Some of today's greatest psychics and most famous mediums owe a great debt of gratitude to the many psychics, mediums and intuitives that have come before them. Today psychics and paranormal phenomena are treated with a great deal more respect than they have been in the past because of the achievements of others who had the courage to stand up and demonstrate their abilities before a skeptical world.

We've put together a list of some of the most famous psychics from past centuries as well as a few of the truly great mediums and medical intuitives of today so that you can learn more about them. You'll be amazed by the many different gifts and personalities that have graced the history of the paranormal. Each of these individuals gave of themselves to help others and many willingly helped scientists and researchers learn more about the world of parapsychology and the afterlife.

Doreen Virtue
Dr. Doreen Virtue is a famous psychic and practitioner of Angel Therapy, where she works closely with an individual and his or her guardian angels to heal and empower their lives. Dr. Virtue spent years in the more conventional practice of modern psychiatry, including several years as the director of a psychiatric hospital focusing on women's issues before a violent attack changed her life. During a carjacking, she was saved by her guardian angel, a transforming moment in her life. She holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and now instructs many medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and psychiatrists, in the art of spiritual angel healing. Dr. Virtue has also written numerous books on how to communicate with your own guardian angels and has developed a series oracle cards based on Angels and Faeries. Dr. Virtue is one of the best psychics in the world currently practicing non-denominational spiritual healing based on Angelic intervention.

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945)
Arguably one of the most famous psychics of the twentieth century, Edgar Cayce is most famous for being a medical intuitive. He dedicated most of his life to answering troubling medical questions for those who came to see him, although his fame was based more on his ability to easily enter a trance and talk knowledgably on topics ranging from the history of Atlantis to the past lives of subjects. He became the world's most famous psychic in his own lifetime for his ability to enter a trance and successfully diagnose an illness and prescribe a cure even when the patient wasn't present. Over more than thirty years, he healed tens of thousands of people. Today there are many people who consider him one of the founders of both holistic medicine and the New Age movement.

Jeane Dixon (1918[?] - 1997)
Jeane Dixon was born with the name Jeane Lydia Pinckert, possibly in 1918, although this is disputed. She gave out very few details about her personal life except that she married James Dixon in 1939. She is probably the most famous psychic of the twentieth century because she predicted the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in an interview in Parade magazine in 1956, when she said that the election would be won by a candidate who would, "...go on to be assassinated or die in office." Her fame spread like wildfire and she was soon the darling of celebrities and leaders of state. She was the personal astrologer for Nancy Reagan during President Reagan's years in the White House and her Astrology column was syndicated in thousands of newspapers around the world. She has been acknowledged as one of the most talented astrologers of recent generations.

Carolyn Myss
This medical intuitive and author began as journalist interested in holistic health and mysticism, particularly how spirituality impacts health. She holds a BA in journalism, a Master's in Theology and a Ph.D. in Energy Medicine & Healing. Over the years she discovered her own ability to diagnose and interpret the physical, psychological and emotional needs of individuals without having to be in their presence. Partnering with a Dr. C. Norman Shealy, a neurosurgeon, she began private medical intuitive readings and co-authored a series of books on intuitive medicine, human consciousness and spirituality. Today Ms. Myss dedicates herself to educating others through CMED, her own educational institute, and lectures around the world. Her ground-breaking books on healing and the complex interaction of spirit, mind and body have been on the New York Times bestseller list five times.

Nostradamus (1503-1566)
One of the most famous psychics of all time, Nostradamus' writings are still studied and interpreted around the world today. In his early days he was an apothecary in southern France before entering the University of Avignon to pursue a degree in medicine, although he never completed this. Years later, however, he was routinely addressed as "Doctor" by the many who consulted him for his famed "rose pills." He began his writing career publishing almanacs containing various prophesies after the death of his wife and children of the plague. Encouraged by the success of his almanacs, he wrote his most famous work, "The Prophesies," a lengthy prophetic poem that hid hundreds of prophesies in obscure language that required interpretation. While some thought he was a servant of evil, the wealthy and the nobility flocked to his side. Eventually he became Counselor and Physician to King Henry II of France at the urging of Catherine de Medici. Interpretations of Nostradamus' works indicate that he may have predicted such events as World War , the stock market crash, the rise of the Third Reich and the World Trade Center Attacks. His prophesies have been in almost constant print for over 450 years.

Gerard Croiset (1909-1980)
Gerard Croiset was a famed Dutch psychic who was best known for being a psychometrist - a person who could hold or touch an object and get a reading about the person it belonged to. He is considered one of the best psychic examples of the value of psychic crime solving - he was frequently consulted by Netherlands officials in cases of missing persons and homicide. Croiset was also a psychic healer and consulted individually with patients in his private practice. He was not always successful; two highly publicized missing persons cases in Australia and Puerto Rico damaged his reputation when he could not locate the victims; although he did confirm that the children in Puerto Rico were dead. One of his latest investigations, however, was a resounding success in Japan, where he led the authorities to the location of a missing child within 24 hours of arriving in Tokyo. Croiset's son has inherited his abilities.

