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:
- The Past: Past events affecting the question.
- The Present: The current state or approaching influence.
- Hidden Influences: Things the reader may not be aware of (or barely be aware of).
- Obstacles: This is the challenge: obstacles may be avoided or may have to be dealt with.
- External Influences: Attitudes and thoughts regarding people around the reader.
- Suggestions: Recommended course of action.
- Outcome: The result of following the suggestions.
Your Horse Shoe Reading
Obstacle![]() 3 of Pentacles |
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Hidden Influences![]() 3 of Wands |
External Influences![]() Queen of Cups |
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The Present![]() Queen of Wands |
Suggestion![]() Knight of Swords |
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The Past![]() 5 of Swords |
The Outcome![]() The Sun |
The Past represents past events that are affecting the question.
5 of Swords
An homage to Bosch and Bruegel, and a card symbolic of victory to the well-armed and pain to the unprepared or unwilling to defend.
The Present represents the current state or immediately approaching influence.
Queen of Wands
An homage to H.R. Giger's Alien Hieroglyphs and an insult to perspective. A wand that does nothing more than sap the life from you and squirt it down the drain.
Hidden Influences - Things that you may not be aware of, or barely be aware of.
3 of Wands
Two wands to keep them rowing in circles past death, one wand to put an end to it.
Obstacle - This is the challenge.
3 of Pentacles
Nature grows in the most desolate, diseased places. Study how nature does it to survive your own climate.
External Influences - Attitudes about this situation from people around the querent.
Queen of Cups
Queen Bees begin developing in specially constructed cells within the hive. They are often oriented differently from other cells in the honeycomb, and are filled with Royal Jelly, a substance which determines the physiology of the queen to be.
Suggestion - The recommended course of action.
Knight of Swords
The guillotine is the most effective method of killing ever invented. You can poison or shock or stab or shoot people but nothing is so certain to cause death as severing their head. Amazing how fast the world forgot that.
The Outcome - What will happen if the suggestion is followed.
The Sun
Damn bright thing always vomiting heat and blinding light onto the populous. The artist of this deck isn't a fan.