Making a Tarot journal

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Pipistrelle	12 Oct 2004
Hi, This is quite a mundane question and for that I apologise :( I am currently using three different notebooks to record different aspects of my learning the cards - I have one for readings that I do, one with a page for each card which I'm making notes in as I encounter them, and a little one in which I record my daily card draw and anything that seems to relate to it. I feel like my notes are too scattered to be of use - ie. a "slant" on an interpretation of a card that I got in a reading is separate to the rest of my notes on that card. I want to somehow get my notes together so I can more easily refer back to them and add to them (cause I know there's going to be a lot more adding!) I've seen people mention their journals in this forum, and I was wondering if anyone used a particular method for organising their material? Thanks, Pip

Kissa	12 Oct 2004
Hi bat, there are many older threads about journalling (sp?). By using the search function and entering "journal" as a keyword for "search in (thread) titles only", i got 26 replies. i think not only a few of us use journals, from what i figured out, the majority here does so. i was in the same situation as you, not knowing where to grab it from ;) so i bought two books related to journalling lately: (both by Christina Baldwin) "One to One" and "A Life's Companion". So far, though they are not particularly orientated towards tarot journalling, they've proven extremely interesting and deep. Guess they both are available by amazon. Good luck on your journalling path, fellow writer! :) Kissa

skh	12 Oct 2004
I know it's terribly profane, but I use a Filofax (http://www.filofax.com) I once bought for organizing myself, but never used for that (I don't have appointments and the few phone numbers I need I just remember...). The paper for it is more expensive than for normal binders, but I like the smaller size and that I can reorganize everything. Nobody would think that the organizer I'm carrying around is actually a tarot journal / notebook ;-) Sonja

Pipistrelle	12 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Kissa Hi bat, there are many older threads about journalling (sp?). By using the search function and entering "journal" as a keyword for "search in (thread) titles only", i got 26 replies. Thanks Kissa, I didn't think of doing a search - thereby breaking the first rule of forum use :( I will have a browse through those threads, I'm sure they'll be just what I'm looking for. And thanks for the book recommendations, I'll check them out :) Books, books, lovely books :D Quote: Originally posted by skh I know it's terribly profane, but I use a Filofax ( http://www.filofax.com ) I once bought for organizing myself, but never used for that (I don't have appointments and the few phone numbers I need I just remember...). The paper for it is more expensive than for normal binders, but I like the smaller size and that I can reorganize everything. Nobody would think that the organizer I'm carrying around is actually a tarot journal / notebook ;-) Sonya, you've got me intrigued - would you mind explaining a bit more about what you put in your "tarot filofax" and how you organise it? I have a little filofax but, like you, I'm not really highpowered enough to have any use for it - I think it's got my nephew's birthday in (like I'm going to forget that!) Thanks all! Pip (not at all batty)

Kissa	12 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by skh I know it's terribly profane, but I use a Filofax ( http://www.filofax.com ) Wunderschön! As far as Tarot and journalling goes, i think creativity and originality rule. I like the hidden fantasy and individuality behind the seriousness of the filofax. I bought a gorgeous blank journal with tribal embroidery as a cover. It is so... uninspiring. Or maybe i am too impressed by it. Haven't used it yet. I might very well empty my old filofaz and start journalling again in there. Great!! Kissa

Maelin	12 Oct 2004
At one point, I decided carrying my collection of reference material around with me when I did reading was cumbersome and decidedly not 'Tarot - cool'. I bought a blank unlined Journal with gold edged pages and one of those copper pens. I wnt through and assigned a page to every card in the deck. As I did daily one or three card readings - or even the occassional celtic cross, I looked up the cards in three o four ( !!) reference texts and then wrote my little synpsis on the page, with any notes I thought were relevent. I was building my own LWB, but with the added "cool" of being mine - and something I could pull out in front of questioners, and it showed patterns over time, the cards that kept showing up - the cards that never showed up. Unfortunately, I've now given up trying to be cool and just keep a stack of books around including that one - when I read! Best wishes

skh	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Pipistrelle Sonya, you've got me intrigued - would you mind explaining a bit more about what you put in your "tarot filofax" and how you organise it? [/b] I have a calendar in it (on week on one page, so not much space for writing things down) where I record daily draws without any interpretation (in times when I do daily draws at all), just to be able to see patterns when I look back later, like "weeks without cups" or "major arcana time". I threw out the address book part completely. The rest is ruled note paper with a blank index that currently holds the sections: - keywords for all cards - detailed card descriptions / notes (added to all the time) - detailed readings - non-tarot-related stuff like french-german word lists ;-) (I'm trying to brush up my french again) I also have a transparent plastic envelope in it in which I sometimes keep a few cards for further study when I don't have a deck with me, which admittedly doesn't happen too often. Sonja

