Caitlin Matthews | Keeping The Hermit's Lantern Shining at Hawkwood

Hawkwood College

This year John and I celebrate our 28^th annual December gathering at Hawkwood College, which has become our midwinter mystery school, open to anyone who wishes to deepen their experience. Hawkwood College is a gracious Cotswold house in the limestone hills above Stroud in Gloucestershire. It has been an adult college since 1948. With its own grounds, mature trees, and a spring, it has a wonderful atmosphere, with comfortable rooms and nourishing food. It is our second home and the place of gathering for many of our friends and students.

Tarot Landscapes | Stroud 13-15 December 2013

Join three international tarot creators this solstice as Caitlín & John Matthews and Mark Ryan explore the magical landscapes of the tarot.

With new spreads and deep ways of interacting with tarot, we will conclude our divinatory adventures through the tarot landscape with a group ritual The Paths of the Wildwood. Bring at least one tarot! This course is held in a beautiful 19th century Cotswold house, once the home of the Capel family and now a Steiner College: set in its own gracious grounds, with ancient trees and a sacred spring, Hawkwood has been the home of the Matthews’ annual open mystery school gatherings since 1985.

We are joined by special guest, Mark Ryan, who returns home to UK to join for this once in a lifetime magical weekend.

John Matthews | The Wildwood Rides Again!

Wildwood Rides Again - the Second Edition.

When you're creating or working on a tarot, many things beyond your control can effect the end result. In the case of The Wildwood Tarot not only were we re-crafting an earlier version ( The Greenwood Tarot) but we faced limitations of extent in the text. Also we simply were often so excited, so carried away with the sheer blaze  of creation, that we actually forgot about the card back ! We had discussed this with our artist Will Worthington and decided that a tree motif would be a part of it... but somehow, when It came to handing  in the  finished deck, we forgot.  So, when it came around to the second edition - thanks to all those who took the new version of an old favourite to their hearts - we turned our thoughts to completing two omissions.

Wildwood Tarot | New Printing Arrives in the Wildshop!

We are very pleased to announce that we have copies of the newly printed Wildwood Tarot for sale via The Wildshop!

This printing has the revised card-back detail and additional wording in the accompanying book as per our earlier blog posting here.

And don't forget, that when you order direct from the Wildwood Tarot creators, you will receive a postcard signed by Mark Ryan, John Matthews and Will Worthington!

John Matthews | The Shadow of Ecstasy | 5 Vessels

More than one Tarotist has commented on the unusual interpretation of the Five of Vessels (or Cups as they would be in a traditional tarot) which diverges from the general interpretation of this card in classic tarot. 

In fact, the reason for this springs from a desire to follow the journey of the Wanderer (The Fool) through the entire deck, and to acknowledge the experiences that he/she (our Wildwood Fool is non-gender specific) encounters along the way. If we explore the ‘story’ underlying the suit of Vessels we see how this works.