I was skeptical about a psychic reading. What happened surprised me

By Marianne Garvey, CNN

(CNN) — When I committed to interviewing and getting a reading from a psychic medium, the first thing I did was Google myself, in order to see what this person might be able to somehow ‘divine’ about me.

You can find out a lot about me on the internet, like the fact I have a 5-year-old daughter, the year I got married, and that my parents are now deceased. When I signed on to my Zoom session with medium Christopher Allan, I was skeptical about whether he would be able to tell me something about my life that wasn’t available online. But I had been told by a mutual friend of ours that I would be blown away by Allan’s ability to know things about me.

Over our screens, I saw that Allan is a young, handsome guy. Sitting in a room with a few guitars, he seemed unflashy compared to some well-known mediums who read to arenas of people or base their practice in the celebrity world. I started our conversation by asking him more about his work and at what point he realized he was a medium.

A spiritual connection

“Since I could remember, I would always just have this awareness, like an inner knowing of just realizing that like, ‘Hey, there’s more to my identity than just this physical version of me,” Allan told me. “I remember being three years old and looking at my mom saying, ‘I am me, but I’m more than I think I am.’”

Allan recalled that his sense of awareness and connection to a spiritual realm has never felt unsettling or scary, and that connecting with “spirts,” as he describes it, feels like an overwhelming emotion of love.

He shared that he is adopted and used to tell his mom as a child that he felt “homesick.”

“I missed my friends and family back where I came from, but what I was feeling was this yearning for where I was spiritually before I came here,” he said.

As he grew older, Allan said he started to sense when seemingly healthy people were going to pass away, not long before they actually did. At first, his parents doubted him, Allan said, but that changed, particularly for his dad, once he started sharing his psychic abilities with other people.

“He became my biggest supporter, my biggest confidant,” he said of his father.

Still, Allan initially tried to steer away from the pull he felt to people who had passed.

“When I was a kid I just wanted to be a musician. I went to college for music and songwriting, so I just tried my hardest to kind of push that part of me aside and focus on music,” he said. “But then when you say you do this thing and the neighborhood knows, then it snowballs into something bigger. And then if you have it, you might as well do something with it. And then I learned to embrace it.”

A language of symbols

It gets loud in Allan’s head at times. For example, he can feel overwhelmed at airports or walking around Manhattan. Allan said he has learned to control the volume of the messages he senses.

“It’s like shopping in a supermarket and there’s always music playing. And if you pay attention, you can listen to the music or it can be [background noise.] There’s a time and a place for everything,” he said.

Facts and information come to him in symbols, he explained.

“The spirit language is the language of symbols because they don’t have a voice to project actual sound as in ‘Hi, this is who I am,’” Allan said. “So everything that I get is kind of their energy that my brain interprets in ways that I can relate it. When they interact with me, my brain is seeing things that I normally wouldn’t see.”

As for the skeptics, Allan said he’s learned to control the volume on that too.

“I just feel like we’re on our own paths and who I’m meant to resonate with, I’m going to resonate with,” he said.

And there are plenty of people who do believe. Allan has sold out shows in Las Vegas, where he reads for members of the audience. He is gearing up for an event on December 20 at the Midnight Theater in New York. Titled “Brunched by an Angel,” the show will feature Allan doing readings for an intimate crowd, as they dine on dim sum and sip holiday cocktails.

“Doing it around the holidays to me just seemed like the thing to do,” he said, as people are missing loved ones they’ve lost and want to feel connected with.

Allan’s “Brunched by an Angel” event is produced by Shane Farley, who said the smaller size of the gathering offers a different experience than arena shows.

“People show up with baggage, and thanks to Christopher’s unique gifts, he links them with the spirits of their loved ones,” Farley said. “It’s like a magic portal to forgiveness and deep connections. Being part of this healing journey is truly powerful.”

‘He’s got your cat with him’

In the middle of our interview, Allan urgently jotted down a note. I asked what it said. He’d written down, “Dad.”

“Would your father be passed on?” he asked me.

I told him yes, four years ago, but didn’t provide any more information. Allan then dropped something on me that I can’t figure out how he would ever know.

“He wants me to bring up the idea of feeling like somehow there’s a neurological event or there’s something with his eyes,” he said. “One eye was weaker than the other and he feels like you should look at it almost like a scar, like that’s what makes you unique. All that more power to your dad for being the beautiful man he was, given this physical flaw.”

I tell him that my dad was born with Ocular Myasthenia Gravis, a condition where muscles in the eye can deteriorate or be weak, and that as a child, I always hoped he was never picked on or taunted because of his condition.

“His physical self never defined him and nor should you ever dwell on that anymore,” Allan said, adding, “And it feels like he’s back with your mom. So your mom also passed and there is something about this month.”

My mom passed away on December 24, 2014.

He also nailed what my wedding venue looked like and that my daughter is in kindergarten and has musical talents. He knew my best friend’s husband had died unexpectedly.

“Your dad wanted to say he sees your child,” Allan told me. “Your dad wants to make sure you know that he made a smooth transition. And you don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’s got your cat with him.”

My 18-year old cat, Meepers, died two months after my dad.

I’m glad my dad is watching my cat, that’s awfully nice considering how much he hated them in life.

Unless Allan had access to my dad’s medical records, I’m not quite sure how he’d come into the information he shared with me. I think some people are just tuned in to a higher frequency.

Maybe it’s the holidays, or the fact that this Sunday would have been my dad’s birthday, or maybe I just need some comfort and was open to receiving it. All I can say is, I’m no longer a skeptic.

“Brunched by an Angel” will play Dec. 20 at the Midnight Theater in New York.

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