Empathetic and Psychic - the difference

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

jmd	16 Nov 2004
In another thread, April mentions and asks that she Quote: always thought that empathic and psychic meant the same thing. What is the difference? 'Psychic' tends to be used more as one would have in the past when describing a state of being guided by the muses, by Lady Fortuna - hence 'fortune telling', whereas 'Empathy' refers more to an open state in which there is a sense of merging with the other person's emotional state (feeling their pain, their pleasure, their sorrow, their general emotional state). The two are thus quite distinct, unless one is a physicalist, in which case the 'psychic' state will be partially explained by a high sense of empathy and the picking up of sutble social cues. This latter does not explain how one may read and mention specifics of another person that no empathetic explanation may give. Perhaps, rather than saying too much here, this is enough to begin what may prove an interesting, though at times difficult, discussion as it adds to a clarity of understanding. Other threads, by the way, have similarly discussed what occurs during a reading, and overlaps will thus occur... but what it the difference between the psychic, and the empathetic?

SongDeva	16 Nov 2004
I have a different understanding, JMD, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. ;) In my world, we receive information psychically, or intuitively, in several different ways, inlcluding (but not limited to) clairvoyantly, and clairaudiently, and also clairsentiently, which is what I equate with empathy. Now where the info comes from, is a whole 'nother discussion. A lot of people who are clairsentient, or empathic, have a hard time as kids because they are constantly besotted with information from other people...emotional, physical sensations, etc. In fact, kids who are abused use these abilities unwittingly to test out the safety of their environments. Sometimes, when it's so natural, you have a hard time distinguising others' info from your own at times. And you build unnatural defences, until you meet someone who explains it and shows you how to shield yourself. Anyway, this is the truth from Songdeva's world, and I look forward to more takes from other, fabulous (yourself included) AT'ers. Great thread idea! Edited to add: Actually, my post seems to be quite similar to yours, after all! Though just different enough. ;)

Lurea	21 Nov 2004
I was reading Michelle Morgan's book "A Magical Course in Tarot" the other day, and she neatly defines these two terms. Quote: Intuition is the more etheral of the two: wilder perhaps, and less defined; more feminine in energy; the yin to psychic's yang. Think faeries in a woodland glade.... Psychic, on the other hand, is Merlin--propelling Arthur through the forest, opening portals in the sides of rocks, and otherwise offering up the Mysteries of his own volition. Psychic energy is...channelled and more focused; the master to intuition's yearling nature. She also notes that 'intuitive' is more politically correct. :D She put into words what I couldn't. I may be able to follow the faeries once in a while, but I don't feel anywhere near proficient enough to call myself a psychic. ;)

lunalafey	22 Nov 2004
Psychic is an 'umbrella' term for any sense that comes 'from no-where' An unexplainable feeling or voice etc. An empath is just one kind of phychic, just as a intuitive or a visionary... each is it's own psychic sense. A really good book to read is 'You are Psychic!' by MIT grad. Pete Sanders Jr. He breaks down how each of the senses work, the reception areas of each- etc.

HOLMES	22 Nov 2004
hail luna i read that book quit a lot recently and compare it to doreen virtue divine guidance. for emphathic I do believe that the defination given by jmd is refering to for example reading the cards for a person and seeing them cry, get mad, or be afraid as opposed to using inuition to the more in depth agree psychic abilities. one can feel the pain of a person by psychic means, and one can feel it empathic. to use the example of a movie might be better.. empathically crying at a emotional spot in a movie would be from personally relating their experiences to our own, or putting ourselves in their shoes psychically crying at a movie would be trying to feel what the actors were feeling in the part by inuition example the actor is crying in the part for he used the experience of losing their loved one as a trigger for their emotions. the psychic person would pick that up ideally "i dont' know why but i just assocate that with loss of a father"? one thing i do is i love to research movies in my spare time to see what the actor was feeling, what their motive was, the history behind the movie, in order to understand it more empahtically. to put it into tarot terms, psychically reading would be using the cards as trigger to describe events without any information. and empathically would be have information given then use the cards as a trigger for us to feel. it is kind of like the red dragon movie, the hereo played by ed norton has the gift of putting himself into the shoes of the killers he goes up against and it is called empathy, and is described so as opposed to psychic abilities says hannibal lecter played by antony hoptkins. he does this by imaginating and acting like he was the killer. so we as tarot readers might see the image, of say the fool using empathy put ourselves into those shoes then relate it to the situation then relate it to the client who is askign what does this mean for this situation. all without inuition but with feeling, imagination, and logical deduction if one is using psycology or knowledge of the human nature.

OakDragon	22 Nov 2004
lunalafey wrote: Psychic is an 'umbrella' term for any sense that comes 'from no-where' An unexplainable feeling or voice etc. An empath is just one kind of phychic, just as a intuitive or a visionary... each is it's own psychic sense. A really good book to read is 'You are Psychic!' by MIT grad. Pete Sanders Jr. He breaks down how each of the senses work, the reception areas of each- etc. This is how I see the difference between "psychic" and "intuitive" too. As I mentioned in Flavio's recent thread on intuition and male readers, I distinguish between the two partly because I can do one or the other or both in a reading. The acquirement of psychic and intuitive knowledge is two different types of processes, though it's possible they may be relateded... i.e. the "psychic" information simply coming from a "deeper level". Also, I, too, highly recommend Sanders' book. It is a good introduction of psychic phenomena and ways of accessing them.

noby	22 Nov 2004
I see it as an elemental distinction. I connect empathic qualities with Water. I connect "psychic" and "intuitive" qualities with Fire, and perhaps a bit of Air too. Of course, there is overlap, and no easy one-to-one distinction. In general, as others here have noted, I see "psychic" as referring to picking up on more concrete information. It is more objective. I see "empathic" as referring to picking up on emotional states. A "psychic" approach might have a person saying, "I sense that you lost a child recently." An "empathetic" approach might have a person saying, "I can feel all the pain you are feeling, like a searing fire tearing through the body!" But of course, one can have an emotional response to concrete information, or get a sense of something concrete through an emotional signal. Both often operate together or interact in various ways. But I definitely see "empathic" as a more specific term than "psychic." Empathy cannot function without emotion, but psychic ability can either have or lack an emotional component.

