James Van Praagh

So as a medium, my job is really working for the spirit world, not for the humans. I'm really working for them. Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name. I'm very excited today because we've never had a guest quite like this one. I'm talking about James Von Praag The world famous spiritual medium And best selling author I love his book, Talking to Heaven And I had the honor of making a film With my wife Mary Based on his life So I got to spend a lot of time with James Wherever you land on the subject of spirituality And our ability to communicate with the beyond I think we can all learn something from this So please take a breath and see for yourself. Here's James Von Progg. Just so you know, Mary, which we'll bring up a lot. My wife, Mary Steenburgen, for everyone who tunes in ever knows that, because I talk about her all the time, but sends her love. Thank you, and I send it back. And she's the reason why we're sitting here. Yeah, it's a weird story. It's a weird story. Can we just establish how weird we're going to go? Can I just quickly tell that part? Yeah. You know the part about the airplane. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mary's on an airplane. How many years ago? And she never talks to people. And it was like her father pushed her. Yep. Or Thea. Or Thea. I think probably. And it was how many years? That was 2001, maybe? 2002. And you're right. She loves the airplane because she can do nothing and be answerable to nothing. No kid or husband can reach her. Right. How are the kids, by the way? Everybody's fantastic, including grandchildren, five of which we have. Congratulations. Just delicious. And congratulations on a humanitarian award you guys got. Thank you. I saw that. Congratulations. Thank you very much. And I loved you playing in a good place. Good boy. Yeah. Hey. I think Mike sure got it right. Pretty good. It's pretty good. Anyway. Very good. So Mary's sitting there and she, some, not a voice, It's her voice in her head, but one part of her brain says, hey, talk to the man next to you. And she, no, it's the last thing I want to do. Talk to the man next to you. Okay. So she says, what kind of computer is that? You know, lame. And he says, I'm so glad you started to talk to me because I actually have a script that I wanted to send to you. I said, oh. Tell me about it. And he told her about his script and her brain goes, nope, that's not it. She said, well, what else are you working on? Well, I just optioned a book by James Von Prague, Talking to Heaven. Yeah. Yeah. And the voice went, yep, that's it. And by the end of the conversation, she said, can you get me in touch with James Von Prague? Right. And then she calls and you said something like, you know, oh, they told me you were coming or something. Oh, really? of that. Something, I thought. Anyway. That's how we got together. Those things happen. Yeah. And I did, went and did a meeting at your house. Many meetings because we also, I think it happened first that No, no, no, the other way around. No, no, no, no, no way to do this. I don't know if you know this, but I remember, because I don't remember a lot of stuff that comes through, but I do remember your dad came through. It was the first time we were together at your house, and you said to me before, And, you know, I don't really believe this. It's okay. It's all right. Just enjoy it. And you were sitting there and you were on an ottoman, I think, right in front of me. And there are other people there, which I didn't know anyone. I did my thing and your father came through. Yeah. And I do remember he was wearing a herringbone jacket and he said about the fireplace. And you went, oh, and you fell off the ottoman. I thought, oh, wow. What did I do? What has this happened here? And after we're done, you told me about when you come home from work every day. And you told me that made sense. And I said, wow. Next day, I get a phone call from the producer. okay and he said you know we're having trouble casting the miniseries i said really he goes yeah you know um les moonvez is thinking that a couple more people uh one guy you know he's did becker and like ted dansman he goes yeah and i said come on he goes no i said i was just with ted and he goes can you talk to i said no i can't on the cross that one but that was that's how that how that things work out. It's so incredible. So we hung out a lot. I was around you for many evenings in kind of preparation for, or just the luxury of being able to be around you because we were about to do a film loosely based on your life. And I'm going to leave it there. Then there's other stories that I do want to tell later on. But just so we're all on the same page. What is a medium? Tell me your process so that everyone understands what we're talking about. Okay. So a medium is someone, and we're all sensitives, is someone who's very sensitive to, if you will, energies. Right? We're all energy. So a medium is able to attune themselves to a frequency, which is outside kind of the physical range. And that's attuning yourself to just higher frequencies, feelings, sensitivity. and as I developed as a medium for seven years, I used to sit in the quiet and it's called Development Circle. And I sit every Tuesday night with other people that were developing their psychic abilities, their intuitive selves, their psychic self. And I just sit there in the quiet and let your soul kind of empowerment, I guess you would say, best words. Sometimes there are no words that could describe it. And really they're attuning you, the spirit people, your guides, are attuning you to these vibrations, these frequencies, and you'll feel chills. you'll feel temperature changes, you'll start seeing things, and you just surrender, just surrender to that intuitive self, that light, and you just don't think about it, you're just there. So seven years, that's every Tuesday night, right around the corner from here, by the way, I'm different from where we are. And they used to come through, stronger and stronger. It was only seven years before I gave my first message to someone in the group, because I wanted to make sure that it was correct. But I used to see spirit as a little boy. I used to see, when I was in a crib, I remember, They'd throw me in the back room in the crib. And I was like, I don't know how old I was, maybe 18 months. And I didn't want to be there. I wanted to be in the front living room with the family. And they put me back there. And there was going to be like a lollipop. I didn't ever use it. And I remember most evenings, the corner of the room, there was a man with white hair and blue eyes. And he'd come over to me and he'd play with a mobile, this looking mobile thing. I was fascinated by that. Years later, probably five, six years later, I was with my grandmother. and she was opening up a photograph album. I said, wait, who is that person? I know that person. She said, oh, that's your grandfather. He died before you were born. I said, he used to come see me. So I used to have those situations. Not all the time, but every once in a while. And it seemed very natural. I was raised Catholic, very Catholic. And I said prayers for my mother at the end of the bed. And one night I asked, mom, who are those being people with lights around them? She goes, oh, them? Those are God's angels. You see them too? I used to sit there when I was a little girl. She goes, it's okay. Nothing to fear will always help you. And from that moment on, it seemed very natural to me. And it's just a strong sense of intuition, sensitivity. As you know, as an actor, using that energy to create. I think it's creative energy. And I think we use it in all different ways. Whether it's my work, acting, musical work. It's that creative energy, I think, is the best way to describe it. There's so many things which we just don't know down here, this dimension, because there are many levels of consciousness. So