Thomas John tells us what it’s like to be a psychic

Some are gifted with an eye for design, some have an ear for music and some are said to have extrasensory perception — the ability to see, hear and feel beyond the scope of us normal folks. Celebrity psychic Thomas John is one of these rare souls and is credited with predicting the split of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise as well as the deaths of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. On April 2, he comes to Philly for “An Evening With the Dead” and chats with us about the event and what it feels like to talk to dead people.

What’s the difference between a psychic and a medium?
A medium speaks to the dead and a psychic is somebody who connects with your energy and your aura and can see through about the past, present and future.

So you dive deeper because you do both?
Yes, correct.

When did you first discover your gift?
Well, when I was 5 years old I saw my dead grandfather. He started to visit me and then growing up, I saw things. I sensed things and I would tell my parents about it. And then it [the gift] sort of kind of went away and came back. I didn’t really realize what it was until I was probably actually in college.

What does it feel like when you connect with the dead?
I hear them. I feel them. I sense them. I get impressions from them. It’s all of that.

Why do the deceased want to connect with the living?
There’s a lot of different reasons why somebody who’s passed over may come through. They may want to communicate something about their life here, why something happened, explain themselves in some way. Sometimes they just want to validate that they are there and are a part of our lives.

If you want a vacation from all this, can you just shut it off at will?
I do disconnect energetically sometimes. I have rules with the spirit world so when I’m connecting with it, I can sense when I need to pull away. When I’m walking down the street, I can feel things but I have to concentrate in order to get a message through. I think it’s probably like anybody else: when you’re an artist, you see the world through art. When you’re a musician, you probably see the world a lot through music. This is part of how I view the world.

What can we expect from the event on April 2?
It’s a group event and I will pick people out of the audience and give them a reading. So everybody won’t get a message but you can also get messages indirectly. Sometimes I have people come up to me after and they say, “You didn’t give me a reading, but I learned something.”

If you go:
“An Evening with the Dead”
Sunday, April 2, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia Ethical Society
1906 Rittenhouse Square
$50-$125
phillyethics.org