Arthurian Hallowquest

Welcome to all! A quick word of explanation - this is not just a deck study, it is a place for discussion and sharing the lessons from the course book “The Arthurian Tarot Course - a Quest for All Seasons by Caitlin Matthews using the Arthurian Tarot. There are 60 lessons in all, and the course could be completed in the space of about a year, although it can take as long as you wish. I’ve been working on it, on and off, for a long time. Discussion began on this course on the now closed Aeclectic Tarot forum more than a decade ago, and I thank the owners and moderators of this forum for the chance to continue the conversations here. The deck an…

Here the threads directly relating to the lessons of the study are indexed to make it easier (I hope) to follow along. Depending on which version of the study book you are using the lesson numbers might be slightly different, but you should be able to figure out where you are as I will use the card names as well as the lesson numbers to help you find your way around in each section. Preparing for the Quest - lessons 1 - 5 https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/topic/268-hallowquest-lesson-1-meditation-and-diary-keeping/ https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/topic/432-hallowquest-lesson-2-the-seeker-in-the-wasteland/ https://www.thetarotforum.com/fo…

Let’s start a discussion about this major card

So let's suppose you've worked your way through the whole of the HallowQuest, and now aren't sure what to do next. Or you tried the book course, but didn't feel it worked for you, and stopped. How about jumping off and doing things a different way? Here is my version of a walk through the Stone suit for the winter, as my new journey through a previously traveled landscape. You can do anything you want - I just wanted to inspire folks to pick up their deck again and re-imagine. I took the whole suit, and laid them out randomly. Then I strove to forget what I knew, and simply put them as images in an order that made sense to me . . . Hallow…

We read a short commentary on these cards, and then tackle questions, a task and a meditation. QUESTIONS 1. Our society distrusts and shuns the imagination; bring to mind a time when your imaginative or creative life suffered mockery or imprisonment. Ask healing of the Grail Maiden. 2. With which of your close friends/family do you feel greatest concord? What qualities typify this concord? 3. What is the nature of your spiritual reserves? Where do you go when you are spiritually dry? (This might be a book, a place, a form of devotion etc.) TASK During this quest you can reconnect with the Grail each day by making a dedication at twilight. This can be…

Catlin begins the section of the first five lessons by saying: “Before we set off on our quest, we need to spend a little time in preparation. . . Lessons 1 - 5 give us guidelines for meditation, study and practical work, and provide a grounding as well as a personal map for ensuing quests. Give plenty of time to this preliminary section before you go on to Part Two. Each lesson needs a minimum of a week’s work.” Lesson 1 begins with a discussion and helpful suggestions about meditations as used in the quest. These meditations are to lead you into the cards, to meet the characters, explore the landscape and find your own inner meanings in the symbolism and journey. …

In the second lesson we study the Seeker card (the Fool) and after discussion paragraphs we view ourselves as the Seeker, answers set questions, carry through some tasks and then a meditation. All of this is clearly set out in the book for us :) There are no "wrong answers" here, just how the card and the tasks seem to you. Feel free to write as much or as little of your answers as you are comfortable to share in this thread. Ask for discussion, mention things that occur to you, whatever you'd like to share or say. Enjoy PathWalker

This lesson speaks about recognising and responding to the Goddess (or other form) of the spirit of your land. The first page is some discussion of this, and then there's a lot of work - a set of 5 questions, a set of 4 tasks, a meditation, and a layout of the cards into a particular configuration. Remember, as ever you have a week (or as long as you need) to complete this lesson - no need to rush through it or worry about the amount of activities :)

This lesson concentrates on the major card Gawain (Strength) VIII There's a brief discussion of his role in some of the myths and stories, and how he is envisaged within the pack itself. There is a meditation where we are asked to 'stand in his place' for a night's watch, and then a reading (with the Arthurian Tarot) in a 6-card spread Gawain's Shield" PathWalker

With very many thanks to Aerin from Aeclectic, who originally typed all this out years ago! The Land of Logres Speaks: "I am the promise of the land that will be restored. Behold! the waters run once more, each bough is in bud or blosson, the sacred grain is ripening. You who dance out the seedtime of your soul's journey under my broad meadows, I bid you find the rainbow's end and your true treasury." Every age has to solve the problem of evil, find people who will go on quest in service of the Grail. The Grail is an ongoing cycle. To help see the current pattern of events, look at the Grail's manifestation: 1. The Dolorous blow (D.B.) afflicts the land. Usuall…

The lessons have different numbers depending on which version of the HallowQuest book you are using! Don't worry, just find the Stone Realm and begin This is the first lesson of the Stone Realm, in which we visit the Stone Castle in meditation, do some considering of our own selves, and - if we wish - conduct a ceremony to welcome in the Stone Hallow . I had begun working with stone suit years ago and then left it. Here is a link to the original entry on the Aeclectic Tarot forum. I don't think anyone else was joining in at this point! http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2983841

