Tarot Journals & Recording Readings

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

muteswan	04 Apr 2005
One of the best things I ever did was start what I call my Divination Book. I record spreads I pick up along the way, the outcomes of readings and my feelings on them, and other tarot/divination tidbits, including philosophy. Does anyone else record their readings to look at in the future, and has it helped you?

Elven	04 Apr 2005
Because I have moved not so long ago, I have come across a box which contains my journals. These cover many years of writing my tarot, dreams, intuitive thoughts, questions and readings. I sat for hours going through them! The poems and thoughts I had, if it wasnt in my handwriting I would wonder who this person was. Some of the insights I've gained and reminded myself about through reading it are awesome (I'm trying to be humble here..LOL)!! Im so glad that every year (with the exception of 3 - the dark years LOL) I have kept a journal. Its better than any diary I could have written. I can see where I've been so much clearer than I can remember my journey. I still keep a journal, though I have noticed that Im alot more organized now than when I started writing them. I have tabs which describe each section and I write in each section accordingly. Its alot easier to look up than keeping it daily - although I do have a daily draw section. I think its a great idea! Elven x

Emeraldgirl	04 Apr 2005
I have only recently started my first journal and I am finding it a great experience. It's great for writing down new spreads you pick up around here in. Also to write down readings and what strikes you about the cards you pull and to look back later and see what you feel with a bit of perspective. More than once I have written down one meaning when another one that I didn't think of or diregarded at the time wou8ld of with hindsight been more fitting to the situation.

muteswan	04 Apr 2005
Emeraldgirl wrote: Also to write down readings and what strikes you about the cards you pull and to look back later and see what you feel with a bit of perspective. More than once I have written down one meaning when another one that I didn't think of or diregarded at the time wou8ld of with hindsight been more fitting to the situation. I've been very surprised on a few occasions, having re-read old readings that I didn't think meant much at the time but ended up being right on the money. I also like to record follow-ups with friends, about how effective and helpful a reading was for them. I've had lots of really great experiences that I don't want to forget.

Rhiannon SW	04 Apr 2005
I too used to keep a journal of my thoughts and have started it again. I do try to write down all my readings and go back and jot down what occured that was right on. Its quite a learning experience.

tarotbear	04 Apr 2005
(* sung to the tune of 'the Dreidel Song' LOL) I tell every single new student that I get to start journaling their readings and meditations on Tarot cards. Write it down! The only way you will ever know what really happened is to keep tabs on it. It is also a great 'refresher' when you start wondering about something you read in the past. There is no time wasted by saving your daily readings!

Formicida	04 Apr 2005
I think a better question would be, how many of us don't keep journals? It seems pretty common, and for good reason. I always regret it when I do a reading and don't write it down. (The Tower can't really be coming...Crash...) As others have said, it's both fascinating and useful to see what you've said about a card before. Sometimes I get as much that seems new to me out of my own writings as I do out of any book. That said, I don't usually record the readings I do for others. I figure that in that case I'm just a channel and it's not my place to remember the reading, even if it might add to my understanding of a card later.

Cerulean	04 Apr 2005
I practise poetry once or twice a month and use that as a snapshot of my life at that moment. In terms of tarot reading, the 'work' to think things out is what I needed and so once done, I rarely do more than scrawl a few notes. Only if the tarot is new and may depend on building knowledge--the Da Vinci or Dante Tarot, for example, takes relearning for me to get back into that space. My impressions or notes on useful books/resources will help. I clear out lots of drek from my journals in the recycle shredder bin. It's a habit, this journal stuff! Cerulean

Imagemaker	04 Apr 2005
I keep less of a tarot journal now than I used to when I was feeling less confident about my readings. Now I record the ones that don't make sense or seem off-target. The ones that make total sense I don't write down--that moment is clear and will pass, so I just keep the ones that I'll need to keep looking at to understand.

MercyMe	04 Apr 2005
I just seem to "know" which reads need to be journaled. Sometimes a reading will seem very significant for some reason, weighty. So I record it. I practice reading a lot so there's no way I would journal all of my readings, but there are the special ones that make their way into journal infamy. But I'm quite disgruntled with the disorganization of my journaling. I have too many small journals and though I try to remember which one is which, I'd rather have it all in one or two large binder-style journals. One of these days... ~Mercy

satinangel	05 Apr 2005
tarotbear wrote: (* sung to the tune of 'the Dreidel Song' LOL) I tell every single new student that I get to start journaling their readings and meditations on Tarot cards. Write it down! The only way you will ever know what really happened is to keep tabs on it. It is also a great 'refresher' when you start wondering about something you read in the past. There is no time wasted by saving your daily readings! I do write down my readings...I do the Mark McElroy reading every day 1. What do I need to know. 2. Why it's important. 3. Advice...There are some days that it is right on the money, but there are others that take a day or two to come to pass...I am still so very new...I am thinking the more I journal, the more it will make sense to me!

