Tarot Card Spreads: Horseshoe Tarot Card Spread

Welcome to Tarot Meaning Information.



The Horseshoe tarot card spread is ideal tarot spread for beginners in tarot since it had few cards. This tarot card spread is useful for answering questions. When you ask questions it needs to be unambiguously framed. The clarity of the answer depends on the question being asked if it clear.



The Horseshoe Tarot Card Spread

Card1: The Past. Check to see how important former events or actions have been. Is the card major or minor, positive or negative?

Card2: The Present. Feelings, thoughts or actual events are revealed here.

Card3: Hidden Influences. Which could surprise you or alter the outcome in some way.

Card4: Obstacles to overcome which can be mental attitudes or practical difficulties.

Card5: The environment and attitudes of other people.

Card6: What should be done. Here you may find a practical suggestion.

Card7: The most likely result is denoted by this card,assuming you follow the advice given by the card in the sixth place.

Thanks for visiting Tarot Meaning Information.

Supercharge Your Intuition and Dramatically Increase Your Tarot Reading Confidence

If you have been reading tarot for awhile you noticed that sometimes you doubt your tarot card interpretation. You ask yourself is this the right interpretation? Sometimes you struggled with the meaning of a particular card. It does not seem to speak to you or the traditional tarot meaning of a specific card does not apply to the querent's question or situation. Relax, this is not an isolated case.


Even the most experienced tarot reader sometimes doubt their own interpretation one way or another. Just like beginners in tarot they also don't want to be second guessing themselves.


This is where intuition comes in and plays a vital role in gaining confidence when it comes to your interpretation. Intuition in other terms is called a hunch, gut feeling, instinct or insight. Intuition is available to us through symbols,bodily sensations,emotions, recurring thoughts,humor,stress and nagging questions. Through intuition we gain truth without any logical explanation.

We perceive patterns and seem to be connecting dots, almost always without any underlying reasons, we strongly act upon it. There are several ways in which we can access intuition in a tarot reading:

1. When siting across the querent in a reading you will get subtle cues from the querent himself like, words uttered by them can ring true particularly when it echoes the meaning of the cards, thus it resonates with you, the tarot reader. You can ask the querent to look at the card and imagine themselves in the scene. What is his impressions? How does he feel? What the querent tells you will give information about the intended representation in their reading.

2. When you look at the tarot spread as a whole. symbols in several cards seem to magnify at the moment and would reveal a progression or repeating theme. Why is it on one area, it's more red than orange? Why are there flowers, vegetation and choppy waters? Then you put these things together to come up with an interpretation of their combined or blended meanings. It is in the combining or blending that intuition often make their way in.


3. Trust that the universe will give you the right card and the right interpretation for the querent's particular question. If you accidentally draw an extra card in a tarot spread or a card fell off the table, include it in a reading. Randomness, coincidence or synchronicity should be taken seriously. You have to believe it because that happened for a reason.

4. If at this time you still wonder if there is a correct interpretation other than yours. I suggest you ask your mentor or a teacher whom you trust to bounce off ideas. If not, join an online discussion group. Indicate the card in question and soon you will be offered various meanings and interpretation by other tarot forum members. You will receive a lot of feed backs and a whole new range of interpretations to start working with.

5. Another way to stop second-guessing yourself when it comes to your tarot reading, is to take a moment to close your eyes,breath and center yourself just prior to laying out the tarot cards. You must ask yourself, how do i feel not how should the querent feel? Bank on the emotions you know you would feel, not what you believe the others would feel. If you put yourself in your querent's situation and imagine how would they feel, then what you are doing is merely guessing.

The tarot is a personal tool and it is only self-explanatory that your interpretation should be personal as well. By accepting our limitations, we will begin to understand that it is part of our growth as a tarot reader. As we evolve we learn how to use our conscious and subconscious mind to interpret the tarot cards that will provide us with what we feel is the correct answer.


Through constant practice and drinking from the fountain of our mentor's experiences and team effort of our tarot reading group, having trust in the universe,Higher Power or Supreme Being and lastly, the nurturing qualities of intuitive reflection will dramatically rev up your confidence in your tarot readings.