we could say it's also tuning into an awareness that's outside of the physical realm. And also, Ted, the way I like to see it is, I'm like a radio, like there are radio signals around us, a little bit of signals around us, but I'm able to, and we want to hear the music. Music is always playing, but we have to tune in to hear the right signal to hear that music. So I'm someone who's set for many years in development to be able to tune in to a signal. And it's really interesting when you let go of the ego self, the human self, and you realize you're a soul having a human experience, your whole perspective changes. And that's the only way I describe it. And not every medium is the same. Everyone is different. His personalities are different. But I've surrendered my whole life now, 40 years of doing this work. And it's service. It's serving the humankind. And you see people's, as you know, lives change. Someone can walk into my room and the incredible cloud of darkness. And then their loved one comes through and changes them and tells them they're alive. They're fine. They're more alive than ever. And that person walks out in a cloud of love and joy. And it changes their life. I have seen that. You've seen that. And we'll tell a story that, yeah, in a minute. But I remember when sitting and you do, sometimes there'd be 15, 20 people in the room. Yeah. And I would watch you. And I'd already had an experience. I remember, to be more specific about my father, my father said, he said, oh, he said, you won't believe the colors. Wow. That was so my father. Wow. Anyway, little things that if you're listening, they're anecdotal. And here's what I want to say. It sounds like a great story, like a cocktail story. and when I would watch you in a room full of people and you'd see something or talk to somebody because something was happening over there with that person. And it was fascinating, but it was anecdotal because I'm sitting over here. Right. But I could see the expression on the person. And you could feel. Yeah, the whole energy changed around that person and you could see that that person was having a very, very impactful experience that they had never had before. So if you're listening to this, it's fine that it sounds anecdotal. Totally. Who cares? And it's good to be skeptical. I mean, I'm an open-minded skeptic and I was very skeptical of the beginning. I think you have to be in life. You got to be skeptical because I think you have to learn things and try to understand things. That's how we learn. Don't be cynical though. Don't be cynical because your mind is already made up. So you can be skeptical with open-mindedness. Yeah, critical skepticism. But cynical is, cynical you walk with your mind already set up. Well, you're not going to learn that way. But skeptical is healthy. Healthy skepticism, I think. And the other thing I want to say before we really go off the deep end here. We're already there. Yeah. But is, you still have to get up in the morning and lead your life here, now, and your job is the same. To be kind, to be curious, to be nurturing. You know, all of those things. Loving, full of hope and joy. All those things are still the same jobs you have before or after one of these experiences. So it's not like, oh, if you have this kind of experience, it changes everything. It tilts things in a most wonderful way, but it doesn't mean your job isn't still the same. No, it gives you a different perspective. It doesn't mean that you have to leave the Catholic Church. It doesn't mean that you have to leave. Not at all. None of those things. I've read a lot of priests, by the way, and carpools. No, it gives you another lens to look through. Yes. It's a different perspective. And boy, does that help when you realize there is no such thing as death. Death doesn't exist. It's a changing of consciousness. My friend's mom just passed recently, and she came back right away to me. She said, tell her, is this stepping out? It's stepping out. We go to sleep every night. We're not aware in the conscious of what's going on, but we're somewhere. It's so interesting. This is an interesting one, too, because consciousness is very fascinating. How can we put that into human terms? And I just said, well, because, you know, I think we're all the same, but yet we're not. I think the two biggest illusions, illusions, illusions we have in this three-dimensional human world, death. Because there isn't such a thing. You can't call energy. Science has proved that. And the other is separativeness, that we're separate from one another. When in truth, we're actually all connected. We have the same energy, that same light, that same loving energy. And the analogy I love, last night we had a super moon out. It was a big, big moon. And I thought, you know what? If people put buckets of water out all over the place, every bucket would have the same moon inside that, yet it's separate. That's good. That's a good analogy. I like that. It's kind of that. I like that. It's kind of that way. I'm full of this story because I spoke to all the players today. I hadn't, when Mary and I talked to you a week ago just to say hi. Yes, it was a lovely, lovely conversation. It was. As always. I said, we feel like we've never, even when we talk, it's like we've never been away from each other. It's wild, right? I know. And I'm giddy inside right now. This is so much fun. Okay. So, I'm going to tell the story and I'm going to start and please jump in. Okay. It'll be a mini monologue for a second. I'm sorry. You're fine. Because people want to hear you. But, okay, so Mary, once again, who does communicate, and I've been around with her, not like you do, but she listens to energy and people. She's a healer. Yes, she is, and deeply kind, and gosh, I wish she was here. I know, me too. Sends all her love. I feel her. Yeah. So I won't mention all the names in this, just because. but a friend calls her and says I want you to talk to a friend of mine who just lost their daughter and just so you know I spoke to them today and they are happy I will happy to have us talk about it so Mary goes well I'm not quite sure what you mean and he said I don't either but please be aware this person may call you and so I don't know week month later, somebody, well, I can say David, called her and said, I heard that you might be able to get in touch with James Von Prague. And Mary was cautious, but said, yes, he said, because we lost our daughter. How did he know Mary? Did he know Mary? No, the friend who called Mary. The connection was between. Oh, that's how. Okay. I always wonder about these things. Yeah. More later on that if you want. But he told Mary, we lost our daughter nine months ago, and we would love it if you could get in touch with James Van Praag. And she froze almost and went, oh, oh, oh, I don't know that I can do that because if it turned out that it wasn't what I think it is, that he does do this, but what if he doesn't? I couldn't bear adding to your pain. and he said, we're adults. We really would like that. And she said, okay. Then she calls you and said, there are two people. She never got specific where they lived, what their names first, their last words. There are two people and they would love to talk to you, period. Not about whatever, just not about the experience. Because she so desperately wanted to be totally clean. Um, cut to, um, um, and it was set up that you were, that you were going to meet them at our home. But I didn't know that. No. That's just never. No. I just left it and beat your house. That was it. Yeah, that's true. Right. And so anyway, Mary's now, um, flying to go see her mom. They, she'd gone to see her mom and her aunt and she had 15 minutes to do that. She was in between planes or whatever. So she was driving to say hi to her mom and her aunt And this voice Mary voice said pull over to the Walgreens And she goes what No I don need anything in her head You know pull over to