Tarot Journalling Methods?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Apr 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Macavity	29 Apr 2003
Assuming you DO... Rather than WHAT do you journal, what METHOD or media do you use for this? Among things that have occured to me or I have used with VARYING success have been: "Exercise" books, loose leaf A4 ring binder, Filofax (sic!), Home Computer, "Index" cards, the proverbial back-of-envelope... Would the really hip Taroist use a Palmtop these days? - Now there's a thought! ;) Descriptions of personal methods and (especially) novel ideas welcome! :D Macavity

Mimers	29 Apr 2003
A composition notebook. You know one of those kind with the 'marbled' covers that say Name, School and Grade on the front. I have one just for readings and one for studies. They are invaluable. I love leafing through my journals and seeing the stuff I have written. Mimers

allibee	29 Apr 2003
Like you Macavity, I'm an 'anything and everything' person .... and yes, sometimes there is only an unused piece of toilet roll to use :O) - hey, it's where I do my best thinking! - anyway, a while back I started making my own book, covers and all, out of wood. I'm probably more inclined to do this than some as this was part of my Art College work .... but it's Sooooooo satisfying. Ultra thin ply from modelling shops - not much thicker than stiff card - with a thicker ply for the covers, hinged with brass and Gold and Copper leaf on the front cover. The smell is woooooonderful!!!!!! In one of the books I made, I actually painted onto the pages, but in this one I print onto textured paper from my printer, and add ephemera here and there. Allison

Strange2	29 Apr 2003
For my Tarot journal I currently use a flexible cover 3-ring binder with loose leaf paper. I have a page (or more as needed) for each card, and tab dividers for each suit and the majors. I also use those clear vinyl holders designed to store CD's or disks, to hold my personal reading card(s) for the day. That way I can carry those cards with me to work, the library, etc., and view/refer to them throughout the day. I find this helps to reflect on the cards, and I then can jot down thoughts and insights on the specific card pages in the journal.

lunalafey	29 Apr 2003
notebook, binder, paper....... sometimes the notebook is not handy, I know all about the envelope! What I have is a three ring binder where I keep dreams and tarot writings. I have half a dozen spiral notebooks around that get written in for just about everything, they get looked through, dreams and tarot ripped out, cut clean and put into the 3-ring. I have a pocket folder in the binder too for the envelopes.

Umbrae	29 Apr 2003
For many years I used spiral backed notebooks of varying sizes…everything from steno to notebook size. I still have most of them. I actually prefer the steno size, they can fit darn near any place, they’re inexpensive…I can write germs in them than later I can enter into the computer…

Kiama	29 Apr 2003
I use a pretty, hard back notebook, which is covered in a beige woven material, giving it that 'beachwashed look'... Y'see, I'm useless at journalling anything, so I have to have a notebook I WANT to write in! The prettier, the better! Kiama

azuremariposa	29 Apr 2003
for myself, two things...a spiral notebook (smallish) and my computer... in the notebook i keep spreads, readings (but only the layout), and any other little notes i come across along the way... on the computer i keep all my readings (yes, all of them! lol), i also have a "tarot" section on my weblog (read: online diary type thingy) which occasionally gets posts...daily readings and such, if i feel like posting them... now, you may ask why the card layout in the notebook, but the reading in the comp? well, i don't write down the cards in my readings b/c if i go back to review, i go to the notebook and make notes from there...i don't write out my readings for myself, but keep the layouts in the notebook, this way i see how the meanings change over time... it may be an odd system, but it's what works for me... oh, and back in the days of first learning i kept "composition" notebooks...i'm still rather fond of those marbled beauties, actually...:D many blessings... ~azure

Myriantha	29 Apr 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Macavity Would the really hip Taroist use a Palmtop these days? Well, uh ... *cough*... when I'm away from my house & inspiration strikes, I pull out my Palm & its keyboard. I type everything in, hotsync it into Word when I get home, then print it out & put it in my Tarot Loose-Leaf Notebook Of Doom (TM). I am not, however, someone who could be considered "hip" by any definition of the word. Techno-geek, perhaps. (Maybe I shouldn't mention that I have an ebook of Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot residing on my Palm ... that might be enough to push me over into the Techno-dork category.) As for how I store Tarot information: --Readings go in my diary, although they may also go into the TLLNOD if especially significant or insightful or whatever. -- The TLLNOD (a 4" binder with the extra-heavy-duty D-rings, exploding at the seams) houses everything else: layouts, quotes, tables of correspondence, timeline of Tarot history, bibliographic information on decks, and heaven knows what-all.

divinerguy	29 Apr 2003
Like Kiama, I also use a hardback notebook. My notes are broken down by each tarot card. The categories are the card's application to the community and to the individual, and the third category are correspondences. I write my notes in pencil. The book is for my use only, and I consider it to be my own private database.

WolfSpirit	29 Apr 2003
I have some sort of diary, that has my daily spreads, other spreads, my interpretations of those and other thoughts that keep me occupied at the time. At the moment I use a notebook with hard covers covered in musical notes - so maybe it was not really meant for tarot ;) any notebook I find pretty will do for diary, I also bought some with celtic knots that I just happened to find somewhere. And as a self-made reference book I use a binder with loose pages, I could never get that organized in a notebook. So now and then I copy the important information from the diary to the binder. I still like to use handwritten notes for this kind of stuff, it looks more appealing to me, especially if there is things added with arrows referring to a passage, little drawings etc.

Macavity	29 Apr 2003
Thank you - A wonderful spread of ideas and great new ones to ponder :) Yup, size matters (NO snikkering please) I mean convenience for work location! As indeed does aesthetic (ANY?) incentive to pursue this task - In my case anyway. I note spiral pads and marbleized books feature HERE (Yay) as indeed in stationers, where newer ideas may have fallen by the wayside? Ah, I reached a compromise on the "permanence" thing - Thanks to graphite pencil and my trusty eraser! A legacy of grade school physics experiments? :D I like the DIY/bricolage ideas - esp. Allibee's! Having not quite found my solution, it's food for thought - Make/modify/cannibalise your own journal into life! For the moment, I use a hybrid of rough notes moved to computer, then printed out again. As a (G+++) Geek, I can't complain about Palm computers, but have resisted so far! (No money) But I DO note these show interesting possibilites with hierarchical note systems and (card) pictures, which must present Taroists with possibilities. Not to mention tarot "games" and (more useful?) card of the day applications etc. }) Similarly, I find my PC useful - at last? For a terminal Nerd (Moi?), one notes MANY Tarot-ish things require repeating the same action 78+ TIMES! Things to be done with "Word" or HTML templates? For my own two cents worth, I do (re)commend learning XML (and XSLT). I have found useful solutions for producing "customised" (HTML format) journalling paper with Tarot attributes (Hebrew Letters, Runes, I-Ching, Card pic etc.) which should present quick minds HERE with... uhm, their own idea. Proved you CAN teach an old dog (computing feline?) new tricks anyway. And, if you can get college/school to teach you such things... so much the better! ;) Macavity

The Tarot Journalling Methods? thread was originally posted on 29 Apr 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.