Fast-talking psychic medium John Edward looks forward to feeding off Australia's "collective energy" when he tours Australia in November.
"I have to say that I love coming to Australia because of the appreciation factor of all the people in the audience is just overwhelming," he told AAP from New York.
Edward has been a psychic medium for 22 years and claims to connect dead people with their living family members.
He dismisses critics who claim he is a "cold reader" who elicits information from his clients or audience members in an elaborate con.
But after several Australian visits Edward said he finds nowhere more welcoming.
"It's nice to feel welcome, it's nice that when the event is over to not have that crushing feeling of 'what do you mean I'm not getting read'," he said.
"Australians seem happy to be in the room, I don't always have that in the States. There is this amazing collective energy which everyone seems to feed off in Australia and that's reflected in the audience and in the afterlife."
During Edward's live show he connects with people from the afterlife who want to communicate with living people in the audience.
Edward insists he doesn't choose his subjects, they choose him. But he often suffers the ire of audiences members who pay hundreds of dollars to connect with their own loved ones.
He contends that it is those who don't get read that get the most value from his show.
"I'm a believer that the people the event is for is the people who don't get read. The people who are read are subject to what they hear whereas the people who don't get read get more out of everything that takes place in a more subjective way," he said.
Edward has dubbed himself a psychic medium since he was 15. He now has several TV shows to his name, including John Edward's Cross Country which airs on Foxtel's W Channel.
His industry is one ripe for sceptics with some people devoting their working life to discrediting the work of people such as himself and British counterpart Colin Fry.
Edward, 37, said in his early days, especially as his profile was growing through his books and TV appearances, the criticism bothered him.
"Now I just don't care," he said. "I don't put energy into things I can't make a difference with. I do what I do."
The most common claim is that he is a cold reader - a person without paranormal abilities who is skilled at making highly probable guesses to illicit information from subjects.
"When someone says I'm doing cold reading I laugh, because one, 'you don't know what cold reading is' and two, 'you're a moron, watch what I do'. I know it sounds cocky but I'm good at what I do," he said.
"I don't ask people questions, I tell them things and ask them to validate it.
"I pride myself on the information I give out being specific to the individual or the family I'm dealing with. It's not a generality and every single person in the room is going to be able to resonate with the truth at some level."
John Edward tour details can be found at www.johnedward.net.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=265767
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