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Thomas John will read from his "Never Argue with a Dead Person: True and Unbelievable Stories from the Other Side" on March 22 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Barnes & Noble.
(SUBMITTED)
HOLYOKE - Thomas John will read from his "Never Argue with a Dead Person: True and Unbelievable Stories from the Other Side" on March 22, from 2 to 5 p.m., at Barnes & Noble. However, since this Massachusetts born author is also a well known national medium, John will do several, short psychic reading demonstrations with interested audience members.
The 30-year-old Manhattan residence who lived for a time in Chicopee, and Brimfield, after his parents divorced, has used his mediumship abilities to do readings for celebrities, such as Jennifer Lopez, as well as for people who lost loved ones in New York's recent Metro-North train disaster and in the 2012 school shootings in Newton, Conn. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of Chicago, and did a internship related to his field of study at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
"When I connect with people who are no longer here," said John of what happens during a person's psychic reading, "it is pretty much someone I see around them. Somebody I feel around them. Somebody who has passed away and has a message. Sometimes I feel things about what might happen in that person's life in the future."
John said the title of his book comes from one of its stories, and its aim is to be catchy as well as to quell fears and the concerns of skeptics. He added, as a medium, he is "not here to change a person's beliefs or religion."
"When people come over from the other side, some people get scared or think it is a bad thing," John said. "The people from the other side want nothing but good for us. They only want to help us. They have more insight into things than we might have. They act from a place of guidance and not ego."
As a medium, John views himself as a "bridge to the other side." As a psychic and clairvoyant, he uses his "intuition and higher knowing" to enhance what he receives as a medium.
"There is a little bit of a blurred line, but not everyone who is a psychic is a medium," John said. "A psychic may help with giving meaning about things, but speaking with a relative who is no longer there and who is saying they are OK with having been taken off life support, that is more of a medium thing."
John said he "saw things" as a child, but that he did not pursue his mediumship skills until much later.
"I would get messages from my father's father and he died before I was born," John said. "As a boy of 6, my grandfather would visit me and tell me things to tell my father. My parents were weirded out, but I didn't realize, as a child, this was different. It wasn't until it kicked in with me that this was not something everybody had and I sort of shut it down. Later, some people close to me died and I started to get messages and insights from them and this got me back on a spiritual path with things."
John says the readings he does provide people "who are open" with answers they do not get in therapy or support groups.
"Grief is a powerful emotion. People who lose their children, their parents, they need to make connections," John said. "People want to know their kids are OK. They want to know what their last moments were like. They are in pain. They want to connect with the spirit world. This is not something they can get from therapy."
John said he advises, though does not insist, people wait three months after a death before doing a reading.
"This is not because of the spirit world, but to make sure people coming to sit with me are not too deep in the grieving process that they will be sobbing. This is not grief therapy," said John, who also does readings by phone. "A reading can be very emotional and the connection can't be made if people are not ready. They have to be ready and open to both the positive and negative. For example, why did a husband commit suicide? I don't censor or change information."
Prior to a reading, John said he asks core questions related to expectations, and stresses the importance of being open minded to whoever appears from the other side.
"Every reading is a little bit different. I tell people to suspend all expectations, don't make any assumptions and go with an open mind to see what happens," John said. "There can be a lot of closure, but there are different steps. The first is validation. Everyone has a grandmother, but to sit and say your grandmother loved you and she is here. She had a wooden leg and liked to collect caterpillars and had a pink Afghan. This makes an immediate connection. Once I know who I have, the answers to questions come forward."
John said he does not normally see an "actual body."
"I usually see a light form, feel sensations, hear sounds," John said."They are not always in a body, but can be. They show up in a way you are going to recognize and understand them."
Does his work as a psychic medium make him feel encouraged about life after death?
"I definitely believe there is an other side," John said of death. "But no one actually knows what it is. They say they do, but no one can possible know until they go over there. It makes me hopeful that people are open to changing and spirits coming through and offering information. But we don't have all the answers."