A few weeks ago a group of Mile High skeptics decided to attend the Denver Metaphysical Fair.
The $5 admission charge covered entrance to a number of workshops and seminars. These included: “Astral travel”, “Reversing the curse”, “Dowsing to protect your home and workplace”, “How not to take on other people’s energy”, “Communicating with your angels”, “Ghosts and how they influence us”, and “You are sensitive!” Fair activities included a meditation room, a labyrinth, a vortex, and a Community Drumming Circle.
Entrance also gave attendees access to vendors peddling everything from the usual incense and candles to the Bio Mat, an infrared light bed with amethyst crystals and negative ions that “reverses the aging process”. There were also a large number of “psychics, mediums and healers” offering 20-minute readings for $20.
We all decided to pitch in for one of us to have a reading to report on for Swift. Initially, everyone suggested that I should be the one to receive the reading. However, I strolled past the array of over 80 psychics and realized there wasn’t a practice I hadn’t yet experienced. Past life readings, medical intuitives, tarot, reflexology, numerology, psychometry and more, I’d done them all…many times!
Instead, we recruited local skeptic Bryan Hineser to have a psychic reading. Bryan is host of the Amateur Skeptics podcast and Chair of the Independent Investigations Group, Colorado. Bryan chose to have a reading with Coyote Prosapio, of Stanley, New Mexico, who gives “Intuitive Tarot Consultations” and advertises himself as the “Psychic for the Cynics”.
Coyote is a nationally known reader, lecturer and award-winning photographer, a recovering psychotherapist and parent, and author of Intuitive Tarot. Intuitive Tarot is a reading beyond what may be implied by the cards; it is, rather, the product of a relationship between the reader, the one being read with and the greater Mystery. When this connection can be made, anything, EVERYTHING is possible.
Here is Bryan’s report of his reading with Coyote, with my commentary throughout.
In hindsight we made a mistake immediately. We were talking about this as a group right in front of his station. I believe he knew what we were doing to start with.
No doubt Coyote’s suspicions were raised by our indiscreet huddle, like we were a group of teens about to buy something illicit from a pharmacy.
I have had tarot card readings before when I worked for a psychic line. I have also heard a lot of people giving readings. This was the first time I have received a reading from a person I did not know.
As we know from experts such as Ian Rowland, Ray Hyman and Lynne Kelly, it is not necessary to know the sitter in order to be able to present a convincing cold reading.
Coyote started out by asking my name and occupation. I am a Geophysical Technician. I think anyone could make some logical assumptions about me on the basis of that information. The first things he talked about were my logical mind and my disbelief. This refers back to our mistake and that he is the “Psychic for Cynics.” Then he told me this was just a mask to protect me because I am very sensitive. He told me I was a very sensitive child. I replied that all children are like that. His response was, “Oh, no. You were much more sensitive.” I really have no way to quantify that. Chalk that up to my logical mind protecting myself, I guess.
It was surprising that Coyote didn’t at least take a stab at guessing Bryan’s occupation!
Mr. Prosapio had already deduced that he was being tested, and that he was reading a skeptic. This was confirmed by Bryan’s revelation that he works in a scientific profession, allowing Coyote to make assumptions about Bryan’s “disbelief” and his “logical mind”. Coyote proceeds to label Bryan as “sensitive”, and formerly a sensitive child; a common trait that is applicable to many people.
He also told me how psychic I am. It seems to me that psychics love to tell skeptics how psychic they could be if they would just open up. There was some other stuff about my journey here being a spiritual one. Everything was very general and I was trying not to give him any information. He did get specific about one matter. He told me how I was a natural writer. This could not be further from the truth. I have dyslexia and struggle with reading and writing. I have had to work very hard to get just to the point where I am today. Nothing about writing comes easily to me.
It is standard psychic fare to promote that everyone is psychic, including skeptics, and that everyone is embarking on some sort of lifelong spiritual journey. However, Prosapio had a glaring “miss” with his direct guess that Bryan is a “natural writer”.
Coyote’s final question was, “How is your relationship with your father?” I really didn’t want to answer this question. I saw the fork in the road. No matter how I answered this question he had a way to go. So I pushed him. I asked “What are the cards telling you.” “Nothing” was his reply. Things disintegrated from there. He told me I was testing him, and I was. “The cards never lie.” He told me that the card just comes up to show the direction for what needs to be talked about. I finally said that it is best when my dad and I don’t talk. He told me it was basic psychology that if you didn’t have a good relationship with your father you couldn’t have a good relationship with any man. I asked, “What If I told you this wasn’t the case?” His reply was that I would be the exception. I disagree and think that my relationships with men are otherwise normal.
After such a blatant inaccuracy with his direct guess, Prosapio decided to play it safe by asking an open-ended question instead of making a statement. He clearly intended to base his reply and the direction of the reading on the information received. When the question was dodged, Coyote could ascertain that Bryan was reluctant to answer, whether it was because his relationship with his father was poor, or because he was testing the psychic. Coyote hid his incompetency behind his tarot cards, presenting them as definitive. By saying “the cards never lie” he was accusing Bryan of doing the “lying”, or at least interpreting the reading in a way that wasn’t in his favor. Many psychics tell their sitters to reflect on the reading afterwards, hoping they’ll “connect the dots” in hindsight, or if not, they’ll be long gone anyway.
I think this was just cold reading. He couldn’t move forward without me giving him something to go on. I think I gave him the clues for every hit he got. He made his biggest blunder when I didn’t give him something to work with. The close hits were general statements that you could say to most people. If he got anything right without prompting it was that I can be sensitive.
Coyote didn’t so much get it “right” as he assumed that Bryan is sensitive, and was sensitive as a child. This guess, and his questioning about Bryan’s father, exploited the typical vulnerabilities that children and adults have when it comes to confidence and issues with parents. It is important to note that even though we use the terminology of “hits and misses”, a “hit” still isn’t evidence of psychic abilities, it’s just a lucky strike that might be interpreted as “correct” by the sitter.
Mr. Prosapio performed a classic cold reading on Bryan, using typical techniques and tarot cards as a cold reading tool. The reading was replete with ambiguity, assumptions and generalizations. He asked questions instead of making declarations. He provided unsolicited amateur counseling. Coyote’s only specific prediction was that Bryan is a “natural writer”. This was incorrect as Bryan has reading and writing difficulties.
Our Conclusion: Coyote Prosapio is a cold reader, and a poor one at that.
With thanks to Bryan Hineser for his contribution to this article.