Four Defenses Against the Tarot Reading Skeptics

As a tarot reader, i encountered many cynics and skeptics to what we do. They come in all shapes and sizes. They are either vocal about it or not. It comes with the job, i understand. To the un-initiated, we tarot readers reply.


1. We are not scammers or con-artists. We don't use manipulative mental tricks and deceptive communication techniques to our clients. We invested effort, time, money to study,be certified and improve our tarot reading skills legitimately.

2. We don't reduce our clients to a helpless,compliant and gullible victim. We don't exploit human weaknesses or take advantage just to gain something from them. We, tarot readers serve the best interests of our clients, doing our professional tarot reading services without intending to cause harm. We strictly adhere to our formally stated code of ethics. We help clients by offering perspectives. Help them sooth their anxieties and problems by letting them understand that they have the power within themselves to achieve their goals.

3. We are not like cult leaders, who believe we have some extra-ordinary powers that we can actually do what we think we can do. Leaders of a cult anyway, have negative associations to them.

4.We,tarot readers, don't apply cold and warm readings to our clients. We come to know our clients, interact with them and most especially emphatize with them which in return add value to their tarot reading experience.


However, skeptics don't have a totally negative side to them. In fact, we are grateful for them. They are like bloodhounds who will smell and track every fraudulent clairvoyants,fake mediums,pseudo-psychics etc. Those who extort big money by any means possible. Maybe there are a few lost souls who deviates from what is considered ethical but majority of tarot readers do an honest living.

Three Great Exercises to Spice Up Your Tarot Reading Learning Program

When you first learn to read tarot, there will come a time that you will get bored practicing tarot readings for yourself. It is good to have friends that you can do readings with as a practice because they know you are still learning.


You would get so much ahead of yourself if you do readings for the public when you know you are still not ready yet. You might give advice that would be mistakenly heeded and could do harm to the clients themselves as a result. Try to have a great deal of experience first before you read for others.

Here are three suggestions to exercise your intuitive muscles and to keep you from getting bored learning to read tarot cards.

1. You could do a reading about anything from your past. For example, do a reading to see how you did on your last business venture. The fact is, you already know what happened, the outcome. The purpose of this exercise is two-pronged. First, if you want to know any mysteries about your past you want to resolved and to test your tarot card meanings.

If your business got bankrupt, you would expect appropriate cards to turn up in your reading. I would expect cards like wheel of fortune reversed, three of wands reversed,two of wands reversed representing lost opportunities,bad luck and business partnership problems. I would not expect three of pentacles and four of wands to show up in such a reading.

2.You can pick up the current bestsellers or put n the latest box office hit and do a reading for the protagonist, the main character. Know what makes this person tick or what kind of obstacles the antagonist has in store for him and how will he survive it. You will just have to finish watching the movies and finish reading the novel to check the accuracy of your tarot reading.

3..If you are a bit of a history buff, you could do readings for Benjamin Franklin, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Franklin Roosevelt and others who wanted to know how they should approach such situations like the bombing of Nagasaki, the Watergate Scandal and the cracking of the genetic code. You can do readings on how John F. Kennedy saved America, if not the world from another global war.


If there are cards that would show up unexpected in a reading that doesn't mean it is wrong. It signals, the reader to explore the symbolical and numerological meanings of these cards or find other resources (books or online forums) to figure out a better meaning that suits the reading.

When there is a conflict between with what really took place and the reader's card meanings, the reader does not change the historical facts just to fit the card meanings. In the beginning stages of learning the tarot,tarot meanings are altered to suit the things that actually happened.

In order to have a better understanding of the meaning of the tarot cards, it is necessary to do tarot reading activities on a regular basis to keeping your psychic engines always tuned-up. Once you have verified most of your tarot meanings you can them step up to reading for the general public.

What Is The Right Approach to Learn Tarot Reading

In tarot reading it is important what to learn and what not to learn.


