MGoTarot is a fun predictive tool that I started after the Covid season to see if the cards were more interesting than the football. Thus began one of the great runs of Michigan football. The tarot card readings turned out to be amazingly accurate and insightful in revealing the outcomes and energies of each game. 

 

The approach is a standard 3 card spread showing elements of the past, the present, and the future outcome. Each card tells a story and together they form a larger story based on their positions. I do the reading within 24 hours of the game for accuracy. The method is to shuffle the cards while singing the Victors. I then lay out all the cards face down in a line and select 3 with my eyes closed using my off hand. This process helps to double randomize the deck so I am not selecting the same cards repeatedly like a poorly shuffled deck of Uno. I like to use the Salvador Dali Deck because it puts a chaotic-modernist/art-history twist on the traditional 78 card Rider-Waite Deck. Plus the cards have an oil-paint smell that is totally groovy.

 

 

If you are wondering if there is any legitimacy to MGoTarot, boy, do I have some ambiguity for you! Looking back on the week since the 41-13 victory over Purdue, we have the return of the Hanged Man. We last saw him after the troubling win over Bowling Green, when the anxiety continued as Michigan gave up an immediate touchdown to Rutgers to start the game. In this case, the Hanged Man is the Michigan Collective anxiously awaiting word on Jim Harbaugh and if there would be any unprecedented punishments. Now that we know those arrived at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon during a court holiday, the waiting is not quite over. The Hanged Man energies roll on right into Friday night as we await the temporary restraining order. In tarot, the Hanged Man has a spiritual element of faith and belief. For Michigan, this is a belief in their own academic excellence. Now that football has become lawfare, there is an opportunity to test that faith and watch it grow. 

 

 

Going into the game, the 5 of Swords has returned for the first time this season. Swords represent the challenge of the mind. Dali has depicted King Charles I with 3 swords in hand, and 2 on the ground. The card, like all 5s, represents a crossroads. Michigan has all the skills and abilities needed for victory. They only need to pick up the remaining swords and execute. The swords on the ground represent the Big Ten's groin punch from hell's heart. Will Michigan remain vanquished on the edge of the abyss? Does Charles I only see a hint of a nekkid lady outline? Have they planned enough to secure victory without Harbaugh? Michigan is still the better team and has the upper hand against Penn State. Maybe King Charles has his feet and mind firmly planted and is ready to embrace those butterflies of metamorphosis. The only way Michigan can be defeated is by losing focus and beating themselves mentally.

 

 

So what happens? The outcome is the 6 of Cups. This represents a feeling from days gone by. But is it a great feeling like winning Rose Bowls, and titles, or when Northwestern was stealing signs in 1997 and Lloyd Carr found a way to win anyways? Or is this more like the 1973 decision to not send Michigan to a bowl game, or like the bad call in the 1979 Rose Bowl, or like the countless shenanigans pulled by Sparti over the years? Looking at the card we see happy children surrounded by the 6 cups, all overflowing with flowers. But sketched against the background is a massive jellyfish waiting to sting the Michigan Collective once again. Which classic feeling will this game inspire? I do not like this ambiguity so…

 

 

DECIDER CARD! We have the 4 of Swords, which offers no answer! Remember when the cards went full Jacques Louis David for the 52-10 victory over Minnesota? The 4 of Swords is a moment of breath where our intentions begin to manifest our outcomes. In the card we see the French Revolutionary, Jean Paul Marat dead in his bathtub. Like Connor Stalions, he made lists of enemies but a lack of moral conviction led to dire consequences. Being swords, we are reminded of our mental faculties and how the seeds of victory or defeat are sown before entering the contest. Like the depicted snake, we can succumb to our base and devious instincts or find the wisdom of the moment. While we await our day in court, What does it mean for tomorrow’s game… 

 

 

DECIDER CARD 2! OH COM’ON! Now I am beginning to doubt we will get a definite answer because the 5 of Coins is not an outcome either. This card is a call to get over yourself and end your pity party. Like all of the 5s, this card presents another crossroads. To succeed it requires both the talent and magic of the individual, but also the work of the community. Most importantly, that communal leadership falls on the fifth card of the deck, the Hierophant. MGoTarot has found a strong correlation between the Hierophant and Jim Harbaugh. All of the 5s and that card specifically refer to him. But will Michigan blossom like the flowers or remain in the cocoon depicted above the 4 coins at the bottom? Which way does Michigan go?

 

 

DECIDER CARD 3! FUCK YOU CARDS! I SEE YOUR GAME! I’M GOING TO BED! 

 

You may remember the duality of the 2 of Coins as the past card in the Indiana spread. At that time it represented a continuation of success. In this case, I am declaring it the final piece in our mosaic of possible manifestation. Coins, pentacles, or discs represent talent. We all know that Michigan has the better talent. Now all they need is the will to overcome Friday’s bombshell and manifest the win they have envisioned all week and all year. Michigan has already played without Harbaugh earlier this season. He constructed this team relying heavily on his assistant coaches. While we wring our hands and plot revenge in the courts, it is important to remember that this team is well balanced and possesses all the talent necessary for victory.

 

Maybe I should have waited for the TRO given all of these cards and their wishy-washy ambiguity. No outcome was available since I did this reading in the maelstrom of chaos. Against Michigan State in 2021, I could not get a proper answer from the cards either. That reading was more about the uncertainty of shenanigans. And the shenanigans of bad calls and bad weather ended up being too much to overcome. But given the overall tone of these cards, victory at Penn State is within Michigan’s grasp. They have all the tools and talents. They merely need to get over their pity party and rage, put themselves together mentally and crush like they have done all season. These cards are the maturation of themes we have seen over the last year. With or without Harbaugh, this team knows what to do. Get focused and just do it!