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![]() King of Pentacles |
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Hidden Influences![]() Knight of Swords |
External Influences![]() 8 of Cups |
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The Present![]() 2 of Pentacles |
Suggestion![]() Queen of Cups |
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The Past![]() 3 of Pentacles |
The Outcome![]() 5 of Cups |
The Past represents past events that are affecting the question.
3 of Pentacles
Nature grows in the most desolate, diseased places. Study how nature does it to survive your own climate.
The Present represents the current state or immediately approaching influence.
2 of Pentacles
Some cultures to this day place coins upon the eyes of the dead to pay the ferryman who will take them to the land of the dead. I'm guessing one eyed individuals travel at half fare and the blind go for free.
In reality, you can't take a cent with you. Spend it while you're alive.
Hidden Influences - Things that you may not be aware of, or barely be aware of.
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.
Obstacle - This is the challenge.
King of Pentacles
A portrait of Anton LaVey, (1930–1997), founder of the Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible. Anyone else would be Blasphemy.
You choose who you look up to. If you look up to a musician who does every drug in the book and dies at 25 your results may vary, from admiring the lives of men and women who have changed the world, lived happy and died old.
External Influences - Attitudes about this situation from people around the querent.
8 of Cups
D cups in this case. Don't be ashamed to enjoy your vices, and never regret the sins you enjoy.
Suggestion - The recommended course of action.
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.
The Outcome - What will happen if the suggestion is followed.
5 of Cups
The problem with a hand of glory is that wax melts and glory fades.