The Arthurian Book of Days

by Caitlín Matthews, John Matthews

Provides brief selections from the story of King Arthur for each day of the year, and includes a chronological listing of all of the events of the Arthurian cycle

Genres: Arthurian, Mythology, Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Literature, Folklore

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Caitlín Matthews is a writer, singer and teacher whose ground-breaking work has introduced many to the riches of our western spiritual heritage.

She is acknowledged as a world authority on Celtic Wisdom, the Western Mysteries and the ancestral traditions of Britain and Europe. She is the author of over 50 books including Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom, a study of Divine Feminine in Gnostic, Jewish and Christian thought and King Arthur’s Raid on the Underworld, a new translation and study of the Welsh poet Taliesin’s extraordinary poem, itself a major cross-roads of British mythology.

Caitlín was trained in the esoteric mystery traditions through the schools founded by Dion Fortune, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and Gareth Knight. Her shamanic vocation emerged early in her ability to sing between the worlds and to embody spirits. She has worked in many of the western traditions with companions upon the path including R.J.Stewart. Like him, she teaches the many strands of the ancestral European traditions. She specializes in teaching traditional European spirit-consultation oracles where the diviner draws directly upon the spirits of nature for answers and in the use of the voice to sound the unseen. Caitlín has been instrumental in revealing the ancestral heritage of the Western traditions through practical exploration of the mysteries as well as through scholarly research. Her teachings are couched in a firm historical and linguistic framework, with respect to the original context of the teachings, but never loses sight of the living traditions of these teachings which can be explored through direct application to their spiritual sources.

Trained as an actress, Caitlín is in demand as a storyteller and singer. She appears frequently on international radio and television, and was the song-writer and Pictish language originator for the Jerry Bruckheimer film King Arthur. With John Matthews, her partner, who was historical consultant on the film, she shared in the 2004 BAFTA award given to Film Education for the best educational CD Rom: this project introduced school-children to the life and times of King Arthur. She and John are both concerned with the oral nature of storytelling and its ability to communicate the myth at a much deeper level than of the commercial booktrade. This is apparent in their forthcoming project, The Story Box. For Caitlín, her books are merely the tip of a much bigger oral iceberg which is her teaching.

With her partner, John Matthews, and with Felicity Wombwell , she is co-founder of The Foundation for Inspirational and Oracular Studies, which is dedicated to the sacred arts that are not written down. Their FíOS shamanic training programme teaches students the healing arts as well as hosting masterclasses with exemplars of living sacred traditions. Caitlín has a shamanic practice in Oxford dedicated to addressing soul sickness and ancestral fragmentation, as well as helping clients find vocational and spiritual direction. Her soul-singing and embodiment uniquely bring the ancient healing traditions to everyday life.

Caitlín’s other books include Singing the Soul Back Home, Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, The Psychic Protection Handbook, and Celtic Devotional. She is co-author, with John Matthews, of the Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom and Encyclopaedia of Celtic Myth and Legend. Her books have been translated into more than nineteen languages from Brazil to Japan.

The author lives in Oxford with her husband and son in a kind of book-cave or library, whichever you will. They share their home with a white cat and a black cat.

Reviews

[Melisende]

Note: a final read before passing the torch onto the next reader

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the concept behind this book, but the execution fell flat.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully done book retelling the Arthurian legends. The tales are broken into short segments and spaced out throughout the calendar year. They can be read by day or following the glossary in the back read in an order that completes the stories all at once. The pictures in this book are gorgeous as are the pages themselves. Anyone fond of the tales of King Arthur and his knights will love this book.

[Alex Sarll]

