Halloween Spread Special: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887.

 
Rarely in tarot spreads do I see ones intended to go looking for trouble specifically. Usually we apply helpful, positively attuned spreads when meeting personal crisis and decision making. However, in spirit of Halloween and the traditional dark side the holiday engenders, I have created a “give it to me straight, no chaser” tarot spread for the upcoming year. The timeline also in keeping to the traditional "new Year' focus, sundown of Halloween is considered the start of the New Year in many traditional and modern pagan belief systems. 

Oddly enough this spread idea came to me at 3am, unable to sleep until I wrote it, the Horsemen were collectively neighing at my bed until I wrote this in the dead of night, gruesome spreads from the Witching Hour? Sure!

 
In this spread I have chosen our noble tarot Knights to stand in as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. What news and messages of death and destruction (if any) will we receive this year? Do you dare ask? Seriously, If you cannot and are not prepared for possible bad news, this is your public service announcement; “Do not, I repeat, do not attempt this spread at home.” Just leave it alone and pull out your angel deck, it's gonna be alright, healing white light surrounds you... However if you are a bit macabre like myself, then please...continue...

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is outlined with great clarity in the book of Revelations:
 
The chapter tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God, or Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ), opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, in most accounts, the four riders are seen as symbolizing Conquest, [1] War,[2] Famine, [3] and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment (Wiki)

The White Horse

Deutsch: Bamberger Apokalypse Folio 14 recto, Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, MS A. II. 42

​“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”
​REV 6:1-2

In popular culture, this Horsemen is also known as the harbinger of Pestilence. Some may argue with this interpretation but for my needs, I am going for it.

​ I will attribute the Knight of Cups as the Horseman of Pestilence- the cups suit has a lot of healing kind of qualities so in a reversal, illness and sickness would make since for this knight.

The Red Horse

A miniature from a 13th century Apocalypse manuscript (London, British Library, Additional MS 35166), The second seal, the red horse

“When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”
​REV 6:3-4

The red horse I will attribute to our Knight of Wands. Full of vim and vigor, our hot blooded fire-related suit could turn warlike if reversed, I am also reading this as conflicts.

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The Black Horse

Fragment des tapisseries de l'Apocalypse au château d'Angers (49) en France, représentant le troisième cavalier signifiant la famine.

​“When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine.” REV 6: 5-6 

The black horse I will attribute to our Knight of Pentacles, for what is famine if not a fundamental lack of resources, again this Knight like all the others will be in reversal.

The Pale Horse

Gustav Dore, 1865

​When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.” REV 6:7-8

Last but certainly not least, our Pale Rider will be attributed to our swords Knight.

The Swords suit having traditionally more than its fair share of ‘scary’ cards, including the absolute ruin which is the 10 of Swords, this Knight is the final one, the one that no man can conquer.
 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Spread
(Do you Dare?)

​Take out your four Knights, reverse them all and place them in a diamond pattern like so:

The Four Knights, reversed with 8 Bit Tarot

Shuffle the rest of the deck and move around this diamond pattern going counterclockwise we begin with the white horse:

Will I become ill this upcoming year?
If you get a card that is either an obvious no like an upright positive card, stop there, for you have your answer. If it is a card that ‘arouses suspicion’ or is reversed, let that lie but continue onto the next Horseman, the Red Horse:

Will I be involved in major conflicts this year?
If you get a card that is either an obvious no like an upright positive card, stop there, for you have your answer. If it is a card that ‘arouses suspicion’ or is reversed, let that lie but continue onto the next Horseman, the Black Horse:

Will I suffer a famine of resources this year?
If you get a card that is either an obvious no like an upright positive card, stop there, for you have your answer. If it is a card that ‘arouses suspicion’ or is reversed, let that lie but continue onto the next Horseman​, the Pale Horse:

​Will I endure a death this year?
If you get a card that is either an obvious no like an upright positive card, stop there, for you have your answer. If it is a card that ‘arouses suspicion’ or is reversed, let that lie but continue onto the next Horseman, back to the White Horse or whichever horse gave you a positive yes on trouble.

Listen, I am too scared to do this spread for myself. I took serious liberty in doing this on a certain presidential candidate, though

 Go around each Horsemen that indicated a possible yes, pull one card out, then move to the next Horseman, continuing until you either have the answer you need, or, you have finally pulled no greater than 6 cards for each Horsemen. (Why 6? Cause it feels right). 

By now, you should have a pretty good, if gruesome, overview of all the difficulties, strain, and problems the Horsemen will bring to your door this year.

In the sample above, this individual is absolutely going to have issues around health, possibly the mental health variety (running for President has got to be tough on the nerves) as well as death coming to them in the form of possibly dropping out or being pressured to drop out of the race, but with that devil card capping it, there is a whole cantina of ego involved in that decision. The actual conflict and resource issues seem to be largely ok, however.

If you decide to 'go looking for trouble' and brave the message of Apocalypse, feel free to comment below or send me a msg. I am very curious to hear how this spread worked for you.

Happy Halloween!