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  The Lovers |
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Hidden Influences  7 of Wands |
External Influences  10 of Pentacles |
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The Present  The Star |
Suggestion  The Emperor |
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The Past  2 of Pentacles |
The Outcome  Justice |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
2 of Pentacles
A young man, in the act of dancing, has a pentacle in either hand, and they are joined by the lemniscate, the sign of eternity.
Upright Meaning:
On the one hand it is represented as a card of gaiety, recreation and its connections, which is the subject of the design; but it is read also as news and messages in writing, as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment.
The Star
Under the stars, a nude woman pours out two vials of water, one onto the land, the other into a pond. Opposite the angel of Temperance, her left foot is on the land, her right on the water.
Upright Meaning:
Youth, beauty, gifts, hope, bright prospects, ingenuity, genius, adept, mastery, gratitude, support, thanks, savvy.
7 of Wands
A young man on a craggy eminence brandishing a staff; six other staves are raised towards him from below.
Reversed Meaning:
Perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against indecision.
The Lovers
An angel unifies two lovers which are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Reversed Meaning:
Failure, foolish designs, frustrated marriage, lack of empathy, contradiction, abuse, cheating, discord, disruption.
10 of Pentacles
A man and woman beneath an archway which gives entrance to a house. They are accompanied by a child, who admires two dogs accosting an old man sitting on the porch. The child is petting one of them.
Reversed Meaning:
Chance, loss, robbery, risk, danger, hindrance, emergency, villain, struggle, dilemma, nuisance, mischief, fiend.
The Emperor
The Emperor sits on his throne holding his sceptre. He represents a male figure of power and authority.
Upright Meaning:
Authority, stability, power, protection, benevolence, realisation a greatness, aid, reason, conviction, willpower.
Justice
A female judge holds the sword of Justice in her right hand and the scales of Justice in her left. This is symbolic of fairness and the knowledge of the law, as well as the power to execute judgement.
Upright Meaning:
Equity, rightness, probity, fair, honest, reasonable, uprightness, nonpartisan, balance, justness, integrity.