Do you remember when you had your first tennis lessons? You were taught to do the basic strokes like backhand,forehand,volley,how to serve, how to properly hold a racket and you have to be in a proper position before doing the shot and don't you forget the follow through. All these avalanche of information to remember and execute at the same time, initially overwhelms the student. As you practice though you will incrementally improve and pretty soon you will just breeze thru numerous sets of tennis games.
 
Well, the tennis analogy is also applicable to learning to read the tarot. It's hard at first, but eventually you will get better and better as you practice. There are different approaches in which to learn to tarot.




1. This method needs you to compile a list of tarot meanings from as many different resources as you can. There are many books in tarot that you can buy in a bookstore or borrow from the library as well as various tarot websites.



You collect the tarot meanings which resonate with you and discard those that don't. Examine and identify which principles are agreed upon and those that borders on controversy and debate.



2. This kind of approach is a more practical one and will get you to your goals faster. Focus on the symbolism of your chosen tarot deck. Study it with the help of a symbol dictionary. Take note what stands out and analyze through the symbols' corresponding meanings.



You can do it in any fashion, study the symbols of the Major Arcana cards first or according to tarot suits. The choice is yours.



3. This approach requires you to personally link with each card.Draw one card in the morning and draw another card in the evening until you finish all seventy-eight cards and start all over again, depending on how many rounds you want to go. Think of the card's association to you-reminding you of an idea, story,events,experiences,people and what happens to you on that particular day. Write it down on your tarot journal. In the process, you will arrive at you own meanings and interpretations.



All these approaches to learning to read tarot are not individually exclusive. You can combine all these three approaches-compile a list of traditional tarot meanings, studying and concentrating mainly on the card's symbols and then blending your own personal association with each of the cards of the tarot deck.



Once you amalgamate your knowledge, experience and philosophy, reading the tarot becomes second nature to you. You will create insightful and inspiring readings. Just like the tennis student eventually breezing through the tennis game at last.

A Collection of 37 of the Simplest Yet Most Powerful Tarot Reading Ideas

1.Learn one or two keyword phrases for each tarot meaning of the seventy eight cards of the tarot deck. It's easy and fast. Armed with these nuggets of knowledge you will gain confidence in reading the tarot. You will have more success than memorizing a whole bunch of tarot meanings of all the cards.


2.Choose a tarot deck whose images you particularly like working with. Choose something that speaks to you.

3.You can put your deck in your drawer. No need to wrap it up in a silk cloth and place it in a pine box. These are just rituals to get you in a tarot reading zone.

4. Master one or two types of general tarot card spreads. These tarot spreads are convenient if client will ask a vague or general question like " what does my future hold"?

5. If clients will ask many questions,try to generalize all the questions if they are related.

6. If clients will ask many,unrelated questions, do a specific tarot card spread for each question. Better yet, there is no need for a tarot layout, just draw one card for each question.

7. If clients will ask an uncomfortable question that is totally out of boundary of your code of ethics, use rephrasing. If not, you can ask the clients to re-word their own question themselves.

8.When you first begin to learn to read tarot cards, you can do practice readings for yourself.

9.If you get bored doing practice readings for yourself, you can do readings using archived news, historical facts or something that happened in your past. Check the accuracy of your reading with the outcome (you already know) and see if they match. These exercises are meant to test your tarot card meanings.

10. Everything in the universe is energy. Tarot reading is energy. Money is energy. In order to have balance of energy there should be an equal trade of your tarot reading services and the money clients pay you. So feel comfortable accepting payments clients give you in exchange for your reading the tarot cards for them, so there will be an equal flow of energy.

11.Read good books on counselling and psychology. Reading tarot for others is also a counselling vocation. Attend workshops and seminars. Listen to popular advice radio shows or read "dear dr. phil" columns. You will get to feel how good advises are being dispensed. Learn from expert advisers.

12. Before you can advise anyone, sharpen your listening skills. Listen carefully, if not intently and emphatize with your clients as they tell you their concerns.

13. Don't frighten your clients. There will always be a positive spin out of a negative situation. So when you/they draw a negative card, frame your interpretation in a positive way.

14. If there is a certain card or cards in your tarot spread that do not speak to you or its tarot meanings just don't flow, the it's time to look for other approaches of interpretation. Look at the symbols, images and numbers of the cards. Are there any repeaters or some kind of progression going on? This might give you a hint.

