Eagles vs. Chiefs: 2023 Super Bowl Prediction
UPDATE #2: This forecast turned out to be reasonably accurate. As predicted, Team “B” (Kansas City Chiefs) won and the “razor-thin margin” scenario came closest to the actual outcome (38–35 vs the projected 31–30); the possibility of a tied score in regulation existed until the last 8 seconds of the game, when the winning field goal occurred. The lead did in fact change hands in the second half, but in the 4th Quarter rather than the 3rd. As usual, the quarter-by-quarter point gap did not follow the script: it was predicted to be approximately 7–7–3–9 but turned out 0–10–6–3, although the lead did shrink in the 3rd Quarter as suggested by the cards and went the other way decisively in the 4th Quarter, when the Chiefs outscored the Eagles by 9 points.
UPDATE: The Philadelphia Eagles took first possession after the Kansas City Chiefs deferred. Therefore, Team “A” in the following narrative identifies the Eagles and Team “B” indicates the Chiefs.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: As I do every January or February, I recently performed a tarot reading to forecast the outcome of the 2023 National Football League Super Bowl game, to be played on February 12 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Although I’m not much of a football fan, this is an ideal opportunity to test the effectiveness of tarot prediction. (Note that, although a Google search displays “Kansas City Chiefs at Philadelphia Eagles,” the game will occur on neutral turf in Glendale, Arizona. This designation merely means that the Chiefs — as “visitors” — will get to call the coin-toss for first possession; there is really no “home-team advantage” in a neutral football stadium as there is with baseball’s World Series.)
Once again, I used my “Enemy at the Gate” vulnerability spread with the Chariot as the “Opportunity” card against which the rest of the spread is compared. (The Chariot stands for “triumph in mundane affairs.”) As before, I gave the top row to the team that takes first possession of the football as decided by a referee’s coin-flip; that will be “Team A” in this narrative and the one in the bottom row will be “Team B.” I will update this post with team names as soon as I know who got the ball first. I will also be applying the modified quarter-by-quarter scoring model I developed last year, which treats the numerical difference between the four cards in the top row and the four below as end-of-quarter point spreads, with the nod going to whichever team is leading at the time. One preliminary observation I made is that there are no elemental Air cards whatsoever in this layout, suggesting that neither team’s passing game will dominate, and Team B may have a harder time of it against Team A’s pass rush as described in the defensive break-out below.
Another wrinkle this year is that I did not use reversals in the reading since the negative numbers they imply can create artificially wide gaps in the quarterly scoring outlook, and any interpretive inflection they might offer to the overall performance analysis is not significant enough to matter. Typically, such conditions only arise between grossly mismatched teams, a situation that is not expected to exist in championship-level play. I used the Waite-Smith Centennial Edition for the “Opportunity” card and the Retro Thoth deck for the general reading and the “quintessence” cards.
Team Strengths:
Team A came up with the Minor Arcanum 6 of Wands (“Victory”) in this column, while Team B received the Major Arcanum “Art” (Temperance). Both of these cards enjoy the benefit of the fortunate planet Jupiter (the “Greater Benefic” in astrology): in the first case Jupiter is very much at home in the fixed Fire sign of Leo, and in the second instance it is invoked by the zodiacal correspondence to fiery Sagittarius, its modern sign of rulership. Both teams should be supercharged for this encounter, physically as well as emotionally, but I’m giving the edge to Team B since Art/Temperance literally “trumps” the minor 6 of Wands (pun intended). Score: +1 to Team B. (These are not intended to be actual scores but merely a convenient way to ascribe relative superiority.)
Team Weaknesses:
Team A’s debilities are expressed by the mild-mannered 3 of Cups (“Abundance;” Mercury in Cancer), suggesting that they may not have sufficient grit or “fire in the belly” to stand up to Team B, which brings the rock-ribbed but penalty-prone 10 of Wands (“Oppression;” Saturn in Sagittarius) to the fray. It’s a case of resolute Fire overmastering tentative Water, with the intensity of the 10 of Wands carrying the day even if over-eagerness results in occasional mistakes. Score: +1 to Team B.
Team “Edge:”
This column is intended to show which team brings a competitive “edge” to the field. With the 7 of Cups (“Debauch;” Venus in Scorpio), Team A seems to be floundering, while Team B with the 2 of Wands (“Dominion;” Mars in Aries) has things all their own way. Score: +1 to Team B.
