We all have them—the clairs—they’re innate. The French word “clair” means “clear.” It’s the root word for each of the Clairs:
Clairvoyance (clear seeing) is seeing an image in our mind’s eye. It can be in motion, like a movie; or it can be still, like a photograph. It can occur when we’re awake, or asleep, eyes open or closed. The image can be figurative or literal.
Clairaudience (clear hearing) is receiving or “hearing” messages in thought form, with our “mental ears.” The source attributed to these messages is often one’s soul, higher self, angels, or deceased loved ones. It can also be an actual sound or literal voice that we hear with our physical ears.
Claircognizance (clear knowing) is knowing something for a fact without any supporting evidence. Most of us have walked into a room where the atmosphere is so thick with tension we could choke on it. We don’t know what is going on, but we know for certain that it’s not good. Our knowing—gut instinct in our head—has kicked into high gear.
Clairsentience (clear feeling) is feeling a literal sensation such as a chill when there’s no change in temperature, or a perceived sensation such as the touch of a hand when we’re alone. It can even be a smell when there’s no reason for it.
Some people disregard their clairs, while others are intentionally aware. Which of the clairs are you most sensitive to?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan
© 2010 Laurie Buchanan – All Rights Reserved.
Tuesdays with Laurie 
Well I have beed up most of the night clear seeing my mom…we talked at 2 am then she has been up and down…
Would say clear knowledge is my strong point.Clear feeling is also one that I use I that I smell roses sometimes when none are around….
Kim – I’m glad for your visit this morning. Sounds like your senses are on high alert. I trust your mom is doing well.
Well….Things are progressing slowly but forward…..I am most concerned about leaving her alone for any time other than 10 minutes right now. I took her to the surgeon today to have him look at the ulcerative wounds, and the 75 stitches down her leg. The nurse was extremely surprised that she was not in transitional care.
She walked pretty well to the car in the garage and back to the house from the garage, at the appts, we had a wheelchair. We also have been trying to have someone help get in and out of the car, although this morning and this afternoon I did it with her and the walker—slow but surely. They took her off a medicine that hopefully will lessen the hallucinations. She is also going a little longer at staying awake during the day, and sleeping all night. (She sleeps I lie beside and wait and watch!) Hopefully tonight will be quieter; I need more than 2 hours sleep!
My sister in law is doing a little grocery shopping and will be over later.
Funny, but also sad…..this afternoon my mom was really excited to stop at Taco Bell for a new chulupa they have out, almost like a small taco salad, she also wanted to try to eat outside if possible. Well she was tired and by the time I got to Taco Bell, very sleepy and hallucinating…..
She could not eat it well, after a while I ended up feeding most of it to her. Her eye hand coordination is slightly off and also very frustrating.
Tune until the next chapter of “As the snow turns” or “I’ll be home for Thanksgiving”……..Snow forecasted this weekend here.
Kim – I agree with Cindy Lou, you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. And your mother is oh-so-fortunate to have a daughter like you.
Laurie,
I think I cover all of these clairs with what I call intuition !
For at times I have all of these, not all at once of course, but a process of knowing and feeling beyond the obvious !
The question I have is there a process to attune ourselves to these “clairs” ?
I am Love, Jeff
Jeff – You’ve asked a great question, “Is there a process to attune ourselves to the clairs?” The answer is yes, but it would take well more than a blog space to answer it. Two books I can point you to that discuss the topic are: Remembering the Future by Colette Baron-Reid, and The Other Side and Back by Sylvia Browne.
By the way, I sent you a large envelope yesterday – it should arrive by the end of the week 🙂
Laurie,
Thank you for the quick response! I check out the books, not a fan of sylvia browne but I will put that aside…
I will be on the look out for the package!!!
I know you have a Claire and have clairs. I don’t think I have any clairs. Although I did hear men screaming in my head one time on a haunted ghost tour of St. Augustine Fort. I was in the hospital room that they did amputations. I felt I was going to faint and could hear the men screaming. Once I got out of the room, I felt absolutely fine. It’s one of the strangest experiences I have ever had.
