Tony Stockwell – a happy medium.

Tony Stockwell discovered his gift early. Even as a child he apparently knew he was different, often being aware of events about to occur. At just sixteen he started working with spiritualists to develop his abilities and, fascinated with the subject and the way he could link with a force that “tied everything together”, he decided there and then what he would do with his life – become a demonstrating psychic medium.

So what does he do? He’s a psychic medium which, says Tony, means that he can both communicate with the spirit world as well as know things that may be about to happen. “Psychic and medium are two different disciplines, a medium is about the afterlife and a psychic is about the here and now,” he says. “It’s often said that a psychic may not be a medium but every medium is also a psychic.”

But don’t worry; Tony won’t be able to instantly read your mind should you bump into him on the street. “It’s funny, every day I’m very ordinary,” says the very extraordinary chap. “For example, if I do a one-to-one reading, I need to sit for maybe ten minutes before hand and try to get into the zone, which sounds a bit rubbish, but it feels like I’m not so much blocking my own thoughts but quietening my mind, and I try to shift my awareness out further.” Getting to know someone’s mind is all about reading the aura, he says, which apparently looks a lot like the Ready Break glow.

Tony seems confident that his is not a skill everyone can master, despite setting up ‘Tony Stockwell’s Psychic Studio’, his own development centre in Essex where he runs workshops and lectures on mediumship and other spiritual subjects. “Some people are born with a natural ability to do it, sometimes that’s been inherited, but I do think that a lot of people are born with a natural knowingness, like an awareness, and then that can be developed into working as a psychic, but a lot more development is needed to see if they can work as a medium.”

Since some of Tony’s trainees have been with him for over seven years, developing a psychic ability clearly takes a lot of time and dedication. “It’s very much like Hogwarts for adults because you’re dealing with mad stuff,” says Tony, whose father has an uncanny knack for always guessing the correct boxes on Deal or No Deal.

While being able to see into the future sounds like great fun, the psychic medium admits that it can be a bittersweet skill. “The downside for me is that I’ve pretty much been able to know when my family are dying – nans, grannies, aunts uncles – you just have to be able to pull it from your mind.” Tony goes on to tell of his heartbreak while on holiday recently when his abilities made him aware that his much loved dog had passed on in his absence.

While the good outweighs the bad for Tony, from being able to help people talk to loved ones who have passed on, to being part of a series of cable television shows like Psychic Detective and featuring in magazines such as Spirit and Destiny where he writes his own column, and Marie Claire, he does note that helping out in police investigations can open the door some bad experiences. “They hand you an article and ask what can you see, and then you see what has happened, and that’s not always brilliant to be fair.”

Tony recalls one lady who came to him to contact her sister who had passed under ‘very violent circumstances’ bearing the cardigan which had been worn during the event. “When I touched it,” says Tony, “oh there was very strong imagery and feelings that came from it. But sometimes in this work, you’re dealing with all of life and all of death. It’s my equivalent of working as a doctor or an ambulance man – sometimes you have to see some stuff, but you get on with it and then you’re ready for your next client.”

In shows like the one he is preparing for now, due to start in less than an hour at Swansea Grand, Tony, who has a seven year waiting list for private readings, will channel his awareness to identify to the audience who from the spirit world he has with him, and will then conduct a one-to-one reading for whoever relates to the mystical subject. He will also work with any photographs people bring with them of deceased loved ones, in the hope of uniting separated friends or family.

Tony is currently touring the UK with his live shows so visit tonystockwell.com to see where he’ll be calling at next.