Hallowquest Study Group anyone?

merissa_88

PathWalker said:
Hiya, just in from a great walk in autumnal woods :) Are you in the same seasons as here in UK?

Anyway, yes the book "The Arthurian Tarot Course" has a set of weekly lessons, that may take a year - but are taking me much longer LOL
Pathwalker :)

Yes, I'm in Florida. Fall means it stops being really hot and humid. Autumnal woods sound beautiful. I'll try to do the 5 lessons before the winter solstice. Thanks for your help. Merissa
 

Shade

I have been thinking about starting the Hallowquest either on Samhain or Yule this year but I do have a question about the books for the journey. There seem to be several incarnations of the coursebook with different material. I have a few nooks by the Matthews on the topic of Arthurian lore but not involving the tarot:

The Arthurian Quest: Living the Legends of Camelot
Arthur and the Sovereignty of Britain: King and Goddess in the Mabinogion
Ladies of the Lake

If I want to work with the tarot course now.... which books (and editions) would be the best to acquire?
 

PathWalker

Hi Shade, nice to meet you :)

The book we're all working from is called
The Arthurian Tarot Course, by Caitlin Matthews, I think you are in USA, so it's avaliable from here -

http://www.amazon.com/Arthurian-Tar...2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286388669&sr=8-2-spell

It has set lessons to carry you through a year's study, for use the the Arthurian Tarot deck by John and Caitlin.

Let me know if that didn't make sense :)

Blessings
Pathwalker
 

Aerin

The Hallowquest (1997) book is a good one I found, and the one I typed up the lessons from for the study group. It is big and blue and sometimes comes up quite cheaply, don't believe all you read on amazon marketplace etc etc etc http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hallowquest-Arthurian-Course-journey-through/dp/0722534485

As I typed the first few lessons up - I think pretty much verbatim (what energy! ;)) - you can have a look via the study group index before plunging in.

This was the original post somewhere in the bowels of the thread... as you will see it incorporates the Arthurian Tarot Course book with some additional material.

On .com this looks like the same book with an update http://www.amazon.com/Hallowquest-Arthurian-Course-Journey-Through/dp/0722534485/


Aerin said:
faunababy, the old version has a lot of material in it which is now in the handbook which goes in the deck (allegedly, I'm going from the introduction here). Also, the Arthurian Tarot Course was originally a separate book, and is now in the Hallowquest (1997) book along with some stuff from the old Hallowquest book incorporated in the lessons. I can write some summaries of the lessons.

The Quest for the Spear starts on 21st June and there are 5 lessons to complete before we start, beginning with Lesson One: Meditation and Diary Keeping. That's why I suggested starting now-ish. The main thing we all need is a diary.

Do we just start in here or do we ask someone nicely for a Special Board??? Anyone know?

Aerin
 

Shade

Thanks all! Will look into getting those books and following along. Typing it all in eh? My my that must have been a labor of love.
 

Aerin

Shade said:
Thanks all! Will look into getting those books and following along. Typing it all in eh? My my that must have been a labor of love.

Tell me about it :D

That's why I had to stop doing it, I didn't have the time any more.
 

PathWalker

Ah, thanks for the info about the 1997 version of the Hallowquest book Aerin - I didn't know that! I have the earlier [1990] version, and of course it's not in there, not having been written 'til later. I didn't relaise there was an updated version. Brilliant. So now either book will be good :)
 

Faolainn Storm

Shade said:
If I want to work with the tarot course now.... which books (and editions) would be the best to acquire?
There are five books:

  • The Arthurian Tarot: A Hallowquest Handbook - the smallish book that comes with the original set of cards (Aquarian, 1990; Thorsons, 1995; Element, 2002)
  • LWB - Comes with the new (white borders) edition of the deck. Less information, but also has new questions related to the cards. (Connections, 2007)
  • Hallowquest: Tarot Magic and the Arthurian Mysteries - The first companion book to the deck. (Aquarian, 1990)
  • The Arthurian Tarot Course: A Quest for All Seasons - The course work. (Aquarian, 1993)
  • Hallowquest: the Arthurian Tarot Course - the big blue book that combines most of the information from the two books above. (Thorsons, 1997)

Hallowquest: the Arthurian Tarot Course doesn't have any new information. What it contains is all of the text of the The Arthurian Tarot Course: a Quest for All Seasons and about 2/3 of the information from Hallowquest: Tarot Magic and the Arthurian Mysteries. However I would still recommend Hallowquest: the Arthurian Tarot Course if you can get a copy.

I have all the books (and all variations of the deck :D), so just ask if you want any more specific information about them.

FS
 

Aerin

Thanks FS, I remember it was complicated!

I was interest that the 1998 book on amazon claimed to an "updated" version of the 1997 book. Who knows what that means... I suspect they are pretty much the same? I bought my copy while still in print.

I have 3 versions of the deck, well they are all the same deck but they come with different Stuff. The most recent version (white borders) has a couple of new spreads and I like the LWB structure very much. The oldest has the small red handbook and the black borders. The middle one has the black borders and a journal.
 

Shade

Faolainn Storm said:
There are five books:

Thank you so much for that explanation! Now the choices seem much less murky.

I do have a general question for all people who are familiar with these decks. The Matthews have a number of decks to their credit but the Arthurian seems to have the most material written about it. Is the Arthurian their Magnum Opus? Do the other decks by the Matthews rate as highly with people? I've read reviews of the decks but would love to hear the thoughts of people who have gone deeper with the decks.