I have given up journaling altogether, you?

Has anyone else out there never once referred to the notes they so diligently made regarding hundreds of readings, and finally reached a point where they realized there was little or no point at all in continuing with the Tarot journaling? I figure it's got to happen fairly often, I just want to get a better idea of how commonly or not this happens.

I never kept a journal, to be honest. Sometimes I wrote my cards down and a date and what deck, but never got back to them so I don't do that anymore, either.

Sometimes there will be a practice here that someone will say is absolutely important because it's helped them and then it catches on as though it's gospel, but really isn't vital to everyone's Tarot practice as it turns out. I think this is one of them. What I say is to do it if it's something you find helpful but don't bother if it's not. Just do whatever works best for you.

I journalled when I first started, and wrote up each card in the deck but having drilled in the basics, I more or less stopped doing that. I still do it for an individual deck if I am studying that deck intensively and want to thoroughly understand it; it's a very rewarding thing to do.

These days if I get a lightbulb moment with a card I do note it in my journal (computer based but not on-line) but it's not a specific tarot journal - it's my everything journal and has lots of tabs - one for tarot, one for rowing, another for Carbs/Insulin stuff and of course there's the page for the current day's stuff. But the tarot lightbulb tab is useful and I tend to refer to that tab because it's quick and easy, and I don't need to search old journals.

I do have a growing Tarot de Marseilles journal because I am working with that system almost exclusively now, and it is so interesting (for me) to learn about a card's history and iconography. But I'm doing it for fun and it doesn't feel like a chore at all; it's a pleasure. I am having fun inserting research material and images, and whether or not I refer to it much in the future I'm having a great time doing it

I did keep a journal because I needed to. I'm one of those people that remembers things only after I write them down. I did refer to if often when I was learning.

Once I had that light bulb moment and everything clicked, I no longer needed it. It had served its purpose. I do still have it but I don't refer to it anymore.

The only time that I returned to journaling again was when I did the 78 week study for Vargo's Gothic, because I wanted to see in that deck what the artist saw. It was helpful for that.

Learning tarot is so personal that the journey is different for everyone. I do suggest it to my students, because I teach intuitively and I feel it is a vital part of that process.

I do write, but more of a diary-ish journal, although my daily cards and readings are mentioned. I don't do it to go back to, though, I just like to sit at odd times or at the end of the day and think about things. Especially concerning daily cards, writing down how if at all they "manifested" is an excellent way of observing your life

There is a significant difference between keeping a journal and writing notes about tarot though. A journal I see is a life-long committment but something you can meander a bit in, it is more focused on You and your life and thoughts and dreams and the tarot is just a small part of it all.
Tarot notes on the other hand are made to be some kind of reference, an encyclopedia and the thing about those is that they are already made. Many times over, with better editing.
Better then to take the companion book to your deck and write your own notes in the margins, under-score etc.
But they are 2 very different things, all they have in common is that they both use pen on paper.
I did the encyklopedia thing my first month when I just got a deck, I still have it. But it ain't no journal.
My journal is in a huge collection of wildly diverse notebooks, spanning almost 30 years and here and there I mention tarot.

I've only just started to journal. The main reason is that I've been reading for friends a lot lately, who occasionally refer back to a certain reading, and I'm lousy at remembering all the details all the time, so I keep it not to seem too ignorant I don't keep other types, eg. on specific cards -- tried it and it didn't work, just made the clutter worse on my desk.

Whether or not I will grow tired and drop it in time, I haven't a clue. I do have three other off-line journals that I've been keeping for 10+ years, so perhaps it's just something I do naturally.

I only started keeping a tarot (& divination, as I use other sorts as well) journal last October. Since I managed to go 40 years without keeping one, I assume that it isn't necessary. I have been enjoying using it and as a daily discipline, I find it helpful. But, who knows eh?

I don't really think of it as journalling to be honest, I think of it as the tarot book I want and which hasn't been written yet so I do it myself and that can involve a mixture of divinatory meanings and also background stuff (astrology, Wheel of the year stuff.)

I have a Thoth notebook which is background stuff, symbolism, my own thoughts, relevant bits from Crowley biographies, astrology etc

I have an Etteilla notebook which is translations

I have a Greenwood notebook which is Wheel of the Year associations and other pre-celtic lore and my own thoughts

I have a navigators of the Mystic SEA notebook which is me having waded through all the overwhelming, oceanic companion book info and annotated it into bite-sized pieces.

I have another notebook which is just all the spreads I have collected

I have a notebook which is only Lenormand translations/ my own thoughts/ meanings I have picked up

I have another notebook which is just numerology and all pip/1-22 associations

For all other stuff, sample spreads/readings etc, I think blogging is the way forward

Ah, yes, so we have a multitude of approaches on this topic I see. And as I thought, not uncommon to walk away from 'journalling' either. Thanks for your replies!