Beth – I remember you sharing that right after you got back from that trip. That was an intense, clairaudient experience!
Beth – It happens both ways for me (external/internal), but more times than not it’s with my “internal” eyes/ears, etc.
Really wow. I thought you actually heard through your ears when you are clairaudient. So from you explanation in the blog, now I know all the clairs are just through the mind’s eyes and ears. Interesting!
I have experienced 2 of these things–
A few months after my father had passed away,I saw his entire person standing at my front gate. (same town but a house which we rented when he was no more)
About 15 /16 hours after I learnt of my brother’s sudden death,I felt his presence by my window ( in another country).
Both of these have been very personal and puzzling to me
Roamer – To my way of thinking, each of those experiences was a gift. If I was to try to interpret why they shared themselves with you after passing (and who am I to say?), I would suggest that each of them wanted you to know that they were ok.
ooohhh!!! I don’t think I have any of these.
So I will be reading just like Jeff.
Does it count when you talk to yourself???
Jean – I beg to differ. It’s my perspective that you may not have noticed them, but you do, indeed, have them. You may not be tuned into them, but you most certainly have them. I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts once you’ve read one of both of the books I mentioned earlier. You can probably get them at your local library.
Hi Laurie
I am familiar with all of those things, and in my world they are the result of the way in which we store and retrieve information within our brains, and the levels of context that we mange to create or raise.
It seems that most people are trained from a very early age (by cultural conditioning) to ignore or suppress such things. For me, having few people able to understand me as a child (due to being tongue tied), led me to develop and learn to rely upon these ways of knowing. To learn when they worked, and when they were unreliable, and to learn to test them, and recontextualise them as required.
I remember about 30 years ago, when breaking the copy protection on a game for a TRS80, I had a friend staying, and he was watching over my shoulder as I worked away with the debugger. He could not understand what I was doing, and when I explained to him about the shape of the logic I was starting to see in the protection mechanisms, I don’t think he got it. I was seeing the complex logic encoded in the hexadecimal digits on the screen in front of me as a three dimensional image. It was simply the context that my brain chose to use to show me the pattern, and I was happy with that.
I have thousands of examples of each of the “Clairs” and for me there is nothing at all “supernatural” in them. They are, simply amongst the many mechanisms available for our brains to reveal the “holographic” relatedness which appear to our particular minds from the specific patterns of the experience sets we have had during our lifetime.
They are very fast, and it takes quite a bit of practice to “catch” them and bring them to conscious awareness. They often appear as “fleeting phantoms”, that leave just a hint of their passing to our very much slower consciousness. Learning how to “record”, then “play back” these experiences, at a speed more suited to conscious awareness, is often quite a trick.
Sorry I can’t give much advice, except to say, that with persistence, one does eventually work out how.
Ted – Like you, I don’t think the clairs are “supernatural” either. They’re an innate part of us just like our other senses: taste, touch, see, smell, feel, and equilibrium — many people simply don’t pay attention to them. Once we start paying attention they may feel “otherly” – but they’ve been there all along.
I love the story that you shared. I can just SEE you seeing the complex logic, and SEE your friend watching you in open-mouthed fascination!
Gee-willikies ,Ted, you have done it again! I sat here with my jaw hanging down, trying to visualize what you were describing. I am astonished at your mental acuity and what I would call “speed of light” ability to catch watch what most wouldn’t think to look for.
Sandi – I find that it’s sort of like hanging onto the shirt-tail of Comet Ted — exhilerating and hard to keep up — the G-force of the ride has permanently relocated my eyebrows somewhere on the back of my head!