15.You can start interpreting any card in your tarot layout. There is no rule that says you have to start reading the first card.

16. If there is a particular card that stubbornly sits there and its traditional meaning is not applicable to your client's situation, you can avail the hekp of others e.g. tarot online forums. Other members can bounce off useful ideas to help you in your interpretation.

17. Tarot readers are in a way like meteorologists, stock market analysts etc. They engaged in predictive activities. They take the known facts and information ( weather charts, wind patterns,barometric pressures etc.) check the influences and trends and make an intelligent assumption and forecasting.

18. Like any other learnable skills, tarot reading is actually learn by doing, not solely by reading books. There is no substitute for action,application and gaining experience.

19. A student who reads one tarot book thoroughly and gives a dozen readings is a more experienced and has the right to be called a true tarot reader compared to the one who reads a dozen tarot books and gave only one reading.

20. It is definitely okay to combine tarot meanings by Joan Bunning, Rachel Pollack and Eden Gray etc. and add a touch of your own.

21. A great tarot reader is someone who has the courage to toss away all what he learned academically about tarot and just let his intuition reign control. A great tarot reader relies and trusts his experience.

22.To interpret large tarot spreads easily, break it down into 2 or 4 cards and read and interpret and then focus on the next set.

23.. In a reading, scan immediately your tarot layout. Are there more Major Arcana cards than Minor? When majority pf the cards are Major Arcana cards that means you have tapped into an energy that is powerful in some area of your life unlike the Minor Arcana cards. They register the ups and downs, feelings and thoughts on a daily basis.

24. While scanning your tarot layout,check if there are more reversed cards than upright ones. When many cards are upright, all your energies are expressed powerfully and freely. You aim is clear. When many cards are reversed, the energies are low, your purpose is vague. You feel blocked and restricted, the overall situation is not well developed and could be topsy-turvy.

25. Record or tape yourself as you tell your tarot story or narrative while sitting in front of your client. This method will show you, how you actually sound and reveal your style. Therefore you can critique yourself on which part you want to improve.

26. If you opt to do quick, short, successive readings like... a 5minute one or two card spread, plan your presentation in such a way you begin and end each session with style and grace.

27. If you can afford it, have your cards read by other well known tarot readers and by some local readers. You will be exposed to and learn a smorgasbord of tarot reading styles and presentations. Then, amalgamate what you learned to your own style. As a result, you will develop a unique,customized personal tarot reading style.

28.. Devise a formally written code of ethics with regards to your tarot reading practice. Make sure it is gathered from your own experience and not extracted from an already established organization.

29. On the business side of reading tarot professionally, you should know the legalities of setting up your tarot reading services. Have several "plan B" as contingency plans for unexpected events. Know hoe to refer clients to other readers and have a set of phone numbers of health care professionals close by.

30.Don't revert back to giving freebie readings to your friends when you already have started to become a pro. If not, have friends do favors for you in exchange for your reading services. They will treasure more your readings if they have paid a certain amount or exerted some effort in order to get it. Again , the equal exchange of energy theory.

31..As a tarot reader always remember not to appear all-knowing when reading for clients. The best psychics and mediums don't have all the answers, so we should not pretend we know all the answers either.

32. One sure way not to appear all-knowing is not to breeze through the card's traditional meanings in their corresponding positions. Instead, ask the client about her situation and concerns. Make the clients tell their story, so that we can help them. After all it is their reading not ours.

33. To carve out your own special niche and to edge off tarot business competition, it won't hurt if you throw in your expertise in other related but complimentary fields to tarot reading. Like ,offer your unique slant to tarot reading with astrology, palmistry,aromatherapy,Qabbalah,i-ching,runes or reiki. etc.

34.Traditionally, there are three layers of interpreting the tarot cards. Firstly, you interpret the individual cards. Secondly, you interpret the cards by blending the traditional meanings with their assigned positions and thirdly, you interpret the cards with how they relate to other cards in the tarot spread. And this brings us to the next subject of....

