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Parapsychologists consider clairvoyance to be one of the three classes of psychic perception or extrasensory perception (ESP), along with telepathy and precognition, although there is overlap among the three. The word clairvoyance comes from the French, meaning ‘clear seeing’, and refers to the power to see an event or an image in the past, present or future. This type of sight does not happen with your physical eyes, but with your inner eyes. A person with clairvoyant ability can receive information in the form of visual symbols or images. Some clairvoyants describe it as a bit like having a movie screen in your head with images moving across it. Other clairvoyants may see symbols that they learn to interpret, or perhaps people and animals in their spirit form.

Psychic visions typically appear internally, through the mind’s eye, and this is called subjective clairvoyance, but in rare cases they can also appear externally, in the environment around them as if they were real, and this is called objective clairvoyance. Many people think of the term ‘inner eye’ as a figure of speech, but the yogic tradition also uses the term. According to Eastern tradition, the third eye or sixth chakra is the seat of clairvoyance. Located in the centre of the forehead, it is the screen that receives clairvoyance, whether in the form of visions or imagery. In me-diumship, clairvoyance may account for the ability of mediums to provide unknown information at séances.

There are several different types of clairvoyance, including the ability to see auras (auric sight), to see into the past (retrocognition) or into the future (pre- cognition). Different states of clairvoyance also include the ability to see through objects (X-ray vision), the ability to see health conditions in other people or animals (body scanning), the ability to see things from far away (travelling clairvoyance), the ability to experience visions in dreams (dream clairvoyance), the ability to see things that transcend time and space (spatial clairvoyance), and the ability to see astral, etheric and spiritual or divine planes (astral and spiritual clairvoyance).

Under your eyelids

People who have strong visual skills tend to be particularly attuned to clairvoyance. If you think in pictures and notice how things look or appear first, rather than how they sound, feel, taste or smell, you may have clairvoyant abilities just waiting to be developed. Perhaps images that you can’t relate to anything currently taking place just pop into your head. The following exercise will help you identify and work with your clairvoyant ability.

Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and sit comfortably. Take a deep breath, and feel a protective bubble of light surround you. Let your eyes go out of focus as you concentrate on your third eye chakra. When you are ready, focus your mind’s eye on the images that are behind your eyelids. What do you see? It’s possible you will not see anything at all, and if so, that’s OK. Clairvoyance may not be your strength or you may need to practise some creative visualization exercises. If you do see images, can their meanings be understood? When you are ready, take a deep breath, exhale and return to consciousness in a positive, relaxed mood.

Throughout history clairvoyance has been used and cultivated by prophets, fortune-tellers, witches, and seers of all kinds. Some were gifted naturally with clairvoyance while others learned how to develop it through training. In the 1830s the first scientific experiment to study clairvoyance was conducted on psychic Adele Maginot, and impressive results were achieved. Tests for clairvoyance of concealed cards began in the 1870s with French physiologist Charles Richet, and Richet’s work was taken further in the 1930s by American parapsychologist J B Rhine. Rhine developed a special deck of symbol cards to conduct tests (see ESP cards). In the years since considerable evidence has been accumulated to suggest that clairvoyance exists in both humans and animals, although sceptics disagree.