Jose Arigo (1917 - 1971)
Born into poverty in a small rural community in Brazil, Jose Arigo began having severe headaches and trances as a young man working in the local mines. He soon identified the man dressed in white whom he had seen in many visions as a surgeon named "Dr. Fritz," who wanted to work through him. Arigo began performing psychic surgery by channeling Dr. Fritz, sometimes using only his hands or simple kitchen knives, to successfully treat ailments. His fame spread when he successfully removed a tumor from the lung of a Brazilian senator. Although convicted twice of practicing medicine without a license, Arigo was allowed to continue operating on patients who sought his care even while behind bars. He died in 1971 in a car accident having performed successful surgeries on thousands of people.

Sylvia Browne (born 1936)
Sylvia Browne is wildly popular psychic and medium who has written several books on freeing each individual's psychic potential and is frequent guest on talk shows, where she fields questions from the audience. She often communicates with her spirit guide, Francine, who has revealed a great deal of information to her regarding the afterlife. Browne can see angels, who she says surround each of us to protect and guide us, and can communicate with those who have passed on. She has worked in the past with police departments and the FBI as a consultant on numerous cases. Ms. Browne has described Heaven in great detail as well as several of her past lives, which she says have contributed to her knowledge in order to help people in this life. She is also the founder of the Novus Spiritus Church, based on Gnostic Christian teachings and focusing on the female elements of Christianity.

Allison Dubois (born 1972)
Allison Dubois was first aware that she could communicate with the dead when she was six years old and has since then used her abilities as a medium to help bring peace to countless others. She was consulted by several Arizona police departments and the Texas Rangers on a variety of cases in which she was successful in locating missing persons or providing details of criminal cases. There is currently a successful television series, "Medium," based on her life. There was a firestorm of publicity when Dubois agreed to undergo testing at the University of Arizona and Professor Schwartz, head of the University's VERITAS project, declared that, "there is something very real going on here," confounding skeptics around the world.

James Van Praagh (born 1958)
Raised Catholic in New York, James Van Praagh became interested in the spirit world at a young age and developed a fascination with death. He began experiencing psychic phenomena as a child and, in response, eventually drew away from more traditional religion beliefs. He is a medium who often does private readings and channels departed family members for the living in order to bring them peace. Van Praagh is both clairsentient, meaning he can feel the emotions of the dead, and clairvoyant, meaning he can actually see them. Today Van Praagh is perhaps one of the most famous psychics in the media due to his work as producer of the CBS series The Ghost Whisperer. He has also authored several books on parapsychology, including Talking to Heaven, Healing Grief and Heaven and Earth - Making the Psychic Connection.

Robert Brown
An ordained minister and spiritualist, Robert Brown is also an acclaimed medium who has traveled extensively as a consultant to many high profile personalities. He discovered his abilities as a medium in his early teens and was taught by Ivy Northage and others. He is well known for balancing his psychic powers with a healthy dose of scientific skepticism and spent several years investigating other mediums and paranormal phenomena before writing We Are Eternal, a book explaining his beliefs on world religions, the afterlife and our place in the cosmos as well as a thorough explanation of how individuals can tell true mediums from frauds.

George Anderson
Considered by some to be the world's greatest living medium, George Anderson was first contacted by the dead at the age of six. He has spent his life bridging the gulf between the hereafter and our physical world to bring messages of hope to the living. In 1982 he was the first psychic to have his own weekly television series, Psychic Channels. In 1987, his book We Don't Die became an international bestseller. Since then he has appeared on numerous talk shows, hosted a variety of television specials and written several additional books but never lost his focus on his extremely specific mission - reuniting souls with their loved ones in order to help the grieving process and give comfort and a promise that there is something great beyond death.

Jane Roberts (1929-1984)
Jane Roberts discovered the depth of her psychic abilities in 1963 while researching book on ESP. Using a Ouija board with her husband, a spirit identified itself as Seth and began to send coherent messages to her. It soon became apparent that the entity was Roberts' spirit guide and she soon abandoned the Ouija board altogether. She regularly channeled Seth while in a trance while her husband, Robert Butts, recorded the sessions in shorthand. The results were published in 1969 in a collected works titled "The Seth Material," which covered a wide variety of metaphysical topics. In 1970, Seth began dictating his own books in channeling sessions, seven of which were published. Roberts was also a poet and author in her own right, having written children's books and Adventures in American Consciousness.

