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4 Main Types of Intuitive Abilities & How to Strengthen Them

INSIDE: Intuitive abilities manifest in unique ways within every individual. It’s up to you to harness the gift of clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, and claircognizance. Use these tips to learn how to strengthen your intuitive abilities.

 

We live in a rather polarized world. Every topic seems to encompass diametrically opposed issues. Let’s dive into one that usually meets either significant skepticism or impassioned belief: psychic ability.

The phrase alone – psychic ability – causes many people to jump to the conclusion, “That’s crazy talk!” However, if we reframe it to intuitive abilities, a lot more people might take pause and admit, “I do believe in that!”

A fascinating study published in Psychological Reports helps demystify the irrationality of psychic abilities. The research looks at three groups of people with varying views and experiences of psychic abilities: believers, non-believers, and practitioners.

Participants were given questionnaires that measured their perceptions on intuitive thinking, rational reasoning, and locus of control. Believers and non-believers exhibited typical patterns relying on intuition or rationality, respectively. Psychic practitioners – defined as individuals with advanced training, a psychic reading practice, and published research on the subject – showed something much more interesting.

Practitioners demonstrated both intuitive belief and rational thought to explain their psychic abilities. The research suggests that practitioners have taken significant time and consideration of their skills to understand what they mean, what they do, and how to use them.

It’s crucial to recognize these abilities as spiritual or divine gifts in order to wield them for good in a world not always accepting of their power.

Psychic Stones

What Are Intuitive Skills? 

Thus far, we’ve intentionally left vague what we mean by psychic or intuitive abilities. Some might call them mind reading, fortune telling, or spirit channeling, but these abilities aren’t necessarily supernatural forces giving us magical power.

It’s time to get a clearer idea of what intuitive skills are... 

The “Clairs” 

Most commonly, intuitive abilities together are referred to as the “clairs.” Etymologically French in origin, “clair” means “clear.” Each “clair” ability matches to our basic human senses.

Clair abilities include clairvoyance (clear sight), clairaudience (clear sound), clairsentience (clear touch), claircognizance (clear knowledge), clairalience (clear scent), and clairgustance (clear taste). We will focus on the first 4 today, as they are the most common intuitive abilities.

In reference to their sensual connection, clair abilities enhance your senses to detect a clearer intuitive message through sight, sound, touch, or thought. 

Who Has Them?

We believe that everyone has clair abilities in different measure, but not everyone is willing to invest time to learn how to strengthen intuitive abilities.

We each have a different calling in this world – whether defined by starseed origins, divine command, or some greater purpose. Some are meant to demonstrate presence and living in the moment – perhaps psychic abilities don’t resonate for their calling.

Some people have physiological causes that sharpen certain senses over others. For example, someone with limited or no sight ability may naturally have heightened hearing or sense of touch. They have a unique gift and may not need to practice clairaudience as much as others.

Others are meant to guide and lead and need to have access to divine messages and visions from other dimensions to fulfill their role on earth. That’s why exploring “clair” abilities can be so important.

what are intuitive skills

Types of Intuitive Abilities

With a peek into the “clairs,” let’s dive into more specific characteristics of the four main intuitive abilities...

Clairvoyance

It’s one thing to have 20/20 vision, but it’s quite another level to see images, auras, energy fields, and paranormal beings. This is clairvoyance, and you don’t need a crystal ball to tap into it.

Clairvoyance doesn’t necessarily mean that you see something in your physical space, but rather that in your mind’s eye, also known as the third eye, you have a vision that sends a message.

This message may contain a metaphor and it requires interpretation.

For example, having a vision of a fire burning everything around a person – home, belongings, money – while not harming the person may be a sign that the way that person is currently living doesn’t fulfill their needs and purpose. They might be due for a transformative, clarifying experience – a burning – to clear their new path ahead.

Clairvoyance can also come as a flash of color or an object that symbolizes something in a person’s life.

Clairaudience

If you've played the game of whisper down the lane, you know that whispers don’t always carry the clearest words. Clairaudience can be like that if you don’t fully understand this skill.

Clairaudience allows you to access other sound frequencies that most people fail to hear. It activates your inner hearing, a much deeper level of sound.

We typically think of our outer hearing, which conveys the sound of voices, music, nature, and machines.

Inner hearing, however, always comes in calm, tranquil tones, and often echoes your own voice. It won’t necessarily be a conversation and can come as a single word. In this word or message will exist instructions or spiritual guidance.

Clairaudience shouldn’t be confused with conditions rooted in psychological or physical symptoms that cause pain and torment. Tones like harsh ringing that cause discomfort could come from vertigo, a serious inner ear ailment. Harsh, aggressive voices may indicate a critical health issue and should be handled by a medical professional.

Spiritual Gifts

Clairsentience

This intuitive ability often “afflicts” empaths, but when clairsentience, or clairempathy, is fully realized, it is understood as a divine gift.

Clairsentience means that a person can sense and feel the emotions, pain, or presence of others without having to be told of them. In a room, someone with clairsentience can detect the collective energy reverberating and accumulating among others.

