It's not everyday that one gets to chat with the executive producer and creator of a hit series, but imagine having the opportunity to chat with one of the world's most famous psychic/mediums. I was fortunate enough to chat with James Van Praagh, and instantly I was captivated by his charismatic and down-to-earth (no pun intended) nature. From the time he was a young boy, James knew he was different, he knew he had a gift and has spent his entire life helping others find comfort and understanding from loved ones who have passed on.

From creating hit television series such as Ghost Whisperer and helping others reach their loved ones to teaching mediumship classes and hosting monthly healing circles, James continues his journey through the world of metaphysics while helping thousands of souls along the way.

Q: When did you realize the full extent of your gift?

James: "When I was a kid, I used to see spirits all the time. I used to see lights around people, which of course is their aura. As a kid, I thought it was normal and natural, but the other kids made fun of me. My mother would tell be, 'James, you can't say things like that around other people because they don't all see it.' When I was a little boy, I would say my prayers (I was raised Catholic) and I'd ask my mother who those light people were at the edge of the bed and she would tell me they were God's angels. That was one of the first experiences I had as a child.

One Saturday morning I was asking God to show himself. While other kids were watching cartoons, I was asking God to show himself.

I was lying there for about two hours and I had this experience where the ceiling turned very, very light and there was a hand, an open palm with light emanating from it. It was almost like a knowingness, it was an energy of love and it was something I recognized. It was a pure sense of complete love. It was my first clairvoyant experience as a kid.

I went to a seminary at age 14 and at the end of the first year, I went to this room where you were supposed to pray for a half an hour and I just started meditating. It was amazing because I remember hearing a voice saying to me that God was bigger than these four walls and I said Ok, I'm outta here! I left and went to public school after that. Then it stopped happening during my teenage years.

I went to school and pursued an interest in writing. I had a degree in Broadcasting from San Francisco State, moved to L.A. and was promised a job on the Hill Street Blues show. I saved all my money up, bought a car and drove cross-country to L.A. and once I got there, they told me whoever promised me that job was not correct, they were wrong. So, I was literally stuck in a foreign city, didn't know anybody and had no money. I got a job as a production runner and then got a temporary job. A lady that worked there named Carol Shumaker asked if I wanted to go see a Medium. I told her I really didn't believe in that sort of thing. To humor her, I went to see this man. As soon as I walked through the door, he said to me, 'You, you're a psychic, you're a medium. In two years time, they're going to give you messages and help you communicate.' I was so impressed by what he told me that I started reading as many books as I could find. I started meditating and within two weeks, I started seeing lights around people again like I did as a child.

I got a job at Paramount Studios in the contract department and I asked this girl about this lady behind her. I said to her, 'There's a lady behind you and she's telepathically giving me thoughts about a house in Idaho, a yellow house with white shutters and a needlepoint.' The girl freaked out and said it was her grandmother and that was her house in Idaho and she taught her how to needlepoint. She told me that her grandmother had told her that when she passes away that if there was a way for her to tell her she loved her, she would. I freaked out, literally ran home and called that medium to find out what the heck just happened. He told me, 'James, don't you remember, it was two years ago that the spirit people predicted this.' And it was exactly two years to the day."

Q: Were there any family members that had/has the same gift?

James: "Yes, my grandmother on my father's side used to read tea leaves when I was a kid. My grandfather on my mother's side was very psychic....he didn't call it that because he was very Catholic. They were from Ireland and England, so they had the whole British Isle thing going on. My sister, if she concentrates, has spirits that show up in photographs."

Q: Do you think it's hereditary?

James: "I think there is a factor of it that is. Not all of it, but a part of it is genetic."

Q: What do you believe is the source of your power/gift?

James: "God. Love. Pure Love. I think it's connected to that oneness, that love energy. We're all made of God. Before I go to work, I meditate and I go into what they call the zone and I get into what they call my higher self and I just open myself up to that knowingness, that light, that dimension and I receive that information."

Q: How are you able to read people over the phone?

James: "I put myself into the zone beforehand. If I do a radio show or Larry King, I'll meditate for 10 minutes before the show and I'll be in the zone and what happens is, I'm able to read the vibrations of their voice. As soon as I hear the vibration of their voice, I'm able to tune right in. I can tell them if there's a mother energy around them, a father energy, a grandparent energy, a child energy, animal....I just feel that energy that's there. We're not limited to the physical body. Then I just tune into that I become very receptive and I hear the messages."

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