Similar to the Horse Shoe #1, this variant provides insight on different levels. The first two cards begin the reading with the past and present, but then the cards switch to a different focus. Card #3 warns you about possible side effects that could accompany the future outcome, #7. The base card, #4 shows desirable or undesirable actions to take concerning the issue. The external environment specifically means the people around you and how they feel about what you are up to. Things which could cause setbacks are indicated in Card #6, another more specifically focused card than what is generally labelled the obstacle or challenge card in some other layouts.
Past Actions Effecting the Question 4 of Swords |
Possible Future Outcome The Hermit |
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Present Actions Effecting the Question Ace of Cups |
Possible Delays Page of Cups |
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Future Results You Should Consider Knight of Wands |
Feelings of Those Around You 2 of Cups |
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Actions You Should Consider 7 of Pentacles |
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Past Actions Effecting the Question
The effigy of a knight in the attitude of prayer, at full length upon his tomb.
Upright Meaning:
Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design.
Atop the waters are water-lilies; the hand reaches out from the cloud, holding in its palm the cup, from which four streams are pouring; a dove, bearing in its bill a cross-marked Host, descends to place the Wafer in the Cup; the dew of water is falling on all sides.
Upright Meaning:
House of the true heart, joy, content, abode, nourishment, abundance, fertility; Holy Table, felicity hereof.
A man on a journey, armed with a short wand, and although armoured it is not on an errand of war. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, suggesting his mission.
Upright Meaning:
Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence.
A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there.
Reversed Meaning:
Somebody trying to borrow money and the anxiety that this spawns; altercation, quarrels, haggle, bad deal, rip-off, pestering, entice, con, beguile, coax, bait and switch.
A youth and maiden are pledging the love of one another, and above their cups rises the Caduceus of Hermes, between the great wings of which there appears a lion's head. It is a variant of a sign which is found in a few old examples of this card.
Upright Meaning:
Love, passion, friendship, affinity, union, concord, sympathy, the interrelation of the sexes, and – as a suggestion apart from all offices of divination – that desire which Nature is sanctified.
A fair, pleasing, somewhat effeminate page, of studious and intent aspect, contemplates a fish rising from a cup to look at him. It is the pictures of the mind taking form.
Reversed Meaning:
Taste, inclination, attachment, seduction, deception, artifice.
An old man with a walking stick holds up a lantern to enlighten his path.
Reversed Meaning:
Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, phobia, treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption, betrayal.