The Clairs: Understanding the Language of Your Intuition
When people talk about "being intuitive," they often picture a psychic having visions or hearing messages from beyond. But intuition is much broader—and more personal—than that. Everyone has intuitive abilities, and the ways they show up can be surprisingly ordinary. You might feel something isn't right, know something before it happens, or see images in your mind’s eye. These are all examples of the “Clairs.”
The “Clairs” are the ways our intuition speaks to us. They’re inner senses—like spiritual versions of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing—that help us receive information beyond the physical realm. Some people have one clair that stands out, while others experience a combination. Developing your intuition begins with understanding how it already shows up for you.
Here’s a look at each of the clairs:
1. Clairvoyance – Clear Seeing
Clairvoyance is the ability to receive intuitive messages in the form of mental images or visions. These may appear like movie clips, symbols, or flashes in your imagination (not always external or visible with your physical eyes). Think of it as your “mind’s eye” showing you things your logical brain wouldn’t.
Examples:
Seeing colors around people (auras)
Receiving symbolic images during meditation
Visualizing a person, place, or event before it happens
Clairvoyants tend to be imaginative, visual learners, and may have vivid dreams or strong daydreams.
2. Clairaudience – Clear Hearing
Clairaudience means receiving messages through sound. You might hear a voice in your head, catch a word or phrase repeated in your mind, or sense music and tones that have deeper meaning. It’s often subtle and easy to mistake for your own thoughts at first.
Examples:
Hearing your name called when no one is around
Getting a song stuck in your head that carries a message
Receiving inner guidance as clear, inner dialogue
Clairaudients are often sensitive to noise, drawn to music, or good communicators and writers.
3. Clairsentience – Clear Feeling
Clairsentience is the ability to feel energy and emotions, either from others or from spirit. It’s one of the most common clairs and often mistaken as being “too sensitive.” You may feel someone’s mood before they speak or get an emotional wave when entering a space.
Examples:
Getting chills or a gut feeling
Feeling pressure or warmth in your hands during energy work
Absorbing the emotions of others without knowing why
Clairsentients are naturally empathetic and often drawn to healing, nurturing, or intuitive work.
4. Claircognizance – Clear Knowing
Claircognizance is when you simply know something without any logical explanation. It often comes as a sudden insight or download, and you may not be able to explain how or why you know—it just feels undeniably true.
Examples:
Knowing someone is lying without proof
Suddenly understanding a complex situation or concept
Having flashes of insight during conversations or decision-making
Claircognizant people are usually logical, fast thinkers, and intuitive problem-solvers.
5. Clairalience – Clear Smelling
Clairalience is the ability to smell scents that aren’t physically present. This can be a powerful connection to spirit or memory. Often, loved ones in spirit may send their presence through a familiar smell, such as perfume, tobacco, or flowers.
Examples:
Smelling a deceased loved one’s cologne out of nowhere
Picking up the scent of incense or roses during meditation
Smelling something unpleasant as a warning or energetic signal
This clair is often connected to ancestral communication or past life memory.
6. Clairgustance – Clear Tasting
Clairgustance is receiving intuitive messages through taste. It’s the rarest of the clairs, but very real. The tastes usually show up without eating anything and can be symbolic or literal.
Examples:
Tasting someone’s favorite food when connecting to their spirit
Getting a metallic taste when sensing a health imbalance
Tasting sweetness or bitterness during energy work
Clairgustance often accompanies mediumship or deep emotional/spiritual connections.
7. Clairtangency – Clear Touch (also called Psychometry)
Clairtangency is the ability to receive intuitive messages or information through touch. When you hold or touch an object, you may sense its history, emotional charge, or the energy of the person it belongs to.
Examples:
Feeling emotions when touching someone’s jewelry or photograph
Sensing the “vibe” of a place by touching its walls or furniture
Picking up energetic imprints through touch during healing sessions
This clair is common in psychics who work with objects, spaces, or forensic cases.
Honoring Your Intuition
You might already be using one or more of the clairs in daily life—without even realizing it. Intuition doesn’t have to be dramatic to be valid. A passing image, a gut feeling, or a quiet knowing is just as important as any grand vision or voice from beyond.
To strengthen your clairs:
Spend time in stillness and meditation
Practice grounding and energy hygiene
Keep a journal of intuitive moments
Notice your patterns—how does intuitive info usually show up for you?
Intuition is not just a gift—it’s a language. The more you listen, the clearer it becomes.
Written by Dorie Wicklund
Dorie Wicklund is a multifaceted wellness practitioner and coach dedicated to cultivating consciousness in others. She has been in the wellness field for over 20 years and has a wealth of knowledge in the areas of Ayurveda, Integrative Health, herbalism, nutrition, career and academic guidance, intuitive practices, and life and spiritual coaching. Dorie also has a deep understanding of energy healing modalities like Reiki, EFT, bio-fork tuning, meditation, and breathwork practices.