Pipistrelle	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by skh I also have a transparent plastic envelope in it in which I sometimes keep a few cards for further study when I don't have a deck with me, which admittedly doesn't happen too often. Sonja It sounds like you've got a really good system there. I think I'm going to go for the loose leaf file option after reading all the archived threads, as I'm just learning and I know I'm going to have SO many notes. But I do like the idea of having a portable version as well and your sections make sense - I'm going to write them down for a rainy day :) It's also appealing to think I could be sitting in the doctor's waiting room studying tarot while everyone thinks I'm just checking my calendar! Thanks for taking the time to explain Sonja - and sorry I spelt your name wrong the first time! Pip

Umbrae	13 Oct 2004
This is an opinion – so don’t get excited! Organize your life, not your journals. One journal for card (meanings). One journal for readings and stuff. Write down everything. Do not use a computer!!! Why not journal with a computer? Because it’s passive. You sit and type. I wish I could show you these in real life…letters my Great Aunt Sue wrote to her mother from 1911 until 1916, when she and her husband Walker lived on the homestead in southern Oregon. These letters are great. They convey emotion. People used to put time and effort into writing letters. They convey a depth of life rarely found in today’s electronic writing. Think about how on the Internet, an innocent message is taken as flaming. People do not write the same at a keyboard, as they do with a pencil. There is a degree of care missing at a keyboard. And then there is the smell of sharpening a pencil. There is something that occurs when writing by hand that does not occur on a keyboard…the words tend to resonate more within… Remember how I said that composing on your computer is passive? The meanings in your journal must be so fixed in your mind that there is no time to think, between the recognizing what the card is and what it symbolizes. That is the difference between memorized ‘key word meanings’ and self-discovered meanings. That moment of thought is what will bring thinking into the process. Thought carries bias. When you have your meanings so fixed, there is no thought. Your Intuitive Muscle takes over. You don’t see a Six of Wands, you see whatever it means to you...and you will begin ‘reading’.

Vilyariel	13 Oct 2004
umbrae is so right! Your Journal -- i like what everyone suggested... i too used to just keep random notebooks where i'd just scribble notes down, etc, and of course, they all got lost :/ At the moment, i am really into bookbinding... so maybe if you got some special paper together, and a nice cover, you could make a completely personalised journal. [yes, this is being very extreme...] if you are binding your own journal, make a small journal for each of the major cards [and attach a copy of the card to some cardboard so that you will always have a card to study from if you happen to misplace your deck] and a book for each of the suits of minors...i know that is a total of 26 [!] books, but that way, you will always have a special designated book [you can even theme it with coloured paper, or symbols on the covers] and gradually build up a library...

skh	13 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Umbrae Organize your life, not your journals. My life somehow organizes itself - I seem to be one of these old-fashioned and boring people who can keep their friends, dates and dentist's appointments in their heads without being overwhelmed (not being a saleswoman or a consultant might help too) - so the filofax turned out to be useless very soon. I also like the quality of the paper refills for it, even if they are ridiculously expensive. Quote: Do not use a computer!!! He, nobody mentioned a computer in this thread before you did ;-) cheers, Sonja

Pipistrelle	14 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by skh He, nobody mentioned a computer in this thread before you did ;-) cheers, Sonja Well, I am using a computer a teeny bit :) I'm scanning each card and printing it out. I'm using the Crystal Tarot which I think is gorgeous and I think having a picture of the card in my journal will help enormously. Other than that though, I'm making "doodley notes" if you get what I mean, in pencil. A bit like mind maps, if anyone's familiar with those - spiralling out from the card. I started with Temperance yesterday (wow, what a beautiful card - meanings AND image) and my notes are all swirly lines and flowing shapes :) Quite enjoyed doing it! Pip

Imagemaker	14 Oct 2004
I love mind maps! Use them everywhere, all the time. Very very useful for reading tarot. It's how I record and interpret spreads in my tarot journal. A very fancy site by the originator, Tony Buzan: mind maps or simple how-to or there are books by other people. (Pardon this interruption, I get all excited when people mention mind maps.)

Pipistrelle	14 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Imagemaker (Pardon this interruption, I get all excited when people mention mind maps.) Oooh, me too! I hadn't actually thought of extending mind maps to my readings/spreads though - don't know why not :( Am definitely going to next one I do :) (Thanks for the links) Pip

Emily	14 Oct 2004
I'd never heard the expression 'Mindmap' before but I've just been reading up on it - Great idea - You could mindmap each card then link them all in. Colours and keywords, or associations with each card. I think I need to give this a try because I've never been able to keep a journal. I write down spreads and daily draws but would love to have a tarot book that was all my own work, ideas and keywords. Thanks for mentioning mindmaps Pip and Imagemaker :)

