Many are skeptical, including Scientific American magazine, which goes so far as to flatly state, "...mediums are unethical and dangerous...," and CSICOP, a website for skeptics.
As a psychic who's bright enough to be in Mensa, I'm somewhere in between believer and skeptic, when the subject is mediums.
Because I can do exactly what John Edward does, and I've done this all of my life, I know what to look for in the dialogue. In a "psychic moment," we have a certain way of phrasing things, and a way of using that world just beyond our vision for reference.
If John Edward isn't genuinely in touch with the other side, he's the best actor I've ever seen.
I have read the criticisms. I'm familiar with the embarrassing and fraudulent efforts of other mediums such as Uri Geller.
I'm also painfully aware of the pressure on psychics when we're expected to perform "on cue." We can no more demand a message from the other side, than we can command the phone to ring. When I do a reading for someone, I may get the message directly, but I always have a Plan B in mind, perhaps reading the lines and marks on a person's palm, or in cards.
In other words, sometimes we have to rely on very real and solid material. If those are cues collected from the audience, I am sympathetic to the psychic forced to use them when all else fails.
Does John Edward do this? I haven't a clue. The fact that he could do this, doesn't mean that he does.
For example, I can show half a dozen ways to fake a "ghost photograph." That doesn't mean that all ghost photos are fakes. And when James Randi was able to duplicate what a psychic did, that didn't mean that the psychic had used the same tricks.
So, although the skeptics give plausible alternative explanations for what John Edward does, I don't believe that's what he's doing.
In fact, watching John Edward on TV not only makes me feel utterly normal, I've learned some tips from him when doing this kind of work.
What has impressed me the most is when Mr. Edward relies more on the message he's getting, than on what the studio guest is saying. Even when the guest insists that Uncle Herbert never wore red, if John Edward sees otherwise, he'll keep insisting that he's seeing Herb in red. And, in time, someone will remember that the departed uncle was in red pajamas when he died, or something like that.
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