What to Expect From Your First Medium Reading (Online Edition)

So you've booked your first online medium reading, or you're hovering over the button trying to decide. Either way, well done for getting this far. I know what it took to even type that into Google.

I'm going to walk you through what actually happens in an online reading, what's reasonable to expect, and what isn't. I'll be honest with you about the harder bits too, because I'd rather you go in with your eyes open than walk away disappointed or, worse, taken advantage of. Both happen, and I'd love for neither to happen to you.

Before the reading: a few practical things

Online readings, whether over Zoom, video call, or sometimes phone, are now completely normal, and they work just as well as sitting in the same room. I promise. Spirit, energy, whatever language you prefer, doesn't care about Wi-Fi. What matters far more is the connection between you and the medium, and that travels through a screen just fine.

A few sensible things to sort beforehand:

• Somewhere quiet and private. Not the kitchen with the kettle going. Not the car park outside Tesco. Somewhere you can cry, laugh, or sit in silence without anyone walking in.

• Be properly available. I've had people book paid readings while walking around town centres, looking after their grandchildren, or waiting for an Amazon delivery. Please don't. Your energy and focus need to be wholly with the medium for the time you've booked. If you can't give it that, reschedule. It's that simple.

• Tissues. I know. But honestly, have them.

• Test your headphones beforehand. Honestly, please. So many people arrive late and flustered because their new Bluetooth headphones won't sync with Zoom, and that's not the energy you want to start a reading in. Test them at least an hour before, pair them, do a quick test call, make sure your laptop or phone hasn't decided to send the audio somewhere completely random.

• Settle yourself before you start. Don't pile in straight from the school run or a stressful work meeting. Give yourself five or ten minutes to sit down, breathe, and get yourself into the right state for a reading. You'll get far more from it if you arrive in alignment rather than in chaos.

• Ask to record it. Most mediums are happy with this and many will record it for you. Recording matters because you shouldn't be sitting there trying to take notes. Your energy and focus need to be with the medium, not with a pen. You'll catch the details later when you listen back. Some of the bits that don't seem important during the reading turn out to mean everything two weeks down the line when something happens and you go, oh.

• Be ready to tell the medium who you'd like to hear from. I know other people will tell you the opposite, so let me explain. A good medium asking who you want to hear from isn't cheating, it's a safeguard. Without it, I might land on your great uncle Sirius when you were desperate to hear from your mum, and that helps nobody. Knowing who you're hoping for lets me aim properly and check I've got the right person. The evidence still has to come from me. I'm not asking for details about them, just who.

What actually happens once it starts

Every medium works a bit differently, but most online readings tend to follow a loose shape.

There's usually a brief hello and a settling in. The medium might explain how they work, ask you to keep responses fairly minimal (more on that in a sec), and then take a moment to tune in. You might see them go a bit quiet, close their eyes, or just look slightly off camera. They're not nodding off. They're listening to something you can't hear.

Then they'll start describing what they're getting. This might be:

• A person's energy or personality

• How they passed (sometimes, not always, and not in graphic detail)

• Memories, places, smells, songs

• Messages, reassurances, or sometimes very specific bits of information

Your job during all of this is mostly to listen and confirm with short, simple answers: yes, no, maybe, not sure, don't know. That's genuinely it.

Here's why this matters more than people realise. When a medium is working, we're creating a blend with the person in spirit. That blend builds and deepens through speed, through the back and forth of evidence coming out and you confirming it. Every time you stop the process to explain something, or interpret it, or talk it through, you break that connection and make the medium's job harder. It's not rudeness to keep your answers short. It's the thing that lets the reading work properly.

Beyond telling them who you'd like to hear from, your medium shouldn't be asking for personal details about them. The evidence has to come from them, not you. If something doesn't land, say so. Don't try to make it fit, and don't try to interpret it on the medium's behalf either. If the medium says "apple" and you're sitting there thinking "well, it's not apple, but maybe it's about the plum tree in the garden," please don't tell them that. Just say "no, apple doesn't mean anything to me, sorry." It's the medium's job to go back and refine the information, not yours to translate it for them.

