What is the difference between an Intuitive, Psychic and Channel?

This is a great question that I get asked frequently. Here are my definitions and some clarifications.

Intuitive: An Intuitive is a person who uses their intuition to guide their life and help others. We are all intuitive! Intuition is the conscious or unconscious synthesis of sensory input from various sources, that reveals insights, solutions, directions, etc. 

For example, you synthesize your past experiences, your intellectual knowledge, your emotional memories into making a decision.

Here’s an example of intuition:

You’re hanging out with a friend, and suddenly you have a feeling that something is not quite right with them, even if they haven’t said or done anything explicitly unusual. Perhaps they’re acting distant or stressed. Your intuition might be telling you that there is something going on beneath the surface.

Subconsciously, you are gathering information from your senses, and tapping into your past knowledge about your friend, their behavioral patterns, and their emotions. In less than a second, your intuition puts everything together and makes a conclusion.

More “spiritually” speaking, many people describe Intuition as the “voice” of their Higher Self.

Psychic: Psychic abilities are specialized sensory input. Whereas Intuition requires a collection of data for synthesis, Psychic abilities focus on a single input of data. This is why many forms of Psychic abilities are named for the input they represent in that specialized form.

CLAIRVOYANCE : “Clear seeing”
CLAIRALIENCE : “Clear smelling”
CLAIRAUDIENCE : “Clear hearing”
CLAIREMPATHY : “Clear emotion
CLAIRSENTIENCE : “Clear feeling”
CLAIRGUSTANCE : “Clear tasting”
CLAIRTANGENCY : “Clear touching”

Another difference with Intuition is that these perceptions are completely external to the person. You had no way of knowing beforehand. You don’t have any previous experience or knowledge about those perceptions. For example, you’re walking down a street where you haven’t been before, and you “just know” there is an ice-cream cart around the corner. You check, and there it is!! Or you suddenly “see” the Spirit Guide of a person standing next to them. 

Important note:

Many people use the term intuitive and psychic interchangeably. For practical purposes it is ok. I sometimes do it to navigate social situations when I’m asked what I do for a living.

The word “intuitive” is sometimes more friendly and less charged than “psychic“, which sadly has been clouded by unethical practitioners and sensationalist media. But fortunately, this is changing!! I hope we can collectively reclaim “psychic” as something beautiful, valuable and inherent to our human nature.

Channel:  Channeling is simply the creative access to consciousness, perceptions, and energies that are beyond what you consider to be your normal, everyday consciousness, perceptions, and energy. A Channel doesn’t need to be Psychic to channel! We channel all the time. You channel your own Self and subconscious. You can channel a poem, a work of art, universal healing energy, or the messages from a discarnate entity!

Channeling involves an equal partnership between The Channeled Source and the Channel. The Channel works to set aside their own personal biases, fears, beliefs and expectations, so Spirit / or The Channeled Source can come through as clearly and accurately as possible. Colloquially said, “we get out of the way!”

As you can see, there are some similarities and differences between all these terms!
Keep in mind that we are all intuitive, we are all psychic, and we are all channels. It’s your choice to develop your abilities, just as you would practice an instrument or a sport. If you feel called to these art forms, you can start today. I have a Psychic development meditation on my Youtube channel and more resources to help you manifest your gifts!!

If you want to know more about channeling, check out my article What is Channeling and What to Expect from a Channeling Session?