I want to talk about the word PSYCHIC. It’s a word I used to be extremely uncomfortable with – and still am. I don’t use it to describe myself or the work I do.
There are so many negative connotations and expectations that go with that label. I cringe at the way “psychic” is framed in our culture… neon signs on run-down buildings, cheesy ads in the back of tabloids, and most of the depictions on shows and movies. They all make my stomach ache, and my eyes roll.
Lots of folks think a psychic is capable of reading their minds, predicting their future, and giving them their lucky lottery numbers. I’ve had more than one occasion wherein someone introduced me to other people as a psychic and I could see and feel the barriers go up, the sarcasm kick in, or the excitement and expectation that I would do a reading on the spot to prove myself. Ick and ugh!
Whether folks are impressed and think it makes me more special… or offended and think it’s against their religion… it’s ripe for all manner of projection.
And even if the projections are contained, most folks just don’t know how this “psychic” thing works. There’s this idea that I have the ability to zone in on the one bit of information, and only that, exactly when and how they want it.
That’s not how it works. Even for experienced practitioners like me. I can’t guarantee much of anything. I am not in charge of much of what happens in a reading. And I am way past the point of caring to impress anyone with my abilities. I have no need to prove anything.
I don’t even get flustered anymore if something doesn’t resonate with someone I’m doing a reading for. I know that if something feels off, other things will feel right on – and it’s all okay. No one is 100% all the time.
Besides, I have been in this ministry for over 32 years now. Long enough to know that the vast majority of what is given to my client in a reading does not come from me or my personality as Jacque. It comes through me.
Especially when there are amazing wow moments that cause a resonant zing in the client’s body or around the room. I am not in personal ownership of “it.” This is an ability and gift that I carry and use in service to others.
My intent is always to be real… authentic and tuned in. It helps a lot that I genuinely care about my clients and love what I do. Plus, until recently, 99% of my business was word-of-mouth referrals. So, I figured I was good enough often enough to keep it going.
I mention all this as a way to reclaim the word psychic. Because now I need to use it to describe some of the material I’m writing and teaching about.
As you may know, I have a free online group going for energetically sensitive women. And we’re dealing with some of the most common problems highly sensitive folks face. Overwhelm is one, and psychic fatigue is another. So, now we’re back to that word. Psychic.
I realized I needed to reframe it in my own mind in order to be able to work with it more easily. So, here’s my current take on the matter.
Psychic describes a way of being… a way of experiencing life… vibrationally.
Sure, it’s a skill that can be developed. But most people I’ve crossed paths with who are “psychic” or having psychic experiences are doing so because they can’t NOT do it. Being psychic is their normal… their default… and it’s due to their energetic sensitivity.
People who are energetically sensitive are “psychically” reading the energy around them all the time. In their environment, and from every single person they interact with, or pass on the street, or hear about in the news. It may be happening below their level of conscious awareness – but if they’re psychic, it’s happening.
In my childhood, I was constantly hearing and seeing things that were quite obvious and real to me but not to anyone else. I was not conscious, as Jacque the kid trying to do that. I couldn’t not do it.
The vast majority of my clients experience psychic fatigue. They are picking up too much random psychic input from the ethers - and from other people. It happens everywhere they go, and even when they isolate. I see it ALL THE TIME.
It’s painful. And messy. And problematic in so many ways.
Without proper training and boundaries, naturally psychic people will (unintentionally) pick up the energetic debris floating around in their vicinity. Whether that’s physical proximity (people you work or live with, or near) or people you connect with through the marvels of our digital age… it’s all connection, and that inherently comes with a lot of confusing, crazy-making, meaningless energetic trash.
Whatever people are thinking and feeling, whatever obsessive behaviors or darkness or grief they carry, whatever is out there in the local or broader collective… highly sensitive people pick up that energy. They get a bit of it in their field. Desired or not, there it is.
I call it energetic debris. Carrying around all that debris is confusing, and exhausting, and it just wears a person out.
This is the most common way psychic ability really shows up. It is unconscious, untrained, and completely unintended by the person having it, doing it, being it: psychic.
Again, I don’t use the word all that often. I am much more at home with “intuitive.” In fact, I’m happy to meet someone and say I’m a professional intuitive. And I do get that labels come in handy, so I guess I’ll keep using that one.
Now, it is so obvious to me that it’s this unintentional psychic awareness, this undesired psychic ability, that causes so much of the debilitating psychic fatigue I’m seeing with the folks I work with.
Now, to be clear... I have done nothing to develop my “psychic ability” and I do not teach people to “be psychic.” What I do teach energetically sensitive people to do is trust themselves. And trust their intuition. To recognize and read the signals they are getting, all the time.
When energetically sensitive people learn to reign in that out-of-control aspect of “being psychic” they can (and do) reduce their feelings of fatigue – and they’re much better able to manage any overwhelm that does arise.
Devoid of any clarity about what is happening, energetically sensitive people mostly experience “being psychic” as a challenge and burden. A cross they must bear. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Not anymore.
If you are a woman who needs help with your energetic sensitivity, I invite you to join me in my free online group. I give away useful tidbits every week, and there is a growing community developing – a lot of women a lot like you! If you want a deeper and more intense dive, join me in the longer-format program - Your Soul Essence. It’s a combination of weekly lessons and LIVE classes, and tons of online support. If you're curious and would like to know more, schedule yourself for a chat with me.
For the gentlemen in the crowd… I'm happy to continue doing Intuitive Readings with you, and you're also welcome to do a Personal Intensive. Plus, at some point in the not too distant future, there will also be an Applied Intuition class - open to all. Make sure you're on my email list and you'll get a heads up when it launches.