How to Develop Clairvoyance

The three words Clairvoyance, Clairaudience and Clairsentience mean clear vision, clear hearing and clear sensing respectively. These do not refer to the ordinary physical senses but rather to supra-physical sense perceptions. These perceptions do not enter our minds through our physical senses but through the subconscious.

Our consciousness is divided into three parts: waking consciousness, superconscious and subconscious. The subconscious is also divided into the personal subconscious and a far deeper, more extensive level which we share with all sentient life, known as the collective unconscious.

Between these levels of mind, there is a barrier or veil. Psychic development consists in building up certain links between the normal waking consciousness and the personal subconsciousness. These links have to pass through the barrier in order that the clairvoyant perceptions may be able to rise up into the waking consciousness.

Subconscious Activity

In both waking and sleeping hours, the deeper levels of the mind are receiving much information on all manner of topics, though often the individual is entirely unaware of these perceptions, leaving much of this information unprocessed and un-utilized. The subconscious receives this information continually whether it is used by the personality or not; when it is used, it is often not recognized as anything abnormal or supernatural.

For instance, we are all familiar with the curious phenomena whereby we immediately instinctually trust one person, and immediately instinctually distrust another. We may meet some one and feel we have been friends all our lives, overcome with an inexplicable affinity, warmth and sense of harmony. With another person, we feel an instantaneous antipathy, skepticism and sense of danger. Such feelings are due to cues we are receiving from the subconscious, which can perceive the situation from a much higher altitude and thus knows much more about our companion than the conscious mind is able to perceive. A “hunch” is a minor episode of clairvoyance in which the conscious mind registers the proddings from the subconscious mind.

Visions, dreams, episodes of hearing audible speech, and sudden “downloads” of knowing are also avenues of communication between these levels of mind. These can happen spontaneously to people who have never had any supernatural experience, and who even doubt its existence; such episodes are common in emergency situations when an individual or a loved one is under threat, or some other emergency is approaching. Many mothers and wives have had dreams or visions of their beloveds in danger in a war overseas, only to learn later than what they saw was actually happening. In circumstances like this, the urgent pressure is enough to wrench aside the veil between conscious and subconscious mind, making the information consciously available through a vision, audible words, cue from the physical body or a sudden Knowing.

There are also those who come into the world possessing talents innately which others do not have. Such people often account for their abilities to channel the deceased, see auras, feel into others or read the timelines of the past by explaining that they were born without filters— that is to say, there is no veil between conscious and subconscious mind. Without this filter, all the information which is available to the subconscious mind is readily available to the conscious mind.

Cultivating Sensitivity

For clairvoyance outside of exceptional circumstances and exceptional individuals, we must work to cultivate non-physical perception. This is primarily a process of cultivating sensitivity, for the information is already within your subconscious mind. You need only become aware of it, and to do this, you must learn to speak and interpret the language of your subconscious mind.

Begin in a meditative state or enter into trance. You may use any method for this that you like. You may simple settle yourself, quiet your mind, and announce to yourself that you will be assuming the consciousness of your Higher Self. With closed eyes and a relaxed body, pose a question that you would like to receive information about.

While most of us imagine a clairvoyant episode as a vision in the mind’s eye, in truth it is not usually merely visual, but an immersive experience in a mental and emotional atmosphere. As the information comes up through the subconscious into the waking consciousness, it brings with it an entire “being-ness” and personality which must be felt and explored with great subtlety and nuance if it is to be of any use. Most clairvoyants have to unpack or unfold the information that is presented to them, as feeling-tones, emotions, thought-forms, principles and concepts are packed into a compact symbol, phrase or sensation.

It is usually much easier for beginners to sense the emotional and mental atmosphere; over time, after the clairvoyant faculty is developed more, images may become more definite with the atmosphere less prominent. Different temperaments also incline to different modes of delivery; some think more easily in words, while others are naturally image-oriented, and still others have formless, intuitional understandings which are neither verbal nor visual. It is also possible to receive information through physical cues in your body, such as pain, tingling, numbness, heaviness, lightness or changes in temperature, breath or heartbeat.

Do not search for an answer with your mind. Instead simply let any words, images, sensations or knowings bubble up to the surface of your mind. If there is anything you don’t understand, pose a question like, what does that color mean? What is that shape? Who does that belong to?

It is advisable to begin by practicing the form of clairvoyant awareness which is most natural to you. As you progress in your development, it is also advisable to strengthen the faculties which come less naturally to you so that the ability is not lop-sided.

For instance, if you incline to receiving images, practice giving entire speeches in your mind. Assign yourself a topic, and then give a mental “talk” on it, making sure to think in complete sentences, holding the attention there for at least five minutes. Alternatively, if you incline to thinking in words, hone your skills of visualization by holding the attention on a geometric shape like a circle or a triangle, moving the mind’s eye over every feature, holding it firmly in mind for five minutes.