So a couple of weeks ago I went to see
psychic medium John Edward. It wasn’t my preferred way to spend a Saturday
evening but I had bought my true-believer mum two tickets for her birthday and
she insisted that I accompany her, even though I had hoped my brother would go.
I was nervous in the lead up, which was
silly of course. It’s just that I was raised in a family that’s into this kind
of thing. Clairvoyants, tarot cards, astrology, superstitions and mediums are
all things the women, at least, in my family have visited, talked about or
studied. I grew up on tales of black magic and voodoo from Indonesia. My mother
will not take a knife from my hand [I have to place it on the bench and she
will take it from there] and will judge the merits of a new relationship based
on the couples’ star signs. My grandmother could ‘read’ a house and tell in an
instant if it was home to a positive or negative energy and knew every family
member’s Chinese astrological sign. The whole family could tell you earnestly
of crazy stories connecting them to loved ones who have passed and we all
believe in the soul.
So I’m an almost believer. I reckon I’m
about 85% convinced that this shit is real.
The other 15% is unconvinced. But then, I’m a Gemini so that makes me a
hedge-better by nature. Anyway, it’s the 85% of me that was really nervous to
go. I have seen Crossing Over so I know how John reads a crowd. There’s a lot
of questioning to a particular area in the audience with what seems like
specifics. He may say a name, a feminine/masculine energy, a cause of death or
a date and someone in that area speak up and then we’re on. Once he’s homed in
on someone he appears to become very specific with what he calls ‘validations’.
And it’s about here that a skeptic COULD be validated. The ‘specifics’ that
John reads were simultaneously spot-on and a lucky guess. That sounds weak,
even to me but it seriously swings both ways – just like my opinion on all
this.
The thing is – I WANT to believe. And
that’s ultimately the crux of it, I guess. Everyone in that audience was there because
they wanted to believe. They wanted answers. They wanted closure. Although as
John himself so eloquently put it, they – we – were there for ‘connection’ not
‘closure’. Even the obtuse man who was brought along by his wife and initially
refused to answer any of John’s quite specific and direct questions, ended up
getting more out of it than anyone else once it became apparent that John was
either truly getting messages from the bloke’s dead mother OR he was
breathtakingly talented at reading this guy.
And that’s what I took away from it.
Whether John Edward is indeed a psychic medium or not, he is incredibly
intelligent. His insight and empathy is so spot on that I was floored. He used
his skill [whatever you believe that may be] to counsel these people through
some horrific circumstances of grief, loss, survival and life. I was fascinated
to watch him essentially conduct a public therapy session with the members of
the audience that the dead had messages for. He knew how far to push, what
questions to ask and could deliver a piece of advice so specific to that person
that you could see the clarity rise like a dawn on their face while the rest of
us were collectively shrugging our shoulders in the international gesture of
‘huh??’
John uses a great analogy for the spiritual
energy of our departed. “Think of a helicopter. While it’s stationary you can
see the blades. Once it takes off, you can no longer see them – but you know
they’re still there… a bit like the internet. You know it exists but you can’t
visit. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. Most of us can’t even explain it.
It’s just there.”
Is it all for real? I still don’t know for
sure, but in my heart I feel like it is.
Do you believe?
