Psychic

Psychic
The term 'Psychic' is used to cover a range of abilities based on the perception of information by means other than the ordinary five senses. It is also used to describe a person with such abilities.

History
The history of psychics dates back to ancient times. Mentions of prophets and seers date back to the beginning of human history, an examples being the Delphic Oracle in circa the 8th Century BC.

Growth of Spiritualism
From the mid 1800s onwards, Spiritualism began to gain an increasing amount of followers, particularly in the US and UK. This was due to the surge in the amount of performing psychics, such as the Fox sisters, and Daniel Dunglas Home.

There remains a great deal of Spiritualists today, although it has now taken the form of mental mediumship etc in most cases, with physical mediumship being rare in modern times. This is because of the stigma attached to such practises.

Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance, meaning 'clear seeing' is the method of receiving psychic information through visual means, i.e, seeing a spirit or symbol, whether externally or in the mind's eye. This term is often, and incorrectly, extended to refer to all forms of psychic perception.

Clairsentience
Clairsentience, meaning 'clear feeling' is the method of receiving information through touch, i.e, feeling a spirit touch your arm.

Clairaudience
Clairaudience, meaning 'clear hearing' is the means of gaining psychic information by auditory means, whether through physically hearing or through the 'inner ear'. Doris Stokes was a famous clairaudient.

Claircognizance
Claircognizance, meaning 'clear knowing' is the method of picking up information through gut instinct and emotion. This is the method used by many psychics.