Hallowquest - a course with the arthurian tarot by john & Caitlin matthews

[PathWalker]

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 and the course material have been released in several versions, I am happy to give more details of these if folks would like - I do have them all and love to talk about this, my favourite deck.

 

I will post each of the initial lessons of the HallowQuest - these are designed to be done first, at any time of year. Then the course falls into four parts - one linked to each Hallow/suit, and which CAN be done seasonally, to help align with the energy of the season, although this is not absolutely necessary. I am working in the Grail Hallow section at the moment, so I will be posting those first. I am using the very first version of the book for these postings.

 

Because this is something of a fresh start, I have not tried to copy across all the previous discussions by other folks on Aeclectic, but I would like to thank each of them for their input and encouragement - I hope some of them might resume their journey here.

 

I thought we could use this first thread for general talk about the course, about the deck and book variations, even other reading material that we’ve found helpful. Please feel free to join in at any time, even if it’s been quiet here for a while, that seems to be the way this journey works.

 

Blessings to all

PathWalker

 

Edited May 5, 2019 by PathWalker

[CharlotteK]

I would like to join this please. I have a Hallowquest course book on the way to me in the post and am thrilled to see this discussion thread.

 

ETA: The book I've ordered arrives on Saturday. It has a blue cover and is called:  Hallowquest – the Arthurian Tarot Course: A tarot journey through the Arthurian world

 

 

 

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

[PathWalker]

Hi Charlotte - lovely to see you here :)

I think the book you'll be using is ISBN 0-7225-3448-5 - I do have a copy of this one. If it's not this exact opne, I'm sure it will be similar  :)

 

At first check, it seems they mostly have the same numbering for the lessons, but I will check each time I post and mention any differences I see, just so we don't confuse ourselves LOL

 

After the first 5 set lessons, you are welcome to start any one of the 4 sections that seems right to you - and start threads for each lesson if you're working a different set to me. The more the merrier.

 

Looking forward to see how you like it.

best wishes

PathWalker

[CharlotteK]

I'm glad to be here PathWalker. Thank you so much for starting this up here. I got this deck recently, and decided to invest time in the course, so how fantastic I don't have to do it all on my tod.

[Flaxen]

Lovely to see you start this up again, PW. Looking forward to reading your insights. :)

[Mi-Shell]

Hi! :)

Pathwalker, did you already DO part of this course on AT?

Is there still a thread visible?

I do have the deck, but not the book you mentioned. I may be interested to join and learn some more about Arthurian lore and this deck:)

[PathWalker]

Indeed I did - as did many others.

This is the link to the index of threads

 

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1232771

 

Hope that's helpful?

[Mi-Shell]

Oh, thanks!

It looks like I will have to get this book then....

[PathWalker]

Oh, thanks!

It looks like I will have to get this book then....

 

I think it depends on what you want to do? The Hallowquest book is a fairly specific guided journey through the deck, the inner landscapes, the characters of the cards in that landscape and our own.

But it's not the only way you could study. You've done some great decks studies of other decks, I'm thinking Greenwwod or Celtic for example, and you were much more intuitive. You could study the Arthurian in the same way without 'doing' the Hallowquest at all.

 

I'd have no problem with anyone starting a study just of the deck, without being a part of the ongoing personal quest journey, you'd just need to title the study thread to make it clear in what ways this one and the new one were different. So please do whichever you feel called to  :)

[PathWalker]

Lovely to see you start this up again, PW. Looking forward to reading your insights. :)

 

Thank you for the welcome, meant to reply sooner but didn't remember LOL

[PathWalker]

Just a thought for the future - I gathered together all my course stuff yesterday and realised that I've chosen to do the four suits study in a completely different order to how they are in the book. partly because I'm taking much longer of course, but also I started one study and found I wasn't ready to work with that element, so I changed.

No big deal really, but if you feel you want to do something differently, change this round, approach the questions from another angle - whatever! - then feel free to do it. It's about YOUR journey, and keeping onwards, not about following rules and a pre-set path.

 

Hope that helps someone, one day  :)

 

Blessings on your path

PathWalker

[PathWalker]

Feel very much like I'm talking to myself for now with this deck, but never mind  :)

 

I've reached the point of studying the Stone suit - Pentacles for folks who wondered  :) I've attempted this suit a couple of times already, and not made progress. It's the suit I feel most connected to, and I'm astrologically and earth sign, but I've really struggled. So here's how I've finally decided to go ahead:

 

I've abandoned the book course - Shock! Horror! - and I'm making it up as I go LOL

The suits in this deck are linked to seasons, very strongly, so I asked my OH if he would mind going through the major cards and assigning seasons to them too. I'm too close to them to be able to see them in an unbiased way anymore, but he was great! I said there didn't have to be even numbers in each pile or anything, just four piles. Then I took the ones he thought of as 'winter' (Stones is the winter suit) and putting them together with the Stone suit I'm spending time with the cards, a small number at a time, working in numerical order - sort of :)

 

It's very much more intuitive than the book course would be, and because I'm associating them with majors that the book might not have done, there's perhaps not the internal logic that was contained in Caitlin's work. But it's making sense to me and I'm enjoying the journey.

 

I wonder if anyone else created their own study, veering away from the set course? If so, how did you do that, and did you find it helpful?

 

Blessings to all

PathWalker

[Jewel]

Hi PathWalker, you might think you are talking to yourself but some of us are reading  :D.  I have had the deck and book for EONS and never done anything with it.  If I can ever get my Wizard's Tarot study completed (doing the course work in its book  :)) I will seriously consider jumping in on this as I have always been interested in pursuing it.  Thank you for starting this group.