John Dee (1527-1608)
John Dee was the most famous psychic and astronomer of his age, serving as advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. Among his interests were alchemy, divination and the occult. He was a scientist and lecturer at the University of Paris and accomplished mathematician. Queen Elizabeth relied on him to cast her horoscope and give her guidance. Dee was an accomplished astrologer, psychic and medium in an age when the church was in upheaval and he often found himself in conflict with religious, political and scientific authorities, yet was respected by all of them.

Arthur Ford (1897-1971)
Arthur Ford was a famous psychic, spiritualist and clairaudient whose fame was so great that he impressed skeptics like the widow of Harry Houdini and metaphysics experts like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ford revealed in World War I that he heard the names of the men who would die before the casualty lists were released. After the war, he joined the Spiritualist movement and was a frequent trance medium. His control, Fletcher, communicated with the dead and readings were attended by hundreds of people. Ford's interest in reincarnation soon led to a split with the leading Spiritualist societies of the time and he founded the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship, which was more open to the idea of reincarnation and past lives. In 1967, Ford's most famous psychic feat was achieved when he entered a trance on live television and delivered several messages to Episcopalian Bishop James Pike from his deceased son.

Allan Kardec (1804-1869)
Arguably one of the most famous psychics of the twentieth century, Edgar Cayce is most famous for being a medical intuitive. He dedicated most of his life to answering troubling medical questions for those who came to see him, although his fame was based more on his ability to easily enter a trance and talk knowledgably on topics ranging from the history of Atlantis to the past lives of subjects. He became the world's most famous psychic in his own lifetime for his ability to enter a trance and successfully diagnose an illness and prescribe a cure even when the patient wasn't present. Over more than thirty years, he healed tens of thousands of people. Today there are many people who consider him one of the founders of both holistic medicine and the New Age movement.

John of God
John of God, whose real name is Joao Teixeira de Faria, is a Brazilian healer and is considered by some to be the greatest living unconscious medium in the world today. He holds open healing sessions in a small clinic about 150 miles outside of the capital, where he uses unorthodox cures to treat everything from simple infections to cancer. He performs surgeries while in a trance using tools such as forceps and scissors using no anesthesia with multiple patients in the audience receiving the same cure at once. John does not recall the details of any trance cures. He discovered his ability at the age of 16 when a voice directed him to go to a local church, where he was overcome by a trance and began performing cures of which he had no memory. Due to enormous demand, John of God also does remote healing once a week for those in need who can not make the trip to Brazil.

Sonia Choquette
Sonja Choquette is an intuitive guide and spiritual healer who is a powerful psychic centered on teaching people to get in touch with their own spiritual gifts. She believes that every individual has an innate sixth sense that they can tap into for psychic guidance in their daily lives. She is a teacher, author and coach who has worked with some of the most famous leaders in the New Age movement. She has a PhD in Metaphysics and has written several books on spiritual healing and the sixth sense.

Esther Hicks
Born and raised a Mormon, Esther Hicks began receiving psychic messages from a group of non-physical beings that collectively called themselves Abraham in 1986. She was astonished by the guidance and profound wisdom that her translation of their teachings seemed to hold, and she, along with her husband, decided to share the message beyond their circle of friends. The most influential book written by Abraham-Hicks was The
Law of Attraction, which declares that we are above all spiritual beings in earthly form and that, if we desire good things in all we do, these things are bound to happen for us. Esther Hicks continues to write with the assistance of Abraham today.

Ivy Northage (1909-2002)
Founder of one of the greatest psychic schools in the world, Ivy Northage is remembered today for her contributions as a teaching medium. As a young woman, Northage was a medium and clairvoyant who did not have a mentor as she developed her skills. She was a leading medium for over forty years and an active member of the Spiritualists Association of Great Britain, where she began her campaign to legitimize the profession.  Northage designed schools and course work where psychics and mediums could improve their skills and learn from their peers. She is remembered today as not only a great medium but an astute teacher who elevated the craft of spiritualism by helping countless students perfect their gifts.

Judith Orloff, M.D.
Intuitive Medicine practitioner Judith Orloff has authored numerous books on the power of intuition to guide the body in healing where traditional medicine has failed. She is a practicing intuitive who guides individuals to a great understanding of their own body's healing signals so that they can reach a breakthrough that reaches beyond traditional western medicine's painkillers to holistic healing from within. This intuitive healing harnesses the power of healing capacity of your own body to overcome emotional blockage that can cause physical damage. She is the author of a series of books on intuitive living and how to care for you body and spirit intuitively.