the Walgreens She looks at her watch like, well, she pulls into the Walgreens, empty parking lot, empty parking lot. She goes in and she looks around thinking, I guess I could get some gum, but this is stupid. And then she says, all right, to herself, all right, this is stupid. I'm leaving. She turns and spins in place to walk out and literally bumps into this man who says, Mary Steenburgen. And she thinks, fan. She says, yes. And he said, I'm David Leopolis, who was the gentleman she'd spoken to on the phone. Wow. And it was wow at that point. Yeah. It was a big wow in her head. And she said, are you still coming? and he said, I'm afraid, I don't know. My wife is afraid that their daughter in this wouldn't show up. And she said, take me to your wife. And she walks out to the only other car in the parking lot and sees her sitting in the car, Linda, and says, can I give you a hug? And she said, you're still coming, right? And Linda said, oh, I don't, I don't. She said, Mary said, let me tell you something. You are coming because there's no reason why I'm in this parking lot and that the two of us bumped into each other. There's no reason other than, you know, something's up and you need to come. So they come. Mary and I are very nervous. You're there. And they come in with a friend. They brought a friend out of trying, I'm sure, to feel comfortable flying to L.A., movie stars, whatever. So they needed a support team, and they brought this person. And did you know that other person? No. No. Okay. No. Wild. And we all sit down, and nothing is said once again. And you start talking to the lady, the friend, and Mary going, uh-oh. No, no, no, no. Couldn't say anything, but just listened. And we can cut this down later if you want, whatever, this story. But you start. And in my experience, you sometimes do psychic things to kind of, I don't know what you'll describe, like warm up. Yeah, yeah. To make them feel comfortable. Yes, and make a connection. Yeah. And you were talking to that lady. And the husband and wife weren't really talking, the mother and the father. and weren't they separated they might have been on different sides maybe I don't remember it was in that yeah I was probably sitting in the ottoman I seemed to fall off you were in the ottoman you were across I remember you falling down so all of a sudden you stop and you turn to Linda the mother and you say did you have an uncle with a glass eye and the room went she said yes and the room kind of it gets heavy The air kind of gets heavy. And you said to her, well, this, and this is all written down. Mary is starting to write down two or three pages. The whole thing is written down notes. And you say, well, he's here. And, oh, well, there are a lot of people with him. All right, everybody, wait, what, slow down, you said to the people standing behind her. Slow down, slow down. And then, oh, you lost your daughter, didn't you, in an accident. He said to the mother. I have tears in my eyes just talking about it. And the next 45 minutes. Really? Mary was writing this down. Was a reunion between. I'm going to cry. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Between a daughter and the parents who hadn't seen each other for nine months. And it was so specific. I remember these in detail. the daughter said thank you thank you for putting a light in the window of my room and asking people to honk as they drive by you were busy doing this I don't remember any of it I remember you falling that's all I remember that was the other one and please thank my high school student friends for putting my favorite composite tape, mixed tape, whatever you call it when you put all the music, a mix in my coffin. Oh, wow. All of my favorite music was put in my coffin. And it went on and on like this. Oh, and it was not my fault, the accident, because the consensus was she must have turned around. There were other kids in the car and done something, looked for something, maybe that something, you know, and hit another car or went off the road. And she said, that's not what happened. A white car swerved in front of me and I went off the road coming in the opposite direction. And one witness had said that, by the way, that they thought they had seen a car come around the corner. And it went on and on like this. And at one point, the mother said, where are you now? Where are you right now? She said, I'm in a garden, the most beautiful garden. And then this was the most amazing thing. The mother said, are you happy? And the daughter said, I am when you are. Yeah, true. And it just went on like this. And then the next morning, they came downstairs, and they were different. And they said, we took our first full breath in nine months. They went on and started a foundation called the FIA Foundation, their daughter. And it's now doing amazing work all over Arkansas and that area of the country. It was stimulating the arts in schools. And it's a huge, big, wonderful thing. And I spoke to them this morning because I didn't know whether or not. And he said, of course you can tell the story. I tell it all the time, he said, to people who have lost children. I tell it to people just to give them an uplifting experience. My thing, and then I'm turning it back over to you, is... It's okay. It's a great story. You would be so, if you're listening or if you wanted to poke holes in it, the alternative to it just being what it was, somebody in the afterlife talking to their parents, you would be hard pressed to come up with how or whatever. So who cares about that because we're not trying to prove anything. But what a gift. It changed people's lives. it changed ours, you know, and there's just no way that you can't, you know, go, ah, okay, I get it. There are, energy doesn't go away. No, I mean, the miracles that the spirit world do, I'm in awe every day and I wake up that way. I wake up with that art of discovery, like, wow, how can I help today? Okay, what are you going to show me different today? And every time I get a message or a reading from a spirit, give me something new. and they do at points, but they're on a certain level. You know, everybody goes to a certain level of their spiritual awareness that they're on. Like in the Bible, it says, my father has a house with many mansions, which means that spiritual level which you go to based upon- Even after death, it's not like, boom, there you are, you're graduating and that's it. Yeah, thoughts, words, and deeds. You create your heaven or you create your hell depending on what the energy you gave out, what you said, smiles you gave. It's those little acts of kindness that meet you. This is really important. I just did a, TED Talk. There you go. This is a TED Talk, and it was about a life review. And once we pass into the spirit world, one of the first things that happens is all of us go through a life review. And we look back at our lives, and we're not in time anymore. We're outside of time. Time is only relative to this three-dimensional world. So you're outside of time, and you look like you see like a movie passing really quickly, and it's those major moments in your life, good, bad, or indifferent, that made an impact on someone else. And you are your own judge. And you see they passed that lesson, didn't pass that lesson. Maybe you have to repeat that. Maybe more compassion, more kindness, more patience. And that's we come back here to learn. We come back here to the school. I read that you said that you also meet those people who you have harmed. You betcha. So that the word empathy, genuine empathy. Because everyone's learning. We're all the same. We're all learning. We're on different levels of awareness. And it's really important that I've learned this one too. So, you know, when you meet someone and you don't get along with them, whatever, you have to meet people for the level that they're at. Maybe they don't know any better. Maybe they don't understand anything better. So