WalesWoman	22 Nov 2004
To me, Psychic is a kind of knowing that has no rational explaination, super intuition! LOL It is more mental energy/awareness where Empathic is an awareness and sensation of feelings/emotions. Sort of being an emotional sponge soaking up people's feelings, not in a vampire, ucky way, but being able to sense what another is feeling. Both are being open to energies and vibrations from the universe around us.

Original Destiny	23 Nov 2004
In a day to day context I would say that I deal with people on an empathic level and not on a psychic level .As a psychotherapist empathy is one of my main skills. I guess thinking about it, I very rarely receive anything that I would classify as a psychic phenomena during ordinary interactions. This seems to change during Tarot readings when empathy doesnt have to be present for psychic intuition. The difference? I guess empathy is something that enables us to understand each other, it provides a common ground in which we hold unspoken feelings and insights. this common ground doesnt have to be set out each and every time we communicate with someone, we just automatically create this Field or area of communion that helps bond us all Psychic abilties do not nessesarily need empathic bonds. Some of the strongest psychic feelings I have had were on initial contact with clients. that first second of meeting. before any empathic bond could have formed. Most of my psychic experiences have been in a Tarot reading situation only

Moongold	23 Nov 2004
"Psychic" is an umbrella word now, almost meaningless to me. When people use it you always have to ask them to qualify what they mean. Frequently they mean intuitive , whereby people use inner sight and subtle sensory feelings to analyse or understand what is going on for a person. Sometimes they mean prediction , where they often use the same skills but to a different end. Empathy is the merging of one's emotional state or understanding with another. Personally I have to protect myself against this, put boundaries around it. It can be overwhelming and one learns this protection in early adulthood. At least, I did.

smleite	23 Nov 2004
Psychic abilities come from the outside, intuition from the inside?

lunalafey	23 Nov 2004
smleite wrote: Psychic abilities come from the outside, intuition from the inside? All psychic abilities are inherent within. It is the information that is on the outside and it's our psychic sense that recieves that information. An Empathic psychic is the most common and easy skill to develope. Most people have experienced walking into an empty room and getting a sick to your stomach feeling. Something had happened in that room and the empath feels it. These days I think that what most people are calling psychic people are those that get visions, people that can see things. While these Visionaries are psychics- so are those that 'feel' things, or 'hears' things or 'knows' things. The visionary skills are the hardest to develope, so I can see how "psychic" gets attached to this skill and not the others.

Pook	23 Nov 2004
I read this thread yesterday, and didnt really have anything to add. But as I logged onto the net this morning, I found myself looking at the 'word of the day' section on my hompage and wouldn't you know it, today's word was empathy. empathy DEFINITION: (noun) imaginative sharing of the feelings, thoughts, or experiences of another EXAMPLE: It's easy for a parent to have empathy for the sorrow of another parent whose child has died. SYNONYMS: affinity, compassion, understanding Now the synonyms i can agree with, but the original definition....imaginitive???? I just have to say that I have never had a feeling of any kind that wasnt real and genuine. Fleeting, maybe, but never untrue or imagined. So I thought it might be fun to see what the compiler of this dictionary had to say about the word 'psychic'. psy·chic NOUN: A person apparently responsive to psychic forces. psychical ADJECTIVE: Of, relating to, affecting, or influenced by the human mind or psyche; mental: psychic trauma; psychic energy. Capable of extraordinary mental processes, such as extrasensory perception and mental telepathy. Of or relating to such mental processes. I find it sort of odd that whoever defined the word pyschic as a person used the word 'apparently', which I took to mean something more along the lines of 'allegedly' , but that they took such great care in defining 'psychical' to mean something like 'extraordinary mental processes'. I dont see the huge difference there, but it seems that someone does. Anyway, one last technical, dictionary type thing here in regards to the word origins... ETYMOLOGY: (psychic) From Greek pskhikos, of the soul , from pskh, soul; see bhes- in Indo-European roots ETYMOLOGY: (empathy) en- 2 + -pathy (translation of German Einfühlung-which translates to 'Projecting' ) I would take these last terms to mean that psychic refers to picking up something from within, and empathy refers to picking up on what a person is projecting. So anyway...theres my definitive $.02

MeeWah	23 Nov 2004
Pook wrote: ...I would take these last terms to mean that psychic refers to picking up something from within, and empathy refers to picking up on what a person is projecting. So anyway...theres my definitive $.02 Pook: Many thanks for the definitive explanations & the very succinct summary--worth far more than $.02 :)

TemperanceAngel	23 Nov 2004
Original Destiny wrote: Psychic abilties do not nessesarily need empathic bonds. Some of the strongest psychic feelings I have had were on initial contact with clients. that first second of meeting. before any empathic bond could have formed. I don't think the psychic and empathetic or even the psychic and emotional or even still the psychic and the logical can work together very well. Once you've been empathetic (to a certain degree), emotional (or had an emotional response) or logical one, you have connected yourself to the client on a physical level. What's in the here and now. The psychic works out in the astral or beyond...tuning in there...I would presume then, that it would be the psychics person astral and beyond that picks up the mesages. The body is just the channel....for the messages to get passed on... Just my 2 cents worth!

The Empathetic and Psychic - the difference thread was originally posted on 16 Nov 2004 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.