Barrie John is an award winning Medium and TV Presenter from the UK. He has been a guest psychic on the UK show "Most Haunted." His fame has grown and expanded to the USA and further afield. Even as a child Barrie knew their was life after death. His family spoke of "Table Tipping" and other paranormal stories about communicating with the dead. Because of this he was able to nurture his ability rather than hide it from the world.

Barrie your family has been interested in the paranormal for generations, how did that effect you growing up? Were you ever fearful of the paranormal or has this always been comforting?

I used to love all the stories that the family used to tell me when I was younger, my grandmother used to read tea leaves and give messages and my own mother used to always have a very intuitive feeling for things. We would talk for hours about the family trying to contact loved ones during the 2nd World War. My grandmother lost 2 brothers during the war, and the family used to speak to them via table tipping in the old family home.

Do you still use the Tarot or any other tools?

I still use Tarot cards for readings for people, however some people are afraid of the pictures on them, as some of them can show death and the hanged man etc. So now I tend to use Angel Cards or Ribbons. As you can imagine I work with many tools during my work, but it really does depend what a sitter wants from me in terms of a reading. I try to let the sitter guide me to what they want, rather then me assume what they want. For physical mediumship I work with Psychic Trumpets and also closed cabinets etc, and for the Paranormal investigations we use a lot of tools, from EMF meters to pendulums and tables etc.

What you do sounds like such fun. Being a Medium you talk to those who have crossed over and spirits. Do you remember ever pasting on a message that was intense and emotional for you personally?

Oh yes, this really does touch my heart deeply. I remember a young lady coming to see me once and we contacted her mother, she lost her mother at a very young age and it really did touch me as she was so heartbroken in hearing from her mum and also of the information that her mum was giving.  As many people know I lost my mother some 7 years ago, and it really does cut you deep when it happens, but this is were we need appreciate every second of our lives with our loved ones. When they are gone it is hard to think about what you would have done and what you wanted to do with them. Loved ones will always come around you and will always support you, I believe that they are only a thought away but you need to recognize them when they come forward and want to help you. Sometimes we assume that this is our imagination and not our true instincts. I believe that to be a medium you must have be able to sympathize with others, in my view the experience of life counts for a lot. You can never truly experience someones else’s pain until you have gone through it yourself.

It seems as though you are a very compassionate and emotional sensitive medium. How do you separate your feelings from the spirits and the person who wants you to contact the spirit?

This is something that you know deep inside, we also teach people how to identify this from the first stages of mediumship such as awareness and the difference between gut feelings and instincts. Being a medium doesn’t mean being a counselor, you have to understand that people come to us in times of need and we must identify the reasons. You also have to know when to tell people that you cant help them anymore and that they need to seek other professional advice. I don’t like people to keep coming back to me on a regular basis as it means that they are searching for something. People need to go through life, life is a lesson to be learned, mediums don’t hold all the answers. Emotions can be hard to deal with at times both from the spirit world and also from the sitters, we all have emotions (even me) and we have to separate them from our private readings.

Thank you. Your words are so true. Are you always tuned in to the spirit world or can you disconnect when you need to?

I am always tuned into spirit, but I choose when I want to work with them and when is a suitable time to pass on messages. As mediums we cant just go around passing on messages to people in our normal lives we have to be able to do this professionally. I always tell spirit when I am working and when I am not. We all need to have a rest at times, even us mediums. To disconnect from spirit I just imagine that I am putting up a closed sign they know this of me and I have always been able to control them in terms of when I work. I always used to say to spirit you need to give me rest time too, otherwise I cant work with you.

In your work are you ever psychic? Or use psychic abilities?

I think as mediums we all use an element of Psychism, we need to be able to work with people and pick up on their energy. I suppose it depends really on how spirit want to work with us. Sometimes we have to work psychically but then other times we just have to pass on messages which we already know. I always allow spirit to work the way they want to work. 
It sounds like you love what you do! So, what is the best part of being a Medium?

The best part of being a Medium is being to help and support people, I support many charities and also many other people. Being a medium isn’t all about take, take, take, its about giving to. If I can help raise monies or funds for charity then I will do it for them.

Please visit Barrie John at www.barriejohn.com to find out where you can catch him next!