Have you ever had a psychic vision or dream, deja vu, or even healed someone with prayers or by directing positive energy toward them?
You might have well-developed psychic gifts you use all the time without knowing it—many people do!
Today, we will be talking about 11 different types of psychic abilities and how people use them for readings, healing, and even for solving crimes and spying.
Scientists (and militaries) are studying some of these gifts and abilities.
They want to find out if they work, how these abilities work, and how they can use them for their benefit.
Unfortunately, psychic powers were misunderstood—or even labeled as evil—for a really long time.
Nowadays, regular people are more open to exploring their psychic abilities.
Scientists and hospitals started studying them more intensely.
They want to gain insight and facts about what happens in the brain and body when people use their psychic abilities and send and receive remote healing and messages.
Many of the psychic abilities we are going to talk about today are related to each other.
For example, automatic writing fits in with claircognizance; it is a way of receiving and communicating messages that come through.
Even mediumship involves claircognizance and clairaudience. Overlap is quite common when you start looking at psychic abilities.
11 Types of Psychic Abilities
Telepathy
Have you ever been thinking about a friend or loved one and then BING! —you get a message or call from that person?
Your telepathic ability was alerting you to your friend’s intention to call you.
Telepathy is common for humans.
Mothers (especially) and fathers instinctively know when their children need them; friends get the urge to reach out at precisely the right moment.
People can even send or receive physical sensations and emotions through telepathic means.
My grandfather, who was stationed in Europe during WWII, felt the labor pains my grandmother was having when she gave birth to their child—back in the States and thousands of miles away.
This might be a bit more clairsentient than telepathic.
Telepathy can be linked to claircognizance and clairsentience—we'll talk about both topics later in this article.
Some people even experience telepathic dreams, in which they interact and receive information from friends and loved ones when they are sleeping.
When they wake up, they either hear from that person that day or find out that what they were dreaming about actually happened in real life.
❤️ See also:
- Telepathic Abilities: 6 Signs That You (Or Someone Else) Has Telepathy
- 23 Amazing Signs Of Soulmate Telepathy
- Twin Flame Telepathy: The Symptoms, Techniques & More
Claircognizance
If you are claircognizant, you just know things without having any reason to know. Information just pops into your head right when you need it.
This information often contains specific details, as well.
You might get messages about people you interact with or even know things about people you just don’t want to know.
Claircognizance also manifests in different ways.
For example, you might get details about people and events when you hold an object that belonged to them (a.k.a. psychometry).
❤️ See also: Claircognizance Meaning + 7 Amazing Signs Of This Ability
Automatic Writing
Do you zone out while writing and end up with some pretty on-point messages in your journal?
You might be channeling messages from your spirit guides or ancestors when you write.
Automatic writing is like channeling spirit through your writing.
Some people purposefully connect to their Higher Consciousness before sitting down for a writing session.
Others just go from conscious writing to automatic writing without realizing it.
Tip: If you’d like to strengthen this psychic ability, set the intention to connect with your spirit guides while writing.
You might even make up a prayer or chant to get you started.
Get your journal out, set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and start writing whatever comes up for you. Try not to control what comes up.
Just allow yourself to write.
Make sure to add a date to your automatic writing session pages, so you can look back and note any “hits” in your writing.
Mediumship or Channeling
Like automatic writing, messages picked up by Mediums can come from different entities, spirit guides, angels. Mediums can even deliver messages from friends and loved ones who have died.
Mediums usually speak the messages they receive, though.
Mediums need to set good boundaries with the spirit world; otherwise, spirits might try to connect with them at all times of the day and night.
If you are experiencing this, simply let the spirits who want to connect with you know you will only receive messages between 10 am and 6 pm.
Be firm about your rules and make sure you protect your energy and home. Read my other article on developing your psychic abilities to learn more about protecting your energy and home.
You can even ask your guardian angel to be a bouncer so that spirits aren’t keeping you up all night or being bossy about sharing messages.
Clairaudience
Mediumship and channeling can also manifest as clairaudience.
People who get messages from other planes of existence often “hear” the messages they receive.
Sometimes they hear with their mind’s ears (similar to their mind’s eye).
Other times, they receive full-on audio hallucinations or hear ultra subtle sounds or voices that others just can’t quite pick up clearly.
Many parapsychologists use hyper-sensitive tools to record sounds and audio information at sites they are investigating.
Clairaudient people can actually hear or understand the messages without special equipment.
Another way this skill manifests is through hearing actual snippets of conversation—on TV or in real life—or hearing a song that either directly speaks to an issue you are thinking about.
Or, you might hear your deceased grandmother’s favorite song when her spirit is around you.
This psychic ability is probably a lot more common than people realize.
Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is probably the most “popular” psychic ability, especially in the movies.
When people receive clairvoyant messages, they might actually SEE things no one else can see, or they might see images in their mind’s eye.
We talked about clairvoyance and other common psychic abilities in the article, How To Discover and Develop Your Psychic Abilities.
People who have this gift might see spirit guides, angels, or deceased loved ones.
They might be able to see into different dimensions or planes of existence, auras, or even use their psychic vision to solve crimes or murders.
Another way clairvoyance manifests is through picture reading.