Here we meet the Stone Maiden - with a head in a dish (!) - and walk through the landscape cards of Stone Two and Three. We are asked questions: 1. What is the best, most practical reason for your quest? 2. Which different spiritual directions or esoteric methods jockey for your attention? Which do you intend to pursue right now? 3. What are the pre-eminent qualities of your spiritual craft? How do you reflect these? We are given a task - planting each night a 'seed of intention' into the squares of the chessboard, for fruition in the months ahead. There's also a meditation where we move through the cards, with the…

A week now to study the card Taliesin - ". . . the great poet and preserver of the ancient memories of the roots of time." After a short reading of text there's a meditation for us to do, and then a tarot reading, using a 9 card spread called "The Pursuit of the Soul reading". This is the first specific reading we are doing for ourselves in this section of the Quest, and is interesting in that it divides the "greater powers" (major arcana) from the "lesser powers" (minor arcana) and 8 of the cards are laid from the minors, and the last card from the majors. I can add details of the card positions and so forth if folks would like. P…

As usual the cards introduce themselves to us. Then some questions: 1. What are the best spurs for you to continue a course of action when the way ahead seems impossibly hard? 2. In what ways are you rich and achieved? 3. In what ways are you impoverished or insecure? "In questions 2 and 3, concentrate upon your inner qualities as much as your material possessions." Then we are set a task, which I really like the look of - for it's practicality I guess Task: Spend one morning/afternoon/evening this week sorting out one intractable part of your lie, e.g. a messy cupboard, an unruly schedule or plan, an unresolved i…

"I am the voice in the stillness and I am the listening. . ." Today we meet the Grail Hermit - the Arthurian tales are full of helpful hermits in the woods who serve to explain the happenings to those who are questing and have missed the point! So a paragraph about this major arcana figure, and then questions, a task and a meditation. Questions. 1. Looking over your work so far, what is the clearest theme or message which runs through your diary? 2. Bring to mind the times you trusted or distrusted your inner voice. What led you to trust or distrust yourself at those times? what do you learn from this that you can draw upon in th…

We meet the next three cards here. The wonderful Stone Queen, she is one of my favourites, watching the outside world with her hand mirror and she sits by the window - such symbolism there. Along with Stone Six and Seven, interesting cards, day and night, heat and cold, the circle and the lie. Lots of comparisons to draw from the pair. There are questions:- 1. What is your relationship to the land in which you live/ 2. How do you share your gifts and resources with others? 3. What are your present strategies for keeping things in proportion? And a meditation in which we travel from the glade of the Hermit to the Queen's c…

Tides and Seasons The Four Elements Questions and the meditation "The Cleansing of the Caers" There are several pages of writing associated with this lesson, and then the following four questions: 1. Review the seasons of the year in relation to your life: which season is easiest, and which most difficult for you? 2. What kinds of weather are easiest/ most difficult? 3. What is your best time of day? When does your energy become lowest? 4. Which is your natural element? Then there's quite a long guided meditation which moves you through each of the four compass directions, and …

Card XIII - Death is depicted as the Washer at the Ford - a wild female figure washing bloodied cloths that will never come clean. Questions: 1. What do you fear most about death? 2. If you had one day of life left to you, what situations, relationships, ambitions would be left unresolved? 3. What are you clinging onto that needs to fly free in your life? Task: This week, attempt to face up to or bring towards a better resolution, one factor which your death would leave unresolved. A meditation

We meet the King, and then travel through all three of these cards. Tasks and Questions: 1. What is your definition of 'tradition'? Now look up the derivation of the word 'tradition' in an etymological dictionary. In what way does it's original meaning accord or differ from your current understanding of the word? 2. Looking over your recent life, trace your apprenticeship on the spiritual path. What are it's major signposts, achievements and practical applications in your life? 3. In an ideal world, how would you most like to spend your time? What qualities do you derive from practicing this/these pursuits? Me…

An introduction to the deeper meaning of the card, and then: Questions 1. What new cycle do you foresee coming into operation in the next ten years? 2. When all is dark, what are your personal strategies for stimulating hope? Meditation.

The figure who represents the place of the magician in the pack. Quite a long introduction to him, and then a meditation. Also a large (13 cards) reading, entitled Merlin's Mirror Reading

At last, in the deep underground, we meet the Stone Hallow card. No questions or tasks. There's a meditation. A reading, entitled The Augury of the Stone of Wisdom (five cards)

These ceremonies - the investitures - are the culmination of the traveling with the suit sign. They are a celebration, a commitment, and a formal rite. The instructions for them is quite long, but is well laid out in the book, and is very similar for each sign. May the journey through the seasons bless you PathWalker )0(

This set of lessons - connected with the Grail realm, could well be begun at the Autumn Equinox, but if like me you're lagging, don't give up if you don't hit the dates suggested in the book. Just keeping going is the most important thing I think. So in this first lesson of the Grail realm we look at Grail Ten - the Grail castle by the sea, with some discussion about the connection between the time of year and the Grail suit. There are three questions, and then a meditation of entering and exploring the Castle. Then you'll find the ceremony for Grail Hallow. There is a ceremony for each Hallow as we come to their suit.These are very ritualized, but if they don't chi…

Let’s start a discussion about this major card