Clairintuition, or psychic intuition, is the transpersonal psychic perception of intuitive impressions known as hunches, forebodings, warnings, or presages concerning people, situations, or events beyond one’s immediate personal circumstances, needs, or lived experience. These impressions may concern the past, present, or future, with future-oriented clairintuitive impressions experienced as premonitions. It is a purely intuitive form of psychic impression that does not have the cognitive, affective (emotional), or sensory-type features of the other psychic perception preferences or "clairs." A clairintuitive impression may relate to something that has already happened, something currently unfolding, or something yet to occur. When it concerns a future event or outcome, it is typically experienced as a premonition, presage, forewarning, or foreboding. Unlike innate survival instinct, ordinary psychological intuition and spiritual inner guidance, which all relate to our own physical safety and well-being, personal needs, life experiences and choices, and everyday circumstances, clairintuitive impressions are mental-metaphysical awareness experiences of nonlocal, nonsensory, and nonphysical information concerning the past, present, or future of other people and the wider world. Origins Of The Term "Clairintuition" I first introduced the term "clairintuition" to the general public in my book The Sensible Psychic (2022) to distinguish this specifically psychic form of intuitive awareness from ordinary personal intuition and from other psychic perception preferences or "clair senses." I first introduced the term "clairintuition" in my book The Sensible Psychic (2022) in an attempt to separate “the psychic substance from the intuitive fluff.” I created the term to distinguish intuitive-type psychic perceptions from everyday personal intuition or spiritual inner guidance, as well as from the other types of psychic perceptions or "clairs" such as claircognitive knowing, clairempathic feeling, and clairsomatic sensation. I had already been using the term clairintuition for many years as a way to reconcile my own experiences as a hereditary psychic medium with three troubling mainstream notions about intuition and authentic psychic perception: The confusion created by the rebranding of psychics as “intuitives.” The ill-conceived catch-all psychic concept known as “clairsentience.” The popular marketing claim that “everyone is psychic because everyone has intuition.” After decades of struggling with vague, contradictory, and recycled psychic terminology, I developed a new conceptual model of psychic perception that more accurately reflects both my own lived experience as a psychic medium and what I have observed in other practitioners and students over the years. Clear language matters because when intuition and psychic perception are treated as interchangeable concepts, gifted people can spend years misunderstanding the very abilities they are trying to develop, while mainstream society will continue to question our credibility. Maybe it is time to say the quiet part out loud and take back our true identity. We are psychic. Not just intuitive. Psychic. Not intuitive. Deal with it. The rebranding of psychics as “intuitives” that began in the 1980s may have been well-intended as a way for professional psychics and mediums to distance themselves from the negative “psychic” stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. Sadly, however, it did not make psychic practitioners or their work any more credible. Quite the opposite. It further blurred public understanding of authentic psychic perception and created even more confusion about what psychics actually experience. Today, many professional psychics and mediums, including myself, are trapped in a proverbial no-man’s land between the terms psychic and intuitive. You see this confusion everywhere online: services advertised as “intuitive psychic readings,” courses promising to develop your “intuition and psychic abilities,” and social groups for “psychics and intuitives.” At some point someone has to ask: which is it exactly? Psychic ability or intuition? The terms are not synonymous. A vivid clairvoyant vision or distinct clairaudient voice is in my experience much more than a mere “intuition.” Why does it matter? Because representation matters. Clarity matters. Keeping it real matters. As social researcher Brené Brown observes, language is fundamental to meaning-making and self-awareness: “When we don’t have the language to talk about what we’re experiencing, our ability to make sense of what’s happening and share it with others is severely limited.” [20] In my experience, genuinely gifted people too often dismiss their innate psychic potential because of this kind of pop-culture gaslighting. have worked with psychic seekers and students who have struggled for years to master their unique psychic perception process because they fundamentally misunderstand the basics of psychic ability, perception, and channeling or reading. Newly awakened psychics and mediums can spend years trying to understand their true psychic ability because their development efforts are constantly redirected by myths, misconceptions, recycled folklore, and online fluff. It is impossible to learn to speak and write poetry fluently in a sophisticated language if everyone around you who claims to speak it is actually talking gobbledygook and gibberish. Maybe it is time to say the quiet part out loud and take back our true identity. We are psychic. Not just intuitive. There are no separate psychic “senses” or “reception” pathways, because psychics and mediums do not “sense” or “receive.” We perceive. Clairintuition: More Than A Clairsentience Spin-Off The second reason I coined the term clairintuition was the generic psychic ability known as clairsentience, which traditionally includes a mismatched and vague assortment of empathic emotions and mood states, physical sensations and medical symptoms, various forms of intuition, and in some definitions even cognition. I struggled to make sense of this odd buffet of “sub-clairs” for many years because, in my experience, psychic impressions typically labelled as "clairsentient" do not fit neatly into one box as a single “clair sense” or psychic ability. Instead, clairsentience is actually an umbrella concept used for three very distinct types of psychic impression: Clairintuition: premonition, presage, foreboding Clairsomatica: somatosensory, sensation, foresensing (also coined by me in The Sensible Psychic in 2022) Clairempathy: affective, emotional, feeling, presentiment (coined by Isaac Bonewits in Real Magic in 1989) My purpose in separating clairsentience into three distinct types of psychic perception was not to invent new terminology for its own sake, but to provide clearer, more representative, and more empowering language for the lived experiences of authentic psychics and mediums that have historically been grouped together under vague or inconsistent pop-culture labels. In my conceptual model of psychic perception, I also reframe the traditional “clairs” or “psychic senses” as psychic perception preferences rather than separate psychic “senses” or “reception” pathways. Because psychics and mediums do not “sense” or “receive.” We perceive. The 'Everyone Is Psychic' Marketing Ploy The third reason I created the term clairintuition is the popular claim in psychic pop culture that "everyone is psychic because everyone has intuition." I have personally never seen any evidence to support this claim. It does not resonate with my own lived experience as a hereditary psychic medium, nor have I witnessed this in my work with psychic development students and other authentic practitioners. In fact, what I have seen again and again is that some people quite simply have a far greater innate capacity for psychic perception than others, just as not everyone has the same natural aptitude for music, art, athletics, or mathematics. The "everyone is psychic" myth is, in my view, little more than a convenient marketing message to sell more courses, workshops, books, and training programs that promise almost anyone can become a proficient psychic practitioner. And it works because, like many persuasive beliefs, it is based on a half-truth. Yes, everyone is indeed intuitive. We all experience some form of inner guidance, instinctive knowing, or subconscious pattern recognition. Some of us acknowledge it, some of us don't. Either way, it does not automatically follow that everyone is therefore also psychic. The key distinction is the transpersonal nature of intuitive psychic perception. Ordinary intuition is personal and self-referential, guiding our own choices, decisions, safety, survival instincts and spirituality. But clairintuition is transpersonal. It is the intuitive awareness of nonlocal, nonsensory, and nonphysical information concerning other people, events, situations, or outcomes beyond your immediate personal experience. Turning a subtle self-referential human awareness faculty into evidence of a universal transpersonal psychic calling that applies to everyone is an injustice to those of us who are truly called and would like the world to take us a little more seriously. So, What Is Intuition Really? The term intuition derives from Latin intueri meaning ‘to look at, consider,’ and intuicioun meaning ‘insight, direct or immediate cognition, spiritual perception.’ The mainstream notion of ‘intuition’ is however rife with myth, misconception, and even controversy. This muddle is in part due to different fields using the term to represent different things. “Given this range of uses, nothing can be said about intuition in general,” remarks philosopher Richard Rorty.[1] For example, psychologists define intuition as unconscious thought, [2] or ‘unconscious pattern-matching cognition’ [3], while in spirituality and metaphysics intuition is customarily regarded as an innate spiritual knowledge. It is in fact described by mystics and spiritualists of many traditions throughout the ages [4], while occultists, esoteric scholars and metaphysicians conceive of it as the true ‘sixth sense.’ The phenomenon of 'intuition' or authentic psychic foreboding is generally misconceived by science and misconstrued in popular culture. This distinction matters because psychic perception has increasingly been reduced in popular spiritual culture to little more than “heightened intuition.” I disagree. Intuition is certainly one way psychic information may be consciously experienced, but it is only one preference among several. Psychic awareness can also manifest as knowing, emotion, bodily sensation, imagery, sound, smell, or taste. Dictionary definitions of intuition range from it being ‘direct access to unconscious knowledge,’ or ‘inner sensing and insight,’ to ‘unconscious cognition,’ or ‘the ability to understand something instinctively, without any need for conscious reasoning.’ For both the practicing and developing psychic or medium it is vital to understand the true nature and role of intuition in the context of authentic psychic perception, beyond these misconstrued popular notions. Everyone experiences ordinary intuition in three innate ways: Instinctive intuition (survival instinct): The biologically wired awareness that alerts us to danger in our immediate environment and helps protect our safety and well-being. It is a form of sentience rooted in the nervous system that we share with animals. Operating rapidly below conscious thought, it typically produces bodily signals such as unease, gut feelings, a sudden prickle of alarm, or an urge to flee before we consciously understand why. Psychological intuition (experiential or pattern-based intuition): The mind’s innate ability to draw on stored experience, knowledge, and pattern recognition to reach conclusions without logical thinking or deliberate reasoning. It is the subconscious information-processing capacity that enables a seasoned nurse, chess player, airline pilot, or parent to “just know” when something is wrong or what to do next in a challenging situation. Spiritual intuition (inner guidance): The inner voice, inner knowing, or innate spiritual awareness we experience as a connection to our higher self, soul, a higher power, or source of divine wisdom or universal consciousness. It is a sense of inner truth or divine inspiration that guides our values, purpose, and major life decisions. From a spiritual perspective, it represents the ongoing communication between our physical self and the larger, nonphysical aspect of our being that knows our soul plan, life purpose, and what is in our best interest. ​​ All three of these forms of intuitive awareness are personal and self-referential. They concern our own lives, safety, relationships, choices, or spirituality. People with psychic ability, however, experience another form of intuition that I call clairintuition. Why the distinction? Because psychic intuition has two unmistakable characteristics that set it apart: it is metaphysical and transpersonal. Clairintuition is metaphysical because it does not arise from anything in the perceiver’s immediate environment (nonlocal), it is not of physical origin, such as an adrenaline response or hearing an unusual sound (nonphysical), and it is not perceived through the five physical senses (nonsensory). ​ Clairintuition is transpersonal because, unlike other forms of intuitive awareness, it concerns someone or something beyond the perceiver’s immediate personal needs, circumstances, or life experience. A psychic or medium may, for example, experience a premonition concerning another person or an event that is going to occur, or a foreboding about circumstances in another time or place that do not directly involve them. ​ The difference is not that ordinary people never experience premonitions or precognitive impressions. They do. The distinction lies in the transpersonal and recurring nature of this kind of intuitive perception in people who have the innate capacity for psychic channeling or “reading.” Instinct, Intuition, And The Inner Voice Primitive man relied heavily on his everyday intuition. He thought in images and symbols, listened to his ‘inner voice,’ and followed his ‘gut.’ Early man fluently spoke the language of the soul, the metaphysical dialect of his spiritual origins. Intuition is the ‘native tongue’ of the mind-soul. It transcends the everyday time-space reality and the physical senses. We are all born with this innate ‘soul language,’ because we are spirit beings in human form. Orthodox science however typically argues that intuition is merely an ‘evolutionary intelligence’ that developed from our primitive, animalistic survival impulses and instincts. Statements like ‘rely on your instinct’ and ‘trust your gut’ are therefore often used interchangeably. It is typically assumed that instinct and intuition are the same thing, but this notion is based purely on a physical, ‘mind-brain’ view of consciousness and does not accurately reflect everyday intuitive experiences. Psychologist Marcie Boucouvalas writes “the intuitive realm has been functional since the dawn of humanity” and “we are all still pioneers and pilgrims on the pathway of better understanding human consciousness.” She believes it essential to transcend the traditional ‘either, or’ way of thinking about rational and intuitive modes of knowing. She adds however that “even if one accepts the validity of intuition, questions beckon.” Is the source of knowledge outside of and beyond the senses, located in a capacity of the human species that we do not yet fully understand? Or does it originate in the senses at a less than conscious level of awareness? [5] Neuropsychiatrist George Dearborn finds intuition is indeed “outside the range of physiology and neurology and is an unconscious process of the mind.” [6] Psychologist Mike Arons says the ‘problematic status’ of intuition is “somewhere between the instincts and the gods,” and the scientific ‘muddle’ around it is due to “skeptical rationalism which is a reactive pole to blind faith.” This has caused the notion of intuition to be either discounted or dismissed. He proposes instead that intuition is supraconscious and its study should thus include spiritual and transpersonal considerations, instead of only pure rationalism.” [7] The human body speaks in urges, impulses, and physical needs, while the soul speaks in premonitions, forebodings, hunches, and gut feelings. As spiritual beings we indeed have physical bodies with certain natural drives and impulses, like the ‘fight or flight’ response when we sense danger, or primal urges to seek out pleasure and avoid pain. These primal instincts have not evolved or changed much since prehistoric times. Despite our many modern advances and sophistication, we remain subject to our primitive instincts. [8] However, as you know from your own intuitive experiences (such as knowing who is calling you before the phone rings, or thinking of long-lost friends and later bumping into them) we cannot attribute all of our gut feelings, hunches, premonitions, and forebodings to mere ‘instinct,’ or a simplistic urge for ‘physical survival.’ In my experience instinct is the subconscious language of the mind-body, while intuition is the subliminal language of the mind-soul. The human body speaks in urges, impulses, and physical needs, while the soul speaks in premonitions, forebodings, hunches, and gut feelings. Intuition is an omniscient, archetypal, transcendental wisdom. It is the core dialect of our inner divinity, our spiritual origins, the eternal soul. We cannot fully access the sagacious, omniscient wisdom of the higher self, or divine self, or spirit through pure human intellect, logic, reason, and analytical thought alone. Instead, we need the ‘soul language’ of our metaphysical ‘inner guidance system.’ Intuition is an aspect of our spiritual essence; an awareness arising from our metaphysical resonance with the universal consciousness or the akashic field. We all experience this mind-soul resonance daily, in the form premonitions, forebodings, hunches, gut feelings, and so on. It is a soul language we are all born with, and it can be further fostered through various spiritual practices, such as meditation, dreamwork, and divination. Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.” In the book Edgar Cayce on Religion and Psychic Experience, author Harmon Hartzell Bro writes that Cayce recommended that should we seek psychic experiences in our daily life, it should ideally be in the context of spiritual growth, learning about ourselves, or helping others. [9] Of course, as human beings, psychics and mediums also speak the everyday ‘soul language’ of intuition. However, when we channel or read, the intuitive impressions we perceive are not merely ‘inner guidance’ impressions, but instead clairintuitions. Clairintuitive psychic perceptions are not personal spiritual insights or private affirmations, but instead transpersonal and universal insights and affirmations, essentially resulting from an enhanced mind-soul dialect we are ‘wired’ to speak. Clairintuition is an expanded lexicon beyond the everyday language of the soul. It is a supernatural perception aptitude or gift, and not merely a form of ‘developed’ inner guidance. Why Psychic Ability Is More Than Mere Intuition It has become the trend in recent years for some psychic practitioners to refer to themselves as ‘sensitives’ or ‘intuitives,’ instead of using the term psychic. This is mainly a consequence of the negative connotations often associated with the word ‘psychic,’ especially in the mainstream media. For example, reporter Lisa Held writes, “while psychics have traditionally profited from claiming to predict the future or communicating with deceased relatives, many are now working in the general field of wellness, calling themselves ‘intuitives’ or ‘intuitive healers,’ who channel ‘energy’ that helps people discover what they want out of life.”[10] Intuitive counselor Susan King confirms, “I call myself an intuitive because I think it takes away any barriers and removes potential erroneous stereotyping.” [11] Journalist Sara Coughlin notes “as mystical as the professional title ‘intuitive’ might sound, the [intuitives] we spoke with described their abilities in highly sensible, practical terms. Intuition is like a muscle — you need to train it and use it regularly to maintain its strength. Intuition is best utilized if channeled through a more tangible medium, like numerology or tarot. And, most resoundingly, they also made it clear that everyone, spiritual or not, does have a sense of intuition that they can hone beyond that gut feeling. It's just up to the individual whether they choose to do so or not."[12] Psychic ability is an expanded capacity for supernatural perception that transcends the personal sphere of everyday intuition. Clairintuition is not merely a ‘honed gut feeling.’ Although it is indeed true that as spirit beings we all have a built-in capacity for intuition, authentic psychic channeling or reading is in my experience certainly not merely a form of ‘honed intuition.’ Everyone does experience precognition, presentiment, and premonition, because it serves to guide us on a daily basis as metaphysical beings on a spiritual mission — whether we are conscious of it, or not. However, this kind of everyday intuition is personal, private, and individual, and mostly focused on one’s own needs, as well as the welfare of your loved ones. In her best-selling book Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing medical intuitive Carolyn Myss agrees, “intuition is neither the ability to engage prophesy nor a means of avoiding financial loss or painful relationships. It is the ability to use energy data to make decisions in the immediate moment.” Patent psychic ability or the expanded capacity for supernatural perception transcends the personal sphere of everyday intuition. Clairintuition is not merely a ‘honed gut feeling.’ In fact, many people often fail to recognize their gut feelings and tend to disregard their hunches — only to later realize its validity, or discover its true meaning (sometimes with disastrous, even tragic consequences). Psychics and mediums however perceive profound transpersonal impressions of clairintuition, mostly on behalf of others. Ironically, we tend to be better at channeling these perceptions for others, instead of for our own benefit! Intuition is an aspect of the inner guidance system or our ‘spiritual GPS,’ while psychic perception is transpersonal, prophetic, omniscient, and numinous. Clairintuitive perception is not merely developed inner guidance or ‘honed intuition.’ It is metaphysical gift of prophetic intuition on ‘supernatural steroids.’ The Difference Between Precognition And Premonition Researchers generally do not apply distinct, separate terms for various forms of predictive psychic perception, as parapsychology traditionally does not distinguish between different forms of prophetic psi. Instead, the term precognition is generally used as an umbrella term to represent all forms of foreknowing (claircognizance), foreseeing (clairvoyance), forefeeling (clairempathy), foresensing (clairsomatica), and foreboding or forewarning (clairintuition). However, psychics and mediums know from direct experience that using such a broad term for all these nuanced prophetic phenomena is an underestimation and a gross misrepresentation of predictive psychic perception. It is not as if new terms must be invented for these concepts, because appropriate, distinguishing terms for these predictive phenomena already exist in the dictionary! Classic terms like prescience, presentiment, premonition, and presage have been around for centuries, yet one is unlikely to find them in modern scientific papers, much less in psychic blogs and social media posts. Prescience: foreknowledge, advance insight, anticipation of the course of future events, divine omniscience. Presentiment: to feel beforehand, a foreboding, an intuitive feeling about the future, a feeling that something will happen, a feeling that misfortune or calamity is coming. Premonition: forewarning, advance warning, prior notice, a strong feeling that something is going to happen Presage: something that foreshadows or portends a future event, a foretoken, a prophetic foreboding, an intuition or feeling of what is going to happen in the future, something sensed beforehand. With the advent of a Newtonian worldview and mechanistic, reductive science, these long-standing, time-honored terms have regrettably become outmoded archaisms. Our ancestors conceived these linguistic concepts to communicate their everyday mystical experiences. Yet, you will not find these terms, for example, in the American Psychological Association’s (APA) online dictionary. [14] The only related terms I found listed are precognition, retrocognition and premonitory dream. It is in fact peculiar that in both psychology and psi research the concept of ‘premonition’ is mostly only found in the context of dream phenomena, as demonstrated by the aforementioned example. Science apparently accepts the possibility that premonitions may occur in dreams, and even in altered states of consciousness, but when a premonition or presentiment occurs in the realm of waking awareness, it can only be a conscious or unconscious ‘precognition.’ True psychic perception is so much more than mere ‘mind-brain’ cognition. In fact, the APA essentially agrees, as it states that cognition is only one of the three traditionally identified components of ‘mind,’ along with affect (feeling) and conation (motivation). Yet, when it comes to predictive psychic phenomena, only one of these three ‘components of mind,’ receives attention and recognition in parapsychology? To my knowledge the APA currently offers no ‘affective,’ nor ‘conative’ terminology for what it calls ‘the purported ability to see or experience future events through some form of extrasensory perception.’[15] I suspect the concept of precognition has been adopted as the preferred scholarly term because it is more empirically convenient and academically conceivable. The reductive notion of focusing on psi ‘cognition’ only, and the absence of clear terminological distinctions that reflect the fundamental differences between various clairsapient and clairsentient psychic perceptions, is in my view another result of the ‘arranged marriage’ between parapsychology and orthodox science. A recent neuroscience study proposes, for example, that all emotions are merely ‘cognitive states resulting from the gathering of information.’ Conscious experiences, regardless of their content, arise from one system in the brain. Specifically, the differences between emotional and non-emotional states are the kinds of inputs that are processed by a general cortical network of cognition, a network essential for conscious experiences.[16] But philosophers, spiritualists, metaphysicians, occultists, and mystics, including psychics and mediums, have through the ages always known we are not merely ‘computerized robots,’ or ‘information-processing machines.’ Instead, we are inspired, directed, guided, and protected every day by our feelings and intuitions — by ineffable, subjective, and mostly non-cognitive presentiments, premonitions, forebodings, forewarnings, hunches, and gut feelings. Yet, conventional science reduces these prophetic ‘qualia’ — that sometimes save lives and prevent disasters and tragedies — to one simplistic umbrella concept of ‘precognition’ and ‘anomalous cognition.’ On February 26, 1993, financial executive Barrett Naylor had a premonition, while stepping off a train in New York's Grand Central Station. He felt he should immediately turn around and go home. He followed this gut feeling, which probably saved his life, as later that day a bomb detonated below the World Trade Center, where his office was located. Amazingly, Naylor experienced a similar foreboding eight years later, on the morning of September 11, 2001. Once again, it saved his life. Later he confessed that he felt guilt and regret for not sharing his premonition with others, as he believes it might have helped to save more lives before the attack on the World Trade Center.[17] On the evening of Wednesday, March 1, 1950, a Nebraska church exploded five minutes after the weekly choir practice was supposed to start. Miraculously no one was injured, as the church building was inexplicably empty that evening. All the choir members were ‘coincidentally’ and unusually late for the weekly rehearsal.[18] Although some choir members had mundane reasons for being tardy, including car trouble and overnapping, others had no specific reason to explain why they were late that night.[19] Did the choir members all have a foreboding premonition? If so, it was a shared intuition that was either subconscious or unconscious, but certainly not something of which they were ‘cognitively’ aware. Yet, parapsychology calls it ‘precognition.’ I suspect the concept of precognition has been adopted as the preferred scholarly term because it is a more empirically convenient and academically conceivable concept, while ineffable, old-world notions like presage, presentiment and premonition are inconvenient carriers of esoteric, supernatural, numinous, or mystical connotations. But using terms like these to differentiate between sapient and sentient psychic impressions is necessary in developing a universal psychic vocabulary, as it more accurately reflects and represents our true psychic experiences. For example, not all psychics and mediums have a claircognitive psychic preference for ‘foreknowing.’ They might not necessarily ‘know’ or ‘understand’ something beforehand, but they do ‘feel’ or ‘sense’ it, or even ‘see, hear, taste, or smell’ it. Psychic mind-soul perception is much more than mere ‘mind-brain cognition.’ To clarify the intuition 'muddle' it is therefore necessary for the concept of clairintuition to be clearly differentiated from other types of prophetic or predictive psychic impressions. For a more accurate new conceptual model of psychic perception, I therefore propose the following terms to distinguish distinct types of prophetic or predictive psychic impressions, according to the relevant ‘clair’ preference: Premonition: clairintuitive foreboding Precognition: claircognitive,prescient foreknowing Presentiment: clairempathic, affective forefeeling Prognosis: clairsomatic, somatosensory foresensing Presage: clairsensory apprehensions of foreseeing, forehearing, foresmelling; foretasting; foretouching Excerpt from The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Rorty, R. (2021). Intuition. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Encyclopedia.com. [2] Sinclair, M. (2011). Intuition And Unconscious Thought. Handbook Of Intuition Research. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd [3] Rosenblatt A.D. & Thickstun, J.T. (1994). Intuition And Consciousness. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. [4] Intuition. (2018). New World Encyclopedia. NewWorldEncyclopedia.org. [5] Davis-Floyd, R & Arvidson, P.S. (2016). Intuition: The Inside Story: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Routledge. [6] Dearborn, G. V. N. (1916). Intuition. Psychological Review. [7] Arons, M. (1993). Instinct, Intuition And Supraconscious: De-Alienating Reflections. The Humanistic Psychologist. [8] Nicholson, N. (1998). How Hardwired Is Human Behavior? Harvard Business Review. [9] Harmon, H. (1970). Edgar Cayce On Religion And Psychic Experience. Paperback Library. [10] Held, L. (2019). Psychic Mediums Are The New Wellness Coaches. The New York Times. Nytimes.com [11] Garfinkel, P. (2015). Don’t Call Her A Psychic: ‘Intuitive Counselor’ Susan King Sets Up Shop At Hotel Bel-Air. Los Angeles Times. [12] Coughlin, S. (2018). We Asked 5 Spiritual Workers To Define ‘Intuition’ - Here's What They Said. Refinery29.com [13] Myss, C. (1996) Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing. Harmony. [14] APA Dictionary Of Psychology. (2021) American Psychological Association. Dictionary.apa.org [15] Precognition. (2021). APA Dictionary Of Psychology. American Psychological Association. Dictionary.apa.org 16] New York University. (2017) Emotions Are Cognitive, Not Innate, Researchers Conclude. ScienceDaily. [17] Naylor, B. 20/20: The Sixth Sense: ‘Seeing The Future’. Oct 26, 2012. ABC News. [18] Nichols, L. (2010). Remember The Miracle: Church Explosion 60 Years Ago Not Forgotten. Beatrice Daily Sun. [19] Edeal, G. (1950). Why the Choir Was Late. Life Magazine. [20] Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents.

Clairsomatica, or psychic somatosensation, is the perception of bodily sensations and symptoms without an identifiable physical source. Traditionally considered nothing more than a type of clairsentience and sometimes incorrectly described as clairtangency, psychometry or clairkinesthesia, these psychic impressions include a range of nonphysical sensations of touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, pain, proprioception, and other bodily perceptions. The psychic perception of physical sensations is traditionally grouped under the broad and often confusing label of clairsentience, together with emotional or empathic impressions, intuitive forebodings, and even cognitive knowings. After decades of struggling to reconcile these conflicting concepts with my own everyday psychic experiences, I came to understand this category of psychic impressions as a distinct form of psychic perception worthy of its own label and definition. I therefore coined the term clairsomatica to describe this specifically somatic form of psychic perception and introduced it to the world as part of my new conceptual model of psychic perception in my book The Sensible Psychic (2022). In this new model, the traditional “clairs” are not treated as separate psychic “senses” or "pathways of reception," but instead as psychic perception preferences through which different psychics and mediums tend to consciously perceive and experience psychic impressions. Why did I choose to break away from the traditional “clair senses” model? Because it is based on myth and folklore and does not accurately reflect what we know from millennia of spiritual wisdom, well over a century of psychic research, and the everyday lived experience of psychics and mediums around the world. It took me many years of study, research, personal reflection, professional experience (and much confusion and frustration), to eventually figure out why the old model really does not make much sense at all (pun intended). The traditional “clairs” or psychic “senses” model pigeonholes psychic feeling, knowing, sensation, and intuition into a restrictive, outmoded sensory-based model of psychic perception. The truth is that psychics and mediums do not have different psychic senses or sensory "reception" pathways. Psychic perception is by its very nature nonlocal, nonsensory, and nonphysical. Psychics and mediums do not “sense.” We also do not "receive." We perceive. Despite many highly empathic and medically sensitive psychics and mediums experiencing these impressions daily as part of their lived experience, the phenomenon has never been adequately acknowledged as a distinct form of psychic perception, to the extent that it did not even have an appropriate name of its own. This lack of an appropriate term has done the work of some of the world’s most gifted medical mediums, energy healers, and forensic psychics a gross injustice. Until now. Traditionally, this remarkable and very useful type of psychic perception preference was mistakenly referred to either as clairtangency (psychic touch), or psychometry, or more recently clairkinesthesia, or merely considered to be a “subtype” under the ill-conceived umbrella term known as clairsentience. The Clairtangency Myth Clairtangency as a catch-all term is totally inadequate in this context, as it linguistically refers to only one aspect of physical sensation, namely touch or tactile perception. Psychic bodily sensations, however, are not experienced only as impressions of “touch,” but also as perceptions of pain, temperature, proprioception, and pressure. Labelling all psychic sensation perceptions as “clairtangent” therefore makes no sense. The Psychometry Myth Psychometry, also known as object reading or psychoscopy, is traditionally seen as the psychic ability to perceive information about a person, place, or event by handling an associated object, typically in the form of a personal belonging such as jewelry or clothing, a family heirloom, or a photograph. While psychometric psychic reading is very valuable as a psychic reading technique, it is not in itself a form of psychic perception. It is a merely psychic reading practice or method, just as scrying with a crystal ball or drawing a tarot card are reading practices or methods rather than forms of actual psychic perception. The Clairsentience Myth Clairsentience is traditionally understood to be a common or generic psychic ability that includes a mismatched and vague assortment of empathic emotions and mood states, various physical sensations and medical symptoms, as well as all forms of intuition, and in some instances even cognitions. I struggled to make sense of this odd buffet of “sub-clairs” for many years because, in my experience, psychic impressions typically labelled as “clairsentient” do not represent a single “clair sense” or psychic ability. Instead, clairsentience is actually a single term used for three very distinct types of psychic impression preference. Clairsomatica: somatosensory, sensation, foresensing Clairintuition: premonition, presage, foreboding Clairempathy: affective, emotional, feeling, presentiment (coined by Isaac Bonewits in Real Magic in 1989) The proof of the pudding is simple: if you ask authentic psychic empaths and somatics, they will tell you that not every empathic psychic is clairsomatic, nor is every somatic psychic necessarily clairempathic. So why, then, would we think of them all as “clairsentient” when their lived experiences are so different? The Clairkinesthesia Myth Clairkinesthesia is a bizarre new term that recently entered the online psychic vernacular. TPhe term kinesthesia refers to the perception of bodily movement and position, closely related to proprioception. The notion of "clairkinesthesia” expands this into a psychic perception concept that is vaguely defined as mish-mash of “physical sensations, vibrations, shifts in energy and movements in the body" which simply makes no sense at all. If a psychic impression specifically involves an apparent sense of movement or bodily position, it is more accurately understood as a kinesthetic or proprioceptive clairsomatic impression, not an entirely separate “clair sense.” Origins Of The Term 'Clairsomatica' The term clairsomatica distinguishes somatosensory or somatic perception from all the other psychic perception preferences. Somatic means ‘pertaining to the body.’ It derives from French somatique and directly from the Latinized form of Greek sōmatikos, ‘of the body,’ as well as from sōma or sōmatos meaning ‘the body.’ The somatosensory system in the human body involves the perception of touch, pressure, pain, temperature, position, movement, and vibration. It is spread throughout the body and consists of sensory receptors and neurons in the skin, muscle, and organs, as well as the central nervous system. Somatosensation is a mixed sensory category of physical sensations, which includes: mechanoreception (touch, pressure, vibration) thermoreception (temperature) proprioception (motion, body position) equilibrioception (balance) nociception (pain) Clairsomatica therefore encompasses all forms of psychic somatosensation typically perceived by psychics and mediums as impressions or embodiments of touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, proprioception, pain, and other bodily sensations and medical symptoms. Clairsomatic perceptions commonly experienced by clairsomatic psychics and mediums include: tickling sensations in various areas of the body, but especially the face, back, neck, and hands pressure on the crown of the head chills or goose bumps hair standing on end sensations of being touched or even pushed sudden temperature changes in rare instances sensations of physical trauma, or even ‘blows’ to the body. A haunting example of clairsomatica is reported in the case of the Stans Poltergeist in Switzerland in the 1860’s. Suddenly I felt a soft rustling of the hairs on my left temple, as if caused by a playing finger. Thinking that someone wanted to wake me, I grasped at it with my left hand and felt a soft warm little hand - I felt quite distinctly the thumb and finger. As I did, so it softly withdrew in the direction of the window, where I saw, in sharp relief against the shutters, a dark shape moving slowly backwards and forwards.[1] For awakening clairsomatics these embodied psychic sensations can be unpleasant, disconcerting, even disturbing and traumatic at times. Exceptionally gifted clairsomatics experience all manner of temperature changes, unusual aches and pains, physical discomforts, ‘creepy’ sensations, and a plethora of medical symptoms, including pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, tinnitus, and vertigo. The Phenomenon Of Shared Ghost Symptoms For some this psychic preference can create challenges in their personal life, as some clairsomatics, despite being in perfect health, can ‘feel physically sick’ or experience shared ghost symptoms with a partner, close friend or relative who is suffering an actual illness or disease. Clairsomatics sometimes even experience this psychic version of an 'ailment' without being aware of the other person’s condition. One of the unpleasant ways I sometimes experience this phenomenon is when I do a reading for someone who has a cold, the flu, seasonal allergies, or is simply a heavy smoker. I have, for example, experienced burning sensations in my chest; felt congested and suddenly began to cough inexplicably; and I have even felt my eyelids and nose itching, and so on. There have been times when I would physically ‘choke up’ as I start talking to a client on the phone; or I might develop a headache; or feel intense anxiety, as I prepare to call them. I recall a funny episode when a client awkwardly apologized to me when this happened: “Sorry, I was so nervous to talk to you, I chain-smoked several cigarettes before you called!’ As a child, I frequently had distressing clairsomatic experiences. For example, I felt physically ill and extremely uncomfortable in the presence of people who were suffering from an illness. I was even hospitalized due to this on at least two occasions that I know of. The doctors’ official explanation at the time was that I suffered from some sort of ‘asthma,’ but today I know it was due to an anxiety response brought on by extreme experiences of clairsomatica. Some clairsomatics can experience shared ghost symptoms with a partner, close friend or relative who is suffering an actual illness or disease. I also vividly remember the specific clairsomatic experience that prompted me to consciously begin suppressing these unpleasant impressions. I was attending a children’s theatre performance when I was about ten years old. I was sitting a couple of seats away from a girl about my age, who I later noticed had a broken arm in a cast. It started with me feeling a numb, aching pain and an itching sensation in my right arm, which I perceived for the duration of the show, and quite some time after. Eventually my discomfort became so unbearable, I leaned forward in my seat, with my aching arm bent under my chest, in an attempt to relieve the discomfort. Then I looked over to the side and noticed a cast on the girl’s arm. I instantly experienced another clairsomatic sensation, in which I felt myself ‘falling,’ and then I clearly felt the ‘cracking’ blow to my arm. It was so vivid, it made me sit back up in shocked surprise! The incident was a very unsettling experience at a time in my life when I was old enough to realize for the first time that I could physically ‘feel’ what other people feel. I certainly did not want to have another experience like that, so I deliberately began to suppress my clairsomatic perceptions, and somehow became quite skilled at blocking it out as I grew older. These days, I am less distressed and proactive in managing these experiences, but I generally still make efforts to avoid it. Clairsomatica is something I have never fully embraced, much less attempted to further develop, despite the fact that many clients and friends have told me over the years that they experience a sense of well-being when I’m around, or that I exude some sort of ‘healing energy’ when I channel for them. It certainly explains why strangers tend to follow me around in public places and constantly gravitate towards being in my personal space. Mediumistic Perception Of The Cause Of Death In mediumship readings, I sometimes experience a more tolerable version of clairsomatica, when I perceive the deceased person’s cause of death. For example, I might feel pressure or tension in the area of my chest, which usually indicates a heart attack, or a sensation of discomfort in the lower part of my torso, which signifies a lung condition or difficulty breathing, and so on. I have also felt ‘blows’ to my body, which usually indicates some sort of accident or violent trauma. I only experience these physical causes of death in ways that are already familiar to me. In other words, I know what chest pain, or the sensation of respiratory inflammation feels like, but I do not have first-hand experiences of what it feels like to be ‘run over by a truck,’ for example. In such cases, I might perceive the information as another type of psychic impression, such as a clairvoyant vision, for example. I recently did a reading for someone whose mother had been brutally murdered several years ago. The client later explained that the perpetrator not only shot the victim, but also drove over her lifeless body with his truck. I have obviously never experienced anything like this myself, so instead of physically embodying this cause of death, I instead perceived a clairvoyant memory flash of a similar scene in the television series The Righteous Gemstones (2019), which I had been binge watching at the time. Not knowing what had happened to her mother, this unusual vision initially seemed bizarre to me, but the client instantly understood its significance. The Emerging Science Of Body Psi Parapsychology research data for clairsomatic perception is limited and traditionally focused mostly on its role in extreme psi or ‘paranormal’ phenomena, such as spirit possessions, poltergeists, and physical mediumship, as well as mental health pathology...and apparently with much skepticism. For example, physician William Hammond, an outspoken critic of spiritualism, who considers mediumship a ‘mental illness,’ argues that the psychic impressions of being ‘touched’ that some mediums attribute to spirit activity are “merely symptoms of nervous derangement of some kind.”[2] Parapsychologist Christine Hardy however confirms data from spontaneous cases and informal investigations suggest that psi information is indeed sometimes ‘felt’ by the receiver. She calls it a tele-empathicsensation that matches the sender's experience. According to Hardy, this concept of ‘body-psi’ has been formally explored in experiments (such as remote staring), to demonstrate the autonomic system reacts to unconscious psi information.[3] Parapsychologist Dean Radin reports psychophysiology has become increasingly important in the study of various psychic phenomena. Psychophysiology studies mind-body interaction using empirical techniques to identify correlations between inner, subjective experience and objective, measurable bodily responses, such as that of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Radin says this approach provides objective ways to probe the unconscious mind, which is where psychic information is thought to first arise.[4] Such impressions, operating below the level of conscious awareness, can manifest as subtle changes in the body and may be noticed in the form of chills, stomach clenching or other visceral sensations, heart palpitations, and the presence of goose bumps.[5] Radin concludes that studying these types of psi phenomena are challenging, but that it is viable and that there is a growing interest in this research approach in both psychology and the neurosciences. Detection of unconscious influences in bodily reactions does not provide the same type or level of detail that is available to conscious awareness. But it does provide a way to explore mental activity that is otherwise not available. Using such techniques, telepathy has been explored by looking for correlations in brain activity between pairs of isolated or distant friends. Clairvoyance and precognition have been studied by measuring changes in brain activity, heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil dilation when a person accurately versus inaccurately describes targets distant in space or time. Precognition has been studied by measuring physiological responses before being exposed to unpredictable stimuli.[6] The Odd Relationship With Poltergeist Phenomena Clairsomatic symptoms have interestingly been found to have an inverse relationship with poltergeist activity, which modern researchers argue might be evidence of alterations in the psychophysiology of the so-called poltergeist ‘agent.’ A poltergeist is traditionally believed to be a mischievous ghost or a supernatural being that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as making loud noises and moving objects. The German term poltergeist literally means ‘noisy spirit,’ from poltern ‘make noise, rattle’ and geist ‘ghost.’ The modern hypothesis for poltergeist phenomena is however that it is due to psychokinetic influence by a living ‘agent,’ instead of it being a spirit haunting. Poltergeist phenomena are typically linked to a specific living person, and it usually only happens in the presence of that person.[7] Parapsychologist William Roll finds that when an agent exhibits certain psycho-physical symptoms, the poltergeist phenomena often tend to calm down, or even subside completely. Roll identified this oddity in at least three poltergeist cases he investigated. For example, in one case the paranormal activity subsided after the agent had suffered a bout of epileptic seizures that required hospitalization, and only resumed again once he was treated for it.[8] In another case the poltergeist activity abated when the agent suffered migraine headaches and vomiting episodes, and only flared up again once she had received treatment for these symptoms.[9] The Funtional Necessity Of Psychic Hygiene I find the above poltergeist discovery intriguing in the context of my own psychic practice. I believe psychic channeling, mediumship, and energy healing are a calling, and that regularly practicing these gifts or abilities enhances the health and well-being of the practitioner. In fact, I find it odd when other psychics, mediums, and healers complain about constantly ‘feeling drained’ due to the energy demands of their work. For me, the experience is quite the opposite. I find psychic channeling rather energizes me and improves my health and well-being (unless I really overdo it by working too much). It is in fact when I am not working for lengthy periods of time that my health and well-being begins to suffer. I therefore compare psychic work to ‘going to the gym,’ or ‘donating blood.’ It promotes the psychic or medium’s health and well-being. I believe psychic channeling improves auric integrity and balances the flow of chi (universal life force) in the psychic, medium, or healer’s energy field. Psychics and mediums are ‘wired’ to channel or read, and if we do not do it on a regular basis, both our mental and physical health and wellness begin to suffer. In fact, I consider it a functional spiritual necessity, or even a kind of ‘metaphysical hygiene.’ Frequent psychic channeling improves auric integrity and balances the flow of chi (universal life force) in the psychic, medium, or healer’s energy field. I further suspect this may be an underlying cause of mental and physical health problems for many spiritually ‘gifted’ people, especially those who are lazy and negligent, in denial, or simply resistant to their metaphysical abilities. I know of a few colleagues who experienced a marked improvement in their health and well-being once they embraced their psychic ability, overcame their hesitance, or resolved their lack of self-trust and self-worth and began to consistently practice psychic, mediumship, or energy healing work. I further believe science might discover new avenues of understanding should it begin to approach psychic phenomena more often from a premise of it being adaptive, rehabilitative, purposeful, healing, or even divinely ordained, instead of attributing it to psychosomatic neuroses, psychopathology, or neurological malfunction. Clairsomatica As A Form Of Crisis Impression Similar to clairempathic phenomena, clairsomatica is also reported in cases of crisis impression, where subjects experience ‘shared illness’ or ‘dying symptoms’ at the time of the crisis. For example, a man whose father was dying was awakened at the exact time of his passing by intense feelings of ‘suffocation,’ while his father was in fact drawing his final breaths in a distant location. I remember grabbing my mouth, forcing it open to help me breathe. I was fighting for all I was worth, but the pains were now unbearable.[10] Author Paul Hawker reports the case of a woman who was awakened one night by the sound of her ‘heart breaking.’ I know it sounds really odd, but that's what it was. I heard it crack and felt my chest sort of splitting. The next day, while driving to work, she suddenly felt a sensation of 'pressure' on the side of her face. I distinctly remember the pressure was that of a cheek lightly pressed against mine, sort of cuddling me. The feeling I was filled with at this time was one of love and support — it felt fine. I then felt a hand holding my hand and 'felt' it had no middle finger. I knew this because there was no pressure in this area. And then it dawned on me. I realized it was my dad's hand; he'd lost his middle finger in a building site accident.[11] Later that day, her husband informed her that her father had passed away during the night from a heart attack. Claisomatica In Psychokinesis Experiments Clairsomatica has also been documented in a successful series of psychokinesis experiments conducted from 2013 to 2015 in an Argentinian laboratory with a factory worker named Ariel Farias, who had the ability to raise a table’s legs off the floor by simply placing his hands on it. What makes this study notable in terms of clairsomatica is that Farias reported ‘feeling a sensation of heat’ in his hands whenever he was able to lift the table. However, temperature measurements showed his hands and forearms were in fact cold while he was performing telekinesis, leading researchers to conclude that the experience of heat in his hands is a purely subjective sensation.[12] Farias also reported feeling as if he was ‘merging with the table’ during successful trials. The very moment the table began to move, he felt sensations similar to those felt by an airline passenger when the plane takes off. He also said that when the table leg rises, it’s ‘similar to when you put on your shoes; at the beginning you feel the difference between bare and covered skin, but in a few seconds, you forget this difference and begin to feel the shoes as a part of you.’ He also described the inverse sensation (removing one’s shoes) when the force disappears, and the table leg falls down to the floor.[13] Is Clairsomatica A Parallel To Mirror-Synesthesia? A possible scientific parallel to clairsomatica can be found in studies of a special form of synesthesia known as mirror-synesthesia or pain synesthesia. Mirror-synesthetes feel a matching sensation in the same part of their body as another person. Seeing someone else being pinched on the cheek, for example, would cause the mirror-synesthete to feel a similar sensation in their own cheek. These studies not only provide unmistakable evidence for the existence of this type of synesthesia,[14] but also that it is not merely a form of vicarious empathy [15] and that it correlates with increased levels of emotional empathy.[16] Neurologist and researcher Joel Salinas estimates about 1.5% of the general population experiences this phenomenon, which he describes as a neurological trait, instead of it being a ‘disorder.’ Salinas, known as ‘the doctor who can feel your pain,’ is himself a mirror-synesthete. He says it enables him to feel the emotional and physical experiences of his patients. He describes it as a ‘heightened empathic ability’ that offers him invaluable clues about how to see life from other people’s perspective.[17] Just walking around every day, I feel strangers hurting, and I feel it so thoroughly and completely ~ Megan Pohlman Journalist Erika Hayasaki reports the case of mirror-synesthete Carolyn Hart who wanted to become a physical therapist, but the pain and discomfort she would have to constantly share with her patients would have been too much for her to tolerate, so she became a massage therapist instead. Hart describes her “most flagrant mirror-sensorial perception” as “pain shooting down my legs when I see other people’s wounds and injuries.” When she sees another person being touched, she experiences ‘a gentle perception that tickles her skin.’ She also perceives similar sensations whenever she sees another person being bumped or shoved. But, if the contact becomes more aggressive, for example if I witness a person body-slammed, then I don’t feel that ticklish exteroceptive sensation. Instead, I will feel what I call synesthesia-for-pain…which feels like bolts of electricity coursing down the back of my legs.[18] Synesthete Maureen Seaberg describes the similar case of Megan Pohlman, a pediatric nurse who literally feels the pain of her young patients. Pohlman says, “just walking around every day, I feel strangers hurting, and I feel it so thoroughly and completely.” Allan Doctor, a pediatric intensive care physician who has worked with Pohlmann for many years, says her abilities are indeed remarkable. For example, nurses often ask for additional pain medicine or sedation when a child has high blood pressure or heart rate, which then prompts him to investigate whether the cause is, in fact, pain, or something else, like a fever. “Megan’s reliability in sensing when they really are in pain or anxious, versus other causes, is unusually acute.”[19] Excerpt from The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Joller, M. (2015). Stans (Switzerland) Poltergeist. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [2] Hammond, W.A. (1876). Spiritualism And Allied Causes And Conditions Of Nervous Derangement. G.P. Putnam’s. [3] Hardy, C. (2000) Psi As A Multilevel Process: Semantic Fields Theory. The Journal of Parapsychology. [4] Carpenter, J. (2012). First Sight: ESP And Parapsychology In Everyday Life. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. [5] Beloff J. & Rhine, J. B. (1981). On The Nature Of Psi. Journal of Parapsychology. [6] Radin, D. (2016). Presentiment. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [7] Williams, B. (2019). Psychological Aspects In Poltergeist Cases. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [8] Solfvin, G. F. & Roll, W. G. (1976). A Case Of RSPK With An Epileptic Agent. Parapsychology Review. [9] Roll, W. G. & Tringale, S. (1983). A Haunting-Type RSPK Case In New England. Research in Parapsychology. Scarecrow Press. [10] Fenwick, P & Fenwick, E. (2008). The Art of Dying. Bloomsbury Academic. [11]Hawker, P. (2000). Secret Affairs Of The Soul: Ordinary People's Extraordinary Experiences Of The Sacred. Wood Lake Publishing Inc. [12] Braude, S. E (2018). Ariel Farias. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [13] Gimeno, J. & Burgo, D. (2017). Laboratory Research On A Presumably PK-Gifted Subject. Journal Of Scientific Exploration. [14] Ward J. & Banissy M.J. (2015). Explaining Mirror-Touch Synesthesia. Cognitive Neuroscience. [15] Rothen N. & Meier B. (2013). Why Vicarious Experience Is Not An Instance Of Synesthesia. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience. [16] Ward, J. et.al. (2018) The Relationship Between Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia And Empathy: New Evidence And A New Screening Tool. Cognitive Neuropsychology. [17] Salinas, J. (2017). Mirror Touch: Notes from a Doctor Who Can Feel Your Pain. HarperOne. [18] Hart, C.C. (2017) Reflecting on Mirror-Touch. Carolyncchart.com [19] Seaberg, M. (2018). Meet the Nurse Whose Superpower Is Feeling Your Pain – Literally. Glamour.