Some clairvoyants see spirits surrounding a person and pick up on details about the person's life just by looking at a picture.
They might also see ghosts or entities “hiding” in plain sight in the images.
❤️ Further Reading: Clairvoyance: What It Is + 10 Signs You Have This Ability
Remote Viewing
Remote viewing is related to clairvoyance. When someone uses his remote viewing gift, he can see images and surroundings like he was actually in the room.
This psychic ability has been studied intensively by governments around the world.
It can be used for everything from seeing experimental data to spying on diplomats or viewing military plans.
Imagine what could happen if a person who is tuning into a remote viewing session is also clairaudient and able to pick up the details of conversations as well!
Remote viewing can be a little like spying, though, so try to keep high ethical standards if you have this psychic ability.
Don’t spy on people for the sake of it or use it to check in on old lovers or rivals.
Precognition
There are times when people just know something is going to happen before it happens. This is known as precognition.
Some categorize precognition as fortune-telling or the ability to look into the future and see what will happen.
This skill manifests in visions, dreams, or even while looking into a crystal ball, at tea leaves, or at the clouds in the sky.
While some believe it isn’t possible to see into the future, many people receive accurate information about things that will happen in the future.
This is still being thoroughly tested by scientists around the world.
Clairempathy
Clairempathy is a common psychic ability as well. When you can sense the emotions of others or feel the energy of a room, that’s clairempathy at work.
Some people can pick up the energy of very emotionally charged spaces or interactions—even long after the situation “resolved” itself.
For example, some people feel overwhelmed by emotion after visiting places like concentration camps or slaughterhouses.
Even though these spaces aren't being used in the same way anymore, there is often residual energy left behind.
It’s also common for people to feel what others are feeling emotionally, just by observing their interaction.
For example, if you witness a pair of old friends bumping into each other after they haven’t seen each other for a long time, you might be able to actually feel the joy and excitement they give off simply by watching them.
Or you might fully feel the shame a child feels who is being berated by a frustrated or overbearing parent.
❤️ Further Reading: What Is Clairempathy? + 7 Signs You Have This Amazing Ability
Clairsentience
While clairempathy is sensing emotions, clairsentience is feeling the actual pain or discomfort of others or of a situation.
You might get a gut feeling about a person or job offer, or even get a headache or stomach ache when you think about going somewhere or doing something.
This actual psycho-physical pain is a part of clairsentience.
Some people also feel the pain or illnesses of others.
Clairsentient people might lay their hands on others and be able to feel exactly what is wrong—a pain in the liver, a broken bone, a pulled muscle.
Twins often report being able to feel each other’s pain as if it were their own.
I’ve even heard of a pair of twins dying on the same night—one was shot in the chest; the other had a heart attack at the same time.
This is an example—albeit an extreme example—of clairsentience.
As you can probably imagine, clairsentience can be helpful for someone who does energy healing.
❤️ Further Reading: Clairsentience: What It Is + 12 Signs You Have This Ability
Energy Healing
Energy healing modalities, like Reiki, Healing Touch, or even laying on of hands are gaining recognition as valid and real psychic abilities.
Many hospitals around the world employ energy healing practitioners to help treat patients with complex issues like PTSD and also to help manage pain.
Energy healers often feel the pain or blockages in their patients clairsentiently.
Depending on the method being used, an energy healer might scan the body, looking for energetic imbalances and “thick spots” in a person’s energy field or they might converse with a patient while running energy to a specific area that the patient identifies as painful or diseased.
Practitioners learn to channel healing energy in different ways.
They might be naturally gifted—probably anyone who seeks to do energy healing has this psychic ability.
Or they will take courses, become attuned, or learn new modalities and techniques to strengthen and optimize their energy healing ability.
When a person performs an energy healing session, they don’t even have to be in the same room as their patient!
Energy can be sent through intention to any location.
Personally, I’ve worked with people halfway around the world, getting fabulous results for pain management and the release of intestinal blockages.
We were never in the same room and haven’t met in real life yet.
There are many other psychic abilities.
Many of them are astounding, like being able to project oneself to different locations, manifest and control elements like fire, and even perform psychic surgery.
We've now covered the most common types of psychic abilities in this article.
Types Of Psychic Abilities Summary
As you can see, there are many common psychic abilities. You might be using them without realizing they are psychic gifts!
These gifts often overlap and feed into each other, like clairvoyance, clairaudience, and claircognizance come together for mediumship and automatic writing.
Some help us to heal others, like energy healing.
Others, like clairempathy and clairsentience help us to understand situations and the people around us.
Telepathy can help people who are separated by distance stay in touch with one another, at least in some way.
Scientists and regular people are still working to understand just how psychic abilities work.
We’re lucky enough to live in an age where we can openly talk about and explore these fascinating gifts humans have.
Thank you, I hope you enjoyed learning about the different types of psychic abilities.
Sue Ellis-Saller is a tarot card reading, energy wielding, angel loving spiritual advisor, teacher, and mentor who adores helping Spiritual and Sensitive Entrepreneurs learn to market their businesses. Sue loves to learn about and teach about spirituality, energy, manifestation, business, social media, and making the world a better place. When Sue isn’t studying cards or mysticism, she’s laughing with her children, stretching, exploring the world with her husband, or trying to train her pup!