Uri Gellar (born 1946)
One of today's most controversial and famous psychics, known as much for his night club acts as for his psychic abilities. His greatest abilities are said to be telekinesis, mental telepathy and dowsing. He first gained notoriety for his performances on television in the 1970's doing tricks such as bending spoons and making watches run faster with the power of his mind, although many claimed he was using the tricks of a magician. In the 1980's he retired from most public performances and reportedly worked primarily as a consultant to various private consultants as a dowser, locating various commodities. Today he has a popular website where he writes on issues surrounding the paranormal and continues to explore psychic phenomena.

Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orleans, was a French peasant girl who had psychic visions of various saints telling her that she would be the instrument of the French king's triumph in the Hundred Year's War. She led the French army to victory over the English and was instrumental in getting Charles VII crowned King of France. She repeatedly saw and heard visions of angels telling her of God's will during her two short years leading seasoned army veterans to victory. Eventually she was captured by the English at the age of only 19 and convicted of heresy and burned at the stake. Her brief life was one of absolute conviction to her psychic visions, and the Catholic church later canonized her as a Saint. St. Joan is a prime example of the church's recognition in the Middle Ages of great psychics as part of their religious tradition, not in conflict with it.

Derek Acorah (born 1950)
Derek Acorah is the stage name of Derek Johnson, who was born and raised in Liverpool, England. He was first contacted by his late grandfather when he was a child. When he reported the incident to his grandmother, she revealed that she, too, was a medium and that Derek should develop his skills. Although Acorah spent his early years as a football player, he went on to become the most famous medium in England due to his work on a series of television programs in the 1980's, although his flamboyant style and violent trances when channeling his spirit guide, Sam, whom he knew from his previous life in Ethiopia 2000 years earlier. In the U.S. Acorah became a member of the International Society for Paranormal Research as a psychic investigator and ghost hunter. Today he continues to tour the U.K. to sold-out audiences.

Alice Bailey (188-1949)
Alice Bailey was a famed philosopher and author who wrote volumes on the Theosophical Movement founded by Madame Blavatsky. Although raised a Christian, she divorced her first husband, an Episcopalian minister, and became a devout Theosophist and studied many of the tenets of this esoteric movement. During these years, she related the teachings of her spirit guide, the Tibetan. She channeled the Tibetan and wrote down his teachings for thirty years, publishing several complex books outlining a new society based on the abolition of organized religion but based on a spiritual awakening centered on Christ's teachings and those of many other spiritual leaders. As time went on, Bailey's beliefs led her into conflict with others in the Theosophical Society and they eventually parted ways. In 1923, she founded the Arcane School with her second husband to advance the Great Universal Plan espoused by Christ and the various spiritual leaders she said guided her. The Arcane School continues today as an international organization and part of the New Age movement.

Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891)
Helena Petrovna Gan, also known as Madame Helena Blavatsky, was one of the nineteenth century's greatest mediums. She was a Russian woman who, after fleeing a much older husband as a teenager, traveled the world for a decade studying in Egypt, Tibet and many other countries, reaching the conclusion that there was a unified truth in the universe that had long been corrupted by the world's religions. From an early age she could see spirits and was intensely interested in the occult. She came to America in the 1870's and soon founded the Theosophical Society, based on the belief that spiritual truth was compatible with modern science. Although plagued by illness later in life, Blavatsky continued to travel, going to India before retiring to England, where she wrote her Secret Doctrine. It is widely held that Theosophy is the root of today's New Age movement and Madame Blavatsky the mother of all New Age philosophies, including intuitive medicine and many other spiritually esoteric beliefs that have millions of followers today.

Ingo Swann
Ingo Swann is most famous as psychic artist who developed the technique of remote viewing that was developed and tested by Stanford University and the CIA in the 1970's. He refused to call himself a psychic although many others used that term for his abilities. Instead, he referred to "altered states of consciousness" and suggested that anyone with the right training and awareness could develop some form of psychic abilities. Swann is a member of the Church of Scientology and is a high-level operating Thetan who supports the existence of extraterrestrials on earth. Today he continues to study the possibilities of the human mind in his retirement.

Daniel Dunglas Home (1833-1886)
Famous Scottish medium and spiritualist who gained great fame during the Victorian era for his ability to speak predict deaths, levitate and move objects remotely. Home was the illegitimate grandson of the 10th Earl of Home but was raised by his aunt and uncle, who fostered him from a young age. He began to predict the deaths of others from a very young age, a trait that members of his family had displayed for generations. The family emigrated to America when Home was a teen and by 18 he had gained a reputation as a medium, performing séances for many dignitaries and impressing them with his talents. He traveled throughout Europe, gaining a reputation as one of the greatest psychics of his time, performing before several royal families. Sadly, he developed tuberculosis and retired from public life as the disease ravaged his body and his abilities deteriorated. He died at the age of only thirty-eight

Sanaya Roman
Sanaya Roman is a famous psychic who has been channeling her spirit teacher, Orin for over twenty-five years. Today she focuses her energy on collecting Orin's teachings and his message for the world in a series of books. So far, there are six books in the Orin series, including Living With Joy, Opening to Channel, and a series of audio courses. She is now working on a course based on Orin's Seven Qualities of Divine Will, which he has revealed to her. Roman has also transposed angelic music brought to her by an angel named Thaddeus which she uses as the background for her guided meditation tapes. Roman doesn't enter a trance when channeling Orin; instead, they are simultaneously present in her body through a form of telepathic awareness.

