The seven-card Horse Shoe is a convenient, basic layout that can be used to answer different types of questions, especially concerning questions where insight would be helpful. Like several other spreads, it has cards representing the past, present, and future.
The pinnacle of the Horse Shoe, looking like the top of the mountain, shows the obstacle or challenge that needs to be addressed and overcome. Card #6 suggests a course of action to meet this challenge. The final card shows the outcome or future, should this advice be followed.
Other clues are provided in Cards #3 and #5, which indicate hidden or outside influences that come into play, affecting the journey to your goal.
Obstacle  6 of Wands |
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Hidden Influences  5 of Cups |
External Influences  Temperance |
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The Present  Ace of Swords |
Suggestion  The High Priestess |
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The Past  10 of Cups |
The Outcome  5 of Wands |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
10 of Cups
Appearance of Cups in a rainbow; it is contemplated in wonder and ecstasy by a man and woman below, evidently husband and wife. His right arm is about her; his left is raised upward; she raises her right arm. The two children dancing near them have not observed the prodigy but are happy after their own manner. There is a home-scene beyond.
Upright Meaning:
Contentment, repose of the entire heart; the perfection of that state; also, perfection of human love and friendship; also, the town, village or country you live in.
Ace of Swords
A hand reaches out from a cloud, grasping a sword, the point of which is encircled by a crown.
Reversed Meaning:
Conception, childbirth, augmentation, multiplicity, creativity.
5 of Cups
A dark, cloaked figure, looking sideways at three prone cups two others stand upright behind him; a bridge is in the background, leading to a small keep or holding.
Reversed Meaning:
News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects; marriage, but not without bitterness or frustration.
6 of Wands
A laurelled horseman bears one staff adorned with a laurel crown; footmen with staves are at his side.
Reversed Meaning:
Apprehension, fear, as of a victorious enemy at the gate; treachery, disloyalty, gates being opened to the enemy, indefinite delay.
Temperance
An androgenous angel mixes fire and water in the act of performing spiritual alchemy. Her left foot is on land, as her right dips into the sea.
Reversed Meaning:
Religions, the priesthood, disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests, intoxication, disillusion.
The High Priestess
Crowned by the moon, the High Priestess is seated between two pillars, one black and the other white. She holds the Tora scroll and the secret wisdom of the world's creation.
Upright Meaning:
Secrets, mystery, silence, tenacity, wisdom, woman's intuition, emotional awareness, empathy, hidden truth.
5 of Wands
A posse of youths, who are brandishing staves, as if in sport or strife. It is mimic warfare.
Upright Meaning:
Imitation, as, for example, sham fight, strenuous competition, struggle, the search for fame and fortune, gold, gain, opulence.