Genetic inheritability of "psy" powers

Many people have described "psy" capabilities to me both on and off ATS. By "psy", I am specifically referring to things such as divination, remote viewing, astral projection, telepathy, and similar techniques not excluding physical events such as telekinesis, though I myself have never met a telekinetic human. One thing I've noted in my real-life encounters is that the majority of these gifted individuals are women. My mother swears she communicated with two deceased grandparents during dreams on two different occasions, and my sister has provided a multitude of interesting prophetic visions which have come true, also in dreams. (In case this is relevant, she is my younger sister, and I am the eldest son.) Last but certainly not least, tradition remembers oracles and seers of ancient times as stereotypically female.

So I pose two questions: are "psy" powers more common in women than men? Is this because of some draw the occult has on women, making them take dreams/visions more seriously, or is this because of some innate difference in attunement between the genders?

Secondly, are "psy" powers inheritable? Which factors make someone more or less likely to inherit the power? Is there a link between inheritance and its prominence in women?

For the record, I have no "psy" powers, and don't particularly want any. My family situation merely makes me wonder!

Good thread. Star and flag for you.

In general, I would say that paranormal "gifts" are more common among women. It's not that far off to say that women's intuition borders on precognition sometimes. In general they are more in tune with their emotions than men, and that may translate over into some kind of empathy. I recall reading somewhere about how things such as ESP -may- be a persons natural, instinctual reading of body language and micromovements that we only pick up on subconsciously. I think that that is a distinct possibility, but it doesn't explain the little things like knowing when a phone is going to ring, or knowing who is going to be on the phone before we answer. Those are some weird, and unexplainable, little quirks that I don't think anyone can explain.

As far as inheriting it, I'd say it's possible. My belief on paranormal abilities is that there has to be something in the body that creates an optimal environment for those kinds of gifts to manifest. Parents pass on many traits to their kids, so it makes sense that that would be one of them. I imagine that when these abilities pop up it has something to do with chemicals and processes that take place within the brain. Some may be born with ideal conditions for the abilities, while others have to train/meditate in order to achieve what comes naturally to the others. I'm not qualified to speak on that, but I've heard similar statements made by various researchers.

I do think that the modern paranormal scene preys on gullible housewives these days though. If someone has a book or a TV show to plug, their credibility goes out the window with me. And if a person became interested in the subject, and shortly after "discovered" they were psychic, I would take everything they say with a grain of salt. If the paranormal just seems to follow them around, and has been with them as long as anyone can remember, then I'd say there's definitely some sort of true sensitivity.

If indeed women are better at psy, then it must be on the x gene. We have two, suggesting the genes are not dominant most of the time. But with two x's the changes are bigger for women to have these genes.

Now what's really interesting is to know a) what psy qualities are exactly and b) where they are located in the chromosomes (and how the relate to other genes).

reply to post by pondrthis


I do not believe that psi is genetic personally. My family, and several friends' families do not possess any psi. As for the male to female ratio, I do believe women have more variation in their abilities due to the fact that me and my former boyfriends were not too variable, either empathic or clairvoyant. With my female friends, I notice that they have either 1. variability or 2. proficiency in their abilities. I am male, and the best I can do is get a slight reading of a person's aura when I speak with them, as I stated, not too powerful as compared to my friend's clairvoyance.

reply to post by pondrthis


From what I can gather, women are more in tune with the spiritual realm than men are because they are the creators of life in the Human Race.
Men are physically stronger but women are mentally, emotionally and spiritually stronger.

Since the conception of Christianity and Islam we have moved from a matriarch type society to putting emphasis on the dominance of Men (Patriarch).

I don't think that 'psy' powers are inherited. I think everyone has the ability but some are more in tune with their abilities than others. It's like every muscle; Use it or lose it.

My family (Mostly my aunt) have had some 'psychic' abilities or prophetic dreams when they were younger.
I have had several Astral Projections or O.B.Es. My father is big into spirituality as well and has had a lot of experiences while my mother has been told she is psychic and has *known* when something she has been waiting for will happen.