Barbara Marciniak
Barbara Marciniak is an inspirational speaker and author of Bringers of the Dawn, Earth, Family of Light, and Path of Empowerment, all based on her experiences channeling beings from the star system the Pleiades. Marciniak has been receiving messages from the Pleiadians, multi-dimensional beings, for over ten years. Their purpose is to help humanity in its spiritual transformation in the years leading up to December 2012, the culmination of a great change now taking place. The Pleiadians regularly speak through Marciniak, revealing practical wisdom and spiritual guidance with wit and cosmic knowledge that is revealed in the quarterly newsletter the "Pleiadian Times." She augments the material she channels with her own understanding reached through her extensive studies of astrology and worldwide travels.

Ronna Herman
Ronna Herman is a famous psychic channeler who is well known for her deep, spiritual relationship with the Archangel Michael. The messages Michael sends through Herman give inspiration and guidance to millions through her books and seminars. Herman began her work as a channeler in the 1970's after retiring from a successful career in real estate. She has written several books on the teachings of the Archangel Michael and his
guidance for today's world.

Barbara Brennan
Barbara Brennan was a physicist for NASA for several years before she began studying biometric energy fields after receiving acupuncture treatments following a severe accident. Brennan is a medical intuitive who can interpret medical and psychological conditions by reading the auras of individuals. She can sense the auras of her patients with all five senses as well as see into the past traumas of those she works with. Working closely with them, she clears and balances their energy fields to bring them back into harmony with the Divine. Today Brennan focuses on teaching others her healing techniques and does research into ways to resolve traditional medical science with the enlightened techniques of her Energy Consciousness System.

Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)
in Sweden but spent much of his time in England. He was classically educated and became a great metallurgist, astronomer and engineer. His interest in the afterlife was lifelong, as he was considered a seer at an early age and could enter a trance-like state in which he conversed with spirits even as a child. In his fifties he began writing a series of treatises on the nature of Heaven and Hell and the nature of God which were inspired by his conversations with angels, demons and other spirits. Reliable accounts of his psychic ability include his predictions of a large fire in Stockholm while he was 300 miles away and predictions he made for Queen Louisa of Sweden regarding her brother. Swedenborg's unique status as a scientist and mystic is virtually unparalleled and theologians and philosophers still study his writings today.

William Stainton Moses (1839-1892)
Like many prominent Spiritualists of his day, William Stainton Moses was an ordained minister. He was a member of the Church of England who in his earlier years disdained mediums and felt that all spiritualists were frauds. However, in ill health and convinced by a friend to reconsider, he attended a séance held by Lottie Fowler and was impressed. Within five months of attending that first séance, Moses experienced his first instance of levitation. He soon began experiencing astounding psychic abilities of his own, including teleportation, clairvoyance and the presence of psychic lights and music. He began transcribing, through automatic writing, the messages of the spirits, which eventually filled twenty-four notebooks.

Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910)
This great medium and seer had no formal education as a child, although he heard voices from a very young age. His family had great faith in his abilities and he convinced them to move to New York based on revelations he received when he was a teenager. A few years later he discovered his ability as a medical intuitive to make accurate diagnosis of diseases. In a trance-like state in his early twenties, he was given instructions by two guides who would change his life - Emmanuel Swedenborg, the famous psychic of a previous generation, and the ancient physician Galen. He spent fifteen months dictating their revelations, which became the cornerstone of his book The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind. During the dictation, he supported his collaborators and family with medical diagnosis. He developed many of the founding principles of modern-day Spiritualism, including the concept of planes of existence for spirits in the afterlife and revelation within religious principles. Today he is considered one of the greatest spiritualists of our age.

William Eglinton (1858-1933)
William Eglinton's greatest claim to psychic fame was convincing England's Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone of the existence of psychic phenomena and spiritual guidance. Eglinton had no interest in mediums or anything paranormal as a child and, when his father first hosted a séance, he was skeptical and actually insulting. Nevertheless he sat in on the séance and was quite surprised by the results. Within months psychic phenomena the he was powerless to control was occurring around him. Soon he met two spirit guides, Joe Sandy and Ernest, while in a trance-like state. He began giving séances and was soon so popular that he gave up his job at a printing press to become a full-time medium. He became famous for his levitations, powers of materialization and ability to perform séances under strictly controlled conditions in broad daylight. He answered several questions in a performance for Prime Minister Gladstone that so impressed that man that he joined the Society of Psychical Research. He was such a famous medium by then that he was called to Russia to give readings to Emperor Alexander III. Oddly, when he returned from Russia, he retired from all public appearances and turned to journalism in 1890. He continued making a name for himself in the newspaper until his death in 1933.

