4 Main Types Of Intuition
Discover The Four Main (Common) Types Of Intuition:
Clairvoyance = I see.
Claircognizance = I know.
Clairsentience = I feel.
Clairaudience = I hear.
We are all intuitive, we all have access to our natural intelligence and the threads that connect us with all of creation, but we don’t all experience our intuition in the same way.
Some might have only one intuitive sense that feels activated, while others might have all four communicating at any given time with one or two dominant.
Intuition can be strengthened just like a building up a muscle. If you want to connect to your intuition more deeply, you need to understand how it communicates with you, learn the language of your soul, and then train the mind to step aside.
CLAIRVOYANCE = I SEE
Clairvoyance is one of the most well known types of intuition and also the most caricaturized. This is the intuitive superpower we see played up with crystal balls in movies and the media.
But what does it look like in real life?
Clairvoyance in your day-to-day life is the ability to see things in a different way that defies logic. The ability to receive messages through imagery, metaphors, and literally seeing the unseen (energy, spirits, etc).
Many people have clairvoyance without even knowing it. When they’re guided into meditation and can follow the cues “seeing” the journey and imagery that they’re being guided on, they are using their clairvoyant abilities.
The opposite is also true, if you’re always wondering in meditation “Why can’t I see anything? What are they talking about?” It simply means your intuition talks to you from a different place. There’s nothing wrong, we’re all just different. When you find yourself in guided visual meditations and struggling to connect to or create images, simply intend that all the same things are happening and you’ll still get the benefits.
CLAIRCOGNIZANCE = I KNOW
Claircognizance is the type of intuition that speaks to us through a clear knowing.
Without any additional rational, logical information there are times you can know something so clearly without a shadow of a doubt.
So many discount these feelings because they don’t have “proof” of it doesn’t “make sense.”
But later, after things shake out you say “I always knew.”
It’s our gut instinct in any given situation and the birthplace of what we call mother’s intuition.
Think back to when you KNEW something was right/wrong, that something was happening or about to happen without any other information.
That was claircognizance in action.
The more deeply you learn to listen and TRUST the language of your soul, the more magic you’ll be led to in your life.
CLAIRSENTIENCE = I FEEL
The third intuitive superpower is called Clairsentience. This is where we FEEL things in our bodies that aren’t necessarily ours, but are meant to give us information about our surroundings or others.
When I first started my healing practice six years ago, I would be using Reiki on clients and would immediately start feeling whatever emotion was creating the blockages in their energy field. In an instant I’d feel the grief and loss of a parent or the uneasiness of wavering self worth.
It was something I couldn’t control, but it gave me a road map to help each individual heal.
When I started working for a coaching company a year later the hardest work I’ve ever had to do was figure out how to detach from carrying my client’s emotions home with me.
So many self-described empaths and highly sensitive people are clairsentient without knowing it.
Understanding this intuitive superpower is a game changer. It’s where you understand that what you might be feeling in any given moment may not actually be yours to hold. That you can hold it lightly and release it back to its place of origin so that you can move through the world with only your own energy.
Ask yourself: is this MY anger, grief, judgment, sadness, etc or am I feeling it for other people—especially those I love?
Clairsentience can give you so much insight and wisdom into what’s happening around you, but must be coupled with discernment, self-awareness, and healthy boundaries!
CLAIRAUDIENCE = I HEAR
There’s a part in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Eat Pray Love, where she’s laying on the bathroom floor heavy in her feelings—that is, until she hears a voice that says “Get off the floor Liz.” Later in interviews Liz said that even though she clearly “heard” the voice, she now realizes that the voice didn’t come from outside of herself, that the voice came from within.
And that’s the tricky thing about Clairaudience, the last of the main four intuitive super powers, sometimes the voice we hear comes from outside of ourselves, but many times it comes from inside.
It’s easy to confuse hearing messages with rogue, strange thoughts because when it’s in your own voice we can wonder if it’s the mind or an intuitive message from our highest self. They’re the type of thoughts that make you go “hmmmm that’s interesting.” Discernment is the key to following clairaudient guidance. What’s intuition vs. fear?
Clairaudience can sound like whispers that say—
“turn here” when you’re driving in the car.
The voice that says “sit next to her” when you walk in a workshop.
Something that says “go back” when you’re flipping through something too fast.
Or “walk away” when it’s time to let go.
Clairaudience comes through as a neutral message, void of emotion or judgement. Usually the mind will spin out following the message to protect or debate it, keeping us in patterns that we’re comfortable in, but may not be best.
Pay attention to how your intuition “talks” to you. Are you listening to the messages coming from both within you (from your higher self) and from outside of you (angels, guides, etc)?
As a rule, higher guidance/intuition doesn’t create or amplify fear. It’s a gentle, simple, straightforward message. And even if there is urgency attached “Get up now,” it still comes through as a neutral, objective, direction.
And, if you find yourself wanting to go deeper or work with a guide and mentor, you can find out more about private mentorship programs here:
More Intuition Development Blog Posts:
