Psychic intuitive or empath, is there really much of a difference?
Do you consider yourself an empath or a psychic? Do you prefer to think of yourself as both?
That choice matters enormously.
Your choice — and it can certainly be a choice — will have big consequences for:
- Your consciousness lifestyle (what you do with awareness in your waking hours)
- All your relationships
- Your sense of self
- Making money
- How well your aura is doing
- And how well you can help other people
Today many talented people equate being empath with being a psychic. Or they assume that being one automatically causes them to become the other.
Wow, Is that Ever Not True!
Cleaning this up matters. Mixing up psychic this and empath that amounts to far more than some little technical misunderstanding. What you don’t know can really mess up your life.
In my opinion. Of course everything that follows in this article will be my opinion, what flows from my professional experience, including skills at energetic literacy — aura reading to learn the truth all the way down to the level of chakra databanks.
What really matters? You decide. I’m adding to your knowledge base, that’s all. And maybe we’ll have some conversation in the COMMENTS section below.
Many people equate being an empath with being a psychic or intuitive. Some even put the words together — psychic empath or intuitive empath.
This creates a horrible mashup that has already been discussed a bit in this cautionary blog post for empaths.
Sadly, So Many People Yet Don’t Know the Difference.
In terms of your personal development, hello! That’s like eating whatever food is available, paying no attention to nutrition or health consequences.
What if nobody taught you the difference between eating candy bars versus a balanced, nutritious meal?
What if you assumed, “Yum, it’s all food. If I can put it in my mouth and swallow it, that’s all I need to know.”
As if! So today I’m going to begin a multi-part series to explore this very important topic in the depth it deserves.
Let’s start with some basic concepts.
What Is an Empath?
An empath has at least one gift for directly experiencing what it is like to be another person. Altogether I have identified 15 different gifts that an empath might have. Each one, alone, would qualify somebody to call yourself an empath for life.
Have you ever heard terms like “Emotional Empath” or “An empath feels other people’s feelings”?
To put it politely, that lacked nuance. Ideas like these are so distorted and simplified that they are distinctly unhelpful. I could cascade further down the slippery slope of direct speech, but let’s leave it right there. ;-)
Now, to be practical: Might I suggest that you get yourself a copy of “The Empowered Empath: Owning, Embracing and Managing Your Empath Gifts“? Because there, in the expanded edition, you will learn the truth in enough detail to know the basics about what it means to be an empath, which gift is which.
You’ll be fully convinced not to mix them up, I suspect. And, if you were born as an empath, right away, you will have learned many important things about yourself.
What Is a Psychic?
A psychic is someone who pursues psychic development. Psychics have learned some skills to acquire knowledge and, maybe, to help people. Often psychics receive information about the past or future, or what is happening far away.
Some psychics do channeling or mediumship. Other psychics simply give readings.
What is the source of knowledge for a psychic? Some kind of spirit, or spirit guide, collaborates with the intuitive, or sensitive, or channeler, or medium — a.k.a. “The psychic.”
What about Being Energy Sensitive?
Hey, it’s not just you. Everyone is energy sensitive now. Everybody who wants to be!
Since live in the Age of Awakening, that’s how life is now. So it’s not just you, noticing energies.
Sure, you may know some people who are highly energy insensitive. They may mock you for speaking up. Well, these people would be in Spiritual Shutdown, as about 45% of Americans are (and so many millions of others around the world). In spiritual shutdown, a person is well defended against noticing energy ANYTHING.
This is a very Post-New-Age way of being a Highly INsensitive Person. People in spiritual shutdown pay for it, because their auras get junked up with gray slime, one of the 15 kinds of STUFF that blocks emotional and spiritual growth.
Basically, anybody living now who is NOT in spiritual shutdown is energy sensitive.
So if you are sorting our whether you are an empath or a psychic, at least you don’t have to confuse this significant choice with whether being energy sensitive makes your anything.
- Being energy sensitive does NOT mean somebody is an empath.
- Being energy sensitive does NOT mean somebody is a a psychic.
All the more reason why it is important to define these two terms properly and decide for yourself what you are, what you choose to be, what to do next to support your way of being yourself.
Your Turn
Any questions so far? Share your ideas, please, Blog-Buddies. Of special interest, how many of you have encountered people who say things like “Psychics are empaths” or “Empaths are psychics”?
How many of you have been on Facebook groups or forums where the group became a big, enthusiastic combo of empath + psychic + whatever else? If so, what was the impact on you? Did that really make your life better?
I have always wanted to know the answer to this so was happy to see the title of this article.
I just wanted to say as someone who used to get a lot of psychic readings to learn more about me, I have learned way more in Energy Spirituality sessions of aura research-it is like information in the now that is so much more valuable than a possible path that may or may not exist.
So for curious consumers out there I recommend aura research when you are curious about a choice or a person.
A psychic reading I did told me a while ago that the person I am dating now could be my husband.
Aura research reveals a person in spiritual shutdown with little verbal or sexual integrity.
Freewill allows me to make up my mind about what kind of partner I want. I am done with psychic readings that offer me a glimpse into some possible future fairy tale that isn’t there.
BRANDI, thank you so much for speaking up, speaking out.
I am so rooting for your free will.
Brandi I so agree. I used to get quite a few psychic readings about 5-8 years ago now. The information you get from Energy Spirituality is so much more enlightening and ACTIONABLE! Rather than vague pronouncements like “Don’t get too attached to your current boyfriend” you get to explore the status of a variety of actual chakra databanks, including how that boyfriend related to me!
And instead of just listening to whatever information comes up about my career, I can research a variety of my choices and see what the impact of them might have on my aura. Even just that helps you find out more about yourself as you learn why different choices have the impact they do!
Some of the psychic readings I have had were helpful. But mainly in a “boost my confidence” kind of way which encouraged me to try new things (that the particular psychic suggested). But they never removed any stuff that was limiting me from other choices that would have had a bigger more joyful impact on me. Choices that I would have never thought possible for myself until the particular stuff influencing me was removed.
And sometimes it is just the common sense that the Energy Spirituality approach brings that can help so much. Since it focuses on human-based spirituality, caring for the mundane human things is also considered important.
I’ve had sessions with Rose where I addressed such simple things as daily routines and bedtimes, something that I never ever had addressed in my life. Something that was impacting on my life (considering I’m a HSP) since I had always resisted bedtimes and hence was tired a lot and not happier for it.
Aura reading during the Energy Spirituality session helped me realise that if I had not achieved what I wanted to achieve that day (and not learned enough in particular) then I would feel a failure and resist going to bed. Rose gave me a very simple practical technique to track my days successes to help me with this.
I’ve had a few psychic readings over the years. The quality was wildly variable, even with the same person. The main problem – the psychics themselves didn’t have good energy management skills so the vessel was distorted.
They’re also typically using astral sources for information which itself can be distorted, manipulated, etc.
Your “What is a Psychic?” section also highlighted another issue to me – they don’t themselves discriminate the types all that much. Channeling is a very different animal with different effects than talking to the dead, for example.
Generally it seems its about connecting with information on the “other side” without discriminating the quality of the source. Or the energy issues that may accompany such connection.
I recall going to a Spiritualist church one time. They invite the dead to “come through” during the service. One side of the room became very cold and heavy as someones violent deceased father showed up.
Is it a good practice to open such doors? And yet they also practice “energy healing” during and after such services. Do these things really go together? Will the dead help us live life?
Interesting comments.
I agree that psychic readings can be very unhelpful – though it doesn’t necessarily feel like that at the time.
I have had my fair share of psychic readings too, in the past. I have learned from bitter experience that they are not the solution!!
In my case though, I never went to psychics to learn more about myself or to find out about other people, but because I needed hope.
I think I mentioned in another comment something about seeking people who were wiser than me in order to get a higher perspective on a problem.
Like that Einstein quote about not being able to solve a problem from the same level at which it was created, I have often been in a situation (and often still am!) where I simply cannot see solutions to my problems.
That is what has always made me long for outside advice, a higher perspective, someone to guide me and gently show me a way out that I couldn’t see before.
With hindsight, I can see that all the psychic readings did was give me something akin to a short term sugar boost, a short term high that made me feel good temporarily before needing to face reality again!
Don’t want to repeat that cycle any more, for sure :-)!
And here’s the sweet irony, RACHEL, smiling at you in the mirror.
This blog — and all of Energy Spirituality — is about how to have a higher/deeper/wiser perspective at will.
Where YOU co-create with God. You learn and then use your skills.