A good medium would much rather you said "no, that doesn't mean anything to me" than nod along to be polite.

The thing nobody warns you about

You might cry. You might laugh. You might do both within about ninety seconds and feel a bit unhinged.

You might also feel completely numb during the reading and only really process it days later. That's normal too. The brain does odd things when it's trying to take in something emotional through a screen, in your own front room, while also wondering if your hair looks alright on the camera.

And, this is the bit I want to be properly honest about, sometimes the medium lands on the wrong person. You're sitting there hoping for your mum, and they're describing what sounds an awful lot like a grandparent you weren't particularly close to, and you're thinking well that's lovely but where's mum?

You'll hear other mediums say "spirit chooses who comes through" and we just have to accept whoever shows up. I don't agree with that. In my experience, when someone books a reading hoping to hear from a specific person, that person is almost always there, I get them through 99% of the time. If a different person is coming through strongly, sometimes it's because they've got something important to say first. But sometimes, honestly, it's because the medium has landed on the wrong energy and not corrected course. That's a skill thing, not a spirit thing, and it's worth knowing the difference.

This is part of why I'll ask you upfront who you're hoping for. Not so I can fish for information about them, I genuinely don't want that, but so I can make sure I'm tuned to the right person and not wandering off into someone else's family tree.

What a good reading should feel like

You should leave a good reading feeling something along the lines of: comforted, a bit lighter, a bit more connected. Maybe shaken up in a useful way. Reflective. Sometimes amused, because spirit can be hilarious and people forget that.

You should not leave feeling:

• Frightened

• Dependent

• Like you need to book the next one immediately to find out "what happens next"

• Told what to do with your life

• That you've been given dire warnings, curses, or urgent things you need to fix (for a fee)

That last one is the big red flag. Anyone telling you there's a curse on you, or that you need to pay extra to clear something heavy, or that doom is coming unless you keep booking, that is not mediumship. That is somebody preying on a frightened person, and it makes me genuinely furious. Walk away. Tell people. It's worth saying out loud because it still goes on, especially online where anyone can set up shop.

What an online reading can't do (and shouldn't try)

Let's be straight about this so you don't get sold magic that isn't on offer.

A reading is not going to:

• Predict the future with certainty. Life isn't fixed, and neither are readings.

• Give you specific lottery numbers, or which house to buy, or whether to leave your partner. A medium can pass on guidance and themes. The choices are yours.

• Replace a doctor, a therapist, a lawyer, or a financial advisor. If a medium is trying to do any of those jobs, they're in the wrong room.

• Bring someone "back" or fix grief. It can give you a moment of connection. The grief still needs the time and care it needs.

A reading can give you a window. A moment. A bit of evidence that the people you've lost are still around in some form. That can be enormous. Just keep your expectations in the right shape.

What if you don't get what you hoped for?

This happens, and I want to address it head-on because I've seen people walk away from a perfectly decent reading feeling devastated, when actually the reading was fine, it just wasn't the one they'd written in their head.

A few honest possibilities:

You might have built it up too much. Completely understandable, but if you've been waiting six months for this and rehearsing every question, the reality almost can't match the expectation. That's not the medium's fault, and it's not yours either. It's just what happens when something matters this much.

The medium might not have been the right fit. Mediums vary hugely. Different styles, different strengths. One who didn't click for you might be perfect for your sister. It's not a failure on either side.

The medium might genuinely have been off. Mediums are human. They have bad days, just like everyone else. A good one will tell you if they can't connect properly and won't take your money for it. If you've paid for something that didn't work and they refuse to acknowledge it, that tells you what you need to know.

Or, and this is the honest one, the medium may have landed on the wrong person and not corrected it. It happens, especially with less experienced mediums. If you came to hear from your mum and spent the whole hour with someone else's energy, the reading wasn't necessarily fake, but it wasn't what you booked for either. A good medium should be willing to acknowledge that and put it right.

