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 Fox |
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Hidden Influences  The Lady |
External Influences  The Stork |
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The Present  The Birds |
Suggestion  The Clouds |
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The Past  The Sun |
The Outcome  The Book |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
The Sun
Creation, brilliance, success, heat, positivity, happiness, will-power, aura, the absolute, the centre of attention. The Sun indicates great honours will be bestowed upon you.
The Birds
Meditation, fantasy, further education, also two older people, perhaps a couple. Butterflies and nervous excitement. The Birds may indicate social fear and subsequent flight.
The Lady
The Lady represents you if you are a woman. All cards in your spread are interpreted by their distance to this card.
If you are a man this card represents a strong woman with good intent who will have a positive influence on you: a friend, wife, significant other, girlfriend, love. Could also indicate intuition, passiveness, instinct, or patience.
The Fox
Deviousness, plotting, hypocrisy, lies, a warning that something is not what it seems, worldly logic, temptations, trickery. When facing away from the affected card, it means absolute honesty and survival instincts.
The Stork
The process of cleansing one's self. The stork is a deliverer. It delivers the message of card that occurs before it to the card that appears after the Stork. The ever-evolving nature of love.
The Clouds
Doubts, secret fears, worries, and weakness. A negative period of time on the horizon. It is suggested that you use this period of down time to your advantage by contemplating your situation and meditating on possible ways to fix the issues that may have caused the problem.
The Book
Wisdom, the Book of Life, facts, things are in good standing, learning, and the symbol of the teacher. The Book may represent a secret of great importance. This secret should be diligently sought after with an open mind, or you will gloss right over it.