Here is a portion of a very good article I read in the CMA Accord magazine, it gives a lot of information on gifts of power. The article was written by Virginia Stewart M. Ed., Elder Priestess Revised By Lori Bruner, B. Fa., Elder Priestess, who are both of The Order of Wicca. This article is Copyright 1996
Their site can be visited by going here.
What does 'gift' mean?
The prevailing thought is that everyone has one or more psychic gifts in varying degrees, though that has yet to be established. There are people in whom they manifest so slightly, that the individual might as well be "headblind" (no psychic ability whatsoever).
***Gifted people have a lot of trouble being around the headblind, who in turn are uncomfortable with the notion that someone might know more than they do, through unexplained resources. Gifted people tend to gravitate towards one another, and if oblivious to the reasons, might explain it as "chemistry" or other vague appellations that mean they were trusting their gifts, for which they have no names.
***Gifted people often think of themselves as being unique or weird and didn’t talk much about what they see, hear, sense, or dream. Some might be so blocked off, that to a trained person they appear as a void or an obvious walled space--the headblind can’t do that. Others have erratic shields that might make them dizzy or feel out of control, uncomfortable around crowds or overstimulated alternating with feelings of unreality (watching a picture). The third group of untrained people have no shields at all, and probably hate crowds with a passion, sometimes manifesting as agoraphobia; or might currently be in a hospital because the voices won’t go away or the visions won’t stop. Highly gifted people usually have more than one gift, and if they have most of them, other people think they are weird.
***Gifted people can manifest these abilities in three different ways.
**Senders do not receive impression from others but can alter the mental/emotional environment to conform to what they are experiencing. They send. They might appear insensitive and self-centered which may confuse other Gifted people who can See that the gifts are awake, but the person acts headblind.
**Receivers only receive information. They are usually uncomfortable to the point of hysteria in crowds and have been misdiagnosed with a multitude of nervous conditions. Since certain drugs (tranquilizers, speed, crack/cocaine, alcohol) block out the gifts, many receivers become addict or develop substance abuse problems. They are generally solitary people, but can tolerate crowds when "under the influence." Shielding reduces or eliminates this problem, though large parties and night clubs will never be favorite places to hang out.
**The most usual combination is to be both Sending and Receiving. Sending feels like pushing away from the self, or moving current through the self to another person. Receiving feels like being a cup filling with whatever is being sent from others or the environment. Part of the Bardic and Medium Gifts is being able to do both at the same time (like a wheel).
**Some of the Gifts are only received (R) some are only sent (S) and some are both (S/R).
**Let us examine the gifts, and the differences between being psychic and being crazy...
Telepathy
***Telepathy is the ability to read thoughts, usually surface thoughts. Telepathy is fairly common to some degree. The most common type is between close family or friends and manifests as answering questions before they are asked, knowing when a family member is thinking of you, or thinking about them and they call.
***Slightly less common is the ability to read the surface thoughts of strangers. Even less common is being able to read the deep or subconscious thoughts of people, friends, family or anyone else. It is not, however, completely unknown. If you have the disconcerting habit of knowing everything about a person when you meet them, you are at least a highly gifted telepath.
***In crowds this may manifest as "white noise" or constant buzzing in the ears (brain), accompanied by a feeling of pressure on the brain. This is due to the constant noise of all of the thoughts of others that one is unable to block. Many highly gifted telepaths are unable to live in highly populated areas, and an apartment complex is a nightmare. They are also prone to intense headaches.
***This gift may or may not be related to proximity. For strangers, it is usual that the person must be close by (though not always the case). Family seems to be instantly accessible, due to the non-local nature of the gift, speed of light laws do not apply. Strong thought, as in a disaster or violent attack, may be picked up without prior knowledge of the person at all, if they are in the vicinity or there are enough people concentrating on mentally screaming at the top of their lungs. This gift also manifests more strongly if one really desires something (a strong focus of will or emotion).
***To block out the noise, shielding must be practiced constantly, and the person should put up permanent shields around their home. To develop this gift, one should focus on an individual and relax, allowing whatever impressions one is receiving to come through. Write them down. This is best developed with close friends or family.