Just exactly that longing, RACHEL. That’s what we’re about satisfying. Right. Here.
Really enjoying these comments, thanks everyone.
Rose, is psychic reading always astral-sourced? I think some psychics would disagree, since there are techniques that specifically rely on working with spirit guides, and techniques that do not. But does it end up being the same?
I appreciate the distinction you have pointed out between being an empath, psychic, and energy sensitive.
Oh, I’m enjoying these comments too!
TEHYA, “always” is an awfully final-sounding word. Still, techniques do not have to involve spirit guides to be astral-sourced.
I have encountered many psychics who believe they are doing Divine work, and they are doing psychic work. Why would it be otherwise?
David, your comment 11 reminds me of an experience my psychic development group had once. The location we met at was a New Age store and lots of different kinds of psychically-inclined people used it for classes and readings.
As soon as we started to do our group meditation, we all noticed something wrong in the room; I got a crash course in shielding and protection from one of my guides. Two of our group who are practicing Druids noticed that there were portals open in the store and set about closing them.
They figured out that earlier in the day, there were readings going on, and one of the people doing them was basically opening portals to the astral without having any idea that’s what he was doing.
I don’t need a psychic reading to know about me.
I know me and if I’m still I can read my own destiny and know what work it entails to get the prize.
I was once very in tune with my psychic abilities.. lately..not so much.
I do feel too much from everyone and I’m tired of it.
Promised myself to be more in tune with me..my desires and what road I need to take to achieve my full on growth. It takes alot of work and I’m trying so hard.
Maybe, I should just relax and let my inner self take over.
DE, thank you very much for reaching out.
First important point: You should have to be trying so hard. Something is wrong.
Second important point: Please make it a priority to meet with a mental health professional. Or even go to the local emergency room and describe what is happening with you.
Third important point: From what you’ve written I can’t tell if you’re an empath or not, but it’s pretty clear to me (as the founder of Energy Spirituality… and America’s most experienced Empath Coach… but not a mental health professional) you’re struggling in ways that have nothing to do with being an empath. Or with being a psychic.
Final important point: The worst thing you can do to yourself is: What you wrote in Comment #26.
Don’t let your “inner self” take over. Get professional help. You know, getting help from a mental health professional is no disgrace. It’s more like going to a restaurant for the meal you cannot make at home!
Please, DE, when you’ve followed these recommendations, come on back to this blog and let us know how you’re doing. I’m rooting for you!!!
Born in 1956, I have been both psychic and an empath as far back as I can remember. And I can remember events when I was two years old.
Neither is something I chose or developed.
I was tested by a “psychic psychologist” that Kaiser Permanente sent me to and she diagnosed me as an empath after I shared a vision I had on the spot about her.
I already knew I had psychic experiences, some of which I had previously shared with the Kaiser doctors which is why they sent me to the specialist for testing.
As for either being a “skill” my experience and research leads me to the conclusion that they aren’t.
Is there a difference between them? Absolutely.
Can one choose what one wants to call oneself? Certainly not!
Intellectual and honest communication requires strict, agreed upon definitions of terms.
If you demand that I accept your “right” to believe the moon is made of Swiss cheese I will call you crazy and not apologize for doing so.
Before declaring oneself an empath or “highly sensitive person” became de riguer the average person tried to present alternative reasons for my experiences.
Then came all the self-proclaimed psychics, empaths, et.al. with their books and overnight everyone claims “ME TOO”.
And every one of them launches into (1) lecturing me about the subject and (2) competing with me regarding experiences.
I would love to have to have conversations with others like me but these people I’ve met never claim to be psychic.
They‘ve merely “diagnosed” their own emotional/mental issues by reading popular books.
Welcome to my blog, Laura Mcgaffey.
You’ve shared a lot here, not only about your experiences and your specialness but also your contempt.
Do you consider it de rigeur, when first commenting at somebody’s personal blog, to acknowledge the blogger — or the blogpost — in any way?
Apparently not, at least not you. Not at my blog.
Rose, the mere act of commenting is acknowledgment that you and your blog exist. Therefore you must be expecting more from commenters. I wonder what that is?
Since you put it that way, LAURA MC GAFFEY, I wasn’t expecting MORE from you in particular.
However I was shocked by the contemptuous generalizations that you poured upon people other than yourself, combined with your own rock-hard certainty that you know everything about being an empath.