If a phenomena that keeps happening or occurring, such as a significant dream that is the same every time. You keep feeling the nudge. Psychic ability begins as an intuition; knowing I should do this. It is psychic [when it becomes] the secondary ability to use intuition and make it work for you. If it is frequent, keeps happening, consider it seriously. When that occurs, take a workshop and seek guidance.

Same dream? If itÆs the same dream, something is happening. Consider warnings of physical illness; for example, if I dream of water up to my neck, IÆve learned to know that my bronchitis is kicking in.

ItÆs a sensitivity or an awareness. Mine just happens to be heightened.

I believe family and friends are there to greet you. You hear many psychics, mediums give their thoughts on what they think happens. I donÆt know. To answer such questions- I think we are always greeted by someone. In my book, I talk about death bed visions -- it happens all the time. Why are they calling on people who have passed away rather than concentrating on last moments with those at their bedside? I believe our dead are always there to help you go home.

I think you can do what you want. Smoke, not smoke. I think the other side is all thought related. Like Robin Williams portrayed in What Dreams May Come. I think it is whatever you want it to be, and it is unique to each person.

They will come through to me so that you will know who it is. I have a friend who is a psychic artist. She will start drawing as she gives you other validations, and sheÆll turn the picture around and thereÆs your dad! But it may be that he comes through as he looked when he was in the military, if thatÆs a picture you have of him. Or when he passed, if that was impressed upon you. That ability is really amazing, by the way. The woman I know in Massachusetts was already an artist, and then they started to come through her. I saw an awful lot of that [psychic artistry] in England, too.

Which is weird, because spiritualism started here, in New York.

John, George, James [Van Praagh] - I joke that if youÆre a male from our area and your name starts with a "j" sound, youÆre a medium! But the stuff I saw in England- I was so lucky to go there and be trained by professionals. I thought, "If IÆm going to do this, I want to do it right. I donÆt want to go back to the type of ridicule I felt during my childhood." And so I strive for evidence. People ask, "Can you prove it to me?" I cannot prove it to you. All I can do is give the best evidence possible. You walk away saying, "How could he know that?" Or I talk about things you know nothing about; information about your girlfriendÆs mother -- you check it out. Then you know. I worked for nine years doing two jobs until Suzane said, "You have to quit one of them. Where do you want this to go, what do you want to do with it?" IÆll never forget the day I made the appointment to meet her - I was so nervous! IÆll never forget her impact on my life. For nine years, I would do my day job and then do sittings. It was taking its toll. Especially doing sittings in my home all the time. But I was fortunate that I never had an incident where someone freaked out or followed me around, stalking me. I lived on east coast, as you mentioned, and then went to LA, then moved back. I started doing group readings at a book shop. I told the owner, I said, "I hate to be in front of people, so I need to practice. Can I do it here?" I did a workshop with 35 people; it kept selling out and thatÆs how it started. We signed a contract and in a little bookstore that comfortably held 40, we went to 100, sold out. Went to 250. Now some people say I have too many.

2,000 [laughs]. I donÆt mind the 250 groups, although I just did 360 and found out that was okay, too. I have a two-year wait list, over two years. So I do groups of eight now, where they have me for two to three hours, so I can reach more people. It works; itÆs intimate, people get along. But those really drain me. They are very mediumship intense. But I will always do one-on-ones.

The account of the little boy in the wheelchair? Touching story. Johnny came through. I asked, "Why is he out of his chair, whatÆs the significance about that?" Sure enough, on the gravestone the wheelchair is behind him and the little boy is walking with the hand of God. That really got me.

By?

Totally. I know they can set up things. I feel they can "influence" versus "control" - they donÆt take possession of you or anything like that. But they can put you in the right place.

Yes. After the [car] accident, it started. I knew things. It kept happening. I got so many validations at the hotel bar I worked at that. The hotel gave me my own section of their newsletter: entitled: JohnÆs predictions. I was excited and confused: why is this all happening now? I traced it back to the accident. An accident or trauma changes you. A car accident; you can experience that and feel sorry for yourself or you can believe it happened for a reason. You have the free will to deal with it as it happens and decide what it will mean.

I read as many books as I could get my hands on and also had a great colleague, Vincent J. Barra, who helped me discover and explore my abilities. He was a great friend and colleague at the time since he too was a psychic for over 25 years. I also started to meditate more and join study groups. which I encourage so you can have the support of others to share experiences. Then when the mediumship started to happen, I went to England to study with the mediums there.

I think everybody does, to some extent. WeÆre all born with intuitive ability. ItÆs been practiced in the East with kids for centuries, but weÆre raised in the West and we go to school, and - Ignorance, too, can be a barrier. Some people have a fear of this and they push it away. Hollywood made it into woo-woo. WeÆre all born with intuitive psychic ability, but- everyone can learn to play the piano, but not everyone is going to be a pianist. We have the talent for the gift to a lesser or greater degree, and that talent is honed with education and experience.

