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 Wheel of Fortune |
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Hidden Influences  The Magician |
External Influences  8 of Cups |
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The Present  The Hierophant |
Suggestion  The Lovers |
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The Past  The Sun |
The Outcome  King of Pentacles |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
The Sun
A nude child rides a white pony in the foreground. Behind him the sun boldly enlightens the world, acting as a source of life and role model to several sun flowers.
Reversed Meaning:
Kindness, favour, gain, abundance, good tidings, windfall, praise, benediction.
The Hierophant
Seated on his throne, the Pope symbolises the male understanding of the spiritual workings of the world and traditional values. Two monks flank him on either side.
Upright Meaning:
Tradition, custom, light, truth, marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude, mercy, inspiration, understanding, spiritual awareness.
The Magician
A robed figure performs the act of ceremonial magic in order to direct his will to perform his desires.
Reversed Meaning:
Mental illness, disgrace, manipulation, excessive force, misuse of power, backfire, troubles.
The Wheel of Fortune
The Sphinx sits atop a wheel in the sky, symbolic of the wisdom of fate. Other Egyptian characters ride the wheel as it turns, which is surrounded by four cherubs who serve as the guardians of Heaven.
Upright Meaning:
Destiny, success, elevation, luck, felicity, well-being, bliss, euphoria, fun times, good luck, fruition, godsend.
8 of Cups
A man of dejected aspect is deserting the cups of his felicity, enterprise, undertaking or previous concern.
Upright Meaning:
Giving joy, mildness, timidity, honour, modesty; the decline of a matter, or that a matter which has been thought to be important is really of slight consequence.
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.
King of Pentacles
His face is rather dark, suggesting also courage, but stubborn. The bull's head is a recurrent symbol on the throne. The sign of this suit is engraved or blazoned with the pentagram, signifying the four elements of nature and the spirit which governs them. This suit is sometimes represented as coins or disks, and is symbolic of money and material goods or services.
Reversed Meaning:
Vice, weakness, ugliness, perversity, corruption, peril, bullheadedness, defiance, unruliness.