I lay in bed this morning and thought, “OK, today will be C. What in the world will Laurie talk about that starts with the letter C?” The only answer that arose was “Crystals”. Not very Clair. lol! Something’s obviously wrong with the connection. 🙂
Kathy – I betcha that before you thought about the letter “C” this morning, you thought about your up-and-coming trip to Florida to see your folks! I can just FEEL the excitement of your energy. You’ve got to be walking on air like a hover craft 🙂
such interesting stories from everyone! I both “see” and “hear” inside my head all the time (lots of my stories are written from conversations I overhear other people having . . . sometimes only with themselves). If I get myself quiet and focus, I can answer a question or two about the way someone or something “is” in the world. I remember answering a question for you, Laurie, back on the old Gaia about your way of being in the world and the answer was about how you do things for others but the most significant things you do you don’t always recognize because you tell yourself “it is just a small thing.” But you are a very open person, too, and very clear about who you are so receiving your being in the world is easy. It is not so easy with people who are closed down, confused, scared, or on drugs. Really nice lesson today! 🙂
Barbara – I do, indeed, remember the occasion you speak of sharing with me in the old Gaia community. I’m glad you stopped in and shared how you sometimes get information about the IS-ness of things (if that’s a word).
By the way, you were going to take a Shamanic journey this past weekend to see if you could rid yourself of a nasty cold/flu. I sure hope you kicked butt and took names!
I am very nearly well, Laurie. My ears still snap, crackle, and pop when I blow my nose, but I played tennis for two hours yesterday and lived to tell about it . . .
Barbara, ear aches and infections are some of the most unhappy memories of my lifetime. I really hope you don’t let it get too bad, if you need to see a doctor, sooner is better than later. Of, course it may be gone now, I sincerely hope so!
“Whoa! Sorry, sorry….” (squeaking as bare feet fly down the hall and squeal to a stop at the classroom door) I promise I won’t be late again!
I’ve only heard of clairvoyance but am looking foward to meeting the other clairs. Is there one for memories? I am able to remember happenings in my childhood in great detail – my mom is always amazed.
Now I;m scurrying off to do my make-up work and see what A and B were! 🙂
Cindy Lou – Whoa Nellie! No running in the halls young lady! When working with your own memories, that falls more in the category of time (which we’ll get to alphabetically). When working with other people’s memories, that may (or may not) fall into the category of one of the clairs (depending on how it comes to you).
This morning I did my daily A.M. routine, coffee, news, weather, check the E-mail for something that might need dealing with before I start outside. I found a note from Daughter Cam, “I have a surprise for you!” This via Facebook. It tugged at my mind but I ignored the sound of the rattlesnake and moved on in. Cam and I don’t communicate through FB, we phone or send straight E-mails. Bang! went the trap and I was caught! A FB virus had hijacked her name and now had mine. It went through my Friends list like a dose of salts. Had I paid attention to that voice that said, ” This is odd, don’t trust it.” I would have had more time to do other things this morning instead of contacting people at a feverish pace to head them off at the pass. It pays to listen to your Clairs and pay heed to your intuition. I’m glad you brought this up, Laurie, it causes me to remember that we do have talents that we often ignore.
Sandi – that just plain old stinks! That’s the second time in a few months you’ve been hit with a computer virus, sheesh! I hope you’ve got some type of tool to kill it, dead!
Eeewwww! A nasty worm virus sucking up all the names of all your friends. I don’t Facebook (at least, not yet) and I am not sure I want to since it is so vulnerable. I get e-mails occasionally from people that I know are just “wrong” — I am going to forward one to you and Laurie from my brother that I know is safe and another one from work. Both are a riot.
I very seldom use Facebook at all anymore, I attracted an online stalker, (There’s a nasty worm for you!) and I simply didn’t have the precious time to invest. That’s why I didn’t and shouldn’t have trusted the message. And opened the silly thing any way!
Sandi – I don’t have a Facebook account. I can’t explain it, but for some reason that venue simply doesn’t appeal to me.
“Claircognizance (clear knowing) is knowing something for a fact without any supporting evidence. Most of us have walked into a room where the atmosphere is so thick with tension we could choke on it. We don’t know what is going on, but we know for certain that it’s not good. Our knowing—gut instinct in our head—has kicked into high gear.”
