
For example, I believe good cops are clairsentient, as are good firefighters, good EMTs, paramedics, etc. These blessed people of service come upon the scene, and have no bloody clue as to what the hell is going on. They must rely on their ‘clear feeling’ or ‘clear sensing’. They acutely listen to their instinct. They absorb all the elements and details of the scene and are compelled to act in accordance with the conclusions they’ve surmised within seconds.
I know this, because I served as an EMT. Regrettably, I had a tendency to pass out (or worse, puke) at the scene…but I’ve worked elbow-to-elbow with some of the best first-responders on the face of this planet. They’ve got it…they’ve got that sixth sense that only comes from sensing situations at an intense and highly alert capacity.
Out of curiosity, I had to talk to my comrades in the field about this super-sensing they seemed to posses in the heat of the moment. I asked them how they were so perceptive. How did they know which tact to take? How did they know to administer such-and-such and not the other remedy?
Ironically and inevitably, my fellows in arms looked at me like I was from the moon. “Huh? What are you talking about? It was just what needed to be done!”
Interesting, eh? I saw in these first-responders something they claimed they did not see in themselves. But…I suspect they know, or at least have an inkling that their ‘spidey senses’ are engaged when required.
If you think on it, this clairsentience is a practiced art. It is a skill that takes years to develop. So…really…it’s no different from any other psychic perception or psychic ability. Just ’cause it has a fancy name among the classifications of psychic abilities doesn’t mean it’s obtained by fancy means.
Closing Thoughts About Psychic Perception
At the end of this article, I realize I took a lot of time and a lot of words to get to these few fine points:
- You have psychic abilities.
- Your psychic gifts are unique to you.
- Your abilities require your attention; it takes effort to cultivate unique, psychic perception.
I hope you have enjoyed these thoughts on the various forms of psychic perception. Keep your attention open to all forms of psychic knowing, and try to identify which form of perception you are most attuned with.
More than anything….relax!!! Please just chill out with these concepts. If you stress over it, or over-think it…none of this stuff is going to work right.
If I learned anything as a veteran in this realm of extrasensory understanding it is this: If it is forced, it is wrong. Go with the flow.
May all your perceptions be fluid, clear and insightful!
Mighty brightly,
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