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Clairolfaction, also known as psychic smelling, is the perception of scents, odors or aromas without an identifiable physical source. This rare form of psychic perception preference has also acquired a rather extravagant collection of alternative names in modern esoteric and metaphysical usage, including clairalience, clairscent, clairessence, clairfragrance, clairaroma, clairosmia, clairolfactance, clairolfacience, and clairosmesis. Psychic smell, or clairolfaction, is a lesser-known psychic impression preference or "clair sense" involving olfactory or smell perceptions. These unusual perceptions may include anything from pleasant fragrances and familiar or nostalgic scents to unpleasant smoke, chemicals, decay, or putrid odors. In mediumship and trance channeling, these perceptions are most often associated with deceased individuals or spiritual presences. In channelled psychic readings, however, clairolfactory impressions are perceived as nonsensory psychic impressions that carry symbolic meaning or medical significance for the client or sitter. In medical science, unexplained smell perceptions are known as phantosmia or cacosmia and are not considered spiritual or supernatural in origin. This differs from the experiences reported by many psychics and mediums through the ages. The term olfaction means "the sense or faculty of smell," derived from Latin olfacere, meaning “to smell” or “to get the smell of.” The term clairolfaction therefore combines the traditional psychic prefix clair, French for “clear,” with olfaction, the established scientific term for the sense of smell. This is the term I use in my writing, research and psychic education work because it is the most precise and linguistically defensible. Clairolfaction was used by author and scholar Isaac Bonewits as far back as 1970s as part of his broader system of “clair senses" that is now used by many modern-day psychics and mediums. Bonewits also coined the terms clairgustance and clairtangency, and introduced clairempathy to distinguish emotional psychic perception from the much broader catch-all term clairsentience. However, despite the availability of this perfectly sensible term for one of the rarest forms of psychic perception, an extraordinary number of competing names and misconceptions inexplicably exist in contemporary folklore for essentially the same psychic phenomenon. At last count, I have identified at least ten such skunked terms: Clairalience seems to be the term that is most widely used these days, usually justified by the false claim that alience is French for “smelling.” It is not. No dictionary (French or English) has an entry for it, and my research over the past two decades has not once turned up a single etymological reference to support the idea that "alience" is a real, standalone word meaning smell or smelling. Actual French words for smelling are instead terms like sentir, flairer, or odorat...nothing resembling "alience." I suspect the term clairalience may be a mash-up of 'clair-' with a misheard echo of 'olfaction', or simply as a word invented to sound French or Latin. At some point, it made sense to someone, or sounded cool, and it eventually caught on. I have also not been able to pinpoint when exactly this concoction was invented. Clairscent derives from scent, which has roots in Old French sentir, meaning “to feel, smell, taste, or perceive,” and Latin sentire, “to perceive or sense.” It is maybe more easily understood as a an English word, but scent refers to a a smell or odor...not the faculty or process of smelling itself. Clairfragrance falls into the same trap and is even more restrictive because fragrance implies a pleasant smell, whereas clairolfactory psychic perceptions can often be very nasty and unpleasant. Clairaroma has the same limitation. An aroma is generally understood as a noticeable, often pleasant smell and therefore does not adequately describe the full range of psychic smell perceptions. There is nothing automatically 'nice' about clairolfactory psychic impressions that we should confidently refer to them as clairscents, clairfragrances, or even clairaromas. In fact, quite the contrary! These perceptions can be really nasty and putrid. Clairessence appears to draw on the perfume-related meaning of essence, particularly distilled oils and fragrances, but essence primarily refers to the intrinsic nature or character of an aroma, rather than the actual faculty of smell. Clairosmia incorporates the Greek-derived osmia, relating to smell. It makes sense linguistically, but -osmia is also used extensively in medical terminology for neurological and psychiatric conditions associated with altered smell perception that are not representative of the psychic phenomenon. These medical terms include: • Anosmia (no smell) • Hyposmia (reduced smell) • Hyperosmia (heightened smell) • Parosmia (distorted smell) • Phantosmia (phantom smell) • Dysosmia (abnormal smell) Clairosmesis is the lesser of evils. It derives from Greek osmesis and osmasthai, meaning to “smell” or “perceive by smell.” It is linguistically fine, but osmesis is an obscure term, far less familiar than olfaction, and it is also used in medical contexts. To modern English readers it is additionally easy to confuse with the word "osmosis." Clairolfaction is simply more established and more immediately understandable. Clairolfactance and clairolfacience are no doubt the worst of the bunch. They are obviously Frankenstein hybrids of olfaction. The words "olfactance" and "olfacience" simply does not exist in English. Psychics and mediums already face enough skepticism, scorn, and ridicule. We really do not need to add poor vocabulary to the mix by using silly words like 'olfactance' and 'olfacience', which you will not find in any reputable English dictionary. After a lifetime of lived psychic experiences and more than two decades working professionally as a psychic mediumship practitioner, author and educator, I have become increasingly reluctant over the years to adopt nonsensical terminology simply because it is popular or frequently recycled by social media influencers. The words we use in our work should accurately describe our perceptual experiences. For this reason, I use clairolfaction as the preferred term for psychic smell. When 'Psychic Smell' Is Medical, Not Metaphysical In psychiatry and medicine, smelling an odor that is not physically present in the environment is considered to be an olfactory hallucination, medically known as phantosmia, or ‘phantom smell.’ Cacosmia, on the other hand, refers specifically to the perception of foul or unpleasant odors, typically experienced as smelling something burned, spoiled, rotten, or otherwise offensive. [1] Clairolfaction is not frequently acknowledged or discussed in the psychic community, probably because it is not a common psychic preference. It is most often associated with unusual mediumship experiences and spirit phenomena. Whether it is purely a mediumship phenomenon, or simply misunderstood or underreported by psychics is unclear, but accounts of this phenomenon traditionally focus mostly on extreme paranormal phenomena, such as poltergeist activity and demonic possession. The case files of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren include, for example, numerous accounts of foul ‘cacosmic’ odors and bizarre smell phenomena, such as those in the book In a Dark Place. [2] Clairolfaction In Mediumship & Paranormal Research Psi research data on clairolfaction further appears to be limited mostly to physical mediumship, for example the anecdotal accounts of physical mediums Indridi Indridason and Franek Kluski. Indridason produced a fragrant smell when he was channeling, as well as other smells, such as seaweed. These smells would sometimes cling to other people after he touched them.[3] Various odors also permeated Kluski’s body during séances, including the smells of fruit, leaves, flowers, incense, disinfectant, animal smells, rotting flesh, sweat, and dirty clothing. These smells reportedly clung to him for a long time and were emitted from different parts of his body.[4] It is unfortunate that psychic smelling is generally overlooked in both psi research and the psychic community, as smell perceptions are some of the most psychologically and emotionally meaningful ‘qualia’ people experience. “Not only is it a chief component of taste,” writes Amelia Buckley, “but it holds the key to our emotions. It is a primary factor in memory and can manipulate our feelings in a way that sight or sound can’t quite do.”[5] Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel. ~ Oliver Wendell Why 'Smell' Is Such a Powerful Psychic Perception Ordinary smell is a powerful sense. We all experience smell associations that instantly take us back to moments of heightened emotion or special memories. It is no accident, for example, that when we experience a negative intuition or gut feeling we say things like, ‘I smell a rat,’ or ‘it smells to high heaven,’ or ‘something smells fishy.’ Smells have the unique ability to immediately evoke emotions or trigger vivid memories. No other sense can so instantly bring back a meaningful moment from the past, or invoke the memory of a special person or event. This psychic perception phenomenon adds an exceptionally meaningful component in the channeled readings of those psychic or mediumship practitioners who experience these types of impressions. Clairolfactory psychics and mediums tend to also perceive clairgustance or psychic taste impressions along with certain smell perceptions. It makes perfect sense that this mental partnership would exist in a metaphysical context, since our physical perception of taste and smell also go hand-in-hand. Signs of Spirit Presence: Smoke, Perfume & Familiar Smells The most commonly reported experiences of psychic smell involve the smell of a deceased loved one’s perfume, as well as smells associated with cigarette and cigar smoke. I had a very striking personal experience of this while having lunch at a restaurant one day, when I began to smell the stench of second-hand tobacco smoke. I complained to the waiter, as it was supposed to be a non-smoking area, but both my companion and the waiter were perplexed, as neither of them smelled anything, and there was clearly nobody smoking inside the venue? Driving home, I soon realized the truth. Whoever had been ‘stinking up’ the restaurant was now also ‘chain-smoking’ inside my car. Later that evening, the ‘culprit’ made himself known during a mediumship reading. The first thing I said to my client was, “whoever the person is you were hoping to connect with today, I can already tell you one thing for sure…he must have smoked like a chimney!” She confirmed that he indeed used to smoke two to three packs a day. Smoke and perfume are however not the only smell perceptions clairolfactors perceive. In readings I have perceived the smell of flowers (especially roses), perfume or cologne, cigarette smoke, leather, incense, spices, fresh bread, fast food (hamburgers and pizza), animals (including dogs, cats, and horses), sea water, and even ‘wet sand.’ Sometimes these smell impressions can be very unpleasant, but fortunately for me that does not happen very often. Foul smells I have had to endure include urine, dirty laundry, and chemicals (alcohol, turpentine, and disinfectant). I have however heard of psychics and mediums who smell even worse things, like ‘burning rubber,’ ‘wet dog,’ and ‘rotting eggs.’ Paranormal investigators also report in books like Exposed, Uncovered & Declassified: Ghosts, Spirits, & Hauntings: Am I Being Haunted? the smell of sulphur as one of the classic signs of a haunting or demonic activity. [6][7] My Unusual 'Ozone Orbs' Experiences The most interesting aspect of my own ‘smelling ability’ is an unusual odor I began perceiving early on in my career. While I am channeling, spirit energy at times manifests clairvoyantly in the periphery of my ordinary vision as light orbs of ‘flickering, floating lights,’ comparable to ‘seeing stars,’ or the ‘flashers and floaters’ you see after looking into a bright light. These orbs usually bring with them a distinctive smell. The best way I can describe it is that it smells like ‘electricity’ or ‘ozone.’ It is not unpleasant, simply unusual. For a long time, I had no way of describing it, until I bought a small air purifier many years ago. I soon discovered that the faint smell of ozone, generated in small quantities by the negative ions from the purifier, was quite similar. I have since discovered I am not the only one to experience this phenomenon and that similar cases have been reported physical mediumship. A well-documented example is a report by psi researcher Gustave Geley of a séance conducted by physical medium Franek Kluski on March 17th, 1920, during which he produced ‘phosphorescent lights smelling of ozone.’ From these lights, floating in the air, came what looked like shining smoke, accompanied by a very strong smell of ozone, which the participants smelled until the end of the séance. Some of the participants were touched by what seemed like a shining, flowing stream which over a period continued to shine on the hands, hair, and faces which it touched. The little fires, which kept appearing in increasing numbers, started to travel through the medium and come out of him.[8] In Other Realities?: The Enigma of Franek Kluski’s Mediumship author Zofia Weaver writes that according to Geley’s records ozone was the most frequent odor occurring around Kluski during his séances and was often associated with these ‘highly phosphorescent, moving lights.’[9] Can Clairolfaction Be A Positive Omen? I have been rather fortunate with clairolfaction, as I have in recent years begun to experience an unusual phenomenon of foreboding or portentous clairolfaction that is exceptionally positive, pleasant and uplifting. I suspect it may be something I have been experiencing all my life, but for some reason I only became aware of it more recently. I have also not been able to find any information on this phenomenon. I call it auspicious aroma. Merriam-Webster defines auspicious as ‘having qualities which inspire hope’ and ‘pointing toward a happy outcome,’ while an aroma is ‘a sweet or pleasant smell,’ as well as a ‘special quality or impression associated with something.’ My ‘auspicious aromas’ are pleasant, happy, comforting ‘smells’ that are mostly indescribable, but always a good sign. One of the only significant associations I have been able to make thus far was a smell perception that somehow reminded me of the pantry in my maternal grandparents’ home (one of my favorite places when I was a child). The feeling I have when I perceive these smells is vague excitement and a sense of joy. I have found that they are always a good omen or foreboding that something good, positive, reassuring, or fortunate is about to occur in my life. For me it is essentially the ‘phantom smell’ version of finding a four-leaf clover or seeing a shooting star. Science writer Alexandra Michel argues that psychology textbooks have taught us for decades that there is a clear line of distinction between perception — how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell — and higher-level cognitive processes that allow us to integrate and interpret our senses. Yet, emerging interdisciplinary research is showing that the delineation between perception and cognition may be much blurrier than previously thought…New findings also show that our so-called low-level perceptual processes, such as smell, may actually be much smarter than previously thought. Discerning exactly what is top-down or bottom-up may be far more complicated than scientists once believed.[10] Neuroscientist John McGann uses cutting-edge techniques to explore the neurobiology of sensory cognition in smell. He uses the olfactory system as a model to investigate neural processing of sensory stimuli. He argues that our nose knows more than we realize. He believes the myth that our ability to smell is ‘non-essential’ is a serious mistake that has caused science to neglect research in this critical and mysterious part of the human mind.[11] In a recent series of experiments McGann discovered that “it was like the information coming into the brain from the nose already had the memory of bad things incorporated into it.”[12] In other words, we appear to be able to ‘know’ or ‘predict’ information from a smell, before the actual smell information even reaches our brain for sensory processing. When Psychic & Mediums Smell Illness Similar to other psychic preferences, clairolfactory psychics and mediums also develop personal symbolism or subjective associations with their psychic smell perceptions. For example, I can tell someone is terminally ill whenever I smell ‘rotting peaches.’ This association comes from an early childhood experience when I was about five years old. While visiting my grandparents, they introduced me to a sickly little girl who lived across the street from them. The day we met she was playing outside with her older brother. He was gently pushing her in a makeshift swing attached to the overhanging branch of a large peach tree. The instant I saw her, it seemed like the bright sunlight of a perfect summer’s day suddenly vanished. A dark, depressing shadow descended for me over everything, and I was overwhelmed by a sense of profound sadness, anxiety, despair. In that gloomy moment, the air was thick with the unpleasant odor of rotting peaches on the ground around us. I felt that she was extremely sick and dying, and so I came to associate the ‘peach smell’ with terminal illness. Years later, I was told that soon after we met, she had passed away from leukemia. Clairolfaction is especially meaningful in the context of health and healing, as some medical psychics, mediums and energy healers report the ability to ‘smell disease,’ or detect the early symptoms of illness, or identify affected areas of the body through smell impressions. Research in this field is limited, but there has been renewed interest recently due to Joy Milne who unknowingly smelled her husband had Parkinson's disease — over a decade before his symptoms became severe enough for him to seek help and be diagnosed. Despite a keen sense of smell since childhood, Milne never realized she had a ‘superpower,’ until the couple attended a support group for people with Parkinson's. There were many people gathered in the room and as soon as she walked in, she realized they all had the same ‘greasy, musty smell’ she had begun smelling on her husband many years earlier, before he was diagnosed. Once she realized the connection, they approached a researcher in regenerative medicine, but he dismissed her claims, thinking it was impossible. Several months later, he heard about research that showed dogs could smell cancer,[13] which reminded him of Milne. He then invited her to participate in an experiment in which she was asked to smell T-shirts worn overnight by two groups: people who had Parkinson's, and a control group. Not only was she incredibly accurate (she only made one mistake), but she was even able to tell if a person was in the early or late stages of the disease.[14][15] Interestingly, there is another case of a man who happens to suffer from Parkinson’s hallucinations, during which he smells a ‘noxious skunk-onion excrement odor’ that would suddenly intensify two to three hours before a weather storm, and would last until it has passed. According to a 2013 study he is the first reported case of ‘weather-induced exacerbation of phantosmia.’