you have to meet them at the level that they understand. Right. You know what I mean? And that way you can guide them or help them or assist them in some way. Don't force it, but you can be there and see them for where they're at. It's the only way you're going to get through is to meet them where they're at. Of course, you have to have boundaries with people. You know, people say something not right. He said, excuse me, that's not appropriate. That's not correct. Another thing which really will help people, which I've learned, Ted, is a lot of people, especially over the holidays times, get involved with family dramas, you know, and the little buttons are pushed. I think the best thing is to step back and be objective. Like you're watching a movie, a television, you're just watching, you're observing, and you're in the observation mode. You say, oh, that person behaves like that. That's their dynamic. I'm not getting involved in that drama. I'm sitting back and watching it. Observation, the best way. That way you don't judge. you know who are we to judge you know we have to why do we judge others we judge others because we want to feel better then you know because so something's gone the judgment is fear-based and and really we are love we are loving beings fear is only of this this earth of this three dimensional world this is humor this is fear it's a fear f-e-a-r false ego appearing real you know and that's false ego false ego appearing real isn't that a good one that's a great and i I use also in my book, I wrote about love because people say, well, what is your religion? I said, well, love might sound strange, but love. What do you mean love? I said, well, you know, we're all connected. Love is one. I said, huh? I said, we're one. All of us are one. What do you mean? I said, O-N-E, omnipresent, nurturing energy. Nice. Nice. We're all one. Yeah. And, you know, you meet somebody, you try to, I don't know, make their day better. Every day, we should all try to make someone's life better. The smile, the hello. I just pulled into a hotel, I was staying in a hotel. The man that opened the door for me, the guy, the parking guy, he goes, oh my God, it's James. How are you, sir? I said, good. I go, Hector. He goes, yes, you're James. I said, yeah, I haven't seen him in 10 years. He goes, I remember you. I said, I remember you're very kind. And that's how he knew me, just from that, you know, from years ago. And, you know, you make an impression with people. You make a mark with people. However in our lives we do. And we have that life review. We look back and see, what do we do to that person? And the rippling effect. Yeah, the ripples. The ripples. The ripple effect. Because they're going to affect that person and then their family and their family. So make sure you do the right thing. Just do the right thing. That's what we ever ask. And you do know the right thing. We all know the right thing. I think every single person knows the right thing. And treat another person as you want to be treated. The golden rule. Yes. It's the one thing I got for Catholicism. It's the golden rule. And I try. I try. We're humans. We make mistakes. We're here at school learning. So we're going to make mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes. We've got to forgive ourselves, you know? Yeah, I have trouble with that one. Forgiveness is a big one. Forgiveness is a big one. It's a medicine we give ourselves, forgiveness. Yeah. When you talk sometimes, I think of Rumi, the quote I love, beyond all right and wrong, there is a field. I will meet you there. Isn't that great? It's great. I love that. It's great. Which is what you're talking about. Exactly. Yeah. It's that oneness, yeah. It's great. I'm just bouncing. Sorry. He bounced together is fine. We're dance partners. So you have to in this world where some people hang on to religions and dogma out of fear, I think. Oh, I love that. But anyway, there are many different, you know, My mother went from Episcopal to Catholic later in life. And I think she struggled with so many of the things that didn't naturally feel kind, you know, and felt judgmental. Yeah. But she, because she was now Roman Catholic, kind of went for it. So my question is, it has to be somewhat threatening to some groups of people, what you're talking about. And not just, not you, but the fact that we're talking about a pathless, you're not talking about the need for, not that priests can't give so much comfort in many cases. I went to a seminary for a year, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you deal with, or is that stopped or whatever? Oh, that's a great question. I mean, because I was raised very Catholic, went to a seminary, and it was interesting. I go back to a store when I was 14, and I was at this seminary, and each student had a, what's called benediction, be an altar, and just whatever, meditate, pray. And I remember I was doing that. I'm sitting there by myself, looking at this, whatever, the altar there. And I heard a voice. And the voice said, God is much bigger than these four walls. You need to find God outside these four walls. And that's when I left. And to me, I think every religion is a bit of the truth. But not any religion has all the truth. And I think the nuggets, the beautiful nuggets from religion, that's fine. Some people need that. Some people need that. And if it serves them well, great. But there's so many roads. There's so many, you know, I don't, that's just because I've changed. I don't know if I think diversity is the greatest thing. I think there's a little bit of everything in everyone. I mean, you know, I'm very happy now there's a Muslim mayor in New York City. Yay, good, about time. We have diversity. Everyone, you know, it's, yeah. I don't know. I've had a lot of clients of mine been cardinals, priests, ministers, you know, all of them. And it's just, you know, it's just religion is a man-made. And they're able to hold both? They can't understand it. They call it the mystery of God, which is just fine. That's the language they want to use. Those stories, whatever they, and that's valid for them. You know, meet them where they're at. And I never force them to believe in what I do. I'm presenting it. See how you feel afterwards. You know, that's what you can do. I was in the, I've talked about this before, but I was in the room when my mother was, purposefully came home to die. She was not going to be able to shake what was going on with her. And for the first week, she was very present and was able to say goodbye and hello to people who would come say goodbye. She had the death she wanted. You know, she had these monks that were friends of hers from Colorado came down and sang evening prayers. It was just glorious. It really was. And I was sitting there. My sister lived nearby, and I was okay taking the night shift towards the end when she was no longer, she was alive, her body was pumping away, but she was not really present in the able-to-communicate kind of way. and I took the night shift and I remember sitting there looking at her body and realizing, oh, all my little philosophical, little spiritual things that I've read about or been taught or this or that went flying out the window Yeah And I realized I came to I don know I truly obviously don know She may be in the process of knowing but I don know And what I was left with was very simple. Get what you said. Do the right thing. Get up every morning and try to be a little bit better. And you do know what the right thing is. Make that life count. Yeah. Honor her. Yes. Make it count. Yeah. My father was a non-belief. My father was very skeptical. I had a television show every day. I'd be on television doing my thing for about a year. And he was bedridden and would watch me. Didn't believe in it. And there was a reporter from the Times that came to him once, and it was in New York. And he said to my father, he was in his 80s, well, what do