35.Elemental Dignities. (Cups-water) (Swords-air) (Pentacles-earth) (Wands-fire). The card's elemental qualities, weakened,strengthened and neutralizes each other. The purpose of learning elemental dignities is to know right away which cards to focus on and which irrelevant cards to eliminate in a tarot reading.

36. Court cards (kings,queens,pages,knights) of all suits add a human dimension tot he tarot reading system. Court cards may also mean an approach,activities,professions and organizations.

37. Tarot Journal. Start one. You can be brutally frank or profane or anyway how you express yourself. You can write anything in your journal in any fashion as your mood dictates you. After all it is your journal. The main purpose of it is, to document your feelings and thoughts about a certain situation in conjunction with a certain tarot card and its tarot meaning. If a certain card's meaning is hazy to you as of this moment write it down and then come back to it later as soon as you acquire more tarot meanings to work with. It is a great way ans useful tool to aid you in learning to read tarot on a deeper level.

Want To Know The Real Reason Why You Read Tarot

The path of the tarot is not for everyone. Before giving tarot readings ask yourself, what is my desire and purpose? What are my intentions?


The tarot is a powerful potent tool. Given in the right hands implies great responsibility, because the tarot can be used for empowerment or dis-empowerment.

The tarot will enable you to take a glimpse of the whole view of the causes and effects in your snapshot of life at any given moment. It will enable you to look ahead (predict the future) and at the same time look with in ( introspection of the effects and determining what caused them).


For everything that happens in the world we live in, is reflected in the world of tarot. So any changes of energies whether fluctuations or surges in the world we live in, will somehow effect the tarot beyond our worldly perceptions.
The tarot is the most personal of all divinatory system. You can discover your own tarot meanings and you can make your own tarot spreads. The tarot is one big white blank paper upon which to scribble your uniqueness. By using the tarot you can access information of what lies ahead.


Like a road map, it will present different alternative routes to your desired destination. It can be a microscope for examining the slides of your personality, magnifying and analyzing which parts of yourself needs a touch up or your distant past whose meanings remain hazy to you. When you start working with tarot, you will unlock your personal potential.

You look at things differently. The tarot lets you see how events are intertwined and that negative, recurring problems in your life may be lessen because you learned lessons from your mistakes.

The tarot will reveal your weaknesses and your imperfections to allow you to improve them. Provided you have the desire and courage to embrace taking the much needed steps and a change of direction to your chosen path.


The tarot simply lets you recognize and acknowledge what you already know and take actions accordingly. The tarot is a mirror that reflect your own perceptions and beliefs back to you.

Your unconscious becomes conscious. We have myriad of reasons why we want to read tarot, mine is i want to help enlighten and empower my seekers that they are powerful creators of their destiny, not hapless victims of whatever challenges come their way. To guide and make them understand that fate is in their hands and they can have everything they want in life

Tarot Reading System Reduced To Easy Simple Formulas That Anyone Can Follow

Here are simple easy to follow formulas to address issues that may arise during a tarot reading session.


This is a quick handy guide for tarot readers to handle different kinds of client's questions that may occur during a tarot reading.

1.When a client doesn't have any specific question and just want a general type of inquiry like " what does my future hold"? Prepare one or two general tarot card spreads. Describe one by one the individual cards and interpret them. Trust that the client will be able to discern how your description and interpretation relates to their situation. Master a general, all-purpose tarot spread especially if you are doing live readings.


2. If a client asks several complex questions, try to generalize all the questions if they are related and then do the reading. If the questions are specific and unrelated, do a specific tarot card spread for each of the question or you just simply draw one card for each specific question, no need for a tarot card spread. Simply trust your guides to give you the cards, to be able to answer the client's questions.

3.If the questions asked are contingent with the rest like, " will i get the job i applied for last week, if yes am i going to like it there?" The answer to the latter question is dependent upon the first one, if he/she will get the job. So until the first question asked will actually take place, tell the client to come back and do a second reading.

4.If a client will ask a question that is totally out of boundaries of your formally constructed code of ethics or you simply feel uncomfortable answering it, tell the client honestly about your concerns regarding his question and ask him/her to rephrase their own question. It is respectful to clients that way because it is still the client's own re-worded questions.

