What is an empath keeps coming up for me so last Friday I posted the next three paragraphs to start discussing it. But then a friend’s post that made me stop and do a little more research.
An empath is a person who can understand, feel or sense, another person’s happiness or sadness within their own body generally speaking. It may be difficult to tell if you are feeling your own emotions or someone else’s. You may have the innate ability to deeply understand the people around you, as well as the people you are confronted with. You may perceive the underlying motivations of other people’s actions, their intentions, and their desires. You may have the ability to take on the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that others carry with them. Maybe more precisely you literally embody what is going on for other people, and the energy around them.
According to Judith Orloff, MD an expert in this field, the top 10 traits of an empath are: being highly sensitive nurturer, absorbing other people’s emotions, an introvert, highly intuitive, needing alone time to recharge, feeling overwhelmed in intimate relationships, a target for energy vampires, being replenished in nature, highly tuned senses that can frayed by too much stimulation, and they have huge hearts but give too much sometimes. Read her more in-depth thoughts here. https://drjudithorloff.com/top-10-traits-of-an-empath/
But that is not it, those are just some general qualities, there are actually 13 different types or categories of empaths!!
Wait, what there is more than one type of empath not just the list of characteristics that generally most empaths fit into?! When my friend Heather made a post about Geosenient empaths I had to know more. I knew that I could feel and was somehow connected to weather events, but I had no clue that was an actual subcategory of empath!! I mean I know some people are empathic to animals and also in my case plants.
So, I dove a little deeper and realized there are 13 categories of empaths: cognitive, affective (emotional), physical, intellectual, intuitive, animal, plant, environmental, geosentient (earth), spiritual, heyoka, telepathic, and compassionate.
cognitive empaths insert themselves into someone else reality to see things from the other person’s perspective. They have a high emotional intelligence, do not take on other’s emotions but reflect it outward, they can separate themselves from other’s emotions yet see other’s emotional conflicts from a different perspective and are very compassionate.
Affective or Emotional empaths they have the same abilities as a cognitive empath plus they sense and absorb the feelings of others, and feel them as well. They do not have to ask how someone is feeling, they see through the facade, and they just know. They often attracting narcissists or people with chronic pain to them. They get overwhelmed easily, do not like large crowds, have issues with intimate relationships, as they put the needs of others first.
Compassionate empath are called into action by the feelings of others. If they use their empathy correctly they are a huge help to others. IF not then they often confuse other’s feelings with their own.
Physical empath is one who will feel, sense or know where other’s aches, pains, or illness are present. Often this person is called a physical medium or intuitive. They can feel the same physical pain, symptom or issue in their own bodies. They can sense what others need in terms of healing. Energy workers often fall under this umbrella as well.
Intellectual empath these people find themselves quickly adapting to and then using different words, phrases, vocabulary or generally communicate differently with each person. Meaning if they interact with someone from the south they may quickly adapt to their vocal style, and terms, which creates rapport very quickly. This is not at all conscious, and it’s like a mirroring of others.
Intuitive/Claircognizant/Telepathic/Precognitive empath just knows things and knows what needs to be done! It could be something they have no way to know or see happen. They have precognitive dreams, that actually happen. They instantly know when someone is lying and can feel the other people’s intentions.
Animal empath these are the horse and dog whispers you’ve seen on tv and the internet. They can sense, feel, and experience what an animal is going through and needs. Generally, they love the animals they connect with, and prefer their company over humans. These are also the people animals are always drawn to.
Plant or Flora empath are not surprisingly strongly connected to plants and nature. They are often wonderful gardeners, who love being in nature, they know the uses and functions of plants and know how to handle the care of any plant. An example is they know what is edible, they know what is needed for ecological balance and sustainability. Think herbalists and aromatherapists.
Environmental or Psychometric empath intuitively senses what has happened, what will or may need to happen in a physical space. They can also read physical objects (psychometry.) When they enter a room or someplace new they will often understand what has taken place.
Earth or Geosenitient empath They pick up on the earth’s pain, are intuned with the earth, sometimes by physical symptoms appearing, others have a precognitive dream or just sense it. They know what a large storm, a flood, or some other natural disaster are coming days, weeks or even months ahead of time. They do not always know where or exactly what, just that it is coming. As soon as the event happens, the symptoms are relieved. Water energizes them and pollution exhausts them, makes them sick or depresses them. They may energetically feel a thunderstorm, revel in the beauty of the moon, , need to be near water, or and be sensitive to weather changes like having SAD, and the beauty of earth sustains and nourishes you.
Spiritual or Medium empath has a direct connection to those who have crossed over. Other abilities come into play with this one, as you will most likely be an intuitive, physical, affective or compassionate empath or psychic. All mediums are psychic, but not all psychics are mediums.
Heyoka is a Native American term that means ‘sacred clown’ or ‘fool.’ Heyoka is a term that is used to describe an empath that functions as a trickster, disruptor, or unconventional go-between, but not in a negative way. They use light humourous energies to open another person’s mind to heal, done in an almost joking manner. Heyoka may be the most spiritually attuned of all the empaths. They energetically move between the physical and spirit world, are mediums so they can communicate in both places. They do absorb emotions but act as a mirror to show others what they need to see about themselves or the other side of the coin. This type of empath sees life differently and understands how to shift people’s thinking to get them moving, shift energy and change perceptions and heal through chaos and disruption. But this type of healing isn’t easy, calm or peaceful. Although it is necessary to get people unstuck.
I am sure you found yourself in at least one if not more of these descriptions. That’s ok and my intuition says pretty typical for most empaths to fall under a few categories. Much like the 8 clairs (clairaudient, claircognizant, clairvoyance, clairsentient, clairtangency, clairempathy, clairsalience, and clairgustance) of being intuited everyone has strengths and weaknesses in different categories.
I hope that broke down all the ways you may be empathic! I’d love to hear if you have found other types or qualities of empaths.
Holistic Mystic D 
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