What is Psychic Smelling or Clairolfaction?
Extra-sensory olfactory perceptions are not only associated with supernatural and psychic phenomena, but can carry warnings and other meanings
Clairolfaction, also referred to by the terms clairolfactance, clairosmesis, clear smelling, psychic smelling, psychic scent, or olfactory mediumship, is an intuitive, extra-sensory gift that utilizes the perception of scents, that are not physically present, to receive messages from spirit guides and other spirit entities, verify information with the Unseen, or to gain insight from the past or foresee future events.
I'd like to clarify that the subject of this article does not pertain to phantosmia (commonly known as 'phantom smell'), a medical condition involving olfactory disorder. Instead, my focus here is on exploring the realm of unconventional, peculiar, or bizarre scent experiences reported by certain mediums, psychics, intuitives, shamanic practitioners, and healers (myself included).
As an animist medium, I first began experiencing psychic smelling abilities during my teens. Clairolfactance became the defining psychic skill that nudged me into occultic, shamanic, and witchcraft, ultimately shaping who I am, and my approach to animist spirit work to this day. While I occasionally was able to interpret the scent, which were usually divinatory or otherwise insightful, most of the time, I was unclear why I was experiencing this paranormal phenomenon, and it wasn’t until I was in my early adulthood until I decided to be proactive in learning and further cultivating this skill.
These were before the days of the internet and search engines, and no library nor metaphysical bookstore seemed to know what I was talking about, as I received many, many blank stares when I asked if they carried any titles on “psychic smelling”, “smelling things that aren’t there”, or “smelling beyond the physical”. This turned out to be a good thing, because I wound up needing to define spirit work, my boundaries around it, and the extra-sensory olfactory perceptions I was perceiving. I had both the blessing and the daunting task of figuring it out on my own (well, along with the spirits who were communicating with me through scent). By increasing my awareness, honing my psychic nose, shedding my habit of dissociation from my body, and developing my own inner scent glossary of psychic scents interpretation, I was able to hone the clairolfaction, bit by bit, with reliability and accuracy.
PSYCHIC SMELLING, METAPHYSICS, AND BIOLOGY
We absorb scent through our breath, making what we inhale inherently spiritual and intricately connected to the realm of mediumship, as breath (and scent) are largely invisible. The act of breathing becomes a natural conduit, intertwining our physical senses with the Unseen worlds, creating a connection between the physical and the metaphysical. In this way, clairolfactance or clear smelling is a specific psychic skill that functions as a direct encounter with Spirit.
As scents and odours, from a biological sense, are deeply primal and linked to our evolution and survival, be it is to avoiding eating foul food or non-food items, or how babies and young children emit a natural chemical, hexadecanal (also known as HEX), that make women more likely to defend their babies and men less likely to be aggressive with them, psychic smelling can build on this base layer that we all have to collect information and make decisions. Intuitive smell perceptions frequently accompany other psychic phenomena, including clairgustance (psychic taste) or clairvoyance (psychic sight), providing more detail and context, enhancing meaning, and generally a fuller connection with the deeper world.
COMMON PSYCHIC SCENTS AND WHAT THEY MEAN
In both my personal experience and professional practice working with clients, the most common occurrences of psychic smelling involve the scents of a deceased loved one’s favourite flower (often roses, lavender, neroli, or lilies), perfume and cologne, foods (such as grandma’s cookies), as well as incense, and tobacco smoke. These scents most often are from visiting ancestors or other spirit allies, and likely carry an affirming message such as “everything is going to be okay”, “you’re not alone”, carry an auspicious omen, or specific spirit guidance. The scents can be for the one experiencing the smell psychically, or the smeller can be smelling something on behalf of someone else, which can happen when I am engaged with clients during Shamanic Readings.
Less frequently, smell impressions can smell less pleasant and even unpleasant, such as the scents of dirty laundry, skunk, a burning substance (such as wood or rubber), grease, alcohol, vinegar, spoiled food or rotten meat. These often serve as warning messages, and often are asking us to pay attention to something or pivot our plans for the day. In some cases, they can also be indications that there is an unwell spirit (such as a haunting) around or poltergeist presence. For me, certain psychic aroma can be interpreted as energies of dishonesty or greed, though these smells are more feeling-based, and more fluid than fixed.
During rituals or ceremonial spells, where the magician or sorceress is evoking a spirit (summoning a spirit), there are instances where a sudden change in the environment’s scent can indicate the spirit’s arrival. (I go into this more in detail in my spellworkings series, Crafting the Arcane: Magickal Spells That Work).
There are also medical intuitives and medical mediums who practice medical olfaction, where scents associated with certain conditions or illness can be detected far earlier than any other lab work can. Not saying that psychic work can replace medical testing and treatment, clairolfaction is particularly meaningful in the realm of health and healing.
Since there are no universally applicable scents and corresponding meanings, the meaning for various scents is deeply personal, though personal symbolism relating to psychic smell can be cultivated and honed with accuracy through practice.
LEARNING PSYCHIC SMELLING
If you feel called to restore or deepen your connection with the Unseen, actively receive the support of your spirit allies, break negative patterns, and celebrate your path with confidence, consider studying at your own pace the MYSTERY MENTORSHIP, an in-depth online mystery school program that contain extended psychic courses. Open to practitioners and serious seekers, learn mysticism, animism and core shamanism, psychic skills, and magick through the guiding values of integrity, equity, depth, and efficacy.
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Wishing you all the auspicious scents,
Mimi
Animist spirit medium + founder of Ceremonie