than one way to receive information psychically. A common misperception is that all psychics are clairvoyant, receiving most of their impressions visually. This isn’t always the case. In a typical reading, various impressions of all kinds may be perceived.
For example, I once gave a reading for a Chicago man who had come to me for a consultation. As I concentrated on him, I saw three arrows connecting him to three foreign countries. I wasn’t sure what countries were represented, but I told him my impression and he offered to get me an atlas from the next room to help identify the locales. As he got up, I heard these words spoken silently:
“India, France, and England.” As I concentrated on his next question concerning his connections with those countries, I had strong feeling responses that provided the additional information he requested. I felt that his lifelong dream was to go India, that his ring was from France, and that he would be making a business trip to England. The man confirmed each of my feelings and in fact, stated that he would probably have to go to England within six months since he was collaborating on a book with an individual from that country.
This is a typical example of the kinds of psychic impressions you may receive in a reading, all in a very short span of time. In this case, the first impression was clairvoyant (symbols representing arrows and foreign countries). The next impression was clairaudient (the words “India, France, and England” spoken in a thought). The final impressions were clairsentient (an inner knowledge about his connections with each country).
The intuitive process utilizes unconscious material and brings it to conscious levels of awareness. However, when a barrier exists between these levels of awareness, it can be more difficult to obtain the information. Fear, tension, and interference by the intellect are all barriers to the unconscious mind; these are also the most common problems experienced by individuals beginning to work with their ESP.
Some people are afraid to contact the unconscious mind. They may have had negative or frightening psychic experiences as children, or they have learned to be frightened of them from parents or religious authorities who believed that it was “the work of the devil.” At the root of this fear is the belief that psychic processes are uncontrollable and therefore dangerous; the fear in losing control is a problem only if an individual is unbalanced emotionally or if he chooses for it to be a problem. The exercises in this book are all safe and manageable; at no time will you be out of control of your experience. Throughout all of these exercises you will be in complete control and have the choice to turn on and turn off the psychic process at will. Many priests, nuns, ministers, doctors, health care professionals, business people, parents, students, and children have been able to make personal intuition extremely practical, benefitting greatly from their own psychic abilities in the process.
There are many ways to develop intuitive abilities. The exercises here offer an approach I’ve been using for over forty-five years in workshops and training programs. These techniques have proven themselves again and again. They offer a wide range of learning experiences. Some of them will appeal to you more than others. I encourage you to find and use the techniques that work best for you. Although you may find that you are more naturally adept at one more than another, it is to your benefit to develop all of your psychic senses.
And one more thing: it’s important to have fun while you’re exploring your intuition. It is a process of self-discovery, personal unfoldment, and nearly limitless insight.
No matter how you accomplish it, practice is the most important technique for developing your intuitive skills. There are always a few students who attempt one or two psychic exercises and then give up, claiming they knew they were not really psychic to begin with. Yet, many more individuals have gone on to master the very techniques with which they had little or no success on their first attempts. Practice is what makes the difference. Learning to relax and tune into the psychic processes can take some time, but the rewards will be well worth the effort.
“You are an individualized, segmented part of Universal Mind, And as such are connected on subconscious levels with all minds.” Harold Sherman
Vocabulary
In order to gain an understanding of the psychic process itself, it will be helpful to explore some of the words associated with intuitive experiences. These words will provide valuable background for some of the experiential exercises you will be attempting later.
Aura relates to the subtle energy field that appears to emanate from both animate and inanimate objects and can provide intuitive information about the subject itself. The vibrational patterns within the aura are multicolored and multilayered. It is visible through intuitive means as well as through Kirlian photography.
Clairaudience means “clear hearing.” It can be as if someone were talking into your ear or can also be experienced as a thought. Words, numbers, or whole sentences may be perceived in this way. Practice will help you to distinguish between thoughts that are the product of your intellect and imagination or actual clairaudient impressions.
Clairsentience means “clear sensing.” Gut feelings and hunches are examples of clairsentience. Another example would be a physical sensation experienced during a reading that relates to the individual’s state of health or emotional condition. If the feeling or hunch concerns a future event, it is called precognition.
Clairvoyance means “clear seeing.” It is the faculty of psychic sight. As you practice ESP, you may perceive visual impressions that are similar to seeing images or pictures in your imagination. Clairvoyant impressions can appear as moving images like an imaginary movie, or they may be still pictures like a photograph. The images often appear in symbolic form, and learning to interpret these symbols correctly is perhaps the greatest challenge of clairvoyance.
ESP or Extrasensory Perception means having access to information which is not perceptible by the five ordinary senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
HSP or Higher Sense Perception is another term for ESP. The terms have the same meaning, but higher sense perception suggests the existence of a finer, more subtle sense perception that more accurately describes the psychic process.
Intuition Intuitives just “know” the information. They do not see, hear, feel, smell, or taste the information; they just “know” it. When asked how they got an impression, quite often they will shrug and say “I just knew it.” These people are quite often accused early in life as being “know-it-alls.”
Kirlian photography is a method of photographing the aura.
Mediumship or Channeling is the phenomenon of a spirit (a disincarnate—a deceased individual) communicating through a living person. Mediums contact the disincarnate or a “guide” takes over the mediums and speaks through them. There can be dangers associated with mediumship, such as possession.
Parapsychology is the field of study dealing with psychic phenomena. Researchers and scientists have conducted parapsychological research in biology, psychology, medicine, engineering, and other fields.
Precognition involves knowledge of future events through psychic processes or intuition.
PSI is a term that scientists use instead of “psychic” or “psychic phenomena.”
Psychic Phenomena is the general phrase for paranormal events and abilities that cannot be explained in terms of established scientific principles. It includes ESP, psychokinesis
