As I settled into my seat in the auditorium, the lady in the next seat 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 this meant famed psychic medium John Edward, who we’d come to see. "No, I’m a medium," I said. Her grey eyes popped open in surprise.

"My dear," she said, "if you’re already doing this, why would you want to come here?"

"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 over 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.

John came onstage to thunderous applause. Dressed casually in blue chinos and a beige button-down shirt, he greeted the audience warmly and for the next two hours, the sold-out crowd listened enrapt as he 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 on 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 act 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?"

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 reading, I always start with a prayer asking for the highest and best energies to help me deliver messages of love and hope.

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, which confuses the person receiving message. Sometimes spirit will over-express a symbol so the medium will get it, but that distortion ends up bewildering the client. For example, at a recent message event, 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. "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, no.

John wouldn’t let go. "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.

Afterward, my seat-mate asked, "So, did you learn anything? Are you glad you came?"

"Absolutely," I said with a smile...