For Travis Holp, being able to read people started at a very young age. While he has been able to harness his psychic medium skills, Holp is keenly aware that many people have questions for him. He is appearing at City Winery in Philadelphia on Dec. 22 to bring his patented brand of reading and spiritual energy to the area. We chatted about his love for the Philadelphia area (and one famed drag performer in particular) and how he thinks we can help the next generation who might also feel a connection to the spirit world.
Your social media presence is in a word, absolute joy personified. That also in turn, makes the messages you are delivering a lot more easy for people to absorb, don’t you think?
Thank you! Here’s the thing, I think that language and the words we use are so important to me, as well as the way that we string them along. Whenever I am recording, I always ask the universe to give me the words to serve; that is just what comes up. I love making them. Not everyone believes in the world that I do and that is totally fine. If they can take a little nugget from that and apply it to their life, that, to me, is just so joyful!
So many members of the LGBTQ community grew up feeling a bit different, but your ability probably made you feel extremely different from others. Is there a particular moment that you recall growing up where you truly had that “aha moment” and realized you had an ability that truly set you apart?
I equate it to when I came out as gay. I didn’t know that I was different until my parents told me that I was different. It’s funny. I’m writing a book right now and I’m actually going back on those memories. I was talking to my therapist yesterday and my therapist was like, “When was that moment for you?” What I found was that when my grandmother and I used to play with a Ouija board and messages would come through, she would tell me all the time how special I was and that she knew what I could do. I remember telling my parents “I can talk to ghosts” and they were like “Demon!” [Laughs]
The same thing [happened] when I told them I was gay. It can’t be science. It has to be a demon. It’s a very similar experience. So for a very long time, I just learned to hide and mask and pretend that these things weren’t happening.
You are traveling around the country with your new tour and you are coming to Philadelphia on Dec. 22 with a show at City Winery. What is it like getting to engage with people all over the country and really connect with them?
I love it so much. I love one-on-one clients and that work is so beautiful to me. It is so different when you are in a room and loved ones are coming through and you’re channeling them. There is a healing that’s also happening, but also this excitement. My favorite is meeting people after the events. They will share their stories, how they found my videos, or how they connect with me and it makes me so happy to hear those things. It’s just so joyful.
Is it difficult for you to be at a dinner party or a social event and people constantly want you to “read” them or tell them what a particular spirit may be saying?
That is such a beautiful question. What I love is that this question varies depending on the medium that you ask. When I first started my practice and helping other people — I am such a Virgo — I needed to take every class that I could and get every book that I could. I learned very quickly how to turn it off and on. Not everyone can do that, so I feel very fortunate that I have that. I think that everyone is able to. I just think sometimes people don’t want to or that is not how they want to work, but that is OK. I love that for me. When I am out with people and people ask, “What are you getting about me?” I’ll make a joke like “You’re gonna die…I mean eventually!” [Laughs] If I do feel something when I am out in public, I just remind Spirit that I’m not working right now.
I believe in consent as well and I don’t just want to be handing out random messages. You can burn yourself out energetically if you are out all of the time. If you think about it this way, it is like a constant flow of electricity and you are not giving your body a break or a chance to recalibrate. People like Theresa [Caputo] have built her energy so big and she is able to do that now because she has been doing it so long. John Edward has been doing it for so long and he can really work for long periods of time. You look at some other mediums and you may think that they don’t look well or are really tired and my interpretation of that is that you are not giving the body enough time to catch up with the energy.
When you receive a message, is it something that you hear in your mind, is it something you feel in your body, or is it an amalgamation of everything?
I see, I hear, and I feel. With seeing, it’s little flashes or pictures. If I’m hearing, it’s little whispers that come through my head. What’s funny is that I have been able to hear since I was younger. I have seen many a psychiatrist or psychotherapist and I don’t have schizophrenia or anything like that. The feelings, if Spirit is letting me know about the departure of Alzheimer’s or kidney issues or something like that, I will feel those areas of my body. Medium-ship is kind of like an unfolding.
For example, I had a client the other day and I had an image of a whale pop up in my head. I kept going deeper, then I saw a whale drawing, then it was slimmed down to a small whale on a cup. I asked if he had a whale cup and he said, “I literally just bought a coffee mug with a whale on it.” It will start kind of broad for me and I will work with Spirit to go as narrow as I can.
You are going to be doing public readings on your stop at City Winery in Philadelphia, but have you ever had a celebrity pop up in Spirit that truly surprised you?
Not at a live event, but I did a reading for someone, a celebrity client. They asked not to say who it is. I did not know who I was connecting with. I just said they were giving me “This or that.” I didn’t even know that they knew the person. In live events, it has not happened that I’ve known of, but it has happened in one-on-one sessions. I had a famous Hollywood director that I connected with and Spirit had no idea. I was like, “This guy likes movies” and she was like, “Yeah he made them!” So those have happened here and there, but not in a live event.
You mentioned that you have to turn it off or you will burn out. How are you turning it off and taking that much needed breather?
I love to read. I have five books on my couch right now that I am reading. Anything that pours back into my soul, I am working on a course book in miracles and that has been really fun to dive into. I love being outside, I live in Washington state and we have beautiful nature. I’ll go to the beach sometimes after a day of clients. It’s a little cold right now so I am an avid indoors man right now (laughs)! As much as I love a good Netflix binge or scrolling through my phone, those things don’t refill me. They deplete me. I try to stick to more things that refill my soul. I love working out. I work out six or seven days a week. I love a Peloton ride.
Is this your first trip to the City of Brotherly Love?
No, I was there in May. I was at Cardinal Hollow Winery in Lansdale. Fanci DisMount Stratton does drag there. She is one of my friends! She is a staple of Philadelphia and she is excellent. She is someone who I really admire and I really just respect what she does for the community. I got to have a car ride with her and listening to her talk, she is just such a fascinating soul. She’s great!
If we’re lucky, we are able to become mentors to people at one time or another. There are kids out there who may be feeling like outsiders, not just questioning their sexuality but might also be finding their own way into communicating with Spirit. What advice do you have for them?
I wish when I was that age, I would have had that person to explain to me what was going on. Kind of like being gay, I think finding people that are gay is a little bit more accessible than being gay, but I do have kids reach out to me on Instagram and TikTok. My first question is always if they have someone that they feel safe sharing this with, and if so, absolutely tell them. We don’t always have that person that is safe though. We live in such a beautiful world of information now. We have access to podcasts [and] things on Google.
I think my number-one thing, especially for kids, is that if they don’t want to tell their loved ones that they are a medium and that they talk to dead people, I think that saying that they are real sensitive to energy is a good conversation starter. Find people that you resonate with online, even if you can’t directly connect with them. I think that sending a DM sometimes can be good also.
What I love about what kids are being taught now is that they are teaching them how to identify emotions. I went to a friend’s house and there is a whole emotions chart for their child where they can choose “Are you frustrated?” or “Are you angry?” That is a lot of what psychic and mediumship work is; feeling the vibration or the energy of an emotion and being able to interpret it. I think that will put kids so far ahead of the game than where I started or where those before me started.
Psychic Medium Travis Holp Live will connect with Spirit at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 at City Winery Philadelphia, 990 Filbert St. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit citywinery.com.