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 8 of Wands
Hidden Influences 4 of Swords		External Influences 2 of Cups
The Present The Theocrat		Suggestion 10 of Swords
The Past Balance		The Outcome 3 of Wands

 

 

 

 

The Past represents past events that are affecting the question.

 

Balance

AKA Justice in traditional Tarot.

Not the scales of a common religious moralist and no longer a cardinal virtue, but the raw, heartless justice of nature.

 

 

 

 

The Present represents the current state or immediately approaching influence.

 

The Theocrat

1:00 – Card 8

AKA The Hierophant in traditional Tarot. Male, Fire, Taurus.

The master, the controller, the employer. To force one's will upon others and make them work for your own benefits. Not always a cruel thing if it's done right. But it's so rarely done right.

 

 

 

 

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

 

4 of Swords

Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!

(Today is a good day to die!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obstacle - This is the challenge.

 

8 of Wands

The means by which you arrive are not necessarily the means by which you'll stay.

 

 

 

 

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

 

2 of Cups

And two for my homies. Never forget past orthodoxies, past people or past events. Those who don't know their history aren't doomed to repeat it, they're doomed to fail history class and look like idiots. One feels no shame in repeating something they never saw in the first place, but stupidity is the greatest sin.

 

 

 

 

Suggestion - The recommended course of action.

 

10 of Swords

Classic iconography. Classic significance: Absolute destruction.

 

 

 

 

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

 

3 of Wands

Two wands to keep them rowing in circles past death, one wand to put an end to it.