Clairvoyance
Opening The Third Eye
by Judith Meites

The word "clairvoyance" has such a mystique around it that many people are totally put off by the term. Sometimes the word conjures up image of gypsies peering into crystal balls...of weird and suspicious table-tapping in the dark...or of turbaned charlatans supposedly telling your future. These things are window dressing rather than clairvoyance itself. Just as everyone has a body—though some clothe it in designer gowns and other in faded jeans— everyone has clairvoyance. And just as some people try to ignore their body as much as possible, others will vehemently deny that such a thing as clairvoyance even exists. (These people are usually very clairvoyant.)

Well, what is clairvoyance, anyway? That's easy, because really it is a very simple thing. Webster's defines it as "clear-seeing." Obviously, we are talking about a kind of inner vision that you do with your physical eyes closed. That's all: the ability to see clearly. See what? Again, that's up to you. Some people use their clairvoyance to see colors, shapes and images. Some use it to "see through" other people— to see what's happening to them or where they are coming from. Some use it to imagine things. Others us it to see abstract ideas or how things fit together. Still others may use it very concretely. Sometimes even very enlightened people have the most amazing misconceptions about clairvoyance. J.G. Bennett, a marvelous spiritual teacher with whom I studies in England for a short time, used inner visualization as a central part of his teaching. We were taught, and practiced, a wide verity of inner visualizing. Again and again, we were shown how to open the "third eye." We used these techniques daily, as Mr. Bennett had used them for many years. Yet in a lecture to his students, Bennett said:

"I cannot understand what people even mean when they say they can have visual images. I cannot picture to myself what it is like to see something I am not looking at with my eyes. The idea that one can close one's eyes and evoke a picture of something! I believe it because people say they can, but nothing like that ever happens to me."(From Creative Thinking, by J.G. Bennett, Coombe Springs Press, 1964, p.82)

Mr. Bennett was undoubtedly one of the most highly developed clairvoyants I've met. Yet the prejudice against "being clairvoyant" was so strong that his thinking mind totally denied this ability even as he was using it daily.

What is this ability that even very highly developed people are so unaware of? Could they be afraid? And why? The ability itself is so wonderful— so clear and miraculous. To anyone who uses clairvoyance, it is obvious that there is no real threat to it, just clarity and perspective. The threat enters when people who deny their own clairvoyance are so afraid of their own abilities (and of what the clairvoyant might actually see ) that they will go to great lengths to stop others from using their abilities.

Seeing something clearly has a power all its own. Once you see something, you know you have seen it, not matter what anyone else says. I think this is the heart of the "threat" of clairvoyance. The clearer your vision is, the less subject you are to being controlled.

First you see, then you do (usually). If you are afraid to use your own inner vision, your ability to act in the best interest of your own spiritual growth will be impaired.

Another way to control clairvoyance is to promote the lie that clairvoyance is only for very special people, probably saints. The common man shouldn't mess with it. Throughout religious history, a lot of fuss has been made abut people seeing vision. Just look at all the to-do made about Saint John the Divine, the mystic saint who had the vision described in "The Revelation of Saint John the Divine," the last chapter of the New Testament. Clairvoyance carries a taboo rooted in centuries of fear, awe and persecution, and belief that clairvoyance is a sign of craziness or the "work of the devil" is still not uncommon. Fears too deep to be admitted are slow to die. But these fears and prejudices have nothing to do with the experience of clairvoyance itself.

As a society, if people are told: "don't do this" from the time they are tiny, most people learn not to do it.. or, at any rate, they'll have a hard time owning up to doing it. They may think they are crazy when it happens, in spite of their attempts to turn it off. Our society has made a very strong agreement not to be psychic, not to use these abilities—spiritual abilities—that everyone with a body has! But if we can't help having these experiences, we must shut up about it, because the abilities are bad or dangerous. So what happens? You learn to turn your true abilities down— or off. Invalidation is the great destroyer of clairvoyance, or of any sensitive ability. (And yet, I haven't met very many people who have never had the experience of having a dream that contains some visual imagery. This is clairvoyance at work: after all, your eyes were closed.)

Clairvoyance—for me, personally— works something like this. I sit down to do a reading or to work on myself. Some days, my head feels clear; other days, heavy and stuffy. I am aware that there is a connection between how clear my head feels and how well I "see," so I start by clearing out my head. When there is energy from other people in my head, "looking with me" I usually don't see much. (Sometimes my clearing out process works better than at other times; there are many variables.)

As I read or work, what I see is again very variable. When I look at part of someone's aura, I may see a very distinct color, or a vague image of a color or symbol— sometimes nothing. When the latter happens, it can be because I'm making a mistake (there are lots) or because the person doesn't really want me to see his aura, so he tucks it away so I won't be able to see it.

From time to time, and this happens more often the longer I practice, I'll get a distinct flash of something so clear and unexpected that I'm totally surprised. These flashes are really enjoyable to me; they're my favorite of being a clairvoyant.

How to do it:

Rule No. 1: Do not use effort! Nothing kills psychic abilities like effort (except maybe invalidation).

Rule No. 2: Find a way to start validating yourself. I once watched a teacher work with a beginning clairvoyant student who was convinced that she couldn't see a thing. The students were asked to close their eyes and "look at the symbol of a rose." Jane said, "I can't see anything." The teacher told her to relax and stop trying so hard. "Nope, can't see a thing." "Can you see a color?" "No, just black. I can't see anything" (You understand, Jane genuinely wanted to see. There was no element of game-playing with the teacher. She was totally frustrated.)

"Can you see this building?" "No." "Can you see your car?" Suddenly, she was in a bind. I could see that —for a fleeting moment— she had seen her car with her inner vision.

Although she was still attempting to tell herself that "it didn't really count, that wasn't really clairvoyance," she knew, and I knew, and the teacher knew, that she had caught a glimpse of something. She could no longer deny the fact that she was clairvoyant. (P.S. A few months later, this same student was merrily giving honest and accurate full-fledged aura readings.)

For most people, the simplest and safest way to start to play with clairvoyance is slowly and gently. Too often, people expect their inner vision to be in brilliant color, or like a Polaroid snapshot of what they see with their eyes. Well, you didn't develop the ability to see and interpret data with your eyes overnight, either. It isn't realistic to expect an ability that hasn't been used or even recognized for years to suddenly operate full-blast. (Of course, it does work that way for a few people.) To play with your clairvoyance, try the following steps:

1. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Say hello to the earth and to your body.

2. Find the center of your head. To do this, take your fingers and find your ears. (Start from the neck and move up.) Wiggle your ears with your fingers. Draw an imaginary line from ear to ear. Now move your finger to your forehead and the back of your head. Draw another imaginary line running from the front of your head to the back. Those two lines will intercept —voila! That's the center of your head.

3. Imagine yourself sitting in that spot, looking out.

4. What do you notice? Try just sitting and letting images flow, or try asking a question and see what happens. This ability is for you; you can play with it any way you want to.

5. Be a little bit patient. Sometimes more than one five-minute session is necessary to start to use an ability that may have gotten slightly rusty from non-use!

The world of energy looks different. When you ask for an image of your best friend, and you get a blob of white, you might be tempted to say, "That couldn't be my best friend! She doesn't look like that!" But on an energy level, that blob of white is probably quite relevant to what is happening with your friend. Seeing clairvoyant images is one thing; learning to interpret them is another.

This material archived from this now defunct page:

www.berkeleypsychic.com/Reader/archive/March98/clairvoyance.html