[16] Frequently Asked Questions About Psychic Smelling Is clairalience the same as clairolfaction? Yes. Clairalience and clairolfaction are both terms used to describe the same psychic perception phenomenon: perceiving smells without an identifiable physical source. I prefer to use the term clairolfaction because it is more precise and linguistically defensible. "Alience' is a made-up term that does not exist in English, French, or Latin. What is psychic smelling? Psychic smelling is the mental-metaphysical perception of scents, odors, or aromas as psychic impressions as opposed to ordinary physical smell. Normal smell is sensory. Psychic smell is nonsensory. These psychic impressions may include perfume, smoke, flowers, food, animals, chemicals, unpleasant odors, or other familiar smells. Can only mediums smell spirit presence? Yes. Some mediums do report smell perceptions during spirit communication or channeled readings. In evidential mediumistic readings, a familiar perfume, cologne, cigarette or cigar smoke, flowers, or other distinctive smells are perceived as evidence of a particular deceased person or spirit presence. This is however a rare psychic perception preference that is not common among mediums. That said, these experiences are definitely not limited to mediums. Researchers have been documenting similar "smell" experiences among the general public for decades, usually under scientific terms such as after-death communication, sense of presence, or bereavement studies. For example, a 2021 study found that smell was reported in 28% of cases, versus 44 - 48% for hearing and touch and 46% for vision. So, spirit smells are less common than sounds, voices, touch, or apparitions, but occur in more than a quarter of reported cases. Interestingly, although the researchers use the clinical term “hallucinations,” they explicitly state in their paper that they use it neutrally and do not mean to imply that these experiences are pathological or necessarily unreal. However, the study also does not attempt to determine whether the experiences are genuinely spiritual or metaphysical in origin. Why do I smell perfume or cigarette smoke? In mediumship and spiritual traditions, a sudden familiar smell with no obvious physical source are often interpreted as a sign of a deceased loved one’s presence. However, unexplained or recurring phantom smells can also have ordinary or medical causes and should not automatically be assumed to be supernatural or paranormal. How common is it to smell a deceased loved one's presence? It is more common than most people realize. Studies of bereaved people have found smell-related experiences in roughly 17% to 28% of reported encounters, depending on the study and research method. Familiar perfume, tobacco smoke, flowers, cooking smells, and other personally meaningful scents are among the examples people report. Interestingly, while one large modern study found that smell-based encounters were less common than visual, auditory, or tactile experiences, olfactory experiences were among those most strongly associated with increased religious or spiritual significance afterward. In other words, smelling spirit is spiritually more impactful and meaningful than other forms of afterlife vaidation. Is smelling a deceased loved one a sign of mental illness? No, usually it is not. Studies have repeatedly found sensory experiences of deceased loved ones to be relatively common among otherwise healthy people, and researchers generally do not regard these experiences as automatically pathological or as a sign of mental disorder. In fact, they are often rather viewed as comforting, healing and meaningful. Persistent or disturbing phantom smells, however, should be medically investigated because conditions such as phantosmia (olfactory hallucination) can have physical or neurological causes. Also, if you experience these smells repeatedly and consistently in a way that is upsetting or disturbing, it is recommended to consult with both a registered healthcare professional and an appropriately qualified spiritual specialist, so that possible physical, neurological, and spiritual explanations can all be considered. What is the difference between clairolfaction and phantosmia? Clairolfaction is the esoteric definition of unexplained smell perceptions perceived as psychic or mediumistic information. Phantosmia is the medical term for perceiving an odor when no physical odor is present and can be associated with several neurological or physical conditions. Can spirit smells be evil or demonic? Yes, but this is very rare. Some paranormal traditions do associate these smell experiences with disturbing spirit activity. Renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, documented a famous case that later inspired horror films such as The Conjuring. In theirwork they often encountered unpleasant and seemingly unexplained foul and sulfurous odors in locations where paranormal activity was reported. However, it is not true that unexplained smells are automatically negative or demonic. Many spiritual and religious traditions actually describe the exact opposite. For example, according to Catholic beliefs, holiness has a smell that can be perceived around a holy person, either in life or especially at death. This smell is described as sweet, floral, or similar to incense, while Islamic traditions associate holy martyrs with the fragrance of musk. Various spiritual wisdom traditions describe pleasant floral, incense-like, or familiar fragrances as signs of divine, ancestral, or benevolent spirit presence. Ancient Greek literature also describes the gods as having distinctive ambrosial fragrances, while Chinese ancestor-veneration traditions have used incense for thousands of years as part of ritual communication with deceased ancestors and deities. In other words, the nature and context of the smell matters. Otherworldly smell experiences can be unpleasant, or neutral, or comforting, profoundly uplifting or even divine. Source: The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Leopold, D.A. (2002). Distortion Of Olfactory Perception: Diagnosis And Treatment. Chemical Senses. [2] Warren, E & Warren, L. (2014). In A Dark Place. Graymalkin Media. [3] Haraldsson, E. (2018). Indridi Indridason (Medium). Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [4] Weaver, Z. (2018). Franek Kluski. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [5] Buckley, A. (2020). Stop And Smell The Roses! An Ode To The Most Beguiling Sense. OptimistDaily.com [6] Pye, M. et. al. (2011). Exposed, Uncovered & Declassified: Ghosts, Spirits, & Hauntings: Am I Being Haunted? New Page Books. [7] Wilson, C. (2015). Mysteries: An Investigation Into The Occult, The Paranormal, And The Supernatural. Diversion Books. [8] Weaver, Z. (2015). Other Realities? The Enigma Of Franek Kluski’s Mediumship. White Crow Books. [9] Weaver, Z. (2018). Franek Kluski. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society for Psychical Research. [10] Michel, A. (2020). Cognition and Perception: Is There Really A Distinction? Association For Psychological Science. PsychologicalScience.org [11] McGann, J.P. (2017). Poor Human Olfaction Is A 19th-Century Myth. Science. [12] Science Podcast: 13 December Show. Listen To Stories On Fear-Enhanced Odor Detection. Science.org. [13] Experimental Biology. (2019). Study Shows Dogs Can Accurately Sniff Out Cancer In Blood. ScienceDaily.com. [14] An Unlikely Superpower. (2020). Invisibilia: Season 6, Episode 3. Npr.org. [15] Trivedi, D.K. et. al. (2019). Discovery Of Volatile Biomarkers Of Parkinson’s Disease From Sebum. ACS Central Science. [16] Aiello, S. R. & Hirsch, A. R. (2013). Phantosmia As A Meteorological Forecaster. International Journal Of Biometeorology. [17] Bonewits, I. (2005). A Pagan Glossary Of Terms: Useful Words And Phrases For The Interdimensional Traveler. Neopagan.net [18] Elsaesser, E., et. al. (2021). The Phenomenology And Impact Of Hallucinations Concerning The Deceased. BJPsych Open. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a hereditary psychic medium, researcher, author, and accredited adult educator with more than two decades of professional experience. In full-time practice since 2004, he has conducted more than 12,000 psychic and mediumship readings for clients across thirty countries on five continents. His personal search for making sense of his own psychic experiences since childhood, and ultimately mastering his perception process, has given him an in-depth knowlegde and understanding of psychic perception, mediumship, channeling, and the developmental challenges often encountered by both aspiring and experienced practitioners. Anthon is the author of a research working paper titled A Unified Conceptual Triad of Psychic Perception: Nonlocal Mind-Soul Resonance, Sapient-Sentient Awareness, and Psychic Impression Preference. This paper outlines the original conceptual framework that underpins the Unlock Your Psychic Potential™ training program and his broader approach to psychic development training and education. He is also the author of The Sensible Psychic and Divine Living, and the founding editor of PsychicBloggers.com. Anthon holds a postgraduate degree in Liberal Arts with a major in Psychology and is a certified outcomes-based adult education facilitator, assessor, and moderator. His teaching combines professional practice, independent research, structured educational methodology, and lived experience as a hereditary psychic medium. His psychic decelopment training program is science-informed, spiritually inclusive, and focused on conceptual clarity, authenticity and accurate terminology. He aims to help psychic and mediumship students to develop greater discernment and self-trust, and build their skills on a credible foundation rather than mythology, superstition, or pop-culture stereotypes.

The extrasensory psychic ability of clairempathy or ‘psychic empathy’ is not yet recognized in mainstream science, but that does not make it any less bona fide for the highly sensitive people who experience these empathic psychic phenomena as a daily reality. Despite the lack of academic interest, and contrary to widespread skepticism, there is a growing body of anecdotal evidence and a significant collection of scientific data steadily gaining momentum to offer intriguing clues to the psycho-physiological experiences of empaths, intuitives, sensitives and psychics all over the world. I am a clairempath. I feel what other people feel. I experience inexplicable extrasensory perceptions of other people’s emotions, mood states, subconscious motivations, and even their physical or medical symptoms. It happens without me having to see them, or knowing anything about them. Touching others, or being in close proximity to them, elicits more intense empathic perceptions , but it is not necessary for me to have direct contact or personal interaction with others in order to have a direct experience of their underlying feelings and intentions. Clairempathy is a psychic perception preference. In my experience this process of sensing is due to some form of energy transfer between me and other people when the information is in my environment. I call this local induction, as opposed to nonlocal psychic perception. There is an energy interaction or energy exchange that takes place between me and them. I experience these vivid psychic impressions of other’s energy on a daily basis, and I utilize it to the best of my ability in my work as a professional psychic medium, consulting with clients all over the world. Clairempathy is an energy perception, or sentient response, that has no rational or logical origin. It is a form of perception which is experienced as a tactile, physical sensation... or an emotional feeling. My clairempathic experiences are uncanny and very real, as many of my friends, family and clients will attest. In exploring the limits of consciousness...we are indeed challenged by the spirit of our own epoch. In spite of the persuasiveness of conventional wisdom, consciousness may in fact have transtemporal aspects, and if so, the hard problem of consciousness takes on a mysterious new gleam ~ Dean Radin As is the case with all forms of extra-sensory perception (ESP) and paranormal ability, clairempathy or ‘psychic empathy’ is not yet recognized by the mainstream scientific community. However, that does not make it any less bona fide to me. For me it is a daily reality, despite the lack of scientific evidence to explain or justify my (sometimes traumatic) personal life experiences. And contrary to persistent mainstream skepticism regarding the existence of empaths and psychic phenomena, there is a growing body of anecdotal evidence and scientific data gaining momentum in this highly neglected field of study. Liberated by globalization and social media technology, a rising international community of empaths, psychics, energy healers and highly sensitive people have been sharing in recent years their often deeply personal experiences of these so-called paranormal or ‘supernatural’ phenomena. Online forums, social media support groups and consultation services for this purpose are expanding in cyberspace, as more of us are coming together to exchange information about our empathic psychic experiences. Our real life stories are increasingly coming out of the ‘paranormal closet’ and into the public domain. This growing collection of anecdotal evidence cannot be disregarded or ignored indefinitely. English author Quentin Crisp famously stated, “In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.” Psychic ability, extra sensory perception (ESP) and paranormal phenomena remain neglected fields of study in scientific research, for various reasons. The good news is that at least some new scientific evidence has been emerging over the years to offer clues towards a future technical understanding of psychic sensitivity, clairempathy and related empath experiences. Below are some of the more significant scientific discoveries in this arena. Mirror-Touch Synesthesia Synesthesia, oddly described by some in the medical community as a ‘disorder’, is basically the extraordinary ability some people possess to simultaneously perceive something through more than one of the senses. Perception with one sense triggers a simultaneous and corresponding perception in another sense. For example, synesthetes can ‘see sounds’ or ‘taste words’ or ‘feel smells.’ In some forms of synesthesia the person might perceive symbols, shapes, letters, or numbers with an accompanying sensory perception of color, flavor or smell. Mirror-touch synesthesia and pain synesthesia are versions of this phenomenon which causes the synesthete to feel a similar sensation in the same part of their body as another person. For example, seeing someone else being pinched on their cheek, would cause the synesthete to feel a similar sensation on their own cheek. Scientific studies have not only provided clear evidence for the existence of this type of synesthesia, but have also shown that it correlates with extraordinary or heightened empathic ability. Electromagnetic Biocurrents Some researchers not only believe that both the human brain and heart generate significant electromagnetic energy fields, but that the heart is in fact the most prominent source of biocurrents in the body. For example, one study measured in an electrocardiogram (ECG) the heart’s electrical field as being about 60 times greater in amplitude than that of brain waves. There is still controversy and disagreement on this subject, but as new technology emerges we will hopefully find a new ways to study electromagnetic processes in the human body. The ultimate question this hypothesis raises is whether the human body merely processes incoming electromagnetic information via the five senses, or does the heart and mind also send out electromagnetic information about our thoughts and feelings? In other words, are we merely receivers of electromagnetic stimuli, or do we also generate and transmit electromagnetic data to the world around us? For example, one study provided intriguing evidence that an exchange of electromagnetic energy produced by the heart occurs when people touch each other, or are in close proximity to each other. The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal of one person was shown to register in another person’s EEG, as well as other areas of the other person’s body. The signal was strongest when the subject were in direct contact, but was also detectable when they were in close proximity to each other, without any physical contact. Mirror Neurons Have you ever noticed that you experience similar sensations in your body when watching a highly engaging activity on television, for example someone participating in an extreme sport, or an actor fighting for his life in a horror film? Why is that when you see an athlete jump for a slam dunk, or a car going over a cliff, you can actually feel the sensation of your own heart racing, or your stomach turning? Scientists attribute this experience to the existence of mirror neurons, a specialized type of brain cell in the frontal cortex. These specialized brain cells do not only respond when we perform an action, they also respond when we see someone else performing the same action. The neural mechanism is involuntary and automatic, which enables us to watch other people and instantly know what they are feeling or experiencing, without having to first think about it Distant Intentionality Have you ever felt someone staring at you, and when you look up or turn around, you catch them in the act. Studies have shown that between 68% and 98% of the population sometimes sense the unseen gaze of another person. Known as Distant Intentionality, this feeling of being stared at has been demonstrated with varying degrees in research studies. A meta-analysis concluded that there are definitely hints of such an effect, but also a shortage of independent replications and theoretical concepts for this phenomenon. Distant Physiological Correlations Can signals travel between the nervous systems of two people who are not in direct physical contact with each other? Several scientific studies have demonstrated that the physiology of one person can affect, or elicit similar responses in another person’s physiology over a distance, without direct touch or contact. For example, in a study of extrasensory electroencephalographic (EEG) induction between identical twins, alpha rhythms were elicited in one of the twins as a result of mechanically stimulating such rhythms in the other twin. Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations were also observed between two human brains when pairs of subjects were allowed to first interact with each other, and were then separated inside semi-silent Faraday chambers. One subject of each pair was then stimulated by flashing lights, which caused the other subject to show ‘transferred potentials’ similar to those evoked in the stimulated subject. In other words, the person not exposed to the light flashes had a similar response in their body over a distance. Emotional Contagion Emotional contagion is a psycho-physiological phenomenon in which one person's emotions and behaviors have been shown to directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in other people. It is an instantaneous and unconscious process of transmission, through which emotional states or moods literally spread like ‘social viruses.’ Interestingly, some people have a natural ability to transmit these mood changes to others, while some people are more susceptible to be ‘contaminated’ by them. Research also demonstrated that we seem to automatically synchronize our moods with each other in social settings, and that this plays an important role in establishing emotional rapport and ensuring smooth interaction with others. Mass Psychogenic Illness Mass Psychogenic Illness (MPI) or Mass Hysteria is a well-documented phenomenon in which a group of people, crowd or community experience a spontaneous outbreak of similar physical symptoms, behaviors, or psychological stress. Many such outbreaks have been documented in schools, work environments and communities all over the world. Scientists still have no viable explanation for this kind of collective obsessional behavior, or so-called ‘epidemics of the mind.’ For example, one of the more bizarre cases was 'The Dancing Plague' of 1518 which occurred in Strasbourg, France. Hundreds of frenzied people spontaneously started dancing in the streets, leading to several deaths due to heart failure, strokes or exhaustion. Another documented case was The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962 in which the villagers in several neighboring communities in Africa engaged in unstoppable laughter for months, after a group of students at a boarding school in Kakasha triggered the giggling. The villagers simply could not stop laughing, and some experienced pain, fainting, skin rashes, bouts of crying and respiratory problems. Physiological Presentiment All of us have experienced gut feelings, forebodings or intuitive hunches about future events that later turned out to be true. There is compelling evidence that the body’s perceptual apparatus may be continuously scanning the future, and that our bodies receive and process information related to intuitive perception. Experiments have demonstrated, for example, that the body can in fact respond to an emotionally arousing stimulus seconds before it is actually experienced. Several studies have been done to measure whether the human nervous system is able to correctly anticipate future events. Some studies focused primarily on electrodermal activity (EDA), while others explored different physiological measurements, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and heart rate variability. All of them reported consistent results and demonstrated a small, yet statistically significant form of precognition or presentiment in the human nervous system. One surprising study found that the human heart appears to receive and respond to intuitive information, and that a our heart rate slows down significantly prior to observing future emotional stimuli, as compared to calm stimuli. The human heart was shown to anticipate future emotional responses to external events. Not only is the heart apparently involved in the processing and decoding of intuitive or precognitive information, but it appears to be processed in the same way as conventional sensory input. Neuroscientific Altruism Researchers in the field of Neuroscience have used brain imaging and behavioral studies to demonstrate that the amygdala, a set of neurons located deep in the brain, is significantly larger in people who display traits of extreme altruism, or selfless compassion. The amygdala, which plays an essential role in our processing of emotions and social functioning, has also been found to be considerably smaller in the brains of psychopaths, who are known for their extreme lack of empathy. Furthermore, it was also discovered that the brains of altruists are in general larger than that of the average person. Empath experiences and psychic abilities are not the only unexplained phenomena that continue to challenge the modern scientific mind. A growing number of research studies have also yielded in recent years statistically significant results for other psi phenomena closely associated with psychic empathy, including telepathy, distant healing, survival of consciousness and mind-matter Interaction. Furthermore, researchers are yet to produce feasible explanations for, among other, recorded events of paranormal activity, historic cases of premonition, the phenomenon of military intuition (described by soldiers as the ‘spidey sense’), the mechanism of déjà vu, a plethora of reported near-death and related metaphysical experiences, and the mystifying inner workings of the mind-body connection and the placebo effect, to name but a few. Just because these phenomena have not been measured or feasibly explained, does not mean they do not exist. The thousands of people having these experiences cannot all be deluded or functionally insane! For the psychic empath extra-sensory perception and sentient energy exchange is a daily reality and deeply personal matter. I am fortunate that I have an educational background in Psychology and Sociology, and that I have become empowered as an empath through my personal spiritual practice and professional endeavors. After much initial bewilderment in my youth, I have over the years gained a much better understanding of my psychic and paranormal experiences through my own ongoing research, study and experimentation. But for many other people who share my experiences, the journey remains confusing or frustrating, sometimes embarrassing, and even traumatic. The current lack of scientific support and mainstream skepticism is not helping to alleviate our plight. The field of social neuroscience and in particular the investigation of empathy is still very young, and the latter has not even reached its adolescence yet. Having had such a promising and eager childhood, though, it seem reasonable to expect that with further aging, we will develop more elaborate theoretical models and more rigorous empirical tools to ultimately gain more conclusive insights ~ Lammab and Majdandžić ​But I rest assured in the knowledge that progress in science, and a paradigm shift, sometimes comes as a surprise when it is least expected. It is a well-known fact that all the pieces of the puzzle do not always fit when it comes to scientific data collection and interpretation. And sometimes scientists choose to ignore these discrepancies as irrelevant, or not belonging to the subject at hand, or simply dismiss it as a misinterpretation of the data, especially if it does not meet their original objectives, or the needs of whoever funds their research projects. Despite all this, anomalies will continue to come along from time to time that violate expectations, or even clash with currently held beliefs about the laws of the universe. There are many examples of scientific exceptions to the rule which was once rejected as ‘fringe science’, but eventually became accepted as mainstream thought, including The Big Bang theory, Heliocentrism, and the fact that germs cause disease, to name but a few. I have faith in modern science and technology to change our world for the better. ​I also firmly believe in the power of Divine inspiration and intervention which shapes and guides our existence in this time-space reality. When the student is ready the teacher will appear. As a species we may not be ready for a complete revelation or true understanding of the experience of being an empath, intuitive, sensitive, or psychic. But in time these personal experiences will be confirmed by innovative technologies and new scientific discoveries. In the future the psychic empath will inhabit the mainstream metropolis of human understanding. © 2018 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