you think about your son? He goes, I'm very proud of him. And he makes a dime doing it great. So what happened was he was in a coma at the end of his life, and the four kids are there, older. And I could hear him, and I could sense him right above his head. and I said, dad, why won't you go? Because we're in a coma. And I heard him very clearly say, I don't want you kids fighting over the house. So I sent my siblings, he doesn't want us fighting over the house. That was his big thing, this house. So of course, when he makes a joke, we got to change our phone numbers, but we promised we wouldn't. And he left. And he said right away, like when the family said, I've seen your mother. You're right. You were right. I see your mother. Oh my God, I have a sister. I didn't know I had. Oh my God. And for two days, and writing this like automatic writing down. And we checked and he had a sister that had died at birth that we never knew about. And it was amazing. I get that a lot though. I get people that really didn't believe this or have that awareness at all. And they like, wow, this is just amazing. My brother, Michael, who's since passed just January and he didn't really necessarily believe in this. And years ago, I called him up. He was in New York and I was out in California. And I said, oh, mom is here. And I said, why are you playing with a rosary beat? She goes, why don't you go in the top door and get her brown rose reeds? The white ones are right next to it. He goes, stop it. Stop it. And you just had her prayer book and you put a folded page 10. He goes, get. And typical New Yorker, get out of here. And that made him a believer, you know. And that was just, there you go. So how do they do it? They come in love. I mean, that energy of love never dies. And it gets stronger. And the first thing they want their loved ones to know, there's no death. There's no death. It's very natural. No one needs to fear it. no one needs to fear it you know it's just the way it is would you say you're more of a a Buddhist type belief I don't I mean you know if everything is all if everything is a little bit of everything time wise when you're in the afterlife when you're not in your body my I do tend to think and this is way above my pay grade that all time is instantaneous probably yeah so so what about this one if you pass over to this side and I'm not a quantum physicist, but something within me says, when we pass over, there is no time. So past, present, and future are going to be one. And by living right now as a soul, I talked to this before, about 30% of the soul can be in the physical body, but 70%, whatever, that'll be whatever quotation, but 70% or whatever will be up here. That means that that part of you is maybe having experiences in the centuries, of the planets, of the stars. There are millions and millions of star systems and galaxies and with the immensity of it all. Yeah. And how the universe, you know, that force, that source changes seasons. The planets move. We have life. I mean, it's just incredible. How can you not believe in the miracle? Just for you being born. It's like they said, one of the 11 souls get to be here. Like there are 11, that one, I don't know the numbers, but 11 want to come down here, but one lucky one gets the opportunity to come down to the school. Because supposedly this is a school that you grow from the most. And it's all about experiences that help expand. And suffering and problems and issues and bumping into things. They're all opportunities. It's how you look at them. Opportunities, even deaths. That's a big one. That's a big one. Yeah. That's true. So let me ask you a question. Yeah, please. Being an actor, so how do you act? So there you go. So how do you become a character? What within you is able, what do you use to express that? I probably, by the way, became an actor because I mess up so much I love being able to take two take three, take four until you get it right I kind of like that But there's something within you that can do that, right? I do believe that creativity is very close to creation and all of that I do believe it's an energetic thing that's kind of quite magical when it works Just like life, 50% of the time, at least 50, probably more, I'm not really flying when I act. You know, I'm trying to indicate that I flew once and look how good I am at flying or whatever, as opposed to truly being in the moment. But there's something within you, right? An instinct, an intuition. Yeah, I mean, you believe in your imaginary circumstances and then you work off the other person. and you don't do anything unless that other person makes you do it. So you really are in a moment. You know, that to me is when you, if you're truly paying attention to somebody else and not you, and you give up your ego thought, whatever. You just surrender. And surrender. Yeah. Then it's like flying. It is the same in conversation. When you let go of, oh, I know what I want to say next, as opposed to just truly being over there and the other person trying to recreate what they're saying, that's kind of magical. It's sharing space. And that's what acting is for me. So, same with mediumship. So with mediumship, what I do is that force, if you want to call it that, I surrender. So a really important part for, I have a school online, the JVP School of Mystical Arts, and I've had students from all over the world and do mediumship and psychic work, and it's really incredible. One of the number one things, the problems that some of the students have, and most people, when they're developing their intuition or mediumship, is they're in their heads. And I got to get them from the head to the heart. So it's feeling, it's sensing. It's not thinking, because if you're thinking, you're not doing it. It has to come from the heart. You're feeling, you're sensing. And that's really what it is, that sensing energy. Same thing with acting, with any creative work. You're sensing, you're feeling things, right? So it's all part of that. And that's just, and when I go with the flow, and I'm just in the moment, I can be open to any spirit that comes through that I'm able to get in my wavelength. especially though, they will use the aspects of my soul that are there. So sense of humor, I have a good sense of humor, like personality, laughs, fun stuff, you know, different aspects they can use. So they're the ones that get through the most great stuff because they're like me, they're very similar to me. So they can use those little lights, if you will. I'm assuming not everybody who passes over has a desire to communicate back into this world, or is that true? Well, it's all, everyone's different, right? so everyone is different. A couple of stories, if you don't mind, because I'm old and I have a lot of stories now. That's why you're here. That I remember. So I was once doing, it's called a demonstration in an audience, I don't know, 500, 600 people there. And I'm on the stage, I'm working with a girl in the audience and her aunt was coming through. And the aunt, I'm giving information, the aunt's giving information, she's understanding it. And out of the corner of my eye, I see a spirit of a man coming close to me and his arms are folded. And now I knew this must be her father, the girl in the audience, her father, And I said to him telepathically, well, I'm still communicating. I said, is this your daughter? He goes, yes. He goes, I didn't believe in this in life. So why would I believe in it now? I said, do you want to try it? He goes, no, I don't believe in it. I said, okay, that's fine. So continued with the girl and the aunt and validation happened, the evidence, the details, that she understood everything. And this is very interesting. When the person says yes, they understand it, their auric field lights up. It's like a light show. And everyone's very happy. Well, the father was getting closer and closer. and closer. And he finally, he looked at me and said, can