Yes, or weÆll explain it all away, trust me. YouÆll smell roses in the winter and say, "Oh, it must be an air freshener from next door." Being human, we try to say, "Oh, this canÆt be." People say, "How do you get this power?" and I think IÆm talking to a wall. I have a talent for mediumship, yes, but IÆm consciously doing something with it.

By knowing how it works. By knowing the mechanics of mediumship. IÆve learned how to turn it on and how to shut if off. It would take a strong spirit to overcome that. Because if IÆm in a restaurant and I get a nudge, what am I supposed to do, walk across the room to a person dining and say, "Hey, your motherÆs coming through?" I wouldnÆt do that to a person. If I was at a party and a guy walks in a door and his dead brother walks in with him, am I supposed to walk up to that guy and say, "Hey, your brotherÆs with you"? I leave it up to the spirit. I say, "Hey, you want to make a connection with your brother, you make it happen! Let someone talk to him about psychic ability or tarot or talk about the subject and then I can get in there. If you want to contact your brother, you set up the situation and then IÆll do it, but I am not walking in there cold."

Usually, yes. If someone in your life had a big mouth here, they have it over there and it helps me, trust me. Sometimes IÆll get someone who is so talkative, and the son will say, "Why is my dad so talkative? He was always so quiet!" And IÆll say, "Maybe itÆs because now he can get a word in!" But when people pass, they donÆt change. They donÆt suddenly have these exalted powers. So I tell somebody, "If your dad was cranky, thatÆs how theyÆll come through to show a personality for validation."

First question: your dad could be on his own journey now. I think he knows you love him and youÆve heard from who youÆre supposed to hear from. People ask me if their loved one has reincarnated. I had this woman call me once who said, "John, my husband just died and I want to know who he is and where he is!" I said, "Why? Are you going to go and get him?" I donÆt have that kind of power, to know who he is if or when he is reincarnated, or where he is. So your dad could be off doing his own thing. Second part of your question: When I do this, I usually know if this is an older person. Everyone knows how John [Edward] works- and I had this one woman who, for her, I wasnÆt going fast enough and she got all [visibly irritated] and she said, "Is he below me or beside me?" And I said, "You watch John on TV-". IÆll know if itÆs a brother. I get the information. If youÆre sitting next to me, IÆll hear "brother, brother," but I donÆt know if itÆs your brother or your fatherÆs brother. So I have to ask, "Did you lose your brother?" And then usually I know what side of the family itÆs on. So I feel it in an innate, kind of way.

So- did somebody work on a train? I keep seeing train-tracks. How is a train connected to you?"

In a car. Now see, thatÆs specific.

My data bank? HereÆs the medium, hereÆs the spirit: How can we get him to say Salmunento? Well, he knows the name Sal Mineo, letÆs impress him with this.

What everybody else felt. I did an interview and the interviewer asked, "Why didnÆt you know about this in advance?" And I told her, "Because IÆm not God. IÆm not the person who knows everything." I felt that pit in my stomach like everybody else did. Maybe I felt it more so- like somebody punched me in the stomach. Remember the Challenger? IÆm an upbeat person, but I was so depressed a person for a week before that. I go into- not a depression, but IÆm so down. I think the same thing happened on September 11^th.

I didnÆt go to the site- just in case, you know what I mean? But New York itself is a systems overload for me. I can feel hundreds of voices in that city. I feel all that energy. I could never live there.

How long do you think a person should wait after a loved ones death to contact them?

Good question. Going to a medium should not be seen as a cure for the bereavement process. You have to go through the stages - have to. If you want to come see me afterwards, fine. I think three to six months. Give them a chance to know what theyÆre doing, because remember- they have to learn how to do this, too. We have you, we have a medium, they realize they have a human antennae, but how does it work? They have to learn how to work with us. Who has the poodle dog?

Poodle. I donÆt know who it belongs to. A little dog, a foo-foo dog, a lap dog. ItÆs over by you.

WhoÆs Rose?

With the dog?

As an option. We donÆt deal with death as a society anymore. We donÆt see the natural progression in life; we put our elderly in nursing homes and then donÆt discuss death. WhatÆs with peanut butter, ReesesÆs cups? WhatÆs that with you?

That makes sense to you?

No. People always think your loved ones are around you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But it takes a lot of energy for them to come to us. They are operating at a higher level of frequency, and they have to lower their energy to come to us, to come through a medium in a way we can read. It takes a lot of work for them.

There are groupies, mediumship junkies who need it desperately. If you went to a medium last week and then came to see me, the last meeting may have had a lot of information that I could have used, that is already told. Unless youÆre trying to study it-

Not really. I watch for audience response. I see some of them who are general, some are specific. I mean, a train, ReeseÆs peanut butter cups. Some people take it in stride and it means nothing to them. Others-.