As I settled into my seat in John Bassett Theatre in Metro Toronto Convention Centre, I smiled at the lady in the next seat, who had been gesturing to her friends sitting in the next row. I told her I loved the lovely Scottish lilt in her voice, and she smiled, admitting that she’d lived in Canada for over 40 years. Then she gestured to the words on my t-shirt: “RARE MEDIUM” – my sister, who sat beside me, wore a t-shirt saying “MEDIUM RARE” – and asked if I was alluding to famed psychic medium John Edward, who we had come to see. “No, I’m a medium,” I said. Her grey eyes popped open in surprise. “Don’t worry,” I said jokingly, “I’m not going to read you.” Then she told me why she was surprised to see me.

“My dear, if you’re already doing this” she said, in her soft Scottish burr, “why would you want to come to this?”

“Because,” I replied, feeling like an art student who’d been given a chance to watch Picasso in his studio, “I want to see the master at work.”

Even though I’ve been a psychic medium for more than 30 years, and have hosted dozens of message events around Toronto, I feel I can always learn more about my intuitive abilities, and the chance to see John Edward, one of the best mediums in the world, was too good to pass up. Unfortunately, tickets for the event had sold fast, and we had to settle for seats in row U. Still, I guess that was a bit better than row V. Thank goodness I’d brought binoculars!

But seating woes were forgotten when John came onstage to thunderous applause. Dressed casually in blue chinos and a beige button-down shirt, he greeted the audience warmly before sitting on a tall wooden stool onstage. He held a microphone as he talked to the crowd while four assistants ran up and down the aisles with microphones to find the people John was linking with.

And for the next two hours, the sold-out crowd of 1,300 listened enrapt as John delivered rapid-fire patter. But he did more than just deliver messages from spirit. He sprinkled his work with bits of insight, and I was glad he was taking time to educate the audience in regards to what message work is really all about.

For example, when he said, “You cannot change someone’s beliefs,” I was reminded of people who come to me for readings and sit across from my desk with their arms crossed over their chests like I’ve got to convince them the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Spirit isn’t out to convert people – they want to help those who are grieving, or connect with loved ones who have died.

“If you have an open mind, that’s okay,” he said. “But if you have a closed mind, why did you bother to come today?”

Later, he said, “If you want to develop as a psychic, I recommend meditation, prayer and protection.” I agree fully with that – in fact, before every class I teach, we always start with a prayer asking for the highest and best energies to help us develop our intuitive skills. And then my students meditate to help them link with their guides and higher energies so they can deliver messages of love and hope.

But what struck me the most is when he said, “Interpretation can skew the message.” We get information from spirit in flashes, he continued, and sometimes we inadvertently say things incorrectly, so the person receiving message gets confused about the evidence and doesn’t end up accepting the spirit person. You see, sometimes spirit will over-express a symbol so the medium will get it, but that distortion ends up confusing the client. For example, at one of my recent message events, spirit kept showing me a woman with a big hat. But the person I was linking with kept denying that her mother wore big hats. “She wore hats, but not big hats,” the woman said, then added, “Mom really loved wearing hats.”

John proved that point by going to a woman in the audience, saying, “I’m getting someone who died in a fire. Was that your husband?”

She shook her head.

“I smell smoke,” he said. “He died in a fire?”

Again, she shook her head.

John wouldn’t let go. “Yes, he’s showing me a fire. And the cause of death was a fire.”

“No,” the woman repeated, “he died in a hospital. He had third-degree burns.”

John nodded, proving his point.

After the show, my new Scottish friend asked, “So, did you learn anything? Are you glad you came?”

“Absolutely,” I said with a smile. The only thing that would’ve been better would’ve been to give him a copy of my book, Compassionate Messenger:  True Stories From A Psychic Medium.

If you have any questions or comments on this subject or on any spiritual matter, feel free to write me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . And please visit me again!