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  Queen of Hearts |
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Hidden Influences  Jack of Hearts |
External Influences  King of Diamonds |
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The Present  10 of Hearts |
Suggestion  3 of Spades |
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The Past  King of Spades |
The Outcome  Ace of Spades |
The Past Card represents past events that are affecting the question.
King of Spades
This represents a dark-haired man of great ambition. He is accustomed to success and usually gets what he wants. He is very active, skilful, and clever, but can also be deceitful. At worst, he may be a tyrant in waiting.
10 of Hearts
This sign indicates pleasures fulfilled yet somehow incomplete. A brooding passion overflows beyond the limits some are willing to accept. Insatiability is indicated by the presence of this card.
Jack of Hearts
This Jack indicates a fair-haired younger person whether male or female. This may be a kind, attractive, and romantic person. Perhaps this represents a close friend. This person may appear calm and cool, but under the surface they are concealing a brooding passion.
Queen of Hearts
This card suggests a fair-haired woman with a gentle and pleasant personality. She is almost stereotypically passive and receptive. This card is particularly influenced by the energies of the adjacent cards in a reading. She may have the heart of a poet.
King of Diamonds
This symbolises a fair-haired man who has natural magnetism in pursuits of material gain. He may be a skilful farmer, builder, natural scientist, or business man. In his stubbornness he may appear dull or unsophisticated to some.
3 of Spades
This sign represents sorrow and sadness. It could indicate a relationship gone wrong, bad feelings, or break ups. Discord and melancholy are indicated by this card. However, if other hearts are adjacent to this card, it means faithfulness and honesty in relationships of all kinds.
Ace of Spades
The first card of the Spades suit suggests awakening to a new way of thinking, leading to a new level of personal awareness as well as spiritual awareness. The dawning of a new enlightenment.