Have you ever had a strong gut feeling, sensed something before it happened, or felt the emotions of others without a word being spoken? You might be tuning into one of your clair senses—psychic abilities that allow you to perceive information beyond the physical world.
Many people experience these intuitive senses without knowing they have a name. In this guide, you’ll learn exactly what the clair senses are, how to recognize them, and ways to develop your natural psychic potential.
What are the clair senses?
The clair senses are special abilities that allow us to sense the world around us, without using our regular 5 senses. There are 8 clairs known as clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, claircognizance, clairalience, clairempathy, and claircognizance. And each one picks up on subtle energies in their unique way.
So, let’s dive right into these special gifts, to learn how they work and what we can experience.
1. Clairvoyance is the intuitive sense of sight
Clairvoyance is the psychic ability to see things in your mind’s eye that others can’t see with their physical eyes. It’s like watching a movie in your head—images, colors, symbols, or even short scenes may suddenly appear. This kind of inner vision often shows up during meditation, dreams, or moments of quiet reflection—kind of like when you’re daydreaming.
This clair sense is closely linked to the third eye, which is believed to be our inner window into the spiritual or unseen world.
People who are naturally clairvoyant tend to be very visual. If you’re someone who learns best by seeing, loves art, or has a vivid imagination, clairvoyance might be your strongest intuitive gift.
Check out our post on “5 Ways You Can See Spirits Clairvoyantly” for helpful tips to enhance your abilities.
2. Clairsentience is the psychic sense of feeling
Clairsentience is the psychic ability that allows us to sense subtle changes in energy through our emotions and feelings. We can feel what another person is going through, their pain, feelings, emotions, thoughts, and intentions. Most people refer to this sense as having a gut feeling.
We may get a wave of emotions, feelings, and thoughts come over us out of nowhere. These sensations can feel like our own and can vary in intensity. And if we aren’t fully present, we may mistake them for our feelings or emotions.
Clairsentients are usually be drawn to careers where they can use their sensitivity to help others, these include psychic mediums, animal communicators, caregivers, counselors, nurses, and integrative vets.
3. Clairaudience is the psychic gift of hearing
Clairaudience is the extrasensory power of hearing that enables us to hear words, thoughts, sounds, and even music through our inner voice. This is a calm and familiar voice. It is just like the voice you hear with your inner thoughts, but it is as quiet as a whisper. So, if our minds are loud or overactive, this intuitive voice is not heard.
Clairaudients are generally drawn to careers that use their fine-tuned sense of hearing, such as musicians, sound engineers, singers, and public speakers.
4. Clairgustance is the psychic sense of taste
Clairgustance is the psychic sense of taste that allows us to experience the world through our mouths. Someone with this ability can taste what an emotion feels like. For example, you may get a feeling of sadness and as your tastebuds kick in, you could experience a bitter or sour taste in your mouth or a wonderfully sweet and delicious one. Your psychic sense of taste can get activated at any moment without having to place anything in your mouth.
As you can imagine, clairgustants are real big foodies. They love the texture and taste of foods and usually gravitate to food-related jobs. Often working as cooks, chefs, bakers, food tasters, or critics.
5. clairscent is the psychic sense of smell
Clairscent is the intuitive sense of smell that allows us to connect with the unseen world through scents, fragrances or, or odors. If you have this psychic sense you have a great survival instinct and ‘smell’ a lie from a mile away. You are the perfect lie detector and can easily sniff your way around a person’s life and know things without having any prior knowledge.
If this sounds like you, you will likely pursue a career as a winemaker, brewer, distiller, sommelier, perfume fragrance creator, or work as a florist.
Learn more about clairscent, and discover the top 10 smells psychic mediums sense during readings. ‘Psychic smelling. Clairalience, clairscent clairessence or clairolfaction’.
6. Claircognizant The psychic gift of knowing
Claircognizant is the intuitive sense of inner knowing of something that goes beyond logic. It is not a gut instinct, information is intuitively received as a download through the mind. If you have this ability you can receive and understand information without prior knowledge. Ideas, spiritual insights and even complex concepts can pop into your head which you can use and master for your benefit and those around you.
This type of knowing is characteristic of spiritual and religious leaders, business visionaries, philosophers, and scientists.
7. Clairtangency is the psychic sense of touch
Clairtangency, also called psychometry, is a psychic ability linked to touch. It lets us pick up intuitive vibes when we touch people or objects. You might feel it when you brush past someone, handle a personal item, pet an animal, or touch a wall. What makes clairtangency stand out is how it acts like a switch, turning on all our psychic senses at once. It uses them to make sense of the energetic signals we’re getting in a clear and complete way.
Those with this ability choose careers as energy healers, chiropractors, physiotherapists, masseuse, painters, farmers, gardeners, or carpenters. They excel at any job, that involves working with their hands.
Learn more about psychometry or test your skills with this 8-step process.