If it didn't go how you hoped, give yourself a few days before you decide what you think. The bits that didn't seem to land often start to land later.

Choosing the right medium online

Since anyone with a webcam can call themselves a medium these days, a few things to check:

• Are they accountable? Real name, real business, somewhere you can find reviews that aren't all five stars suspiciously written in the same voice.

• Do they have training or development? Mediumship is a skill that takes years. Look for someone who's been at it properly, not someone who did a weekend course last spring.

• How do they describe their work? Honest mediums tend to undersell, not oversell. If the website is full of "100% accurate" and "guaranteed contact," I'd give it a swerve.

• What's the price doing? Mediumship should be affordable enough to access but priced fairly for the work. Suspiciously cheap can mean inexperience; suspiciously expensive can mean someone's noticed how vulnerable people get and priced accordingly. Use your judgement.

• Recommendations from real people you trust. Worth ten times any Instagram ad.

A last honest word

Coming to your first reading takes courage. Whatever's brought you here, whether grief, curiosity, a strong feeling that someone's around, or just wanting to try something for yourself, that's enough reason. You don't owe anyone an explanation for being interested in this stuff.

Go in with an open mind and a questioning one. Both. You can be open to the experience and still wise to the industry. In fact, please be both. The world needs more people who'll happily sit in a reading with their heart open and still walk away saying "hmm, not sure about that bit," because that's the kind of person this work actually serves best.

I hope it's a good one. And if it isn't, that's information too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do online medium readings work as well as in-person ones? Yes, genuinely. Spirit doesn't care about the medium being in the room. What matters is the connection between you and the medium, and that comes through a screen perfectly well. Plenty of mediums (myself included) work mostly online now and the readings are no less real.

How long does an online medium reading usually last? Most are between 30 and 60 minutes. Anything much shorter probably isn't giving you enough, and anything much longer can become diluted as energy fades. Ask before you book so you know what you're paying for.

Should I tell the medium anything about myself or who I want to hear from? Telling them who you'd like to hear from is helpful. It stops them landing on the wrong person and means they can aim properly. Telling them anything about that person, like how they passed, their personality, what they did for a living, is not. The evidence still has to come from the medium. Share the name or the relationship; keep the details to yourself.

What if the medium says something that doesn't quite fit? Say so. Don't try to make it fit, and don't try to interpret it for them. If they say "apple" and you're thinking "well, it's not apple, but maybe it's the plum tree in the garden," resist the urge to feed them that. Just say "no, apple doesn't mean anything to me." It's their job to refine the information and check it. The reading works much better when you let them do that work, rather than translating on their behalf.

What if nobody comes through? It's rare, but it happens. A genuine medium will tell you honestly if they can't get a clear connection and will usually offer to reschedule or refund. If they ploughed on regardless and made things up to fill the time, that tells you everything you need to know about them.

Can I record an online medium reading? Yes, and you should. Recording is far better than trying to take notes. Your energy and focus need to be with the medium, not with a pen. Most mediums are happy for you to record and many will do it for you. Always ask first. You'll be grateful for it later, because details that didn't land in the moment often make complete sense weeks down the line.

Is it normal to cry during a reading? Completely. Cry, laugh, sit quietly, all of it. Whatever happens is fine. A decent medium has seen it all and won't bat an eyelid. Get the tissues ready and don't apologise for being human.

How soon after a loss should I have a reading? There's no rule, but most mediums suggest giving it a bit of time, a few months at least, so you're not coming in raw. That said, you know your own grief better than anyone. Listen to yourself.

How do I know if my medium reading was genuine? Look for specific, unprompted details you didn't share, like names, personality quirks, or references to events the medium couldn't have known. Comforting generalities ("she loved you very much") aren't proof of anything. Specifics are.

Got questions before booking? That's a brilliant instinct. Bring the questioning mind. It serves you better than anything else you can pack.