I try telepathically? I said, yes. And he did. And it was incredible. And there was a story about forgiveness, forgive me for not loving you like I should have. And she said, oh my God, he never told me that in life. He said, he needs to say that to you. And that was an amazing experience for her, everybody in the audience, and that man that was coming in and the girl for the rest of her life. This is something interesting, Ted. Once people pass over, we go to that level, you know, we all go to a level of, like it's called the astral world, a certain level. We have the life review and get adapted to a new environment. Then they call it a second death row. Once you're used to that area, you'll go to that band, that spectrum, that realm that you have to go to where you belong, where you're going to learn or do what you need to do. And it's so interesting because when we first pass over and have a life review, sometimes we kind of get stuck there in that there is no time. So imagine that poor father, in his head, he kept on thinking, oh my gosh, this is my daughter, I loved her. Why didn't I do that? And that could be for a long, long time. So as a medium, my job is really working for the spirit world, not for the humans, I'm really working for them. I remember hearing you say, or I don't know if I heard you say, or read that you said, but I think I was in a room where the people on the other side said, we heard about you. We heard about you and that this was a way. You were a way for them to be able to communicate to us. Yes. It comes in a lot of different ways like that. It comes in a lot of different ways. Like you said with Mary and the Walgreens, weird things happen. I'm walking down the street with my dog or people, I don't know. They just come up to me. They don't know who I am. And they say something about their dead mother that just passed or their friends. It happens in all words. And I just won't give it up. I have to be there and I can understand it. But it's interesting, again, the spirit world, how they manipulate, create, miracles happen. The ribbons of life are shared. And I think it's just an amazing experience. How could you not be in awe all the time? And that's it. And you have to live in joy. You know, joy is part of the journey. J-O-U-R-N-E-Y. Journey. Nice. Literal part there. But I love it because it's true. Try to find joy. And because you never know when your last day is. We only have this moment now. So Eckhart Tolle talks about the power of now, living fully in this moment and being total. And that's what it is. It's so about awareness. My mom used to say, when people say, what do you want for your kids? She'd always say, I want them to be fully human, which is really a lovely thing. And I didn't quite get it. But yeah, this is your opportunity, your life. This is a gift. Not everybody gets this, you know, opportunity to live a life. And to help influence people. I mean, all the work I've done, and you've done work to help people. You know, Lucille Ball came through to me once. Didn't know Lucille Ball. And I was at a house with a rose, I'm cutting a rose, and she said to me, and I mean, I didn't know her, but loved her. James had a voice, James. I said, yes. I said, is this Lucy? Yes. She goes, I never wanted to be a comedian. She said, I'm a healer, but I wanted to heal through comedy. And that's what she did. And that was pretty amazing. I'll tell you who's walking around and does that. Brings tears to my eyes just talking about her. Carol Burnett is definitely one of those people. She brings so much happiness and joy and healing to people through their laughter. Okay, so another weird thing. I was watching her show. I was watching YouTube last night and it was all about Carol Burnett. And Harvey Korman and Tim Kahneman, I'm watching. I'm like, what a gift of healing. So it's interesting. You brought it up. Coincidence is God's a way of remaining anonymous. They're all in there. Listen to the whispers. Listen to the whispers, the nudges. Yeah, the nudges. Very, very important. She was just here. Yeah, Carol. Oh, she was just here. Yeah, two or three days ago. Oh, wow. Wow. Her daughter's come through to me through another friend. Carrie? Carrie. When she first passed, I don't know, two years after she passed. But yeah, she came through to me. And we're a mutual friend who you know. And yeah, I don't know if she had the message. But yeah, she's lovely. She lives up north. Yeah. Yeah. Great. She's remarkable. Oh, aren't we lucky? We're lucky. We're very fortunate. We're very fortunate to be in this. Yeah. To be alive. So can you do that in, you know, the meeting people where they are? I try every day. Now, some people are way far away. I've got to take some breaths every once in a while. Coming out to LA, I'm in Sydney, I'm in LA. Whoa, it's a whole different energy. You're okay, calm down. Especially in the car, it's just like, wow. You just got to get to that neutral place. I breath, I do a lot of breathing. I ground myself a lot. I become part of the earth in grounding. It's hard. Yeah. My sister, who does a lot of work in the church and is very grounded, she'd love to be in this room talking about all of this. And my sister works in the church, too. Yeah. Yeah. Weird. Yeah. I mean, she's in a great church, man. They do everything to support immigrants and this and that and this and that and all of that. But she said to me a while ago, I won't mention any names, but she's working very hard to love a certain political figure who just brings up all the worst and anger and all of that. But she said that if I'm being real, that is my job to be able to pray for and love the worst of the worst. So funny. You say that's not funny at all. That is what it is. On the driving up here, I thought of that person. Because I was watching it. And the first time in eight years, whatever, I feel sorry for that person. I feel empathy. It's sad to be there. Because I know it's going to await them when they pass over. It's not going to be happy. If you have to empathize truly, that's a tough one. It's a tough one. And the influence and the rippling effects. But then again, can we say, did we pick that before we came back to this incarnation? did we pick to have that scenario? Every soul picks the time they're born for various reasons of learning and expanding and growing. So we did pick it and we picked that. For whatever reason, we're going to learn something from this experiment. Oh, the other day I got, it was so funny. I'm sitting at my desk and I heard life, the experiment of life. And it is so an experiment. Experiments of life. And I kind of like that. Yeah, we have to find empathy the best we can. We don't have to agree with people. We've got to find empathy. No, no, but you can, yeah. And not come from fear, but love. That's it. Even though you may go, no, I can't let you do that. So life is a series of choices. That's what it is. So as we were little kids, all of us were choices. What kindergarten, what grade school, what clothes, what our parents taught us, what teachers, we had choices. So we either chose this way or that way. So all choices are based on two things, either love or fear. The fear, yeah. And that's it. And fear just contracts. love expands. And that's the way it is. And we're loving beings. Fear is only this human world. It's only this three-dimensional world. Mary had an experience. We were shooting someplace. We were in Europe and she was driving and she was quiet for a moment. There were other people in the car. And then later she told me kind of where she went. But she was very clearly, her father was in the car and the sense or with her with her and the sense was that he had said and this the feeling it engendered in her was i'm still here but i i've graduated as if he was moving from one level to another and i i mean the whole you know when you when people hear at first you know afterlife and people communicating and