Originally posted by pondrthis
Many people have described "psy" capabilities to me both on and off ATS. By "psy", I am specifically referring to things such as divination, remote viewing, astral projection, telepathy, and similar techniques not excluding physical events such as telekinesis, though I myself have never met a telekinetic human. One thing I've noted in my real-life encounters is that the majority of these gifted individuals are women. My mother swears she communicated with two deceased grandparents during dreams on two different occasions, and my sister has provided a multitude of interesting prophetic visions which have come true, also in dreams. (In case this is relevant, she is my younger sister, and I am the eldest son.) Last but certainly not least, tradition remembers oracles and seers of ancient times as stereotypically female.

So I pose two questions: are "psy" powers more common in women than men? Is this because of some draw the occult has on women, making them take dreams/visions more seriously, or is this because of some innate difference in attunement between the genders?

Secondly, are "psy" powers inheritable? Which factors make someone more or less likely to inherit the power? Is there a link between inheritance and its prominence in women?

For the record, I have no "psy" powers, and don't particularly want any. My family situation merely makes me wonder!

Bah! In ancient times women were powerless. They were treated like animals - worse than animals. They needed something to give them protection - something that even brutal men would fear. That fear was in the unknown. Hence, psychic powers were born.

I think that this is an amazing observation.

I think that is is a dormant hereditary trait. My father was very aware of his time of death. He often saw massive hooded figures looming over him. It scared him so much so that he couldn't watch LOTR because of the hooded kings reminded him of the 'death' that followed him for 10+ years. He often told me how he knew that 2010 would be his last year and that it was. He passed November 23, 2010 and he knew it. I have only been with him once since and it was in a dream. My mother is very aware of the surrounding energies and creatures that are around. So am I. So does my sister. We are all very aware of our psy-like abilities. I know it runs in my family.

But I also know a lot of people who are the only ones out of their families (in recent generations) that possess abilities. I think it goes beyond genes and beyond our chromosomes, I think it 's goes all the way back to the origins of the souls that inhabit our current bodies. I honestly think it has a lot to do with how we take in information as well. If we are raised on fact and are not raised to question why, you fall into this group of people who are blind to everything that you cannot physically see or touch. The existence of these kind of skeptical minds, I feel, hold us back form our full potential.

Don't get me wrong, I think skepticism is great, I think that without it we wouldn't have any stories with real cited sources and photo/video evidence that we have in some cases. I think that if there were no skeptics everything would be noted as real and we'd lose ourselves in that world, for the worst. But I do think that it shouldn't be taken so seriously. I think that such extreme judgment and ridicule that has come from such skeptics is the main reason why so many people remain silent and keep their experiences to themselves, because they fear public humiliation. It's very hard to come out with a story that seems so outlandish to everyone else but you, yourself are certain it happened, and that is all. No pictures, no physical evidence, just the memories of it creeping around our mind. It's hard to tell your story when you first state that you're aware you have no physical evidence but you know it's true. I have actually been around many people like that, people that will say "you just said yourself there is no evidence, therefore we can dismiss it as a fabricated tall tale."

This is so frustrating to those of us who have had discussions trying to explain our abilities to someone who doesn't believe. For instance, I knew a guy who had psy-like powers who lived with his mother, who had none. She was also not only skeptical but down right dismissive even when things happened in front of her. But I digress.

I do think it lies dormant in all of us. I think people are raised to accept it or not. Women are often so in touch with their emotions that they can cause poltergeist like activity that it will come up out of no where when the setting is right. It's a matter of projecting energy in the right or wrong places.

So in the end, I do think that it is a dormant hereditary trait and that women are more likely to be aware of it than most men.

I would say that women are more inclined to psychic ability because we are taught that emotion, intuition, and empathy is the woman's role. Which I'm very content with and think we were idiots when we demanded to be "equal" to man. Man is not equal to a woman. He is less. We just bought into their propaganda. LOL.

I think that advanced or enhanced psychic ability is a combination of heredity, environment, and beliefs taught.

I'm seeing a trend here... Lol.
I, also, agree that "psy abilities" are somewhat/how hereditary. I was just talking about this with my sister yesterday, as a matter of fact.

We had a (another!) experience with the paranormal, and we were wondering why we were the only people in the house to notice it, then I told her that actually our 12 year old brother explained to me that he experiences lucid dreaming often (he didn't know what it was, though.)

We came to the conclusion that our souls were linked somehow, because we were all siblings.

And on another note, I do believe it is stronger in females/