Hallowquest Lesson Eight - The White Hart

This week's lesson has no questions, but a meditation with tasks, and then a creative reading with 10 - 15 cards.

The White Hart meditation

I stood looking back at the Sword Three bridge, then I turned and walked along the path. I heard bird song, and realised one of the things I'm to carry in my bag on my quest is a set of Ogham staves (thank you).
I walk deep into the wood, until I reach the empty clearing. I put down my stick, bag and short dagger, and wait empty-handed. This is a thing to waited for respectfully, not commanded.
The White Hart steps into my view.
He starts some distance away, but he walks towards me. He is taller than I am, real and alive. He has a scent, like a horse would do if you got up close to it. He stands so that he can touch my hair with his nose, and I could reach and touch him, but I don't.
I try to ask him how he can be our symbol, our archetype for love, quest, hunt. He talks about being what we can understand with out eyes. Being special, desirable, not tame, not coming to command. To us he is a symbol, to himself he is what he is. Alive, powerful, changing at his own will, not ours. Appearing when he chooses, going as he wills., but being such that we could follow him if we wanted to. He is a lord in his domain. I can't really explain it very well, but I understood that to wish to see him, to follow him, to stand close to him, these were things to seek in a right spirit, not casually obtained or given.

I saw myself and my beloved there in the clearing, and wished to have always in my heart the balm that he might need, the knowledge and willingness to be able to help. To keep only him in my heart.

I thought to ask the White Hart for a gift or tool, and instantly it was in my hand, a gold link from from the chain he wears. Precious, and yet also a workman's tool, desirable because it is gold, and yet not truly useful unless it is joined to all the other links to create a chain.
It reminds me of my preciousness, as one unique person, and yet also that I am one link in the chain and my value is in the continuity of that chain.
(Direct correlation to my cards for the day - the woven cord in Taleisin).
The link is to live in the bag.
He also came and breathed on me - "Be filled with the breath of the woods, of this enchanted place. Know that this place is only a breath away." I felt this was a gift for me, for times when I might feel cut off, despairing or lonely.

So, with deep breathes, I returned.

Lesson 8 reading.

I decided to do a 12 card reading.
You are asked to use Sword 2, 3, 10, Maiden and White Hart. I shuffled the remainder of the pack and drew the next 7 cards to add. The 12 were then shuffled and laid out in a circle, numbered like a clock face.
(I didn't really understand their instructions, so just going with and see what happens!)

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1 - Sword Queen
2 - Sword Three
3 - Sword Maiden
4 - Grail Hallow
5 - Sword Ten
6 - Grail Maiden
7 - Grail Knight
8 - White Hart
9 - Sword Two
10 - Spear Seven
11 - Spear Five
12 - Stone Two


So, is this a journey? A lesson?

The Sword Queen holds a sword, but it is not the same sword as some other cards. This is her sword? A representative sword? She is cleaning/polishing this sword. Perhaps she teaches me care of the sword, or talks about her life-path now that she is dedicated to the Sword, so that I should know what I am taking on. Her robe is the same sunshine yellow as the cord on my wrist.
Following her lesson to me I travel to the bridge at Sword Three, and allow some aspect of my former way to pass from me. Shall I come here many times I wonder?
The Sword Maiden stitches still, with a smile for me and the new things in my bag. She directs me to remember the ultimate symbol (understood by many) of the quest - the Grail Hallow. "Don't be slow or afraid to ask for sustenacne along the way" she tells me.
So with the vision of the Grail Hallow strong in my mind, I take the path to the Castle of the Sword.
There I study the maps on the table, and by laying the golden link on the largest map, I am enabled to see the shining path that leads me to the Grail Maiden.
She welcomes me, and offers me a drink from the cup she keeps by the stream. Refreshed, I prepare to travel on.
Part of the way, the Grail Knight travels with me. He has such a clear vision of the Grail, it seems to be forever before his inner eye. He 'sings the vision' into being for me with harp and voice and I feel blessed. I thank him, and he smiles and tells me each person has a task and this is his. I walk on.
Suddenly I see the White Hart in a shaft of sunlight, ahead of me among the trees. He gazes at me and then is gone. I know he continues to offer me both strength and desire for the quest. When I reach the place where he stood I whisper my thanks. I don't know my task yet, but I am a link in the chain.
Out of the wood I come to the path of the Two of Swords. This time I take a different direction - for this is the Quest after all, the adventure.
First I reach a stone doorway with a spear standing upright in the centre. I can see beyond it, though the sky is grey and stormy. I could grasp the spear and pass through the doorway with it. Or I could try and squeeze past without knocking it over. But this quiet voice inside my head suggests that this is not the time and palce for me yet, and I turn away.
Further on I reach a monolith with two crossed spears propped up against it. Again I don't touch the spears, but my hand reaches to touch the wonderful stone.
And all is changed...
Winter has swept in, ice and snow surround me. I am cold and unprepared for this journey. Nothing I have learnt yet, or carry with me has readied me for this. Adventure, yes. Foolishness, no. I take my hand away...
The setting sun behind the stone and spears returns, shining over the green fields. I bow and promise to return when I am ready.

With the joy and refreshment of my journey in my heart, I step back through the door.

lesson 8 - task - create a reading

For each of the cards we have used thus far in the Sword lessons, I wrote down a question. Then I drew 5 cards from the remainder of the pack, to answer these questions.

Questions:

1. Sword Ten: What brings me here?
2. Sword Maiden: What hidden quality inside me wants to come forth?
3. Sword Two: What doubt do I have to overcome?
4. Sword Three: What do I leave behind?
5. The White Hart: What is my heart longing for?

Answers:

1. Spear King
2. Stone Zeven
3. Spear Five
4. Sword Eight
5. Grail King

Spear King & Grail King again! (See the Mabon's Gate spread in Lesson 4 where I drew these cards also as the first & last card: 1. What I would like to achieve. Spear King. 11. The key that will unlock the door leading to achievement. Grail King.)

Meaning (?)

1. Sword Ten: What brings me here? Spear King. Always the same: trying to become a better manager of my own energy.
2. Sword Maiden: What hidden quality inside me wants to come forth? Stone Seven. Patience? It seems like something is locked inside a very big wall (which is normally used to keep intruders out), and wants to break out (as the stones are lying down at the outside, something broke out instead of in). Maybe it’s my vulnerability that wants to come out.
3. Sword Two: What doubt do I have to overcome? Spear Five: Both images are very much alike but also opposite. Here both spears are crossed and there is a big stone in the back, blocking the pathway. Whereas the swords are open en the path goes between them. I believe this is about holding back, blocking myself. Banging my head against the wall. Maybe also about fighting, wasting my energy.
4. Sword Three: What do I leave behind? Sword Eight. The feeling of being trapped itself, or being stuck in the swamp.
5. The White Hart: What is my heart longing for? Grail King: Healing. Wholeness: accepting everything that is inside me, accepting who I am.