Allies’ Power:
In the spread design, which is mainly focused on offensive prowess, this column purports to show the potency of the defensive squads. Team A has the Knight of Wands (Fire of Fire), implying that they could derail Team B’s passing game by mounting a strong quarterback blitz, while Team B can only muster the anemic 5 of Cups (“Disappointment;” Mars in Scorpio). If the aforementioned dominance of Team B is to materialize, it will have to shine primarily in their running game. For its part, Team B’s defense makes a showing but it is not masterful and may misfire under pressure, so their offense will have to shoulder the burden. Score: +1 to Team A.
Chances to Win:
This “quintessence” card summarizes the influence of the preceding four cards in a single trump, and is intended to reveal which team has a “leg up” on winning. This time around I chose to look at it in two ways: one derives the “quint” by the more common method of “Theosophical reduction” (summing and reducing the numerical values of the four cards) and the other employs “casting out nines” (subtracting increments of nine from the total) to arrive at an intermediary “stopping point.”
In one version, Team A was awarded the Empress (6+3+7+14=30; 3+0=3), a card of benevolent import (in astrological terms it is Venus, the “Lesser Benefic”). In the alternate view, the progression stops at the World (30–9=21), a card of material success. Team B opens with the Emperor (14+10+2+5=31; 3+1=4), a dynamic card of authoritative mien, but the alternate expression is Death (31–9=22; 22–9=13), implying that if the game goes to “sudden death” overtime (as it did in Super Bowl LI, Patriots vs, Falcons, correctly predicted here), Team B could come up on the short end of the verdict. Score: +1 to Team B in the first scenario (Emperor over Empress), +1 to Team A in the second one. (For the purpose of the basic analysis, I’m giving Team B the advantage.) This will be examined more closely in the quarter-by-quarter “scoring gap” evaluation.
The Decision:
In both versions, the Grand Quintessence card turned out to be the Chariot (3+4=7 and 21+13=34; 3+4=7). In my opinion, this amounts to a validation of the entire reading since it mirrors the “Opportunity” card at the beginning of the spread. As far as its import, the Chariot as a card of “movement toward a goal” is aligned most propitiously with the cards in Team B’s row, “sealing the deal” in terms of the final outcome. Scoring: +2 to Team B. The aggregate score favors Team B, 6 to 1.
Quarter-by Quarter Scoring Differential (Rounded up or down to agree with NFL scoring conventions):
At the end of the 1st Quarter, the score will favor whichever team is ahead (most likely Team B) by one touchdown. (In reality, the score was tied.)
At the end of the 2nd Quarter, that one-touchdown margin should remain intact, regardless of how often each team scores. (The actual gap was 10 points in favor of Team A, which had scored first in the game.)
At the end of the 3rd Quarter, the lead erodes slightly to roughly one field goal (and it’s possible that ownership of the lead will change hands). (The lead slipped to 6 points at that juncture; it did in fact change hands, but in the 4th Quarter and not the 3rd.)
At the end of the game, the winning team should hold a decisive 9-point advantage. (All indications are that this will be Team B, but the “sea change” intimated by the potential 3rd Quarter shift casts some doubt on this prediction.) (The game came down to a winning field goal with 8 seconds remaining on the clock, with Team B pulling it out 38-to-35 after trailing for most of the contest.)
It’s worth noting that my approach here doesn’t really support wagering on the outcome because I believe most bets will be placed before the opening coin-flip that determines which team is “A” and which is “B.” In regular-season games my practice is to place the home team in the top row and work from that premise.
Scoring Summary:
If we were to simply add up the totals for the four quarters, it would suggest a razor-thin one-point victory for Team B (31-to-30), or possibly another tied game at the end of regulation, bringing the Death card into the picture for Team B, in which case Team A looks like the winner in overtime. But I’ve worked up the present approach to emphasize the “scoring gap” at the end of each quarter rather than the aggregate scores, and I’m going to stick with it.
I would say that, in the final analysis, the quarterly point spread was “in the ballpark” but still not as precises as I would like. This may be as close as I can come with any consistency. In retrospect, if I had looked at it as “differential point production” instead of gap, it would have come out 0–10–4–9 instead of 7–7–3–9, which is an interesting premise for future predictions.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on February 9, 2023.