The traditional ‘clair senses’ model of ‘psychic sensing’ does not adequately represent the sophisticated nuances of all the nonsensory psychic impressions that involve cognition, emotion, and intuition. Not only are these nonsensory impressions integral to all psychic channeling or reading, but they also represent the majority of everyday psychic perceptions. A perfect example of this long-standing dilemma is the ill-conceived notion of ‘clairsentience.’ Traditional descriptions for the so-called clairsentient ‘clair sense’ typically include a confusing assortment of empathic emotions, passions, and mood states; awkwardly clumped together with various physical sensations and medical symptoms; as well as all forms of intuition, and in some instances even cognitions. The misconstrued notion of clairsentience is a baffling smorgasbord of psychic possibilities that I have struggled to make sense of myself for many years. Is it any wonder there is so much myth and misconception regarding true psychic perception? A blog intro I wrote on the subject years ago still holds true: “If you ever host a dinner party for a group of psychics, mediums and energy healers, and need a good conversation piece, the psychic ability known as ‘clairsentience’ is one of those topics that is sure to get the party started!” In my own psychic development journey, the complex, varied definitions for clairsentience never made much sense to me and it took many years of study, research, personal reflection, and professional experience to eventually figure out why it really does not make no sense (pun intended). It is simply because these definitions are an attempt to ‘pigeonhole’ psychic feelings, knowings, sensations and intuitions into a restrictive, outmoded ‘sensory’ model of psychic perception — a futile attempt at forcing ‘extrasensory pegs’ into ‘sensory holes.’ What we traditionally think of as the psychic ability of clairsentience, is not a singular psychic sense or ‘clair sense.’ It is instead an umbrella term for a range of psychic preferences, or types of mind-soul impression. That is why this concept never really correlated well with my actual psychic experiences. I now finally understood that the various nonsensory mind-soul impressions, customarily clumped together as so-called ‘subtypes’ of clairsentience, are instead distinct psychic preferences, namely clairempathy, clairsomatica, clairintuition, and claircognition. These nonsensory impressions are not mere ‘categories’ or ‘subtypes’ of clairsentience, because clairempathic feelings, clairsomatic sensations, and clairintuitive impressions are not only sentient in nature, but also sapient. Sapience is the cognitive, intellectual, conceptual qualities of psychic awareness, or the ‘thought’ aspects of psychic impression, while sentience is the emotional, intuitive, somatic qualities, or the ‘feeling’ aspects. This also correlates with the perceptive differences between the two brain hemispheres, or the left brain and right brain. Now I also understood why ‘clairsentience’ is commonly believed to be the first ‘clair sense’ to develop for most psychics and mediums[1], and why it is considered by some to be the most basic, fundamental, or ‘garden-variety’ psychic sense. For example, angel practitioner Maria G. Maas writes “the clairs of the intuitive process are mostly clairsentience and claircognizance, with clairsentience being the most common.”[2] The truth is all psychics and mediums have the gift or capacity for clairsapient-clairsentient awareness. It is in fact our one and only true psychic ability. If there is indeed a ‘sixth sense,’ then it is sapient-sentient psychic awareness, or psychic thought-feeling. The range of psychic perceptions we therefore traditionally label as ‘subtypes’ of clairsentience are instead impressions of sapient-sentient awareness, and these impressions are perceived by psychics and mediums as a diverse, unlimited array of feelings, knowings, sensations, and intuitions. THE CLAIR PREFERENCES More than a century ago, author Charles Leadbeater writes “the astral body has no specialized sense-organs.”[3] Psychics and mediums do not perceive through separate reception channels or ‘clair senses.’ Yes, psychics and mediums mentally ‘feel, know, see, hear, smell, taste, and touch,’ but these psychic impressions do not enter our conscious awareness via different psychic ‘sense organs.’ Even parapsychology concedes that psi perceptions cannot truly be separated into distinct pigeonhole categories. In a 2017 meta-analysis of psychic perceptions associated with dreams, for example, the researchers conclude that in practice separate categories of psi phenomena “may be difficult to distinguish and tend to be defined operationally.”[4] Instead of psychics and mediums having separate psychic senses or extrasensory pathways, the so-called ‘clair senses’ are perceptual preferences that differ from one psychic or medium to the next. Our potential mind-soul preferences are wide-ranging and eclectic, and they are ineffable, intrinsic, and subjective. No two psychics or mediums experience psychic impressions in exactly the same way. For example, while one psychic medium might perceive a ‘love message from spirit’ as a clairvoyant vision of a ‘red rose,’ another might experience it as the clairolfactory ‘scent of a rose,’ or even clairaudiently hear the song Bed of Roses by rock band Bon Jovi. This ‘I love you’ energy data can be rendered as an endless array of different mind-soul impressions, but the essence of the original energy data remains the same, no matter who does the channeling or reading. Spirit is simply saying, “I love you.” The traditional concept of the ‘clairs’ are therefore merely different labels for the various ‘end results’ of the same psychic ability or ‘sixth sense,’ namely the mind-soul capacity to transduce or channel energy data into conscious awareness. Instead of conceptualizing these ‘end-results’ or ‘products’ of psychic perception as different psychic abilities or separate ‘clair senses,’ it is more sensible to conceive of it as different psychic preferences, or ‘clair preferences,’ namely: Claircognizance: cognitive, knowing, precognition, prescience Clairempathy: affective, emotional, feeling, presentiment Clairsomatica: somatosensory, sensation, foresensing Clairvoyance: visual, seeing, foreseeing Clairaudience: auditory, hearing, forehearing Clairolfaction: olfactory, smelling, foresmelling Clairgustance: gustatory, tasting, foretasting Clairintuition: premonition, presage, foreboding The ‘clairs’ are not separate musical instruments that can be played individually. Instead, they are separate notes produced by just one violin, with two strings. The violin is the mind-soul; the sheet music is the energy data or akashic information; reading the sheet music is achieving psychic resonance; the two strings are sapient and sentient awareness; and drawing the bow over it to create sound is transduction; and finally, the different musical notes and tones produced are impression preferences, ultimately perceived as the holistic, fused melodies and harmonies of psychic perception. Excerpt from The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Williamson, L. (2009). Finding the Spirit Within: A Medium Shows the Way. Random House UK [2] Maas, M. G. (2016). Angel Practitioner Handbook: A Foundation Guide. Balboa Press. [3] Leadbeater, C.W. (1903). Clairvoyance. Second Edition. Theosophical Publishing Society. [4] Storm, L. et al. (2017). On The Correspondence Between Dream Content And Target Material Under Laboratory Conditions: A Meta-Analysis Of Dream-Esp Studies, 1966-2016. International Journal Of Dream Research. Doi.Org. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Clairgustance is probably the most rare and unusual of all psychic perceptions. It is the nonsensory perception of gustatory or ‘taste’ impressions. Psychics and mediums with this psychic preference experience various mental ‘taste’ and ‘flavor’ impressions. The term gustance means ‘pertaining to taste' or 'tasting’ from Latin gustatus ‘sense of taste; a taste,’ and gustare ‘to taste,’ from root geus- ‘to taste; or to choose.’ What might the purpose of such an odd psychic preference be? Well, it does come in handy. Forensic or medical psychics and mediums, for example, benefit greatly from the ability to perceive ‘taste’ impressions relating to chemicals, drugs, or even blood. These psychic impressions can offer clues to the cause of disease, or how a victim was kidnapped or murdered. Some medical psychics and mediums can perceive taste impressions of foods, substances, and flavors that indicate nutritional shortages and other health issues. For example, tasting ‘chocolate’ while channeling for a patient might indicate they have a magnesium deficiency. A ‘saline’ taste may signify a sodium deficiency, while the taste of ‘blood’ or ‘raw meat’ could point to a chronic iron or vitamin B deficiency. Tastes of medicinal substances can also indicate probable causes of illness, or what kind of treatment to seek. Scarcely one person in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others ~ Henry Fielding Clairgustant spirit mediums sometimes rely on their tasting ability to channel afterlife validations. In this case the taste impression is associated with the former human personality of the spirit entity, or the special relationship the soul identity had with their family while they were in this life. The ‘taste’ impression usually identifies exactly whose energy is ‘coming though’ from the other side. For example, few things are more validating in a mediumship reading than a ‘cinnamon taste’ reminder of granny’s home-baked biscuits made from her secret recipe, or the ‘sweet and sour’ memories of a beloved sibling’s favorite ketchup brand, which he always smothered his food with at family gatherings. In physical mediumship, various oral sensations, such as dry mouth, belching, hiccups, and salivating are also reported by some mediums. The Brazilian physical medium Amyr Amiden, for example, is able to anticipate his manifestations of unusual stigmata whenever he experiences an ‘acidic taste.’ [1] But psychic taste impressions are not only applicable to the dearly departed and nonphysical spirit entities. Psychics also experience tastes associated with the living. For example, when I am about to receive a phone call from one of my closest friends, I always get a strong taste of Cabernet Sauvignon, his favorite red wine cultivar. He is an avid wine collector and connoisseur, and whenever we meet, he always opens a bottle. Over the years, I have come to associate this taste with his personal ‘energy signature.’ Surprise visits from him are therefore impossible, try as he might! But I do not experience these clairgustant impressions very often, and fortunately I usually have to deal mostly with pleasant flavor impressions, whenever it does occur in a channeling session. The worst I typically perceive is the strong taste of ‘cigarette butts’ or ‘ashtray,’ when I channel for clients who are avid smokers — to the extent that I sometimes even experience a ‘choking’ sensation during those readings. Some psychics and mediums, however, report much stranger and more unpleasant taste perceptions, including ‘rubber, charcoal, urine, and bile.’ Clairgustant psychics and mediums typically also perceive clairolfactory or psychic smell impressions that accompany these taste perceptions. It is logical that this mental partnership would exists in a metaphysical context, since our ordinary perception of taste and smell also go hand-in-hand. In fact, without smell people are unable to accurately distinguish most tastes. Research on psi phenomena relating to gustation is limited, but some evidence has been reported in related studies. Researcher Frank Podmore demonstrates in his telepathy experiments, for example, the telepathic transference of simple sensations, including taste, between two subjects in various states of consciousness. Experimenters (senders) tasted certain substances and then asked the participants (receivers) to describe what they were tasting. Vinegar was described as a “sharp and nasty taste;” port wine as “between eau de cologne and beer;” and nutmeg initially as “peppermint” and then “no, what you put in puddings…nutmeg."[2] In a systematic investigation of psychometry or ‘token object reading,’ early psychic researcher Joseph Rhodes Buchanan studied an American Civil War general who experienced an unpleasant ‘metal taste’ whenever he touched brass objects. Inspired by this discovery, Buchanan soon found that many of his own psychometry students were able to identify various unseen metals, wrapped in paper, purely through touch.[3] Buchanan then went on to experiment with impressions of taste by asking students to touch envelopes containing various substances, like sugar and salt, and even emetics (medications used to induce nausea and vomiting) and found many of them susceptible to these influences.[4] The Russian psychic Nina Kulagina was observed being able to telekinetically spin a compass; stop a pendulum or change the direction of its swing; as well as prevent a scale from unbalancing. She would lose as much as two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of body weight during these psychokinetic demonstrations (more than would typically be lost in a similar period by means of strenuous physical exercise). Furthermore, she reported other adverse physical effects, including the perception of a ‘metallic taste’ in her mouth.[5] Excerpt from The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Wehrstein, KM (2018). Amyr Amiden (Physical Medium)’. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society For Psychical Research. [2] Podmore, F. (1894). Apparitions And Thought-Transference; An Examination Of The Evidences For Telepathy. Walter Scott. [3] Abreu, N. & Riise, T. (2018). Ordinary People, Extraordinary Experiences: Real Cases Of Transformative Phenomena. Independently Published. [4] Buchanan, J.R. (1885). Manual of Psychometry. Holmax Brothers. [5] Wehrstein, KM (2021). Nina Kulagina. Psi Encyclopedia. The Society For Psychical Research. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Do you also believe that we teach others how to treat us? It is a motto I have religiously adhered to for most of my adult life. However, I must add that I have made some radical changes to my ‘teaching strategy’ over the years, and this change in my approach has brought me much inner peace and harmony with others. I have learned that we can ‘teach others’ with much less fuss and drama. In my early adulthood I used to take a firm stand on just about everything and everyone who I felt were out of line. I am someone who often feels compelled to stand up for others, as well as for myself and my beliefs. ​I also have this annoying habit of constantly wanting to side with the ‘underdog’ in any given situation. Like most empaths, I just cannot come to grips with any form of injustice or underhanded behavior. Circumstances that are unfair, dishonest or cruel really trouble me, and people who are unreasonable, inconsiderate or simply mean have always been one of my ‘pet peeves’. Apart from being an empath, the desire for justice and fairness also stems from my youth. The trouble started long before I was born. Not only did I enter this lifetime blessed with the psychic abilities of my ancestors, I was also one of the many ‘first wave’ Indigo children who arrived on our planet in the 60’s and 70’s. Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others. ~ David R. Hawkins I was a gifted and very unusual child, growing up in an extremely conservative and conformist society. I carried a target on my forehead from my very first day in kindergarten. I was bullied and ridiculed for most of my childhood and teenage years. South Africa under apartheid was not the most friendly place for anyone who dared to be different in any way. Bigotry, prejudice and intolerance was to be found around every corner and in all walks of life. If you were discovered to be out of the ordinary, or if you did not conform to the norm, you were not very welcome in the politically controlled and socially engineered world which I grew up in. Thankfully all of this changed when I was coming of age. By the time they released Nelson Mandela from prison, I had also been personally liberated by means of a tertiary education, the inner strength that comes from surviving several traumatic life events, as well as a profound spiritual awakening and growing personal acceptance of my psychic legacy. I was now a young adult and along the way I had also discovered that I am more than able to take a stand and defend myself, and others, whenever I felt it necessary. I certainly wasted no time exercising my new found personal freedom. I was very much inspired by the newly achieved democracy in my country and those who had fought for it. In my own way, I also had a voice now and I wanted to use it. It was important to me to put the ‘bad guys’ in their place. Mean, nasty behavior had to have consequences. Keeping my mouth shut or backing down was no longer an option. I was never going to return willingly to that psychological prison created by others’ small-mindedness. I was, after all, busy teaching the world how to treat me and I had a lot of catching up to do. I certainly was not going to take any prisoners. To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. ~ Eckhart Tolle Fortunately, we never stop learning and over the years I have come to realize that this ‘fight for your right’ approach offers very little spiritual fulfillment or lasting inner peace. I have in time discovered that it is mostly the weak who react in anger or frustration. It is the weak who constantly seeks justice or revenge. It is the weak who feels compelled to be tough and defiant. Standing your ground is trivial and has very little to do with your inner strength. The truly enlightened and wise find their power in unconditional love. Who is right and who is wrong is spiritually insignificant. Truly powerful people seldom have any need for excessive self-defense or forcing their views upon others. It simply does not matter. Do you want to be right… or do you want to make a difference in the world? Instead of focusing on what others say or do or believe, turn your attention to your inner being. Focus on your own vibration. Work on feeling better about yourself and your life. Other people are not responsible for how you feel. If the words and actions of someone or something are currently determining your state of mind, or your self-esteem, it means that you have been giving away your power, and it is time for you to take it back. You were born with the basic spiritual right to feel good and be happy. In fact, you have inherited a divine right to feel really great about yourself and your life. It is vital that we feel this way, because it empowers us to love others unconditionally. Once you feel happy and centered in your own being, it is so much easier to be kind and tolerant towards others. Claiming your place in the sun and staying true to yourself does not have to involve any form of violent conviction, dogged persistence, foolish bravery or brute force. There is nothing that you have to prove to anyone. There is nobody that must be resisted or refuted or convinced by you at all cost. Not everything needs to be changed by you; everyone and everybody does not require your supervision or control. Your opinion is not always required. When you are in alignment with your higher self and your true life purpose, others can behave as they wish; you won’t even notice. When you are in that ‘zone ‘ it simply does not matter what other people say or do or think. What matters is how you respond to them. There are never any winners if there also has to be losers, no matter what the circumstance. Jesus referred to it as “turning the other cheek” and “doing unto others”; the Buddha talked of "cultivating a limitless heart” and the Prophet Muhammad encouraged the “conquest of self” and "loving our fellow-beings first”. It does not matter how one describes it. What matters is how ‘the zone’ makes you feel, and what it enables you to do in order to make the world a better place. You are killing one another as you argue over whose way of life is the right way, when there is not one right way of life. There is just life…and you all get to choose the way. No one can threaten your way of life. ~ Abraham-Hicks With this approach it becomes so much easier to ‘teach others’. You no longer have to deal with all the stress, drama and negative, destructive emotions. There is no longer any desire to be constantly affirmed or acknowledged by others. Gone are the regrets and the grudges. Conflict and arguments all but disappear from your life. It really does take two to tango and nobody enjoys dancing solo, especially if there is no music to dance to. The results are amazing. When you respond to the mean, petty moments of others from within your ‘zone’, you will find that the guilty parties tend to apologize more often and more readily. When you’re true to yourself and aligned with the rest of the Universe, people actually become willing to listen and calmly consider your point of view. Even the really tough and deluded folks become a non-issue, because they will eventually give up and move on. I recommend three simple rules of thumb that I try to follow to help me stay in my ‘zone’. The first is to always pick your battles carefully and to let the Law of Karma take care of the rest. The second is to not buy into other people’s drama. The third is to recognize that you were never supposed to be anybody’s doormat, so don’t allow yourself to go down that slippery slope in the first place. Does this mean that we should always remain silent when we are made victims, or look the other way when we see atrocities committed? Not at all. Nelson Mandela did not remain silent. Neither did Mahatma Ghandi. But they also came to the realization during the course of their lives that using force to convince others was not the best way to change the world. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”, said Ghandi. “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner”, said Mandela. When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall – think of it, always. ~ Mahatma Gandhi It is not about remaining silent or avoiding reality. It is about remaining faithful to your feelings, beliefs and values, without having to force it upon others. Your life and the rest of the world can be changed without violence or drama or force. We don’t have to shout our personal slogans from rooftops. Mandela and Ghandi are two excellent examples of how to achieve personal peace, spiritual wisdom and harmony with others… and yet, they both managed to completely change the history of the world! Now, I must admit, this alternative approach to ‘teaching others how to treat us’ remains a work in progress for me. I don’t always get it right in my moments of weakness. ​ Some bullies just have the uncanny ability to drag you away from your ‘path of least resistance’ and, before you know it, you are completely out of your ‘zone’. On those occasions one tends to forget all your best intentions and give in to anger, hurt or frustration. Even Jesus had his moment, when he entered the temple courts and drove out the money lenders with a considerable display of violent behavior! But it gets easier with practice and one does become stronger. And while I learn to let go more and more each day, I find comfort in the words of Jack Kornfield who once said that “a genuine spiritual path is not to avoid difficulties but to learn the art of making mistakes wakefully, to bring them to the transformative power of our heart”. © 2011 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Our world seems to be in political, cultural, and environmental chaos. But we are also living in great times! We are witnessing the dawn of a new age of conscious evolution that has the long-term potential to completely transform humanity and the world as we know it. Yes, the world has gone a little crazy. But there is method in the madness. The "mess" we have made is part of our evolutionary process. We did not get here by accident. It's all part of a divine plan, an evolutionary blueprint. Philosopher Gerald Heard recognized this fact decades ago when he speculated in his 1964 book The Five Ages of Humanity on the evolutionary growth of our cultural consciousness and the psychological makeup of modern man. He proposed that in prehistoric times we were largely primitive and content with our daily existence. We were essentially 'pre-individual' and 'co-conscious.' There was little awareness of "me, myself, and I." And because of our ancestors' pre-individual state of mind, they lived together in perfect harmony...most of the time! While our world seems to be in political, cultural and environmental chaos, we are also living in great times Of course, the state of 'pre-individuality' became very dull and boring after a while. The humdrum existence of Co-Conscious Man must have been remarkably uninspiring, with everyone thinking the same way and no new ideas coming to the fore. Over time, the need for adventure, exploration, and novelty grew, paving the way for the emergence of Heroic Man. We began to strive for more. To be bigger, better, stronger. But all the conquests and victories of the heroic period brought us very little satisfaction, because our mental capacity meanwhile increased and our consciousness shifted from outer adventure to inner discovery. Humanity had reached adolescence. As expected, the world then increasingly became a very confusing place. We needed answers, we needed guidance, and we needed belief systems and moral values. Thus, Ascetic Man emerged and created the world's great religions. But in the name of our religions, we also destroyed many of our fellow human beings in order to promote or protect what we had come to believe. As an unwelcome bonus to this newfound sense of higher purpose, we thus inherited a great deal of guilt, shame, and further confusion. The Age of Indigo Man is the dawn of the Age of Aquarius. It is the advent of a new age of conscious evolution Then Humanic Man came to the rescue with the arts and sciences. The individual escaped the confines of the collective tribe. We pursued logic, rational analysis, and the subjugation of the subconscious. The collective unconscious became increasingly dismissed, and humanity's spiritual interconnectedness began to suffer. Meanwhile, we moved on to increasingly destroying our environment and initiating the potential collapse of our natural resources. According to Heard, we are now living in the age of Leptoid Man, or as I prefer to call it, the Age of Indigo Man. While our world seems to be in political, cultural and environmental chaos, I believe we are actually living in great times! What we are currently witnessing is simply growing pains or an initial 'new world disorder.' The Age of Indigo Man marks the dawn of the Age of Aquarius. It is the advent of a new age of conscious evolution as proposed by the late Barbara Marx Hubbard and other thought leaders such as Ervin Laszlo, Jean Houston, Barbara Brennan and Ken Wilber. The idea of conscious evolution is rooted in the understanding that humanity has reached the capacity to intentionally guide its own evolution. It emphasizes the role of global human consciousness and personal awareness in shaping the future of both the individual and the co-created collective. Key principles associated with this concept include: Awakening Consciousness We are living in a time of gradual global awakening to a higher level of consciousness. There is a shift in perspective and awareness that is allowing a growing number of people around the world to awaken to the fact that we are all an integral part of a larger, interconnected whole. Collective Co-Creation We are all active participants in the process of creating our collective reality and future. We have a co-creative relationship with the unfolding of evolution, in which we direct our personal growth and spiritual expansion, as well as contribute to global evolution and the expansion of the universe. Personal Responsibility Conscious evolution automatically implies personal responsibility for our personal growth, spiritual expansion, and highest good. It implies a commitment to self-awareness, accountability, and self-mastery, as well as a meaningful contribution to the broader evolutionary process and greater good. Emergent Spirituality A global awakening to higher consciousness is leading more and more of us to explore our connection to a greater purpose and our true spiritual origins. There is a growing shift away from a materialistic worldview to one that embraces a deeper, more spiritual understanding of life. Positive Visioning Conscious evolution is encouraging more of us to envision a more positive, hopeful future. Spiritually awakened people around the world are increasingly cultivating a new vision for our world that is more peaceful, harmonious, and sustainable, where all living beings and the planet can thrive. Collaborative Action Conscious evolution is not only a philosophical or spiritual concept, but also a call to action. It encourages us to come together and collaborate on projects and initiatives that contribute to the positive evolution of humanity and the protection of our planet. Joining our minds, hands and hearts is the only way to effectively address the global challenges we face today. Evolutionary Leadership We need to pursue and promote a new form of leadership rooted in a solid understanding of conscious evolution. We must elect and follow evolutionary leaders who inspire and guide others toward positive and transformative change. The time has come to reclaim our transcendental values — even if we cannot yet prove them all scientifically! We must recognize the urgent need for all of us to leap into a much broader and higher level of consciousness. We have reached a new stage in our evolution and we must either accept personal and spiritual responsibility, or face global catastrophe. This is our ancestral and karmic legacy and our only true destiny. © 2010 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents.

Science and religion have both failed to produce all of the answers we seek to the origins and meaning of our existence. Maybe the solution is to be found in science and spirituality combining its efforts? In Beyond the Postmodern Mind, Huston Smith writes that “Rationalism and Newtonian science has lured us into dark woods, but a new metaphysics can rescue us”. Mankind will never give up its quest to find spiritual meaning and purpose in this world. This quest is what has been driving both science and religion for centuries. The Buddha said, “The teacher appears when the student is ready.” The same principle applies to the human species as a collective. We have been exposed to new esoteric and scientific insights as we evolved – always when the time was right and the world was ready. Prominent religions all over the world were all founded on esoteric guidance and metaphysical wisdom delivered at various times throughout history by great teachers and prophetic messengers. But as time passed and these religions expanded, they were often contaminated by human bureaucracy, superstition, doctrine and dogma, which distorted the original teachings. Science developed out of this chaos, because dogmatic religion increasingly became unable to offer sensible explanations for the nature of reality and the Universe. In those early days the first scientists were in fact persecuted as “godless heretics” for questioning God and the church. Over the past century the pendulum swung back and the tables were turned, and we have been living in a world in recent times where scientific skepticism of all things esoteric or metaphysical has mostly been dominating the debate. The realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, but there are strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies… science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind ~ Albert Einstein Both science and religion have however failed to produce all the answers we seek to the origins and meaning of our existence. Maybe the solution is to be found in religion and science coming together and combining its efforts? Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Hopefully the divide between the two will someday soon be bridged, once and for all. ​Today, as we venture deeper into the 21st Century, the rising popularity of metaphysics, alternative spirituality and the ‘new science’ seems to indicate that the world is indeed ready for a fresh approach to delving into esoteric wisdom, supported by a paradigm shift in scientific exploration. Sir Arthur Eddington writes, “Life would be stunted and narrow if we could feel no significance in the world around us beyond that which can be weighed and measured with the tools of the physicist or described by the metrical symbols of the mathematician.” Maybe the time has come to reclaim our transcendental values – even if we are currently unable to prove many of them scientifically. Once we change our approach and begin to accept that there is more to our world than meets the eye, we will find new theories and new methods to find the scientific validations we have been looking for. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality ... The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both ~ Carl Sagan For example, should science begin to take seriously a metaphysical concept like Universal Consciousness, it might be able to ask all kinds of new questions about our reality and the Universe, and many new theories and concepts can grow from this new perspective. Science will never disappear or become obsolete. It will actually expand and grow, because it will have so many new frontiers and possibilities to explore, and new tools and words to do it with. ​​ People will keep searching and asking, because they will always wish to understand what it is that they are feeling and sensing, and more and more they will awaken spiritually. For it is inevitable that our intuition must at some point in our lives force us to admit that there may be more to our existence than what we see in the mirror. Excerpt from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny by Anthon St Maarten ​© 2012 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Psychic feeling, empathy, or emotion, also known as emotive telepathy, emotional transfer, or clairempathy, is often erroneously referred to simply as 'empathy,' which is a gross underestimation of true clairempathic psychic ability. Psychics and mediums with this affective perception preference essentially function as emotional surrogates and empathic polygraphs, as we actively embody the feelings, mood states, motivations, and emotions of others. Clairempathy is not ‘normal' empathy, much less mere sympathy. In the context of authentic psychic perception there is a distinct difference between being empathetic towards others, as opposed to metaphysically perceiving and embodying empathic psychic impressions. EMPATHETIC VERSUS EMPATHIC Ordinary empathy is the ability to observe, understand, and sympathize with the mental and emotional states of other people. According to standard scientific models, empathy has three core traits: The first is the ability to recognize emotions in others based on various verbal and non-verbal communication cues, such as tone of voice, facial expression, and body language. The second is the ability for perspective taking; to cognitively understand the other person’s mental-emotional state and place yourself ‘in their shoes.’ The third is the capacity for sincere compassion and sympathy in response to the pain and suffering of others, or to ‘feel for them.’ Empathy is a psychosocial skill or trait that all people possess, although not necessarily automatically. Mentally healthy people typically have healthy levels of empathy, especially if they have been appropriately socialized growing up.[1] However, people possess varying levels of empathy, as opposed to ‘apathy’ (lack of interest or caring), based on a variety of factors.[2] Most of us are therefore to some extent empathetic towards others and can identify, understand, and sympathize with the feelings and emotional experiences of others. This is known as a vicarious experience — it is an empathetic response to the observation of emotions in others. Vicarious empathy in response to social cues is quite common in the general population and an important basis for social behavior and interaction.[3] In fact, it is so integral to prosocial behavior and our coexistence that a lack of empathy has been shown to cause severe psychological and social dysfunction, including psychopathy [4] and pathological narcissism.[5] While ordinary empathy involves affective (emotional), and cognitive (thought) processes based on observation, logical thinking, perspective-taking, reasoning, and an appropriate emotional response, the experiences of the clairempath or ‘psychic empath,’ who has an unusual capacity for shared emotion and affective embodiment is an entirely different matter. Clairempathy is the empathic embodiment of energy data that has no rational, logical, or subjective origin or explanation. It is essentially a shared awareness of another sentient being's feelings, emotions, mood states, and motivations, instead of a mere understanding or observation it. Empathic psychic impressions are spontaneous and visceral — it is typically a strong emotional experience without any logic, reason, or personal origin. Just like the claircognizant ‘knows,’ the clairvoyant ‘sees,' and the clairaudient ‘hears,’ the clairempath feels. Clairempathic perceptions are not the empath’s personal emotions, nor are they cognitive observations or interpretations of another person’s emotional state. Clairempaths also do not necessarily sympathize or ‘feel with’ the other person. For example, I can feel someone else’s anxiety or guilt when they are telling a lie, but that does not mean I pity them. I simply ‘feel’ what they are feeling emotionally in that moment, whether I sympathize with them, or not. If someone ahead of me in a slow supermarket line is becoming extremely impatient and angry, without outwardly showing it, I can empathically ‘feel’ her rage (and most likely also perceive a clairsomatic ‘sensation’ of her heart rate and blood pressure rising.) If I choose to pay further attention, I might also perceive claircognitive information about the circumstances in her life that may be causing her to feel so intolerant and irritable. But this does not automatically imply I will personally identify with her emotions (empathy), or feel sorry for her (sympathy). NONLOCAL EMOTION The clairempath actively perceives or embodies the emotions, motivations, and mood states of others. We do not merely observe what others may be feeling, we actually ‘feel’ it ourselves, as if it were our own feelings — sometimes not even immediately knowing whose feelings they might be. Psychic empathy is therefore a form of transpersonal empathy. It is metaphysical and nonsensory in origins. It does not rely on the clairempath observing any sensory clues, or verbal and non-verbal communication. In fact, the clairempath does not even have to see, or physically be in the same place as the other person to perceive these feeling impressions. I constantly embody the feelings of others without needing to know anything about them, or having direct contact or interaction with them. In fact, I can perceive the feelings of people on the other side of the planet. Just like claircognitive or ‘sapient’ energy data is nonlocal and omnipresent in the universal field of consciousness, so too is clairempathic or ‘sentient’ energy data. AFFECTIVE PSI The emotive or affective aspects of psychic phenomena seldom receive much attention in parapsychology and psi research. This lack of interest is probably another consequence of the orthodox Newtonian approach to psychic research. It is obviously simpler to verify empirical facts in a laboratory, rather than ‘ineffable feelings.’ Researcher Christine Hardy however reports some psi research does point to the significant role of emotion or affect in psychic phenomena, instead of it purely consisting of mental (mind-brain) content. Spontaneous psi experiences are often triggered by emotionally charged events; this could, of course, be due to a form of selective reporting, but at least some investigations of target emotionality and psi in telepathy tests suggest otherwise.[6] Hardy cites experimental ganzfeld and telepathy data that finds “emotionally and / or sensorially rich targets seem to be more conducive to psi than highly abstract or neutral ones,”[7] and “affective relationships between sender and receiver seem to enhance success in telepathy tasks.”[8] She also adds that this finding is consistent with what has been generally observed in spontaneous cases of psi.[9] EMOTIONAL CONTAGION A psychological phenomenon related to clairempathy, that has been studied more extensively, is the phenomenon of ‘emotional contagion,’ in which one person's emotions can directly trigger similar emotions in others. It is an instantaneous and unconscious process by which emotional states or moods literally spread like ‘social viruses.’ For example, a 2012 study finds depression can be highly contagious among teenagers within a certain social group. “Over time, adolescents' depressive symptoms increasingly converged toward the average levels of their peers.”[10] Research further shows that we seem to ‘synchronize our feelings’ with each other in social settings and that feeling strong emotions can make people’s brains ‘tick together.’[11] CRISIS EMPATHY Clairempathy is also observed in the psi phenomenon of crisis impression. A crisis impression is a sudden psychic awareness that another person is in extreme danger, or worse, that they have died. A typical crisis impression is usually an inexplicable ‘shift in mood’ at the time of a loved one’s death — to the extent that the subject is overcome with sadness or despair, or conversely, experience elation or a profound sense of inner peace. Crisis impressions are also characterized by an abrupt change in the person’s emotional or mood state that is not caused any apparent external ‘trigger,’ and these feelings always coincide with an unreported event or death involving a loved one, which the perceiver at the time is not yet aware of.[12] MASS HYSTERIA An extreme example of clairempathy is the unusual phenomenon known as mass psychogenic illness or ‘mass hysteria.’ It is a well-documented psychosocial phenomenon in which a group of people or a crowd, or an entire community, experience a spontaneous outbreak of shared psycho-physiological distress. One of the more bizarre cases is the Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasbourg, France. Hundreds of frenzied people spontaneously began to dance in the streets, leading to several deaths due to heart failure, stroke, and exhaustion.[13] Another documented case is the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962, in which villagers in several neighboring communities engaged in unstoppable laughter for months, after a group of students at a boarding school started the initial giggling. The villagers could not stop laughing, and some even experienced pain, fainting, skin rashes, bouts of crying, and respiratory problems.[14] Similar ‘mass hysteria’ outbreaks have been documented in schools, workplaces, and communities all over the world. Science currently has no conclusive explanation for this phenomenon of collective obsessional behavior, or so-called ‘epidemics of the mind.’[15] A recent example has been the widespread hoarding of toilet paper and other essentials, including the emotional outbursts of manic buyers fighting over these ‘coveted’ items in stores, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.[16] Psychologist Samah Khaled Zahran believes the origins of these phenomena may be found in the human biofield, or human energy field (aura), also known as the morphic field. He proposes the human biofield serves as an energy umbrella or atmosphere that represents human physical and psychological status that connects us to our surroundings and helps us to adapt to our environment.[17] A 2014 cross-disciplinary study confirms the hypothesises that emotional states generate corresponding metabolic bio-magnetic fields that radiate in patterns reflecting these emotional states, and that these energy fields can be shared in a crowd through paramagnetic sensitivity that may be proportional to crowd numbers.[18] EMPATHIC MEDIUMSHIP When I do mediumship readings, I often tell clients that the dearly departed no longer feel the ‘petty’ human emotions we so often indulge in, but they certainly make me ‘feel’ these emotions while I am channeling. The empathic energy data of the deceased is in my experience always loving, compassionate, peaceful, and unmistakably selfless. It is never hateful, angry, vengeful, jealous, remorseful, or even apologetic — but I do experience such negative emotions when I channel the akashic information of the deceased person. The energy data of the dearly departed never ‘tells’ me they are angry or sad (because they are indeed not). Instead, their energy essentially causes me to feel angry or sad ‘on their behalf’ as the ‘medium.’ Some clients, who have been victims of family trauma or abuse, typically do not care much for this, nor do they wish to understand how everyone on the other side can always just be so ‘pollyanna’ happy and positive. Instead, they want to know that their parent or grandparent is truly sorry, or that their sibling or child is sincerely begging for their forgiveness. Experiencing such emotive impressions can therefore be exceptionally healing for the sitter. But to meaningfully convey this information from the akasha, I need to function as a psychic surrogate or ‘channel,’ and actually ‘feel’ the emotional significance of what is being channeled. SENTIENT SHAPESHIFTING It is important to note clairempathy is not limited only to humans. Author Dawn Baumann Brunke, for example, reveals how through the art of shapeshifting or therianthropy (moving in and out of shared awareness with other sentient beings) one can experience different forms of consciousness ‘through the eyes’ of other beings, and integrate these experiences into a greater awareness of our own being.[19] Excerpt from The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception. © 2022 Anthon St. Maarten REFERENCES [1] Wagers, K. B. & Kiel, E. J. (2019). The Influence Of Parenting And Temperament On Empathy Development In Toddlers. Journal Of Family Psychology. [2] Lockwood, P.L. et al. (2017) Individual Differences In Empathy Are Associated With Apathy-Motivation. Scientific Reports. [3] Rothen N. & Meier B. (2013). Why Vicarious Experience Is Not An Instance Of Synesthesia. Frontiers In Human Neuroscience. [4] Lysaker, P.H. et.al. (2014). Social Cognition And Metacognition In Schizophrenia. Academic Press. [5] Urbonaviciute, G. & Hepper, E. G. (2020). When Is Narcissism Associated With Low Empathy? A Meta-Analytic Review. Journal Of Research In Personality. [6] Christine, H. (2000). Psi As A Multilevel Process: Semantic Fields Theory. The Journal Of Parapsychology. [7] Bierman, D. (1995). The Amsterdam Ganzfeld Series: Target Clip Emotionality, Effect Sizes And Openness. The Parapsychological Association. [8] Broughton, R. & Alexander, C. (1997). Autoganzfeld: An Attempted Replication Of The PRL Ganzfeld Research. Journal Of Parapsychology. [9] Schouten, S. (1982). Analysing Spontaneous Cases: A Replication Based On The Rhine Collection. European Journal Of Parapsychology. [10] Kiuru, N. Et.Al. (2012). Is Depression Contagious? A Test Of Alternative Peer Socialization Mechanisms Of Depressive Symptoms In Adolescent Peer Networks. Journal Of Adolescent Health. [11] Nummenmaa, L. et.al. (2012). Emotions Promote Social Interaction By Synchronizing Brain Activity Across Individuals. National Academy of Sciences. [12] Stevenson, I. (1970). Telepathic Impressions: A Review and Report of Thirty-five New Cases. American Society for Psychical Research. University Press of Virginia. [13] Bauer, P. (2020). Dancing Plague Of 1518. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com. [14] Rankin, A. M. & Philip, P. J. (1963). An Epidemic Of Laughing In The Bukoba District Of Tanganyika. Central African Journal Of Medicine. [15] Balaratnasingam S. & Janca, A. (2006). Mass Hysteria Revisited. Current Opinion in Psychiatry Journal. [16] Bagus, P. et.al. (2021). COVID-19 And The Political Economy Of Mass Hysteria. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health. [17] Zahran S.K. (2019) Human Bio-field and Psychical Sensitivity. Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry. [18] McDonnell, A. (2014). The Sixth Sense-Emotional Contagion; Review Of Biophysical Mechanisms Influencing Information Transfer In Groups. Journal Of Behavioral And Brain Science. [19] Baumann Brunke, D. (2008). Shapeshifting With Our Animal Companions: Connecting With The Spiritual Awareness Of All Life. Bear & Company. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Human beings are creatures of habit and therefore it is vital to establish a consistent, daily routine of spiritual practice after your spiritual awakening. Your own set of metaphysical rites and daily rituals will ensure the strength and clarity of your inner guidance system. Awakening, reconnecting and realigning with the Divine Self is no doubt the most important first step in personal spiritual growth. To rediscover your Higher Self and tap into your Higher Consciousness is usually a very awe-inspiring and life-changing experience. But your new found spiritual awareness and rediscovered Divine origins may soon lose its power to transform your life if you do not adopt a new lifestyle that includes some kind of consistent spiritual practice. ​Divine Living and spiritual practice goes hand in hand. A Divine Life is impossible to achieve without some form of regular spiritual practice, in order to increase and maintain your connection and alignment with the Divine Self. What you come to know and believe about your own spiritual origins is meaningless, unless you have a direct and personal daily experience of receiving guidance from your inner Divinity. There isn’t anything except your own life that can be used as ground for your spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is your life, twenty-four hours a day ~ Pema Chodron The only way to achieve this is to practice your new awareness and beliefs on a daily basis. In our human state we sometimes too easily slide back into old habits, and with the constant onslaught of materialism, misinformation, fear conditioning, scientific skepticism and the distraction of mass entertainment and popular culture, you have a very limited probability of expanding your new found spiritual awareness, unless you engage yourself consciously in some form of habitual and frequent spiritual practice. Spiritual practices are actions and activities we undertake on a regular basis for the purpose of cultivating spiritual development. There are a plethora of spiritual practices available, both ancient and modern, that you can apply in your own life to sustain your spiritual awareness and Divine connection. Regular spiritual activity will fine-tune your alignment with the Divine Self, improve the clarity of your inner guidance, and consistently nurture and develop your ability to manifest abundance. ​When undertaking any spiritual practice it is important to bear in mind that we are all different. We all have our own beliefs, temperaments, personalities, interests and personal preferences. Your beliefs and spiritual practices will depend a lot on your personal spiritual journey, your past life experiences, and your karmic quest. Each of us has a unique Life Plan, Soul Purpose and Life Calling to achieve in this lifetime. A spiritual practice that is ideal for one person’s soul growth may simply not work at all for another. Therefore it is recommended that you seek intuitive guidance from your Divine Self on which practices will best suit your unique needs in this lifetime. Ultimately, it does not matter which practice or discipline you choose, as long as you incorporate it into your daily living and apply it consistently. Methods Of Spiritual Practice Your spiritual practice is a matter of personal choice and may include any of the following: Affirmations Astral Travel & Projection Breathing Exercises Ceremonies, Rites & Rituals Channeling Charity & Acts of Kindness Cleansing (Fasting, Energy Clearing, Sage burning, Baptism) Creating Sacred Space Dancing Divination (Tarot, Astrology, I Ching, Numerology, Runes) Dreamwork Energy Work Gratitude Journaling Healing Practices (Acupuncture, Reiki, Shiatsu) Past Life Regression Inducing Trance / Altered States of Consciousness Mandala Meditation / Guided Meditation Music (playing, listening to) Physical Activity (Yoga, T’ai chi ch’uan, Aikido) Pilgrimage Prayer Readings (Empathic, Psychic, Mediumship, Akasha, Aura) Religious Worship & Practice Shamanic Practice Singing & Chanting Study & Contemplation Vision Boards Visualization Excerpt adapted from the book Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny. © 2012 Anthon St Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.

Psychics and mediums in the movies are traditionally depicted as shrewd, flaky or simply evil. To this day it remains the exception to the rule to find a decent film or television show that genuine psychics will be able to relate to. Very few films in the archives offer a reasonably authentic representation of the ordinary psychic’s true life experiences. The range of stereotypical stock characters in film is almost never-ending: from the typical dumb blondes and computer-hacking geeks, to corrupt Catholic priests, zany black cops, Las Vegas mobsters, flamboyant gay men, conspiring politicians, sex-obsessed teenagers and bombastic corporate executives with fat cigars. Of course, psychics and mediums also make the perfect stereotype. We are ideal to be cast in the role of the satanic villain, or merely as an odd source of comic relief. For example, Whoopi Goldberg’s madcap portrayal of Oda Mae Brown, the fraudulent medium in Ghost (1990), was so well-received after the film’s release that she won a Golden Globe for her hilarious antics, as well as an Academy Award. Hollywood relies on these stereotypes to increase box office success. Portraying misrepresented characters in a one-dimensional manner has a much wider audience appeal. Sadly, it also leads to ignorance, misconception, prejudice and discrimination. It all began way back with silent movies like The Spanish Dancer (1923), in which the famous Polish femme fatale, Pola Negri, portrays her exotic version of the typical Gypsy fortune teller, and later Blithe Spirit (1945), the entertaining British comedy starring Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati, an eccentric medium who hosts a whacky séance. From there it pretty much went downhill. Films like The Black Widow (1947) involves a fortune-telling spy from an Asian country, intent on world domination, and The Village of the Damned (1960) features wicked little blonde children, with glowing eyes and psychic powers, threatening to destroy mankind forever. In my youth there were hardly any characters on the big screen I would consider inspiring, or at least somewhat realistic role-models for a gifted child. At the time films like Blood Orgy of the She Devils (1972), Psychic Killer (1975) and Carrie (1976) were the typical money-spinners. In those days most films depicted psychic abilities such as psychokinesis, precognition, astral travelling and telepathy, as tools of demonic witchcraft, or as terrifying murder weapons. No wonder it took me and some of my peers years to figure out who and what we were; to find our feet and accept what really makes us tick. Many of today’s reputable psychics and mediums grew up with unnecessary shame, fear and social alienation – too often due to what people saw on the silver screen. Over the years some skeptics have also allowed themselves to be suckered by these stereotypes, to such an extent that they do not always base their criticism of psychics and paranormal phenomena on pure scientific fact or evidence. Many false ideas and opinions about psychics sprout from inaccurate perceptions and prejudice, often created by the modern media and pop culture. I guess some folks will always expect only the worst, and too often simply believe what they see and read, regardless of it being based on fact or fiction. Fortunately, the times are gradually changing. In recent years a few mainstream films have been featuring characters with psychic abilities who defy the old school version. These films no longer portray the gifted person as a weirdo, con artist or devil worshipper. In fact, the latest movies produced in this genre even feature the psychic or medium as the hero! ​Excellent examples of this trend can be seen in The Gift (2000) starring Cate Blanchett as the local psychic in a small town, as well as the soon to be released Hereafter (2010), featuring Matt Damon as a blue-collar factory worker who happens to be a very reluctant psychic medium. My Favorite Psychic Movies Hereafter (2010) The Men Who Stared At Goats (2009) The Gift (2000) Knowing (2009) Next (2007) Minority Report (2002) Hearts In Atlantis (2001) What Women Want (2000) The Sixth Sense (1999) Powder (1995) Rumor also has it that Robert De Niro has signed up to play the role of a psychic in a new thriller, Red Lights, alongside Sigourney Weaver. The movie is set to start shooting next year and will feature Weaver as a physiologist conducting a paranormal research project, with De Niro as her subject. Will De Niro’s character be the freak, the villain or the hero? Modern filmmakers seem to be more sensitive to gender, culture and religious diversity. Outdated stereotypes are increasingly being replaced with more accurate portrayals of people who deviate from the so-called ‘norm’. The portrayal of psychic phenomena and mediumship is therefore also becoming much more realistic, accurate and thought-provoking. This is further encouraged by the information age, which offers people easier access to knowledge and data, as well as a global spiritual awakening and shift in consciousness. Psychics and mediums are no longer merely the villains or freaks in trashy, low-budget B-movies. We have come a long way since the previous century. Not only will psychic films continue to be more realistic in future, but a growing number of them will also be based on factual evidence, true stories and real-life events. Psychic movie heroes will become the new norm in the years to come. It is simply a sign of the times. © 2010 Anthon St. Maarten ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthon St. Maarten is a psychic medium and destiny coach with a global clientele of thought leaders, business executives, celebrities, politicians, academics, and luminaries in the arts and sciences in more than thirty countries spanning five continents. He is also a metaphysics teacher, psychic development coach, podcaster, and spiritual blogger. Anthon is a hereditary psychic medium in professional practice since 2004 and a liberal arts post-graduate with a major in psychology. Anthon publishes the spiritual life design blog, The S Word, and is the author of Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny and The Sensible Psychic: A Leading-Edge Guide To True Psychic Perception.