Lenore Piper (1857-1950)
Lenore Piper is widely acknowledged as America's greatest medium of all time. She was first contacted when she was only eight years old at the very time that her aunt had passed away. Her mother kept careful record of the communications Lenore received from the dead, but allowed her a normal childhood. Upon her marriage at 22, she consulted another clairvoyant and word of her abilities quickly spread. Three controls regularly communicated through her using a combination of automatic writing and trance speaking - Phinuit (a French doctor), Chlorine (a Native American girl), and George Pelham. Later, a new control, the Imperator, became her only spirit contact. The information she gave in readings was incredibly accurate and she was accepted around the world as one of the greatest living psychics of the twentieth century. She worked in both the U.S. and England for decades under the close scrutiny of the Society for Psychical Research, which spent years studying her methods. They concluded that she was an absolutely genuine medium and great psychic, which did more for the legitimacy of paranormal research and psychics than any other work in the last hundred years.

Francisco Xavier (1910-2002)
Affectionately known as Chico Xavier in Brazil, Francisco Xavier embodied the absolute best medium skills in a modest, unassuming personality. After his mother died when he was only five, she appeared to him many times along with other spirits who spoke to him with great clarity. His teachers at his Catholic primary school advised him to stop listening to the voices and pray. In 1927, a Spiritist medium cured one of his sisters of a demonic possession and he immediately decided to listen to his spirit guides and become a medium himself. He and his wife opened an Evangelical Spiritist center and he was guided by Emmanuel, his spirit guide, to help others. Their communication was primarily through visions and automatic writing. He wrote over one hundred books on Spiritist teachings despite having almost no formal education and dedicated many hours each week to healing by giving personal instruction for spiritual and medicinal healing guided by Emmanuel. He never accepted payment for his work or his writings. In recognition of his work as a medium and a leader of the Spiritist movement, Brazil has issued a post stamp in his honor, a rare tribute for a great psychic.

Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899)
Emma Hardinge Britten was a famous clairvoyant who is considered one of the earliest and most influential advocates of the Modern Spiritualist Movement. She began having visions at a young age and often predicted the future of those around her. When she was young, she dabbled with the occult while living in London and took the name Hardinge, which she kept throughout her life, although she separated herself from the occult movement. In 1855 she moved to New York to pursue an acting career but a year later predicted the loss of the steamship Pacific when she was overcome with a dread feeling of being wet and cold and seeing the apparition of a passenger. Soon after, the famous Spiritualist Horace Day invited her to perform séances at the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge; she spent the next years lecturing on a variety of spiritualist topics, including the connection between the natural and spiritual worlds. Late in life she married ardent Spiritualist William Britten. Hardinge Britten is usually credited with defining the seven principles of Spiritualism, which are still used by Spiritualists organizations today in some countries.

Gordon Smith
Gordon Smith first discovered the he was a medium when he was seven years old and a family friend visited him. He did not find out until later that day that the friend had died two weeks previously! Born the seventh son of a seventh son, his abilities as a medium, psychic and clairvoyant soon drew him away from his first occupation as a barber. He has done countless readings for people around the world and has opened himself up as a medium in order to contact the spirits of the loved ones of those who have passed away for his many clients. He can both see and hear these spirits and says that everyone has guiding spirits they could see if they open themselves to the possibility and learn the proper techniques. He has been the subject of numerous books and television specials and now tours the world to introduce others to the comfort of Spiritualism and the messages of the departed. He has been labeled the UK's most accurate psychic medium and has undergone rigorous scientific testing through the UK and US branches of the Societies for Psychical Research.

John Edward
John Edward McGee, Jr. is better known as John Edward and is a famous television medium with a popular American television series, Crossing Over with John Edward. Edwards was raised a Roman Catholic who didn't put much stock in psychic phenomena, but at 15 a psychic told him that he was destined to be a medium. At the time, he dismissed her as, "nuts," but the thought lingered. Soon he was communicating with the spirits of those who had, in his words, "crossed over," and he wrote a book in 1998 about his experiences that became a surprise best seller. He became convinced that his mission was to leave his day job as a dance instructor to comfort the grief stricken by reconnecting them with lost loved ones. Soon he had a string of successful televisions shows based on his ability to contact the deceased relatives and friends of audience members, including Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country. John Edward has so far written five bestsellers on the afterlife, exploring your own psychic potential and using the rosary to enhance your spiritual life. He continues to lecture, write and practice mediumship around the world, although he no longer schedules private sessions due to time constraints.