shelikes2read	17 Oct 2004
I treated myself to day to a small 6-ring binder (whose pages measure 6"x3.5"). I can't remember if I saw this idea here or on the BNU Tarot Class, but someone, somewhere wrote about journaling by writing a different color for each suit or for the majors. That makes it easy to see patterns in which suits/Arcana are appearing for any given time span. I think that there are colors that are associated with each suit and with the majors, but I can't recall what they are. However, what I DO remember is that the Gilded Tarot uses specific colored gems on the suits and on the majors. The Majors are drawn with a black onyx in the gold frame around the picture; Wands have a red gem, Cups have orange, Swords have blue, and Pentacles have green. When I was in the office supply store to purchase the ring binder, I ran across a type of pen called the Uniball Fusion, which comes in assorted 4-packs. And what do you know? The four-pack I found had a red pen, an orange one, a blue one, and a green one. The same colors as the gems on the Gilded deck's suits! They might as well have hung a sign over the 4-pack of pens TELLING me to buy them! :D So for my daily draws, when I write down which cards I've gotten, I'll be sure to color-code the cards accordingly. Some people go one step farther and write their interpretation in one color, and how their day actually WENT in another. But that will mean another trip to the office supply store... I'm thinking that purple and pink would be good colors to use for that purpose, if I decide to emulate that technique. I started the first portion of the journal by assigning one page to each card, which I will begin to assign keywords and definitions to them as I go along. Right now, the daily draw pages are in the same little binder. However, that might change... I might just get a separate ring binder for the daily draws and other observations. I think this is going to be an interesting project. :)

Kissa	17 Oct 2004
damm you skh!! bought a cheapest version of a a5 filofax and filofax accessories (blank colour sheets, post-ti stickers etc.) and feel that it is going to be the very best journal i've ever had. i can even carry it in my handbag (i never travel light...) with my hanson-roberts, which was exactly the purpose... though being a "home mom", i'm really not always home! i'm always driving. we have got a law that forbids using cellphones when you are driving but nothing about journals... kissa

Samantha77	20 Oct 2004
I use a 3 ring binder with tabs in it for different sections. I used the ideas I got from the B&N online class for sections. Notes, daily readings, longer readings, resources, and a section for spreads. I used different smaller notebooks for studying different decks (the class is based on the Rider Waite deck). It's working well for me so far.

noby	20 Oct 2004
I use a three-ring binder for my tarot study. Mostly, it contains printouts of Joan Bunning's wonderful individual card interpretations. As a beginner to tarot, I find I click with her way of seeing life and the cards, and like the way she mixes brief phrases with a section of more flowing prose. I find her interpretations are open-ended enough to keep me seeing the cards in new ways, but solid enough to help me understand the central focus and energy of each card. I go to her page and print out a card description each time I find a card I haven't studied in a spread. I enjoy the ritual of consulting her page, printing out her card interpretations, sticking them in the three-hole puncher, punching the holes, and putting them in the binder. I use dividers distinguishing the four suits and the Major Arcana: blue for Cups, green for Pentacles, red for Wands, yellow for Swords, orange for the Major Arcana. The other thing I use the binder to store is a record of each spread I lay out, from large multi-card spreads to individual "cards of the day." I write down the spread positions and cards which appeared with them as well as the date and name of the deck I used, and then go on to sum up my study and thoughts of each spread as concisely as possible. I do this all by hand with pen on college-ruled notebook paper. I am quite long-winded, and it often takes two pages to write a "summary." This section is unified around a consistent framework: date, numbered card positions listing Position Title: card, deck used, summary. For some spreads which I go in depth with, I take notes from my study materials - Joan Bunning's site and other books - and analyze them, picking out the relevant details, then interpreting the specific notes in the context of my life and the reading. This is often tedious and goes on for pages and pages, and I do this in my general pen-and-ink journal which I use for most of my day-to-day writing. That way, when I use my tarot binder as a reference to look up an old spread and how I saw it, I don't get bogged down with multiple paragraphs assessing alchemical symbolism and metaphor, but rather find a simple summary of how I interpreted the spread.

Pipistrelle	21 Oct 2004
Well I've "started" my journal but I think I'm going to have to make a few adjustments...I'm beginning to realise how vital it is to have something you can just write in at any time and I think I've made mine a bit too fancy for that :) I'm using a three ring binder with dividers by number (instead of suit) and all the major arcana at the front and I've put in a plastic pocket for each card. The initial plan was to scan and print out a copy of each card for the front of each pocket and main keywords/notes are written on the same page as the scan - however, this means I can't make any notes on a card until I've scanned it and everything's backing up :( I've just got a lot of half sketched out notes waiting to be transferred...so hmmm.... I need to make it a bit less formal I think - I like the sections but I think I definitely need to get a pad of lined paper...but that's so unglamorous! I think I'm going to have to succumb to practicality here though...gotta have something I can actually use :D Ooh - I know - I'll get a pukka pad.....mmmmmm....:) Pip (stationery lover)

shelikes2read	21 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Pipistrelle The initial plan was to scan and print out a copy of each card for the front of each pocket and main keywords/notes are written on the same page as the scan - however, this means I can't make any notes on a card until I've scanned it and everything's backing up :( I've just got a lot of half sketched out notes waiting to be transferred...so hmmm.... Maybe you can visit a site that's got images of each card already on it, so you can save the trouble of scanning each one? Can you just write the notes in the journal anyway, even while the card's image hasn't been added yet? Then maybe you can add the cards in when you get the chance, and your notes will still be up-to-date.

The Making a Tarot journal thread was originally posted on 12 Oct 2004 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.