Antharias	05 Apr 2005
I also write my readings in my journal (which I used for drawings before), and it helps me to know the cards, thats why I had only do the goddess oracle spread (just one card to answer with the Goddess Tarot). But after reading the thread I think Ill write the outcomes of my readings (thanks Muteswan for the idea). However I dont think the journal has to be just about readings and spreads, but also to record a little part of our lives has well as our thoughts at the time of reading, and we can read to past days and see if we do something wrong or good, and how does we and our deck(s) changed with time, too. But that's just me, how about you?

Ceit	05 Apr 2005
I use a journal as well. I record a reading when I have incite on cards and write my thoughts on a particular spread or crads. It helps me espeically when I am using different decks.

SunChariot	08 Apr 2005
muteswan wrote: One of the best things I ever did was start what I call my Divination Book. I record spreads I pick up along the way, the outcomes of readings and my feelings on them, and other tarot/divination tidbits, including philosophy. Does anyone else record their readings to look at in the future, and has it helped you? I record everything related to Tarot in my journal. I have 6 full binders of typed work since I started last May. All my readings are there of course. And it has been a big help to me to look over past readings, for a couple of reasons... 1) as time passes you can see things in a reading you look back on that you missed, or see that something you thought meant one thing meant something else. This can help you improve your Tarot/intuitive skills and 2) as time passes, we all change and grow. It is a gradual process and we hardly notice it happening sometimes. But when you look at a reading from a year or years ago, you can see that you no longer have the same concerns and are not exactly the same person anymore. I think this is amazing to be able to see your growth cronicled in that way. :-) Bar

SunChariot	08 Apr 2005
satinangel wrote: I am still so very new...I am thinking the more I journal, the more it will make sense to me! That is a sure bet. :-) Bar

Indigo Rose	08 Apr 2005
For 2 years now I have been writing my readings down on large sized index cards and keeping them organized by the month with monthly divider tabs. I used to keep a Tarot journal, but this works better for me. It is amazing to look back at readings and see how things unfolded. Keeping a record has also helped me learn more about what the cards are saying; their meanings. Blessings, Indigo Rose :)

Fairawen	08 Apr 2005
I keep a journal or two, one for tarot and thoughts on tarot, and one for all the day-to-day junk. I also have a dream journal, but I haven't had many clear dreams since I had carbon-monoxide poisoning. *Continuing* Having a journal is great because, not only do ideas come to you as you're writting, like, "Gee... that makes sense now that I try and describe it..." but you can also look back on reads that didn't make sense before, but make much more sense in the future when it's actually happening. For instance, I had a read about my boyfriend that had the Five of Pentacles as the near future. I had no idea what it was refering to or could be... a few days later my boyfriend fell into a horrible, depressed mood. Everything seemed to be going wrong for him. It matched up pretty darn well, and I didn't realize it until I went back through my journal and saw it. There ya go, it's very informative to keep a log. :) ~Fairawen~

SunChariot	08 Apr 2005
Fairawen wrote: I keep a journal or two, one for tarot and thoughts on tarot, and one for all the day-to-day junk. I also have a dream journal, but I haven't had many clear dreams since I had carbon-monoxide poisoning. *Continuing* Having a journal is great because, not only do ideas come to you as you're writting, like, "Gee... that makes sense now that I try and describe it..." but you can also look back on reads that didn't make sense before, but make much more sense in the future when it's actually happening. For instance, I had a read about my boyfriend that had the Five of Pentacles as the near future. I had no idea what it was refering to or could be... a few days later my boyfriend fell into a horrible, depressed mood. Everything seemed to be going wrong for him. It matched up pretty darn well, and I didn't realize it until I went back through my journal and saw it. There ya go, it's very informative to keep a log. :) ~Fairawen~ Really really sorry to hear about the carbon monixide poisoning:-( As for what you said in the last paragraph, when I look back and something makes more sense later on, I add in the notes to the new insight in the journal, with the date I added the new info in on. As I type my journals, all the left hand pages are blank for me to add my handwritten notes in later, as things progress. I find it's all been really helpful to me. Oh, and I also handnumber the pages and add an index in front of each binder, so I can find things more easily later, with a label on the front of each binder to show the dates I started and ended it.:-) Bar

The Tarot Journals & Recording Readings thread was originally posted on 04 Apr 2005 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.