John Edward is one of the best-known psychic mediums in the world. His full name is John Edward McGee, Jr., and he was born October 19, 1969. John Edward and his psychic skills are all over the place–he’s probably best known as a television personality, a frequent guest on talk shows and various TV programs of his own. Technically, John Edward is a “psychic medium,” which means he gets his psychic powers by communicating with the deceased–hence the name “medium.” Think of him as a middle man between the dead and the living. John Edwards gained notoriety mostly for his two TV shows: Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country, though his appearances on talk shows and with famous news personalities, including a famous psychic reading with CNN maven Anderson Cooper, have brought him plenty of fame as well.
John Edward: His Psychic Website, YouTube Videos, and Facebook
John Edward says that his first experiences as a psychic medium came as a very young child in the suburb Glen Cove, New York. Though Edward didn’t write his first book about his experiences as a psychic medium until 1998, John Edward spent basically his entire life communicating with the dead. John Edward became really well-known, and a little bit controversial, when his shows started appearing on the SciFi Channel in July 2000. John Edward has since moved to the We TV network, airing consistently on that channel since May of 2006.
John Edward is a multiple New York Times bestselling writer–it seems like any book with his name and picture on it is an instant best-seller. And for good reason; Edward’s powers are convincing, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a handsome guy, displaying tons of confidence and charm.
So where did Edward’s abilities come from? John Edward was the child of a working-class family, both of his parents were devout Roman Catholics. John Edward eventually rejected that religion, though he says his first close experiences with God came from his time in the church. Speaking with Anderson Cooper about his own psychic medium abilities, Andrews said “This is something that is driven by a belief in God. It’s the energy from that force that I think allows us to create this energy.”
John Edward’s Path to Becoming a Psychic Medium
Edward’s books tell of a child battling with lots of internal doubt. At age 15, having communicated with the dead for a decade already, he had a psychic reading of his own. In a 2002 interview with USA Today, Edward said, “[The psychic reader] told me I would one day become internationally known for my psychic abilities through lectures, books, radio and TV. I thought she was full of it until she started to tell me things no one in my life knew about… The details were unbelievable.” Kind of spooky when you think about it–the psychic medium Edwards visited at the age of 15 was able to predict exactly the kind of fame he has found, as an international psychic medium writing books, giving interviews, and hosting TV shows.
Before he published his first book, One Last Time, Edward was working as a phlebotomist and studying for a degree in health care administration at Long Island University. Edward also worked as a ballroom dancing instructor and was highly competitive in the ballroom dancing circuit, before abandoning that hobby to work full-time as a medium
John Edward on YouTube
This YouTube clip of John Edward giving a reading to Anderson Cooper is a perfect microcosm of his typical style. It’s fun to watch Anderson Cooper, a personality we all know and trust from the TV news, hearing Edward’s reading and admitting that Edward “hit the nail on the head” on several things. Check out this clip for an example of Edward’s standard psychic medium style, which is a bit different from the way most psychics do business.
When John Edward says, early in this clip, that he “gets in the middle of what’s already there,” he perfectly encapsulates his philosophy about the activity of psychics and other spiritual mystics. Rather than claiming to communicate directly with the dead, Edward hints that is able to temporarily step into conversations already taking place. It’s as though Edward is able to peek into the world of the dead for just a second, pick up a few words or sentences of a conversation already taking place, and pop back to the land of the living and let us know what he heard.
It’s clear from watching this clip that Cooper is fairly skeptical, and even though this YouTube video is just a teaser from a much longer reading, as Cooper listens to what Edward has to say, you can see the eerie nature of Edward’s abilities affecting him. When John Edward describes Cooper’s dad’s family farm in Mississippi, all Cooper can do is laugh to himself and cover his face, almost in disbelief.
John Edward’s Website
The official John Edward Website, johnedward.net, is a really humble affair, consisting mostly of scheduled tour dates, information on how to get private readings with Edward, and links to his books for sale at Amazon and other retailers. The site also includes some video clips of Edward that rotate every now and then. As of this writing, the home page features a “lighthouse meditation” clip from YouTube, which is a short clip meant to help people quickly meditate and center their minds. At the end of the clip, viewers are urged to “state [their] intention,” the point of which isn’t explicitly outlined. The assumption is that by clearing your mind and listening to the calm sounds and watching the relaxing video can help you achieve your intended goal. This is pretty far outside the realm of most psychic mediums, and is a further sign that Edward is moving away from work as a psychic medium and more towards New Age philosophy.
So what does the future hold for John Edward? His Facebook page is a good place to get up-to-date information on what he’s up to. Right now he’s on tour, promoting a new book, this time a work of fiction about the end of the world. John Edward is still recording material for his TV shows and promoting his books, but he’s not in the limelight these days as much as he was even five years ago. It appears that Edward’s career is in transition, but his fans have a lot to look forward to. A new book deal, more episodes of his popular TV show, and plentiful YouTube clips of Edward doing psychic readings with famous people indicate that while Edward may be moving away from traditional psychic readings and medium work, he’s still planning on being an active part of the psychic community. For more information on John Edward, check out JohnEdward.net and follow him on Facebook.