5.If the client can't help but ask many questions and he/she can't decide which one to focus on, simply draw one card and let the tarot decide which question is the most important one to concentrate on.

Yes, It Pays To Have A Ritual Before Reading Tarot And Here's Why

Every tarot reader has a ritual before every tarot reading session. The rituals can be composed of a string of activities or even doing nothing at all.




Have you ever experienced it when reading tarot you just feel your interpretations just flows? Feeling like you are in the groove and you just roll? And your client is responsive to your readings full of smiles and nods? Well in my years of reading tarot professionally i have concluded that if i am well prepared for a reading,



i am more often than not get this kind of good results. That's where rituals come into view. Before an appointment tarot reading which involves large crowds and all eyes are fix on you, its hard not to be anxious and nervous. If you come well-prepared you know you are just ready to do the job.
And what are my own personal rituals before a tarot reading? Well the usual environmental cues every tarot reader thinks of like burning incense, crystals and gemstones, covering the table with a special cloth in which your tarot cards are laid, new age music in the background and scented candles.




You can also bring these stuffs if you are on the road doing live tarot reading tours. These environmental cues will automatically trigger an intuitive and receptive frame of mind which is necessary for your interpretation to go smoothly.



My personal favorite ritual is to slow down, relax not tire myself doing chores that day and meditate to center myself, take a few deep breaths and visualize scenes in which I'm doing perfect tarot readings.



I kept doing these rituals over and over again before every tarot reading session. Rituals have become a part of my life naturally. If you want you can appeal to your higher self, deep mind or pray to God to help you with his/her questions.



The utmost importance of rituals before reading tarot is to allow our intuitive mind to flow and reign over our logical side. Let our intuitive mind to take control and trust it. For intuition can help us see the truth. The boss is the tarot reader, not the tarot cards. The power lies within the person but to jump-start the power , you need intuition, to trigger intuition you need rituals.

Tarot Reading: Six Things You Need To Know About Court Cards

The Tarot has its own system of personalities represented by the court cards. However, the court cards don't just mean people. There's more to it than that.




The court cards (Kings, Queens, Knights, Pages of all suits) are perhaps the most difficult cards to interpret compared to the rest of the cards of the tarot deck. It's because it has multi-levels of tarot meanings and purposes to them. And they are:



1. The court cards have similarities and corresponding link with the Major Arcana cards. For example, both the Queen of Swords and Justice show a woman holding a sword and correspond to the astrological sign Libra and have the same traditional tarot meaning. If you are a little hazy on the meaning of a court card you can mentally replace it with a corresponding Arcanum and explore the possibilities. That's the purpose of this method.



2. A court card in a reading is showing you how a certain lifestyle is influencing your situation whether its beneficial or harmful.



3. A court card in a reading shows an aspect of you that you value and want to show to the world or an aspect that you are ashamed and want to keep it hidden.



4. A court card can indicate an overall environment or ambiance. Let's say , you want to join an aerobics class and you draw the Queen of Wands. This card could be telling you that the atmosphere will be cheerful,upbeat and lively. Perfect, just exactly what you need to sweat it out. Moreover, you may meet someone in the class who is similar to the queen of wands or you may be like her yourself in this situation.



5. Personality traits are not limited to certain gender and age groups. That is too limiting way of looking at court cards. Do not identify a man as King of Wands just because he is a pilot and travels a lot. Inside he may be a knight of cups. A thirteen year old boy could be a queen and an old man to be a page. The king of swords approach may be commonly masculine but his style could also be available to women. What's important is, how they think, feel act,react or refuse to act.



6. A court card in a reading could represent activities, institutions,professions and organizations. For example, King of wands may signify property settlement, formal financial agreement, business wheeling and dealing, philanthropic organizations trusts and charities.



The court cards have a human dimension to it. But to know if a certain court card hints on another person, the querent or yourself, an approach, an attitude, activities or organizations, depend on how you view the situation, question and the overall influence of other cards in a tarot spread.