all that it feels like that maybe almost like kindergarten for the afterlife That there is way way way this is bigger than So much bigger. To even begin to conceive. They can't even describe it, just the colors alone. And many people who had near-death experiences, look at all those near-death experiences. I myself had one. They can't even describe the colors, the gardens. They can't describe what they see because we don't have that down here in this earth. Right. And they say that one unifying force is love is in everything. The flowers that bloom, send a beautiful harmonic tone in complete harmony with the rest of the flowers. And the people that you meet, you see them for the character that they are. On this earth, we can hide our character and hide things. Not over there, you see exactly what the characters, with the colors that they've created, which I love. I can't remember what discipline, but one discipline that, you know, before my mom died, I decided to have no more discipline, was the one constant in the universe is light and harmonics. It's true. Does that feel right? Completely, 100%, because we're light. Really, we are light. Yeah. And we have to find harmony, and that's why we're down here, right here. We're taking on the human form of reality. This is the realm of form. You know, there are many, many realms. This realm is one of form, and it's a hard one. It's a dense one. because this is in our natural world. And that's why we feel like impatient and like, oh, wow. I mean, every day I get that sense of, I don't belong here. I don't belong. How much longer is it? Because I don't belong here. But I got to do my time and every moment counts to make better for somebody else. What do you say to people who aren't going to maybe bump into you, but want that experience, want to believe that, want to need some sort of relief or that comes sometimes when people talk to you and have that experience personally, what advice do you have for them? Wow, so much. Just read it. Read about it. I've written some great books, Healing Grief, good book. Check me out. Best thing. But also, you want to tune into your own, you know, when people pass over, families, mothers, fathers, children, in a way, I think sometimes it's an agreement before the incarnation that this is going to force you to go within your being and maybe find some spiritual path. So it's forcing them. And it really, we are souls having human experience, not the other way around. So live your life as if you're a soul. So really, they're just a thought away. They hear all of our thoughts. They know everything we're doing. It's so much more, they've described it once to me, like in this physical world, we see one another, we're looking at each other. But in that space, they're multi-sensory. They see all around in 360 degrees. They can see no things. And they hear your thoughts. They hear your thoughts. They see what you're going through. So what one can do, and I always say sit in the quiet. So I tell my students this, I tell a lot of people who the loved one has just passed over recently, go into a quiet space. I personally go into a closet and close the door so no outside noises, right? And I will just, it's kind of passive meditation. I just close my eyes and I use my breath. And I inhale through my nose, exhale through my mouth, and just bring myself to a nice soft space. And I just sit there quietly. And then I ask in my mind, I send out a thought. I say, dear spirit friend, I can ask for whoever it is I want to hear from. And you have to just silence your mind, right? So I say, dear spirit friend, come next to me. Come behind me. Let me feel your hands upon my shoulders. Dear spirit friend. And you surrender again, right? So you're surrendering and you're allowing your space to be shared with that loved one. And step behind me. And don't think of it. That's why you sit in the silence to get into that heart space. And then you feel, and you send out love to them. I sit here in love and I send, you know, I ask you to come in love. And when you sit in that space and you just surrender, just allow, just like what Mary did, you just allowed, you know, just invite those people, just allowing. You will have those. And it might happen right away, but the more you do it, every other day, if you will, you'll get to a point where you'll feel them right next to you. You'll feel their energy. You'll feel the personality. when you allow yourself. When you get back to your head and you think about it, it's going to go away because it's not thinking. It's coming from the heart, the heart of the matter. So it's your soul forward, feeling with the soul, the soul energy. And it's soul to soul communication. How a soul, I believe that the mind is part of the soul. The soul is part of the mind. And telepathy, I feel it's the soul who's sending thoughts, memories, emotions from their mind to your mind. So when you're sitting in that soft space and you're open, you're allowing them to come in and influence that space. So that's, and they hear your thoughts. So, and also look out for signs because a lot of them come through right away. They want you to know they're alive. They're not dead. So they'll often come through with smells, scents. You might smell certain perfume or cologne or aftershave, or you'll see birds or insects or hummingbirds or butterflies. And the weirdest is out of the ordinary, I would say. And you'll get maybe a license plate. Maybe they see a dime or a quarter on the floor, and it's over and over again. It happens often. Notice how often those things happen. Again, no coincidence, you know. So that's what you want to pay attention to and feel them. You haven't lost them. They're closer now than they ever were before. And it's easy to say, but it's true. That tradition is so much stronger in tribes, you know, where ancestors, not just tribes and Native Americans, but we just spent time in Japan and there's very much that sense of honoring your ancestors, but not just honoring, paying attention, you know? And when you sit in the quiet, like when you're in Japan, it was probably so beautiful and serene and peaceful and forcing you to go quiet, to go within yourself. And when you get to that quiet space, and there's a great book called The Quiet Mind by White Eagle. Everybody should just run for that book. It was written in the 1930s by Grace Cook, who was a medium from England. and White Eagle was her guide in its amazing book, Profound Truth. And it's just, you know, when you sit in that space and the quiet, the quiet is very loud. So when you're in the quiet, wow, your soul starts speaking to you. You have realizations, perspectives of things, interesting information comes through. It's like, wow, it's all in there. It's all in your soul. I also believe that's the soul we've traveled through many lifetimes, whether in this physical earth or other places and spaces. All you got to do is ask and feel things. Yeah. I've always been curious. I've always had that sense of curiosity that I call the art of discovery. So ask them. And you can ask your loved ones, come into me now and open up your mind and let them drop a thought. Let them drop a feeling. Get a nudge from them. Curiosity is such a big thing. It used to, you know, as you age, you know, as gravity hits. None of us would be spiritual if it weren't for gravity. You know, we'd be party on. But first gratitude became the word. And also now curiosity. Stay curious is such a huge thing. So you learn. Yeah. What are you going to learn from someone? I was like, oh, how are you? And I just naturally that way because everybody's your teacher. Everybody you meet every single day. And, you know, it's interesting because there's a lot about the sleepwalkers out there. A lot of sleepwalkers. A lot of people are unconscious out there. We've got to wake up. We've got to be conscious. We've got to see how our thoughts affect another person, our