Rosemary Altea
As a young girl, Rosemary Altea often saw the spirits of the dead but learned to keep that information to herself since her mother threatened to punish her for talking about it. After an unpleasant divorce, however, she and her young daughter moved to America and she wrote her first book, The Eagle and the Rose, at the urging of her spirit guide, Grey Eagle, whom she had turned to for hope and help. The book became a bestseller for its message of hope - that there is an afterlife and that our loved ones still care for us after death. Altea believes that all of us are essentially spiritual beings and that our time on earth is only transitory - that we come to earth in order to learn and grow before moving on. She is also the founder of the Rosemary Altea Association of Healers, a school for intuitive, holistic healers that includes over thirty unpaid spiritual healers. Through the years, Grey Eagle has guided her to write four more books, including one, Soul Signs, that outlines the five main types of spiritual personalities and how individuals can best develop their inner spiritual gifts. Rosemary's greatest message to others is, "Those on the other side do love us and want what is best for us, but they want us to know not to worry, because what comes next is even better".

Dion Fortune
Born Violet Mary Firth, Dion Fortune took her name from the family motto, "Deo, non Fortuna," which meant "God, not Fate." She grew up in Wales in a strictly Christian Scientist family and reported seeing visions of Atlantis at the age of four. By the age of twenty, she had developed extensive psychic abilities but suffered what may have been a nervous breakdown at that point due to the pressures put on her because of them. She recovered quickly and went on to study psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London as well as placing herself under the tutelage of Irish occultist Theodore Moriarty. She married Henry Evans and founded the Fraternity of the Inner Light, which still exists today as the Society of the Inner Light. One of her greatest contributions to paranormal writings is considered to be The Mystical Qabalah, a thorough textbook on magic that is still considered a watershed book on the subject today.

J. Z. Knight
Judith Zebra Knight, born Judith Darlene Hampton, is a well known psychic famous for channeling the entity Ramtha. She has said that Ramtha, the Enlightened One, first appeared to her and her husband in 1977 and told them that she would be taught many mysteries. She learned from Ramtha, who is the spirit of a warrior over 35,000 years old, daily for a period of several months and wrote extensively regarding his teachings. Today she runs Ramtha's School for Enlightenment in Washington state, educating students on the nature of our true identity and our purpose as the descendents of the forgotten gods of this plane of existence. Many of Ramtha's teachings have been a part of various religions down through the ages, although they have been distorted or forgotten over time. Among J.Z. Knight's proponents are Shirley MacClaine, who mentions Ramtha's teachings in her book Dancing in the Light. Today J.Z. Knight sponsors 4-day retreats on her ranch where students learn Ramtha's teaching as well as psychic abilities such as remote viewing, psychic healing and the manipulation of electromagnetic fields.

Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916)
Although Grigori Rasputin's has been tarnished because of his association with the fall of the Romanov dynasty of Tsarist Russia, few dispute that he was a legendary healer and great mystic. He was born to peasant family and at a young age was able to identify thieves in his village by psychic powers. At the age of 18 he spent time in a monastery and saw his first visions of the Mother of God, which confirmed in him a determination to become a religious mystic. After traveling to Greece and Jerusalem, he returned to St. Petersburg, where he gained a reputation as a healer and prophet. In 1905, the Tsarina consulted Rasputin regarding her son's hemophilia. He was successful in stopping the boy's bleeding and was trusted thereafter to maintain the boy's fragile health. He became a trusted advisor to the royal family, which resulted in a great deal of jealousy among the nobility of the time. Although many feared Rasputin and were suspicious of his bad habits, few doubted the sincerity of his convictions or his psychic powers. Not long before he was murdered by members of the Duma, a powerful political party, Rasputin wrote a letter to Tsar Nicholas predicting his own death and warning that, if the nobles killed him, the ruling class would fall. All of his predictions came true within two years.

Eileen Garrett (1893-1970)
Eileen Garrett was raised by her aunt after her parents died when she was child. From a very young age she could see children and adults that others couldn't, although her aunt insisted they weren't real. Garrett realized that the people she saw were made of light, unlike the people in this world and soon learned to keep their existence secret. During her school years she suffered greatly because she felt all of the emotions of those around her and could see their pain in the auras of light surrounding them. The loss of three sons as infants to disease sparked her interest in the afterlife. She began to work with mediums of the time and was soon contacted by a spirit guide known as Uvani, an Arab soldier. She continued to explore the afterlife for many years and discovered that she had healing powers as well, granted her through another control named Latif, a Persian physician. In the early 1930's, Garrett left England for the United States in hopes of meeting with doctors and scientists who could explain what was happening to her. Her great psychic abilities were now threatening to overwhelm her and she allowed herself to be extensively tested. It was determined that there was no rational explanation for her abilities and she came to accept that she was truly a "sensitive" and that she must use her psychic abilities to help others. She later founded The Parapsychology Foundation and Creative Age Press, both of which further the publication of books, journals, newsletters and reports regarding the scientific exploration of psychic phenomena.

