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 Queen of Cups
Hidden Influences King of Swords		External Influences King of Cups
The Present 7 of Cups		Suggestion 4 of Pentacles
The Past The Emperor		The Outcome 10 of Swords

 

 

 

 

The Past represents past events that are affecting the question.

 

The Emperor

He has a form of the Crux ansata for his sceptre and a globe in his left hand. He is a crowned monarch – commanding, stately, seated on a throne, the arms of which axe fronted by ram heads. He is executive and realisation, the power of this world, here clothed with the highest of its natural attributes. He is occasionally represented as seated on a cubic stone, which, however, confuses some of the issues. He is the virile power, to which the Empress responds, and in this sense is he who seeks to remove the Veil of Isis; yet she remains virgo intacta.

It should be understood that this card and that of the Empress do not precisely represent the condition of married life, though this state is implied. On the surface, as I have indicated, they stand for mundane royalty, uplifted on the seats of the mighty; but above this there is the suggestion of another presence. They signify also – and the male figure especially – the higher kingship, occupying the intellectual throne. Hereof is the lordship of thought rather than of the animal world. Both personalities, after their own manner, are full of strange experience, but theirs is not consciously the wisdom which draws from a higher world. The Emperor has been described as (a) will in its embodied form, but this is only one of its applications, and (b) as an expression of virtualities contained in the Absolute Being – but this is fantasy.

Reversed Meaning:

Benevolence, compassion, credit; also, confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.

 

 

 

 

The Present represents the current state or immediately approaching influence.

 

7 of Cups

Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit.

Divinatory Meaning:

Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.

 

 

 

 

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.

Divinatory Meaning:

Whatsoever arises out of the idea of judgment and all its connexions – power, command, authority, militant intelligence, law, offices of the crown, and so forth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obstacle - This is the challenge.

 

Queen of Cups

Beautiful, fair, dreamy – as one who sees visions in a cup. This is, however, only one of her aspects; she sees, but she also acts, and her activity feeds her dream.

Divinatory Meaning:

Good, fair woman; honest, devoted woman, who will do service to the Querent; loving intelligence, and hence the gift of vision; success, happiness, pleasure; also, wisdom, virtue; a perfect spouse and a good mother.

 

 

 

 

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

 

King of Cups

He holds a short sceptre in his left hand and a great cup in his right; his throne is set upon the sea; on one side a ship is riding and on the other a dolphin is leaping. The implicit is that the Sign of the Cup naturally refers to water, which appears in all the court cards.

Reversed Meaning:

Dishonest, double-dealing man; roguery, exaction, injustice, vice, scandal, pillage, considerable loss.

 

 

 

 

Suggestion - The recommended course of action.

 

4 of Pentacles

A crowned figure, having a pentacle over his crown, clasps another with hands and arms; two pentacles are under his feet. He holds to that which he has.

Divinatory Meaning:

The surety of possessions, cleaving to that which one has, gift, legacy, inheritance.

 

 

 

 

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

 

10 of Swords

A prostrate figure, pierced by all the swords belonging to the card.

Divinatory Meaning:

Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also, pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death.