Omega: How did you develop your natural talent for communicating with spirits and what practices remain important to you today?

Tony: I was very lucky, because I was invited to join a development group. A woman named Joan, who has now passed over herself, took me under her wing. She saw something in me. I was allowed to sit in her home circle, which was a very small group that met every Thursday.

We would meditate and she would give us advice, and she would ask us to say things that we thought were true. I think I had more accuracy than others and because of that, she nurtured me. I was very lucky to have this one-on-one training, and from there I gained confidence.

I think people are born with an ability, but that still has to be honed and practiced.

What I do now is possibly something that I've never done before, which is that I try to manifest my own spirit self in all things that I do because I'm a great believer that although we have this physicality, emotions, and the mental mind, it’s spirit that aches for expression.

Through meditation, contemplation, and visualization, I try to be more of my spirit and that gives me a closer bond to the other world.

Omega: As a medium, what are the most surprising things you’ve learned about spirits and what's the most surprising thing you've learned about the living?

Tony: It’s not so much surprising, but I’m enthralled that spirits live on and they live with the people they loved. I also know they don't live with the people they have been connected to if there wasn't love there. They constantly evolve and feel lighter than when they left this world.

The thing that surprises me the most about spirits is that no matter how long ago they passed, they still care for us and love us. They still want to see us do well and be happy.

All sorts of things surprise me about living people. Often, the people who have been through the most and had the greatest grief and the hardest lives are the most kind and encouraging people. They're typically the easiest to work with too.

Omega: Can anyone, whether or not they are a medium, get help from spirit guides? How can we access them?

Tony: The word "guides" is a little outdated. A lot of my mentors were mediums in the 1940s and 1950s when guides were such a huge aspect of a medium’s work. I remember in my youth seeing mediums’ work and when they would get up on stage they'd say, "My name is ___ and my guide is called ___," and they would gesture at this unseen person.

Guides were a big part of our mediumship then and the way we expressed it. For a while, I stuck with this idea that we always need to go through an intermediary between the two worlds.

Since then, I've worked in a way where I try to commune directly with the moms, dads, brothers, and sisters or from my higher mind or intelligence. I believe in accessing from this universal feeling.

I do believe there are gentle people in another world that want to be our friends. Someone may be a teacher, a politician, or a nurse and they might have assistance from others to do the right thing. I think most people have someone they could connect to if they are receptive enough to connect to them.

I also believe there are many sleepwalkers in this world. They function in daily life, but there's no perception of anything else other than their own world and their own life. Even if a guardian spirit is there, it would be incredibly difficult for them to access or appreciate that guidance.

In a nutshell, I think these beings are around us and generally, they wait for us to invoke their presence. Though even if we have no awareness of them, as long we are working to do something for the common good, they will assist us very gently and very subtly.

If someone is under great duress and needs additional help, all they have to do is ask and someone will be very happy to stand up and step in. I think the important thing is to ask the intelligence of the other word to respond to us.

Omega: Is there a particular story from your years of doing this work that really stuck with you?

Tony: I was working in Gibraltar, in the southern part of Spain, and working through an interpreter with a Spanish woman dressed in black. She was holding a crucifix in her hand and she came in like she was so afraid of me. I sat and closed my eyes and I started to read for her. She wasn't very forthcoming and the young interpreter was asking, "Do you understand? Is it real? Is it not real?"

A few times I opened my eyes and I was just trying to smile and encourage her to relax with me and let her know it was all going to be okay.

From absolutely nowhere, a man came into my thoughts dressed in a red, sequined gown. This lady was buttoned up in black, with rosary beads, looking very fearful, and I was questioning, "Do I say it or not say it?" But I didn't have anything else to say. I had this very strong knowing and I could feel his presence at my side.

She eventually started getting very animated and said through the interpreter, "What is the man wearing?" That gave me permission to say I see him in a red sequined dress.

Then the old lady started to sob and wail. She said to the young lady, please tell the medium I sewed every sequin onto that dress for him. It was her son, who was a female impersonator, a drag queen. The whole family turned against him and his whole community turned against him, but his mother had always adored him and made all of his dresses.

That story kind of sticks out in my mind more than any other because for me it was the kind of message that defies logic. They are the ones I appreciate because it couldn't be anything else other than the warm embrace of spirit.