What Does 'Clairvoyant' Mean?
Updated 2025.06.19
What is clairvoyance? This post discusses what it means to be clairvoyant, what clairvoyance means, and the boundaries of psychic sight -
The word clairvoyant defines a person who can see images in their mind’s eye, and these perceptions can be prophetic.
These images can help to predict the future, help a person chart their soul path, guide you in your life’s decisions, support improved abundance or provide emotional clarity and balance.
Clairvoyant people often see images in their mind’s eye or as super-imposed impressions and these images are received from psychic sources.
The purpose of clairvoyant gifts is to help you be aware of all the non-physical information available to you to make the best choices for you.
The origins of the word clairvoyant are thought to come from the word clairvoyance, which is thought to come from the French meaning clair ‘clear’ + voyant ‘seeing’ (from voir ‘to see’).
This word is first thought to be used in the late 17th century, meaning clear-sighted, perceptive.
So, clairvoyance is clear-sightedness and the people who are clear-sighted are clairvoyants.
Clairvoyant is pronounced K-la-air-voy-ant and using clairvoyant in a sentence, you could say, Her clairvoyant abilities allowed her to see into the future.
Where do clairvoyant images come from?
Clairvoyant visuals can come from ambient energies, Spirits, or other people, who can all be emitting non-verbal communication signals, like energy waves, which can be perceived intuitively as inner visions, feelings or thoughts.
When clairvoyant psychic energies come from people, it’s called empathic reading.
When they come from Spirits, it’s called mediumship reading, and when it comes from ambient energies it’s called psychic reading.
Reading meaning that you are “reading” the energy and it’s being converted into with inner visuals you can interpret.
When an emitted energy signal is converted into light images, and you’re tuned to it, it can be visible in your mind’s eye.
Not all clairvoyant images are full-technicolor, the images can be flashes, outlines or traces of light.
While you often will see clairvoyant images in your mind’s eye, some people see them in their peripheral visions.
New research shows some people can see outside the previously defined visible range of light.
4 things to know about clairvoyance
1 - There are boundaries with clairvoyance
You won't be able to see everything. The circumstances around us and the future are ever-changing, so not everything is known.
Don’t worry about seeing something you shouldn’t - as you’ll only psychically see what’s in your highest and greatest good.
If it’s not in your highest and good to be shown the insight, you won’t see it.
Also, feelings, moods and emotions will create the filters through which you view and interpret psychic energy.
Moods like anger and fear will create a different interpretation of the vision than a mood like joy.
Your gifts can work regardless of your mood, but also keep in mind that different moods will also tap you into different psychic frequencies - which can also change what you perceive.
What this means is that if you’re in one mood or vibration and you receive a psychic image, you may interpret that image differently than someone in another mood.
2 - Everyone has a little clairvoyant ability
While clairvoyants are thought to run in families and are often portrayed as female, males can also bear the ability to clear-sight.
This psychic ability is also available to everyone - some people purposely practice using it to develop it, have been encouraged to use it more and feel more inclined to rely on this ability more than others.
It’s a very common gift in anyone with a futuristic job - a person who has to “see the vision” to get things done or make estimates for years down the road.
3 - You can change what you receive
Clairvoyants are receivers of energy who are able to convert the energy they receive around them into mental images.
The way a clairvoyant person interprets energy is thought to be much like the way a television set takes the data it collects and puts it into pictures.
Instead of in a picture tube, it happens within the human mind or energy field.
A person receives information from ambient energy and translates it into symbols, scenes or images.
The energies you are tuned into will change what you receive.
When you focus on specific goals or ambitions for example, you’ll receive more clairvoyant messages regarding these topics.
As a clairvoyant, you can consciously choose different energies to tune into and perceive - this is how clairvoyant readers work with clients.
They choose to tune into the client’s energy for a period of time, relay what they perceive as the non-physical energy in that person’s field so that person has more information regarding what’s influencing their life to make more well rounded choices.
4 - There are different ways to use your clairvoyant gifts
Clairvoyance is such a helpful gift. It can be used to:
See auras, also known as energy reading
Look into the future, also known as prophecy
Identify soulmates, also known as romantic clairvoyant readings
Help a client chart their life path, also known as akashic record readings
Look into the body and wellness needs, also known as medical clairvoyance
Spirit figures and beings, also known as spiritual clairvoyance
View distant scenes, also known as remote viewing
So let’s recap:
Clairvoyance is the ability to perceive psychic insights through images in your mind’s eye. It’s one of the ways your intuition can speak to you.
And, it’s different from your imagination in that the images are often prompted by sources outside of yourself.
You may not be able to see everything and that’s for the best. You can also change what you tune into to alter what you see.
When you’re surprised by what you see in your mind’s eye, this is typically a good sign you didn’t make it up and it’s genuine clairvoyance.
How you apply clairvoyance in life is often related to your Dharma, soul’s calling and how you were born to use your gifts.
Most, if not all clairvoyants, have specialties or specific topics they enjoy reading into.
A few common focus areas clients like to have looked at in clairvoyant readings are health and wellness, money and career, love and relationships, their soul purpose, plus achieving family and life harmony.
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