Gladys Osborne Leonard (1882-1968)
Gladys Osborne saw visions as a child that went far beyond normal eyesight and she was aware that her ability to see through walls and other obstacles was unique to her. As a young woman she was a singer but experimented with table turning and other forms of psychic phenomena and was soon in contact with Feda, a spirit who said she was an ancestor of Osbornes' who had died at the age of thirteen. Soon she gave up her singing career and was one of the most famous mediums in England. She married a Dr. Leonard and continued to act as a medium for several years. Over time she also began channeling North Star, and Indian who was able to heal patients who did not respond to traditional medical care. After World War I, Leonard gave comfort to many when she was able to contact their loved ones who had been lost in the war. She worked closely with the Society for Psychical Research to maintain the integrity of psychics and mediums and continued to be recognized as an amazing psychic who had frequent out of body experiences until her death. In her autobiography, My Life in Two Worlds, she recounts many tales of her travels in the spirit world.

Annie Besant (1847-1933)
Always proud of her Irish heritage, Annie Besant grew up with a strong sense of duty and of what a strong, independent woman could achieve. She received a good education despite being from an impoverished family and traveled widely through Europe before marrying an Anglican minister at the age of twenty-six. She later divorced him after years of arguing over everything from religion to politics. Besant came to her calling as a clairvoyant late in life; she was first a children's author, workers' rights reformer and newspaper reporter. When interviewing Madame Blavatsky, she learned about and became a member of the Theosophist movement. Within a year she announced that she had discovered her clairvoyant abilities and began giving readings through the Theosophical Society. As a psychic, she is unrivaled for her unusual life as not only a psychic, but a political activist and religious reformer as well.

Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854-1934)
Charles Leadbeater was one of the most famous clairvoyants of the nineteenth century as well as one of the most controversial leaders of the Theosophical Society. He grew up in modest surroundings and was largely self-educated but became an ordained minister. However, he developed an interest in the occult and joined the Theosophical Society in 1883. A year later Madame Blavatsky accepted him as a pupil; in response he became a vegetarian, left the ministry and followed her to India to study. He studied there for six years, honing his psychic skills and learning a great deal from Hindu masters. When he returned to England he had perfected astral projection, past life progression and the ability to predict the future. Among his greatest works were The Chakras and Man, Visible and Invisible. Leadbeater's most controversial accomplishment, however, was his discovery of Jiddu Krishnamurti in India. Later, this young boy whom Leadbeater had declared the incarnation of the Great Teacher the Theosophists had been waiting for, denounced the title and separated himself from the Society. Krishnamurti did, however, continue to speak around the world and later won a Peace Award from the United Nations, demonstrating that some ideals of the Theosophist Society stayed with him.

Elizabeth Baron
Elizabeth is a trance medium who has been practicing her craft for over thirty years, making numerous appearances on television on radio to teach others about her work, which is done through her guardian angel, St. Catherine of Sienna, a 14th Century nun who wishes to help the world through messages of hope. Baron has been recording St. Catherine's monthly messages for over two decades. She also works with law enforcement officials in her capacity as a clairvoyant artist to draw crime scenes and portraits of suspects. Her unique skills allow her to answer specific questions for her clients without needing to be guided by questions of her own. Her difficult childhood - she lost her parents when she was young, survived cancer at the age of five and went through many foster home - helped prepare her for a life of service as a great medium. She has the unusual ability to recline and, in a trance, channel as many as 150 people in a session, relaying personal messages to all.

Eusapia Palladino (1854-1918)
Born in Italy, Eusapia Palladino was a famous medium who traveled throughout Poland, Italy, France and Germany performing a variety of impressive demonstrations of her abilities, including levitation, producing music and physically materializing the dead. In Paris, Pierre and Marie Curie investigated her and came to believe that she was a genuine, as did the Society for Psychical Research, which investigated her in Naples in 1908. In her later years she plagued by some rumors of trickery, but continued to perform séances for many who believed in her powers until she retired in her later years. At one time she was considered the most famous psychic in Europe.

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866)
Phineas Quimby, often called Park by those who knew him best, was an accomplished watchmaker and inventor who became interested in mesmerism and explored its connection with healing. He later decided that healing was not a result of mesmerism but God's actions through the individuals. He felt that he had rediscovered methods of healing similar to those used by Jesus and his apostles. In today's language, his gifts would best be described today as medical intuitive. He would sit with patients and feel