Horse Shoe Spread

 

 

Difficulty: Easy

The Horse Shoe is a classic tarot spread. It is more advanced than the three-card reading, yet simpler than most other spreads. It is a versatile method that can be used for most queries, though there are other spreads which would go into more depth. Like the simple Past, Present, and Future spread, it contains these cards in positions #1, #2, and #7, but also has four other tarot cards that help the reader understand how to deal with the future better. The cards are to be read as follows:

1. The Past: Past events affecting the question.
2. The Present: The current state or approaching influence.
3. Hidden Influences: Things the reader may not be aware of (or barely be aware of).
4. Obstacles: This is the challenge: obstacles may be avoided or may have to be dealt with.
5. External Influences: Attitudes and thoughts regarding people around the reader.
6. Suggestions: Recommended course of action.
7. Outcome: The result of following the suggestions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Horse Shoe Reading

	Obstacle 7 of Pentacles
Hidden Influences King of Swords		External Influences Knight of Wands
The Present 9 of Wands		Suggestion 3 of Swords
The Past 10 of Wands		The Outcome 7 of Swords

 

 

 

 

The Past represents past events that are affecting the question.

 

10 of Wands

A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.

Reversed Meaning:

Contrarieties, difficulties, intrigues, and their analogies.

 

 

 

 

The Present represents the current state or immediately approaching influence.

 

9 of Wands

The figure leans upon his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind are eight other staves – erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.

Reversed Meaning:

Obstacles, adversity, calamity.

 

 

 

 

Hidden Influences - Things that you may not be aware of, or barely be aware of.

 

King of Swords

He sits in judgment, holding the unsheathed sign of his suit. He recalls, of course, the conventional Symbol of justice in the Trumps Major, and he may represent this virtue, but he is rather the power of life and death, in virtue of his office.

Reversed Meaning:

Cruelty, perversity, barbarity, perfidy, evil intention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obstacle - This is the challenge.

 

7 of Pentacles

A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there.

Divinatory Meaning:

These are exceedingly contradictory; in the main, it is a card of money, business, barter; but one reading gives altercation, quarrels – and another innocence, ingenuity, purgation.

 

 

 

 

External Influences - Attitudes about this situation from people around the querent.

 

Knight of Wands

He is shewn as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith.

Reversed Meaning:

Rupture, division, interruption, discord.

 

 

 

 

Suggestion - The recommended course of action.

 

3 of Swords

Three swords piercing a heart; cloud and rain behind.

Reversed Meaning:

Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

 

 

 

 

The Outcome - What will happen if the suggestion is followed.

 

7 of Swords

A man in the act of carrying away five swords rapidly; the two others of the card remain stuck in the ground. A camp is close at hand.

Divinatory Meaning:

Design, attempt, wish, hope, confidence; also quarrelling, a plan that may fail, annoyance. The design is uncertain in its import, because the significations are widely at variance with each other.