***Telepathy can manifest in three ways.
Most common is one who can both send and receive, and the response is usually enough to convince the person that s/he is not crazy, though the gift might be hidden out of a fear of being unusual, especially if the person’s church mistakenly equates the gifts with possession.
The "voices" or impressions gathered by the telepath are relaying accurate, verifiable information based on the consensual hallucination we call reality. Ask. The information is usually pretty mundane, and the telepath, upon thinking about it, can learn to tell that the thought did not originate in his/her own brain (for example: "I need to remember the ice cream" when the individual is allergic to ice cream and is talking to someone on his way to the store.) If one is hearing voices counseling them to murder or warning that the toaster is influencing our thoughts by controlling the television, then some mental health care is definitely in order.
(Related Gifts: Mind Healing {20-30% of the population})
A sending telepath can not hear the thoughts of others, but instead broadcasts his/her own thoughts to anyone even remotely sensitive. A sending telepath can influence others, without being aware of it, by strongly desiring something. A danger is that one who is a sending telepath, without any of the other gifts, has a tendency to be self-centered and demanding, and petulant when they don’t get their way.
A receiving telepath can hear but can’t send, others don’t pick up their thoughts. This person might believe the voices, thoughts, or impressions of ideas to be internally generated, and might doubt his/her sanity. As is often the case, the thoughts are incongruous, and seem to come from nowhere, but the individual can not distinguish the internal thought from the external.
Empathy (S/R)
***Empathy is similar to Telepathy but revolves around emotions instead of thoughts. Empathic ability can also manifest in sending, receiving, or both. A sending empath may not have much sense of what others feel, because they can usually change an unpleasant response into a more favorable one. The receiving empath is in danger of being swamped by the feelings of others, and may not know whether the feeling is internally or externally generated. To be an empath is to be able to sense what others are feeling, and influence what others are feeling is the most common manifestation. This may or may not occur along with telepathy. If one is an empath, feelings and emotional atmosphere play a strong part in every aspect of one’s life.
***Crowds are almost unbearable. The individual may feel angry/depressed/elated/in love/enraged in a matter of a few moments as the gift ranges out and picks up whatever is there. A feeling of being on a roller coaster, and of smothering in a sea of feelings may accompany this. On the other hand, the person seems to gravitate to the individual in the room who needs help dealing with an emotional problem.
***An empath makes an excellent counselor and is usually the one to whom friends bring their problems because "s/he really understands." Dianna Troi on Star Trek TNG is an empath, and they have done their homework. A trained empath responds like Counselor Troi (Fiction? Another example of science fiction masking science fact.) Again, this gift may or may not be related to proximity, and often family members and close friends may be "sensed" no matter how distant they are.
***(Related Gifts: Mind Healing, Physical Healing {5-10% of population}, Communication with Plants [green thumb], Communication with Animals.) ( R)
Psychometry (R)
Psychometry is the ability to pick up images, histories , and impressions from objects and places, by holding an abject, like a sweater or a ring, one Sees or senses information about the owner or most frequent user of the object. This Gift is usually combined with one or more of the "Clair" Gifts. Occurs in varying degrees in 15-20% of the population, 5% strongly. Police psychics are usually psychometrists.
Clairvoyance (clear seeing)(R)
The person can See visions of things occurring in the present both on this plane and on the etheric. Combined with other Gifts, the person may experience foggy or clear "movies" of things that have happened in the past or will happen in the future. This can often occur in dreams.
This Gift occurs in 10-15% of the population and is usually associated with a trance or trance like state. To control trance, vigorous movements, splashing cold water on face or drinking it, or some type of physical activity is recommended. It is NOT good to trance while driving or operating machinery. This Gift, if one has it in full measure, can be disconcerting and there is very little, other than the above, that one can do to control it.
Clairaudience (clear hearing)(R)
The person with this gift can "hear" conversations or information being transmitted vocally on this plane and on the etheric. With other Gifts, one may hear things from the past or the future.