[PathWalker]

Oh I don't MIND talking to myself LOL  :)

 

Anyway - here for info is the way I've divided the majors to consider a different slant on the seasonal studies - admittedly after I'd done most of it first the 'book way'.

 

For my second trip around the deck and the year:

 

Spring - all the Swords and Arthur IV, White Hart VI, Gawain VIII, Sun XIX and Flowering of Logres XXI.

 

Summer - all the Spears and Guinevere III, Sovereignty XI and Moon XVIII

 

Autumn - all the Grails and Merlin I, Taliesin V, Grail Hermit IX, Round Table X, Wounded King XII, Star XVII and Sleeping Lord XX.

 

Winter - all the Stones and Seeker I (this card goes into every season) Lady of the Lake II, Prydwen VII, Washer at the Ford XIII, Green knight XV and Spiral Tower XVI.

 

This choice was made literally by my non-taroty OH, based on how the cards looked to him. I said there didn't have to be even numbers in each group, just how they struck him - that way I got a fresh take on the pack.

I'm putting this here not for people to follow, but to invite you to think about how you might like to "mix it up" and study the cards in a different order. You will get different insights when you place cards side-by-side that you hadn't considered before, so do try it if the idea appeals and see what you get, and then maybe write about how you find it?

 

[Cobweb]

Just thought I would chime in to say that you are definitely not talking to yourself, PathWalker.  I'm currently working my way through the introductory lessions in the coursebook.  What a lovely and inspiring deck this is!

[Shanachie05]

I am so happy to see this here.  I think this is the Arthurian deck I have, the Hallowquest, although I am not sure I have the book or not.  Have to check for it. 

I am just pulling out all of my tarot and oracle decks and books again after a long hiatus. 

Thank you for posting these!

[PathWalker]

Nice to 'meet' you Shanachie05 - did you have fun sorting your decks? If you'd like to join in these discussions that would be great!

PathWalker

[PathWalker]

The Grail Seeker's Companion

by John Matthews & Marian Green

Published 1986 ( no ISBN)

 

Although perhaps seeming relevant only to the Grail suit of the Arthurian Tarot, I hope (once I've read it) to find the aspect of seeking and journeying useful for all the quests. Found today in Glastonbury

[PathWalker]

For considering your ancestors, and your spiritual heritage:

"Honouring your Ancestors - a guide to ancestral veneration" by Mallorie Vaudoise  BN 978-0-7387-6100-8  Llewellyn.

[legendaryelement]

I have the newest version (green box) of this set on order, along with used copies of the older books.

[PathWalker]

Hello legendaryelement 

Join in any time that suits you.

[PathWalker]

I have always had difficulty with the notion of the meditations in this course. Perhaps because I don't have someone to read them to me slowly, but I get lost before I get to the end, forget what I'm supposed to be doing, or simply don't even begin!

So now I'm trying a different approach. I take the card, or the first card if it's a multiple card journey, and read the relevant meditation through several times before bed. I prop the card up on the bedside table, and as I'm laying down ready to sleep I think about how it might go. Like a story I tell myself in my head, and even perhaps in my dream?

Then the next day I sit with my blank book and write it out like a short story, using the things I remember thinking about or dreaming about, and creative writing, to move through the card.

 

This may not be at all what was envisioned by Caitlin & John, and I may miss certain insights, but at least I'm making progress that I can appreciate.  I'm beginning to accept that if writing is something I enjoy - and no-one else is ever going to read it - then I should use that medium rather than grinding to a halt.

 

So I encourage everyone to try different things to see what you're most comfortable with. Draw a storyboard? Record your voice mediation? Write a story? use a 3-D medium to create a symbol of importance? Whatever works for you.

 

Keep going, keep enjoying the journey

PathWalker

[PathWalker]

I have added all the lessons for the Stone suit.

If you're following this course (at any time) do feel free to add to any of the threads, or create the threads for other suits which aren't started yet, and I will happily join in and we can encourage each other on the journey.

 

Blessings

PathWalker - January 2020

[PathWalker]

Another book recommendation for anyone who might have done the Hallowquest study and still be wondering what to do next . . .

 

"Outlook on our Inner Western Way"

William G Gray

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0877284938
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0877284932

(may be available in other formats with other ISBNS, I don't now, this is the paperback I have)

[PathWalker]

Just to let folks know that there is a new reprint of the Arthurian deck and book available, after the green box version which went out of print last year.

 

Here is the relevant page on the Hallowquest website   http://www.hallowquest.org.uk/product.php?id=204&pageid=5167

 

The card size and book format remain the same, but the box, book and deck backs have changed from green to purple. Apart from that the set remains the same (as far as I can tell so far).

 

The book does contain all of the Hallowqyest course, so if you were wanting to begin you would not need any other book, and in line with the slight changes made in the green set there is a little more emphasis on the later Christian versions of the legends. If your interest is in the later Grail Quest in it's Christian form, this is now perhaps an easier/friendlier starting place.

 

If like me you're more interested in the pre-Christian  journey of the land and it's sacred Hallows you can just let those sentences slide by, and don't seek out and read all the later Christianized versions, just sink into the earlier versions shown us in the cards and let them speak to you 

 

I found my copy in Labyrinth Books in Glastonbury, so I presume, at least in the UK, that your usual tarot provider might have them, or you can order direct from the website.

 

Blessings to all

PathWalker