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![]() 5 of Cups |
Possible Future Outcome![]() 4 of Wands |
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Present Actions Effecting the Question![]() 2 of Cups |
Possible Delays![]() Ace of Pentacles |
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Future Results You Should Consider![]() The Star |
Feelings of Those Around You![]() 10 of Wands |
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Actions You Should Consider![]() 7 of Cups |
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Past Actions Effecting the Question
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.
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.
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.
Reversed Meaning:
Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence, conceit, pomposity, pride, pretention, sterility, inefficiency, vanity.
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit.
Reversed Meaning:
Desire, will, determination, project, ambition.
A man oppressed by the weight of the ten staves which he is carrying.
Reversed Meaning:
Oppression, difficulties, intrigues, heavy-handedness, bad luck.
A hand reaching out from a cloud holds up a pentacle.
Upright Meaning:
Perfect contentment, felicity, ecstasy, sharpness, intelligence, a quick wit, gold.
From the four great staves planted in the foreground there is a great garland suspended; two female figures uplift nosegays; at their side is a bridge over a moat, leading to an old manorial house.
Upright Meaning:
Country life, haven of refuge, a species of domestic harvest – home, repose, concord, harmony, prosperity, peace, and the perfected work of these.