Clairvoyance: First Steps

To be successful in using tarot—or working with any other system meant to look into the future—you need to understand clairvoyance. These things are connected. If clairvoyance isn’t developed, that usually means you won’t get results at all, or you’ll only get weak results. Many people underestimate this and assume “the cards speak for themselves,” but the truth is that the tool is only a tool. If there isn’t a real connection to the information you’re seeking, tarot turns into pretty pictures—and nothing more.

The internet is full of techniques that claim you can become a “top clairvoyant.” Anyone who has tried them already knows the truth: many people want this gift and are even willing to lie that they have it, but very few actually do. There are countless “easy methods” promising results in three days, a week, or a month—and they almost always feed the same thing: the desire to skip the effort. But on this path, there’s no skipping. There is practice, self-observation, patience, and above all, honesty with yourself. Here I’m going to share something that those who truly have the gift usually don’t like to share—not because it’s a “secret,” but because they don’t feel like explaining it to people who want miracles without work, or to people who chase sensation instead of growth.

A reasonable question connected to clairvoyance is: how do you receive information about another person or about events, whether in the past or in the future? In other words—what is clairvoyance, really?

Most people think clairvoyance is only about receiving information about the past or the future. But it isn’t only that. From it comes a whole range of other abilities, including influence over energy and over events. And one more important thing: clairvoyance isn’t only “seeing,” as it’s often described in the popular sense. It can show up as a feeling, as sudden knowing, as images, as words that rise from within, as symbols in the mind, as an oddly precise “intuition” that isn’t based on logic. Sometimes it arrives as a very subtle signal, and sometimes as something firm and unmistakable. At the beginning, people often confuse it with imagination or with desire—and that’s exactly why development requires discipline: learning to tell the difference between real information and your own fear, hope, or bias.

A common misconception is that the future is predetermined. It isn’t. It’s comparable to seeing a Labyrinth. Each corridor in that Labyrinth is one possible future. The clairvoyant sees one or several of those corridors ahead, but the responsibility for which path you take in the Labyrinth is personal. Sometimes you can also see “knots”—places where a choice is crucial and everything branches from it afterward. In that sense, consulting a clairvoyant is a way to help you decide what to do—it isn’t the decision itself. There is no predetermined fate. Answers like “this will happen” or “this won’t happen” don’t belong here. There are tendencies, probabilities, directions—and a person who chooses among them or changes them. Your will, your actions, your decisions are free, and they are your inalienable right. You are responsible for them. And one more thing: whoever promises absolute certainty is often selling fear. Clairvoyance isn’t an instrument for taking away freedom—on the contrary, it’s a tool for more conscious choice.

Clairvoyance is a connection with the energy of the Universe. When someone is inexperienced and just learning, the information usually lands first in the subconscious. That’s why it’s easiest for beginners to “pull it out” using some form of divination. Tarot is the most suitable, but any divination tool can work. Runes, oracle cards, the I Ching, and so on. The reason is simple: symbols act like a translator. The subconscious thinks in images, associations, and archetypes—not in logical lists. That’s why a single card can express an entire situation, a dynamic between people, a hidden motive, or a direction. More advanced clairvoyants don’t need such systems. They receive information directly by entering a specific trance, better known as a clairvoyant trance. In that state, the “translator” is no longer external. And still—discipline is required here too: a clairvoyant trance isn’t chaos, it isn’t theater, and it isn’t emotional flooding. It’s a clear state of focus in which a person can receive information without distorting it.

The ways of receiving information through clairvoyance are as follows:

Controlled.

A person wants to learn something and intentionally directs themselves toward it—and they learn what they were seeking. Here there is intention, a question, direction, and clarity. The more precisely the question is formulated, the clearer the answer. Controlled clairvoyance also requires the ability to stop at the right moment—to not dig endlessly, because too much digging blurs things instead of clarifying them.

Uncontrolled.

Information is received without being requested and without any control. Often, information received this way is useless. Sometimes it comes as a random image, a strange thought, a sudden sensation, and the person doesn’t know what it relates to. Other times it comes as “noise”—because the person is sensitive, but doesn’t have the skill to filter. Uncontrolled clairvoyance can also be unpleasant, because it burdens the psyche and scatters attention. That’s why development always passes through the skill of focus and regulation.

Most people are interested in how clairvoyance appears in the first place. The reasons can be very different. For some, it’s inborn. For them, it’s like a natural sensitivity—just as one person has a musical ear and another doesn’t. For others, it’s a consequence of trauma or stress, but in that case it’s more often useless, with rare exceptions. Why? Because trauma can “open” sensitivity, but it often comes together with distortion: fear begins to disguise itself as a “premonition,” anxiety as a “prophecy,” and the need for control as a “gift.” This is where people most often get confused. Clairvoyance can also be developed through long, persistent work on oneself. That’s the healthiest version—because it includes building inner stability, being critical of your own suggestions, and learning to work cleanly, without manipulating either yourself or others. And one simple rule applies here: if you’re going to step into someone else’s topic and fate (and yes, this is sensitive work), you must approach it with respect and responsibility—not with curiosity and play.

Author: Morgan Shade