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 Cross |
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Hidden Influences  The Lady |
External Influences  The Moon |
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The Present  The Coffin |
Suggestion  The Child |
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The Past  The Rider |
The Outcome  The Birds |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
The Rider
Thoughts, good news, precognition, an augury. This is a messenger of good fortune, perhaps a young man. Your intentions will go well.
The Coffin
Transformation, adaptation, major changes, secrets uncovered, beginnings, and endings. The Coffin foretells that something will be coming to an end, which means you will need to adapt.
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 Cross
Symbol of fate, karma, guilt, knowledge, belief, tests, sacrifice, grand endings, tough love, and hard lessons. The Cross indicates that you may have to make a considerable sacrifice.
The Moon
Magic, spiritual rituals and traditions, the past, intuitiveness, career/success, recognition, fears, and the unknown. The Moon signifies a period of uncertainty. You may be in or entering a time when it is difficult to be certain about things.
The Child
The Child indicates youth, inexperience, naiveness, playfulness, and small size. The appearance of the Child may foretell a child coming into your life.
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.