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  Death |
||
Hidden Influences  King of Wands |
External Influences  The Star |
|
The Present  Queen of Swords |
Suggestion  6 of Wands |
|
The Past  Page of Pentacles |
The Outcome  Ace of Swords |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
Page of Pentacles
A youthful figure, looking intently at the pentacle which hovers over his raised hands. He moves slowly, unaware of his surroundings.
Upright Meaning:
Application, study, scholarship, reflection, news, messages, rule, management, school, learning, craft apprenticeship, training, preparation, research.
Queen of Swords
Her right hand raises the weapon vertically and the hilt rests on an arm of her royal chair the left hand is extended, the arm raised her countenance is severe but chastened; it suggests familiarity with sorrow. She is a bitter, unmerciful oppressor of those who fall under her reign.
Upright Meaning:
Widowhood, female sadness and embarrassment, absence, sterility, mourning, privation, separation, lack of empathy.
King of Wands
The nature to which this card is attributed is dark, ardent, lithe, animated, impassioned, noble. The King uplifts a flowering wand, and wears what is called a cap of maintenance beneath his crown. He bears the symbol of the lion, which is emblazoned on the back of his throne.
Reversed Meaning:
Good-natured, but severe; austere, yet tolerant.
Death
The Grim Reaper rides into town on a pale horse. The king has fallen, and the Pope greets Death with the king's family. The sun sets in the gateway on the horizon.
Upright Meaning:
End, destruction, loss, failure, terminus, conclusion, completion, closure, resolution, outcome, annihilation, downfall, rebirth.
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.
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.
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.