In the presence of a person with an illness or injury, someone with clairsentience might experience sensation or aching in the same physical region as the person. A clairsentient being can also receive signals from others’ chakras that radiate energy and draw their attention to that node.

The bodily sensations, someone with clairsentience can receive messages, such as a chill when someone enters their presence or a burst of heat overcoming their entire body.

Claircognizance

Claircognizance can be tricky to understand, but of the intuitive abilities, it might be most common. Claircognizance really refers to the gut feeling that you know something important and integral that hasn’t been outwardly revealed yet.

With claircognizance, the information transfer can feel immediate. Suddenly, you just know that you need to do an action to protect yourself and others. Or, when a person comes near you, you have an instant thought that they cannot be trusted and then learn that the person is a pathological lier.

Claircognizance relates to the sensation of deja vu, especially when receiving information about another person’s experience that makes you feel "there" in that moment. However, claircognizance also connects to foresight in that you receive knowledge of shifting energies ahead in time.

What is Claircognizance

How to Strengthen Intuitive Abilities 

To nurture your intuition, make sure to care for your crown chakra, the portal that allows us to convene with the divine and receive spiritual messages. Developing a meditation practice will allow you to sharpen your psychic abilities.

To answer the question, "what are intuitive skills?" let's consider how to increase and strengthen each unique ability...

Strengthening Clairvoyance

To strengthen clairvoyance, you want to care for your third eye and always ensure open energy flow. You can use crystals that resonate with the third eye – like Amethyst or Kyanite – during meditation or even sleep with them under your pillow to enhance and recharge your third eye focus.

Always be careful to keep your chakras in balance, even if you have a gift attuned to one particular node. 

A great exercise if you want to access clairvoyance is to take the time to let images pop into your mind and send messages. Keep a journal and write down an image that comes to mind with as much detail as you can detect. If a message echoes from the image, make a note.

The more you invest time in recording these images, you will see patterns in the signs and stories being shown to you.

Strengthening Clairaudience

Clairaudience resides in a strong, open throat chakra. This is because often times the message you receive comes from someone with a closed throat chakra unable or unwilling to communicate themselves.

Wearing necklaces with crystals suited for the throat chakra – Aquamarine and Labradorite, for example – can protect you as you hone this intuitive ability.

Similar to a visions journal, you can work on recognizing subtle sounds all around you and write them down. It’s especially useful to sit in stillness and quiet, in nature or a space of reflection, to learn to hear not just the loud and obvious sounds but also the sometimes undetectable or fleeting noises.

Listening to vibrational music will help you identify different frequencies of noises that pass by you so that you can understand the energy resonating from the sound waves.

Amethyst Geodes

Strengthening Clairsentience

We’ve talked before about important self care steps for empaths, and that applies to anyone working to harness intuitive abilities through clairsentience.

Clairsentience targets the heart chakra. As a connective node between the upper chakras of intuition and the lower chakras of grounding, you want to ensure chakra balance as you engage clairsentience.

Keeping Unakite Jasper or Rose Quartz crystals in your presence will offer protection and energy in your heart chakra.

For clairsentience, your environment and the objects in it should nourish your skill. Create a sanctuary-type space that is free of clutter where you can activate clairsentience and practice detecting the sensations of different objects, also called psychometry or clairtangency.

Make a record of your clairsentience practice. Whether you engage in psychometry and actually hold objects to receive messages or if you just take the energetic temperature of a space, write down the sensations and look for patterns over time as to what signs and messages you understood in those moments.

You should frequently smudge your home and body with sage or palo santo as a safety measure as a clairsentient being. You will feel and absorb so many frequencies around you that you want to maintain a grounded balance in your own aura. 

Strengthening Claircognizance

In the solar plexus chakra, claircognizance imparts knowledge and deep intuition. It might seem more suited to the upper chakras, but claircognizance’s connection to the solar plexus rests in your need to trust the power you have to receive and share divine messages.

To sharpen claircognizance, you need to convene with your spirit guides and divine aura. It seems simple, but recognizing and meeting your Ascended Masters takes trust, intuition, and willingness to traverse other dimensions and realms through your mind and body.

Pay special attention to times when you feel like you "just know" something. Keep a journal of all the hunches you have along the way.

Let crystals like Pyrite and Citrine give you courage for the journey.

Final Thoughts

A final bit of advice on how to strengthen intuitive abilities: seek the guidance of other practitioners. Look for a mentor and a community of people with psychic skills to teach you what they have learned from intuitive messages. 

While each person has a personal gift and ability and may receive vastly different messages from the same signs, having others to support you as you define your skills will empower and encourage you to apply your “clair” abilities to help others in the world.

Here are some additional crystals for intuition to help you hone your skills. 

Am I an Empath Quiz

* Crystals and stones should not be used as a substitute for medical advice or treatment. Please read our full disclosure notice here.
Intuitive Abilities
Types of Intuitive Abilities

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