Clairsentience (clear sensing)(R)
The person knows and feels things about places--a room, house, building, field, etc. Usually senses "what happened." The stronger the gift, the more sensitive one is to the environment.
Precognition (R)
The ability to sense, see, and /or hear things that may happen in the future. Usually combined with one of the other Gifts. Sometimes manifests in dreams that come true, visions, flashes, hunches, or just "knowing". Occurs in some degree in about 50% of the population, 10% strongly.
Retrocognition (R)
The ability to see, sense, and/or hear things that happened in the past. Same description as above. Also increases the likelihood of "seeing" past lives and connections with others.
Telekinesis (S)
The ability to move object with the mind. Once thought rare, this gift usually manifests in adolescents going through puberty and is responsible for about 95% of the poltergeist phenomena. This Gift can also manifest disguised as "the Klutz", someone who, usually when emotionally stimulated, objects around them fall over, break, etc. (they walk by the table but do not touch it, yet something spills). Between 1-5% of the population can manipulate solid objects after this time, 5-15% can manipulate energy (electro-magnetic) sources. Someone so gifted needs to learn emotional control, since the gift tends to manifest in the presence of strong emotions - guilt, anger, fear, etc. Concentration improves conscious control.
Pyrokinesis (S)
This is the "Firestarter", the ability to light and/or control fire or heat with the mind. This is luckily the most rare of all of the gifts (1-5% of population). This also tends to manifest with strong emotion. The firestarter may often not be conscious of their gift, but will have a history of fires happening around them (The kitchen when they were a child, a house down the street, etc.) Do not confuse this with pyromania! The Gifted person needs to learn to direct heat into the earth, as holding it in can cause damage. Concentration and emotional balance are essential.
Medium (channeling) (S/R)
The ability to see, hear, and communicate with non-corpreal entities. Includes Spirit (Astral) beings, non-local entities, discorporated humans, and other manifestations. Usually combined with other gifts. Once rare, this gift seems to be appearing in more of the general population, having increased from about 5% to 30% within the last ten years. UFO contactees tend to manifest this Gift after contact. Because a Medium is extremely sensitive and susceptible to outside influences, it is vital that s/he be shielded at all times.
Catalyst Telepath (S)
The ability, conscious or unconscious, to "wake up" or unblock the Gifts in others. Also the ability to tell who is gifted and who is headblind, though this may not be conscious. Gifted people of all varieties tend to recognize each other and usually feel uncomfortable around the headblind.
This gift occurs in 5-8% of the population. CT’s are very Sensitive and tend to have other Gifts in full measure, making them nervous and shy or forcing the development of natural shields.
Transformers (S/R)
The ability to work directly with the energies and the Earth’s magnetic forces and change them. Very rare once, this Gift also seems to be increasing. These people (5-10%) are very aware of the energy of places in the land and can tap directly into it, sometimes altering a negatively charged current to a positive one.
Related Gifts:
Grounder (R)- someone who grounds any energy sent their way. One can not work energy in circle with a grounder.
Null Field (S)- psychic gifts and energy go dead in the presence of a null field. Some of the most avowed skeptics are actually nulls, Gifts won’t work in their environment.
Dowsing (R)- Sensing substances in the earth, like water, metals, also ley lines.
Bard Gift (S/R)
The ability to utilize, increase, and return the energy of an audience such that their emotional states are altered to what the Bard is sending. In a strong Gift, the audience will see visions of the subject matter of the song or instrumental piece. Occurs in about 20-30% of performing artists, 10% in strong degree.
Healing (S)
Healing only manifests with Telepathy or Empathy, and is the art of using the energies of the mind to heal.
Conclusion
We have been programmed all our lives that "normal" people do not See things, Hear things, or just "know" things. We put these occurrences into a convenient Ignore file in our brains and forget about them. To train your gifts you must first deprogram, then you must figure out what they are, learn how they operate and how to tune them out. Only then can you firmly grasp your sanity and declare yourself normal.
Watch yourself!!
To my pagan page