actions. Smile. Love. It's about love. That's really what it's about. And it's how, again, they come through from the spirit side of life. And by the way, this is an interesting one. Just because they're in the spirit world doesn't mean that they know better. So they go to that certain level that day. Oh, that's great. That's an interesting run, right? They don't know this way better. So don't think they know at all. Oopsie. They know at the level that they're at, right? And they learn a lot by us down here, by how we handle a situation, by how we do certain things. Oh, that's how I could have done that. Okay. Oh, I can choose differently next time. Okay. So they watch us and they will learn from us down here as well. So that's an interesting insight. Right? I had one of those. Wow. We will now become the Mary and Ted, the woo-woo twins. Good. You know. So please, the good thing is I don't check into social media and I don't read reviews. So have at it, whatever you feel like. But I was speaking to somebody in your field, as it were, someone who is open like that, like you are. And I can't totally recreate how we got to this realization for me, which was my working. It's exactly what you said, but it was a realization that was so powerful for me, which is usually I'm kind of holding on to my parents to figure out myself. So, you know, to go through stuff and to improve myself and everything. And all of a sudden it was like, Ted, you need to grow so that they can move on because they are there lovingly waiting for me to get off my ass. How perfect you are. So that they can move on. It's not just working for yourself. You're working for what, like you said, for that chain, you know? And I felt so good that what I was doing was good for the energy and spirit of my parents. That it was a release for them, for me, to grow and be more loving and releasing things and all of that. And you're perfect just the way you are. And they would like to know that. You're perfect just never think, you know, humans get so caught up in critical mind. Oh, I'm not this. Always go for the negative instead of the positive. And they're proud. You know, this is very interesting. You brought this up because so many people think, if I talk to my spirit family, will I hold them back? And the answer is no, we won't hold them back. They receive your thoughts, but they want the best for you. And many times they want you to love yourself more. That's what they say, love yourself more. I love you more than I was ever able to down here, you know? And they see that if we could be aware of that and love ourselves, we've got to love ourselves more than anyone else could because no one else knows us better than we know ourselves. So I'd like to end with Thea. Thea, who was David and Linda's daughter who passed away. And that was a long time ago now. It was. But it's why you and I are able to sit together. It's the impact that she has had on so many people's lives through the foundation, through this kind of work. Yeah. Are you happy? She asked her mom. No, her mom asked her, are you happy? And the response is, when you are. Yes, I am when you are. It's true. It's true. Grief is a teacher. And we don't become professional grievers because we have to grow. We've chosen to go through this. Not an easy thing. We all have to go through grief, if you will, but it can't own us. It shouldn't own us. You know, it's a gift. You know, everyone that passes over always leaves gifts behind. But we have to have the trust to open up that box and find out what's inside. And they've always done that. And I would say, live your life as they would be so pleased. Live your life. And there's no end. Realize that you're going to see them again. I used to work when I was 18. I was a stage fan from Broadway. Believe it or not, I don't think you know this. And I was always backstage pulling the ropes for the original Grease and some other shows. And I'm like, why am I here? This doesn't make sense. My father did it. My grandfather. And I wanted to be a writer. And I was like, I could do that. What they're doing out there. I was like, why am I here? Recently, it dawned on me, wow, it's like the spirit world. We're out on the earth, we're on stage performing. And then when the show's over, we go backstage and we help pull curtains. We help them perform. So the spirit people, the same way, backstage, they're helping us, they're influencing us. They're making things occur, making things happen. I just feel that. I acknowledge that and I have gratitude for it. Like, you know, when I came in, I handed you a piece of paper, which says Google it with your name. I haven't seen that. I came this morning with your name. Those coincidences. I think the spirit people have a great sense of humor. And they'll get us. They'll get us. One more story, if I could. Please. Okay. So my brother passed away in January. And we were very, very close. He was in New York. And he knew the work I did, of course. He was joking around. So I did a retreat in Maui in July. A soul retreat. I was body, mind, soul with another practitioner, a friend of mine. And it went really well. And we had about 30 people, which is body, mind, spirit. Great, great things. It was so incredible. I've done a lot of retreats. It was so incredible that my friend Sue and another Melissa, it was so incredible. I said, we should get a tattoo. I don't get tattoos. So I designed this tattoo. It's a round circle together, three circles. So I think, well, that's weird. Okay. So all three of us got the same thing, right? So my brother, when we grew up, we lived, we shared the same bedroom. And every night, he would play Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven. Like, Michael, can you please come up, lady? So when I came back from Hawaii, I was just one night watching television. And I had this inspiration to watch the Kennedy Center Honors with Led Zeppelin. Okay. So I watched it, and there was Hart singing, Stairway to Heaven. And I'm enjoying it. And then I look at the symbol on the drum. It's this tattoo. Oh, that's great. That's the lead zeppelin. That was my brother coming through. What are the odds of that? That's strange. Your brother made you get a tattoo. And he also, when I was doing readings in Maui, the lights would flicker for all the people. The lights were flickering when I did the messages back. And I was like, wow, that's strange. And they didn't flicker the next day. So I heard him say, ha, ha, ha, after I acknowledged, Michael, it's you with the lead zeppelin. He goes, I'm a lighting person too. You know, I was a stage technician. I said, you sent him a gun. So they make these things happen in ways. They put people together. Yeah, and the more open we are, the more the miracles we are witnessing that can happen. Sure is a lot more fun. Yeah, yeah. You live from love. I adore you. I adore you, Ted. Thank you so much for coming here. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Thank you for playing me. And once again, I want to thank the Leopold family for saying, yes, you can tell the story. Yeah, give them my love, please. Because they have influenced a lot of people. Yeah, I will. Thank you. And Mary, once again. I love you, Mary. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye. Thank you, James Von Praag, for spending this time with me. It's meant a lot. Every time I get together with you, it has the same impact on me. I end up walking around with a big smile on my face. Please check out his book, Talking to Heaven, among his many others. James also has a podcast. It's called Both Sides Now and Beyond. That's all for our show this week. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. Please subscribe and review on Apple Podcasts. If you're watching your podcast, visit youtube.com slash team Coco. See you next time where everybody knows your name. We'll see you next time. Anthony Genn, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne.