As the clock ticks toward midnight tonight, some people are drawing up resolutions for the new year. Others are making revelations. For psychic-medium Travis Holp, that moment came years ago. Known for his disarming warmth and uncanny accuracy, he's built a devoted following by reminding people that intuition, like identity, isn't something you discover. It's something you remember.
In this conversation, Travis reflects on growing up queer in a conservative household, realizing his spiritual gifts weren't just a party trick, and the readings that transformed grief into release.
As one year draws to a close and another begins anew, his message is simple: You don't need permission to be luminous.
When you were playing Ouija, at what moment did you realize, "Oh girl, I'm not just having fun; I see something," and how did you choose to stop hiding that gift and start owning it?
Funny is, when I was growing up and using the Ouija board with my granny, I was about six. I would tell her I could see or hear things, and then when we used the board, things got louder. But I didn't connect that. That was me having a connection to spirit, because it's something that I always remember having; it's kind of like being gay. I don't know what it's like to be straight.
I don't know what it's like not to have this connection. And it wasn't until I was older and then looking back at things, where it's like, oh, that's why I could hear these things, or that's why I'm super sensitive to energy. It wasn't until I was really in my early 30s that I decided to own this part of me. After leaving a 17-year career in the beauty industry, I wanted to start giving readings and help people with this ability.
You call yourself the internet's "gay uncle." How did your queer identity, growing up in a conservative household, shape not only your spiritual path but the way you show up now for others in the medium-space?
I was creating a video for Instagram or TikTok. It was a channeled-message video I had been making for a while. Still, there was this one day where I was like, you know, maybe if people don't believe in mediums, they'll consider me their gay uncle. And I have two beautiful nephews whom I feel so blessed to have. And so when I'm creating videos, what's the thing that maybe, if they were coming to me for a reading, that I would channel for them? Or what's the answer that might come through? And so now I have an interwebs full of nieces, nephews, and nibblings that I feel so, so blessed to have.
Growing up in a conservative household as a queer person shaped my spiritual identity because it taught me how to come home to myself. I had always felt like an outsider. I always felt like I didn't belong, or that there was something wrong with me. It wasn't until I really fully embraced myself. I learned to connect with my own inner magic and spark, and when I came home to that, I really felt aligned with my path. It's made me a better medium because I can show up for others and help guide them to their own connection. I know what it's like to feel that loneliness or to feel that separation, and so it's only made me better at what I do, and I'm so grateful.
When you first began doing tarot readings for fun, what was the single reading that made you realize it was something bigger?
I was giving the tarot readings for fun. Please keep in mind, I was a bad drinker. I had a bad drinking problem, and so I would be drinking. Then I'd be giving tarot readings to my friends, which I do not recommend drinking and divining. But you know, it was something I just did for fun.
I started reading a girlfriend's tarot cards, and then one of her departed family members came through. They gave her some solid advice on just where she was in her life. She was dealing with things that I had no idea she was going through. And so not only was it there in the cards, but it's also there in the message that's coming through from her loved one. That's when it made me realize this is something way bigger than me, and it was before I started doing readings professionally or anything like that. But when I saw her just release the weight of that burden she'd been carrying, and her energy shift as she received those messages, I was like, God, there's something to this.
In the book, you share stories of clients connecting with loved ones on the other side—tear-jerkers, miracle-moments, you name it. Can you pick one that still haunts you with wonder, and tell us how it shifted you as a person, not just as the medium in the room?
The one reading that comes to mind with this question is the first time I ever gave a reading to a mom whose son had committed suicide. And up until this point, you know, I'm reading for people. I'm delivering messages from the other side. It was mostly psychic reading I was doing at the time; I hadn't gone complete medium yet. I was still kind of on my way there. I start the reading, and I just feel this anxiety in my chest, and I feel this, almost this feeling of panic, and I just blurt out. I was like, I have this gentleman here, and here's how he passed. And it was her son. What happened in that moment was in the reading – a story about an argument that they had before he had passed started to come up – and this was the burden that she had carried with her. She felt the guilt of their last conversation, which had been an argument, before he departed this Earth.
In that reading, he was very clear about forgiving her and wanted to see her release the burden. Her body language changed. She felt lighter. That's when I knew this work was sacred.
Not everybody can say Spotify slid into their DMs to help bring a project to life. What was it like collaborating with them? And how did having that kind of creative partnership shape the way your voice, literally and spiritually, comes through in the final production?
Yes, honey, when Spotify slid into my DMs, I was so excited. When it comes to narrating an audiobook and sharing your story, for me, the story is so personal, and I wanted to have as much control as possible. From how a certain syllable sounds, to being able to re-record things if I wanted to. They were such great partners. I went into the studio, and they told me to do what feels best for you. They let me do whatever I needed to do to feel good about the work that I was putting out by narrating this audiobook. I'm so grateful for that, because creatives and spiritual people have a magic that we all share, and Spotify didn't want to dampen it. They wanted me to just be me. I'm so grateful for that, and it was such a great experience.
Finally, my love, for the folks in our queer community—many of whom carry trauma, secrecy, fear—what's one bold exercise from your life and book that you want them to try tonight (yes, tonight) so they can start stepping into a more luminous version of themselves?
One of the exercises I outline in my book is called a sitting-in-the-power meditation. This is a meditation technique that is often used by mediums. However, anybody can use it. The whole point of this exercise is to connect to your own personal power and to build that power.
You get into a lovely, cozy space. Sit or lie back. Set your phone timer for 10 to 15 minutes and close your eyes, however long you want to sit and be present for this. Take a couple of nice, long, slow, deep breaths. After relaxing, envision a light emanating from the center of your chest. Envision this light gently growing and expanding outward, going beyond your body into the cosmos, and just feel this expansion of your light.
Hold it for as long as you can: 10 to 15 minutes is great, but if you only do five, that's okay too. Just practice that presence of shining that light.
I think people in the queer community have this brilliant light that they often feel like they have to dim or dull...If you do this consistently, you are going to be amazed at how you show up in the world differently. I can say this with complete honesty because it worked for me. It's helped me show up so much more fully. Not only does it help me connect to spirit more easily, but it also helps me show up whole and authentic, not afraid of my own light.