I do enjoy a book with an entry for each day of the year, but it's a format which suits some material (an anthology of diarists; the weather) much better than others. And with the Matter of Britain, while some stories are tied to particular days (the sword in the stone, the Green Knight), others must be dotted around any old how, frequently broken up in such a way as to completely lose any sense of epic sweep or sometimes even of coherence. So despite having begun this in England's hour of need, with the whole country imprisoned in Dolorous Garde, when I should have been most susceptible, mainly I was left with a sense of one damn thing after another to no very great end. There's lots of the, shall we politely say, non-core material – Arthur winning a parrot in a tournament, and then going incognito as the Parrot Knight to fight the monstrous Fish Knight, for instance. Sometimes it featured stuff which rang no bells whatsoever - Titurel, the Grail knight who sounds like he should be from Carry On Up The Round Table; Loholt, Arthur's less troublesome bastard - but a lot of the time it feels like a bunch of knights just wandering around getting into scrapes, the choppiness of it all subtracting the grandeur you get from a unified telling like (still my favourite, because I am old) TH White. There are moments when the "It's all true, or ought to be, and more and better besides" grandeur shines through – Merlin, as Arthur weds Guinevere, knowing from the start just how it will end. But more often, even when it does work, it does so bathetically, as with Rigomer's defences including "horned dogs", which just feels like ye olde way of saying horndogs, or else incredibly cute. And speaking of horndogs, yes, Gawain reliably comes across like an escapee from What We Do In The Shadows, so at least that much feels right (see also Kay being a bumptious prick - I feel as if he's one of those very rare occasions like Spaced or Stardust where there might actually be a use for Ricky Gervais). Often I'd find my mind wandering into possible variations: it doesn't necessarily follow, given this cycle is all about multiplying entities beyond necessity, but dramatically, given both are fathered by demons, it would make perfect sense were Merlin and the Questing Beast half-brothers, the latter the farcical parallel to the fool's errand on which the former sends another king. And as for Arthur's rule that, at feasts, nobody can eat until a marvel has been seen? First of all, terrible planning, because given it frequently kicks off a quest, who wants to start a quest on an empty stomach? But also, do you reckon after a year or two of this, a few of the cannier knights have minor marvels ready to go if things get desperate - a dog that says 'sausages', or a rudely shaped vegetable?

[Cheryl Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find that I reach for this book and other Arthurian texts more during the winter, which must be some sort of *Arthur Season* for me

This book is simply beautiful with its medieval-inspired page formatting and the many gorgeous illustrations of the various Arthurian stories.

The book-of-days approach will be best appreciated by people familiar with the Arthurian legends in a general way, taking the story elements a day at a time, or using the helpful cross references to follow a complete storyline.

I highly recommend this lovely book to those interested in Arthurian legend and medieval (and medieval-inspired) art.

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave it me for a birthday or Christmas. It has gorgeous illustrations from medieval manuscripts, and a short excerpt from an Arthurian tale for each day of the year. The tales thus weave in and out of each other. One unusual feature is that they haven't just relied on Malory's Arthur stories, but include lesser-known ones from both British and Continental story cycles. I can't account for the spell the Arthurian legends have always thrown over me, but I love the strange colourful haunting mix of Celtic magic and medieval life

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lovely and dual usage, as both a beautifully illustrated book of days and an excellent beginner's guide to the primary Arthurian legends. It's easily accessible for neophytes who want to grasp the main legends before moving onward to more daunting texts, such as Malory. It's also a practical and attractive tool for daily utilization, each day corresponding to a specific Arthurian episode in the mythos. Highly recommended.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mid-July update: I am faithfully reading this nearly every day, having begun Jan. 1, 2022. And when I don't, I quickly catch up.. plus I admit I also HAVE to read ahead sometimes.

This is a TREASURE!!! Stories of knights of the Roundtable that I've never ever heard (not that I am all that knowledgeable to begin with), and best of all, powerful stimulus for ancestral awakenings and inspiration. Thank you FOREVER, John and Caitlín, for all you have given us, including this gorgeous wellspring of story and magic.

Final Update:
Oh how I hated to say goodbye on the afternoon of Dec. 31 (yesterday). What an absolutely mesmerizing daily practice this ended up being. I know that the Matthews wrote this decades ago, but of course that's nothing in comparison to centuries of lore and stories. And for me, it was a revelation -- filled with tales I'd never heard, names I'd never read, and imagination illuminated day in and day out for 12 full months of history and Mystery.

Again, my deepest gratitude to John and Caitlín for their diligence and scholarship. It has been a beautiful, sometimes harrowing, always magical journey. A gift of a lifetime.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read, heavily illustrated with medieval and post-medieval renderings of the stories. Well worth a look if you like books of days, or simply want an abbreviated tour through the Arthurian legends.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book, one that is an excellent item for the permanent collection. One of the best presentations of the Arthur cycle with amazing illustrations.

[Pabarrett]

The Arthurian book of Days by Matthews (1990)