Even in instances where people were wearing their poker faces, Laurie, I was able to ascertain the underlining tension, and the eventual bad news. I would say in such instances our cognizance is heightened by an acute sense of perceptive that informs periods of silence or the instability to emote. It’s definitely a fine line, but it’s forged by experience above all. Yet all the terms here are or have been applicable during a number of events (positive and negative) in one’s life.
Sam – I liked reading what you shared about poker-face situations, that’s a great example! I also agree that similar to body-mind-spirit, all of the Clairs, while separate, are inter-dependent and all of them come into play at different times throughout our journey.
The clairs Laurie are my blessing and my curse. They seem to more prominently accessible as I enter my crone years but they have always been there. My mother and aunt have a host of clairs so I grew up “knowing” and I always thought everyone was faced with the wisdom of “the clairs.”
I smell things that are not always present… like really smell them. Many times I smell things that are their that no one else can smell. Like the bread being moldy the day before it shows and anyone else can smell it.
I sometimes have people call me in a way I can hear with my hears to the point I turn my head but they are not there. Sometimes I just “feel” someone thinking about me. I pick up the phone and give them a ring and they will say “I was just going to phone you.”
Sometimes I just “know” something and often I blurt out what I know unedited – mostly wishing I had been quiet.
I need ample time alone because of “the chatter of others” that is present to me energetically as much as in the physical sense.
But my clairs help me wait to be invited to take a photograph, move my hand as I mix paint for a painting, sit attentively with me when I coach and when I lead. The clairs have given me deep, delightful and rich relationships with those I love.
Most surprising though is when my clairs fail me – when I don’t know something has happened – that one of my children is hurt or a friend dies or a disaster has taken place. I never feel like I control or have “the clairs” at will. They seem to be gifts that come and go on their own time.
At the end of the day I love “the clairs” 🙂 Thank you for C Laurie!
Terrill – I love the examples you’ve shared! I especially enjoyed the way you said, “…my clairs help me wait to be invited to take a photograph, move my hand as I mix paint for a painting, sit attentively with me when I coach and when I lead. The clairs have given me deep, delightful and rich relationships with those I love.”
I don’t think of my clairs failing me (although I used to). Now when my clairs don’t “pull through” I’m satisfied knowing that the information simply wasn’t mine to have.
Great reframe Laurie… I will remember this one:)
Terrill – I’m glad 🙂
Yes the clairs are always there, I just forget about them. I think it was after one of Laurie’s workshops that I got the best image of being in a car with my 4 clairs as passengers. It helps to think of them as beings, especially since they communicate quite often in their very special ways. I am sure for me, that when I ASK one of my clairs something, the answer is given. I just forget to LISTEN and wait to see which clair will provide the answer, sign, direction, etc.
Kathy I am glad that I am not the only one that may be thinking – “What will Laurie do for the next letter?” Today when I was driving to work thinking about my clairs, I thought – why doesn’t one of my clairs let me know what the next word is? Just then my CD disc went silent (it was cranked pretty loud), the radio station would not play either – there was no longer any sound in the car and I heard my clair say, “because you are not listening”.
HHMMM…could D be Discernment?
Lisa – When I wake up in the mornings I often wonder (in regards to the Clairs), whose got the wheel today? Who’s riding shotgun? And who are my backseat drivers? You’ll notice over on today’s post for “D” (destiny) a photograph that most definitely part of YOUR destiny 🙂
Miss Kimberly,
You sure do have lots on your plate right now! Many blessings and prayers for your momma and you….I can hear your love for her in your words. Take care of YOU, too, in all of this!
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Claircognizance – this word is new to me, but the experience of it is not. Definitely the clair I am most sensitive to…
Barbara R. – Ah yes, the four Clairs: Clairvoyance (clear seeing), Clairaudience (clear hearing), Clairsentience (clear feeling), and Claircognizance (clear knowing). It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that your predominant clair is claircognizance 🙂