8. Clairempathy is the ability to sense energy
Clairempathy is heightened sensitivity to energetic vibrations and can feel the emotions, thoughts, and physical ailments of people and animals. They can also pick up on residual energy, emotions, and pain of places and things even at a distance. Often feeling the sensation so intensely within their body that it can feel as if it were their own. This is why many empaths find it difficult to spend time in crowded spaces and withdraw to leading a life in nature.
Because of their sensitive, they often feel a sense of duty and want to reduce pain and suffering in the world. This is why they choose careers that help people, and animals or protect the planet. Clairempaths generally work as psychologists, nurses, vets, conservationists, and animal careers.
Want to develop your psychic abilities? Then check out my other blog post called “21 easy ways to increase your intuition.”
Developing your clair senses
How to Develop Your Clair Senses (Even If You’re Just Starting Out)
Once you know about the 8 clair senses, the next step is learning how to develop them. The good news? You don’t need to be a psychic or a spiritual expert to start. Everyone has these abilities—you just have to wake them up!
Here are some easy ways to begin:
- Take Quiet Time Every Day: Spend a few minutes each day sitting quietly. Turn off your phone, close your eyes, and just breathe. This helps you hear your intuition more clearly.
- Write down any intuitive insights you receive. Keep a little journal for any gut feelings, dreams, strange thoughts, or things that “just pop” into your head. Writing them down helps you notice patterns.
- Notice What Comes Naturally: Are you super visual? Do you get strong gut feelings? Maybe you “just know” stuff without knowing how. Pay attention—this could show you which clair is your strongest.
- Practice developing one clair sense at a timeFor example, if you’re drawn to images, try visualizing something in your mind every day to strengthen clairvoyance.
- Trust Yourself even if your mind questions your gut feelings. The more you trust those small signs, the stronger your psychic senses will get.
- Spending Time in Nature helps clear your energy and sharpen your senses. Go for a walk, sit by a tree, or just breathe in some fresh air—it really helps.
Recommended Reading to develop intuition
Curious about developing your psychic skills? I highly recommend Psychic Abilities by Harlow Wolfe. It’s super approachable and packed with easy exercises to help you tap into things like clairvoyance, manifestation, and even astral projection—no special gift needed. If you’ve ever wondered where to start, this book makes it simple.
Psychic Development for Beginners by William W. Hewitt is another great book for complete beginners. This easy-to-follow guide offers practical techniques to enhance your psychic skills, connect with spirits, and even communicate with animals. Perfect for beginners!
FAQs About the Clair senses
What is the meaning of Clair?
“Clair” means “clear” or “bright” and is used to describe intuitive abilities like clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairaudience (clear hearing), and clairsentience (clear feeling). The word “clair” dates back to the 14th century in France, and became associated with intuition in the 19th century, among in spiritualist circles.
How to strengthen your clairs?
To strengthen your clair senses, meditate regularly, be present, and pay attention to your intuition. Journaling your experiences, grounding yourself, and using tools like crystals or energy work can also help develop these abilities.
Do I need to be spiritual to have clair senses?
No, you don’t need to be spiritual to have clair senses. We’re all born with these abilities, some people may naturally have stronger clair senses, while others need to strengthening them over time.
Is intuition the same as a clair sense?
Yes, intuition, clair senses, and psychic abilities are often used interchangeably to describe the extrasensory skills that allow us to hear, see, or sense specific messages or images on a non-physical level.
do some people have stronger clairs?
Everyone is unique, and your clair senses might be quietly active without you even knowing it, lying dormant. If you don’t tap into them, they won’t develop as strongly. That’s why some people seem to have more powerful abilities than others!
Do children have strong clair senses?
Children are naturally intuitive because they’re open to using these abilities. However, as we grow older and shift into more analytical thinking and often ignore our intuition, causing them to become dormant.
Do I need a mentor develop the clairs?
A mentor can help guide you, but you can also develop your clair senses on your own through practice, self-study, and using online resources.
Concluding thoughts
All of us have psychic abilities to some extent and use them in daily life. Whether we’re aware of it or not, our intuition picks up on subtle information that our regular senses might miss. This is not only important for psychics, mediums and animal communicators, we all benefits from listening to our inner guidances system. Paying attention to this intuitive sense can help us make better decisions and understand life’s complexities more clearly.
Ready to explore your intuitive gifts even more? Try a few of the tips from this post, then come back and let me know—what’s your strongest clair sense?
Share your experience in the comments below, or tag me on social media—I’d love to hear your story!
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Wow. I had no idea there were so many psychic powers. I am natirally intuitive amd just realised I am claircognizant among having other clairs.
Hi Mary, you are absolutely right. These abilities are a part of our ordinary lives and assume that they are innate and equally developed in others. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you for this information. It’s very helpful for me as I start my journey of developing my intuition and psychic abilities.