Tarot Journals

Since I had a few free hours today, I decided to go through some old boxes with the hope of finding 2 of my decks that are on walkabout together. I didn't find them, but I did find about 20 years (!?!) of tarot journals and notes I've taken on the way.

How long do you keep your old journals and notes? Do you re-read through them with any regularity?

Asking for a... um... packrat friend.

I'm pretty messy, so I have them scattered all over my house really.

One or two lie underneath some of my card decks in my desk drawer; the majority of them are hidden in my bookshelf. Others are just kind of lying around like lazy friends. I really hope my SO doesn't read them, haha

I remember what it was like when various grandparents passed on. and the thought of nosy folks riffling through my journals gives me the hebejebes. now I look at my journals with that perspective, how would I feel about my relatives seeing this. and my answer is no way. So I do not keep the journals, and indeed have moved more towards keeping journal online, in cyberspace. think of who would be going through your belongings after you pass on.

closerwalking said:

I remember what it was like when various grandparents passed on. and the thought of nosy folks riffling through my journals gives me the hebejebes. now I look at my journals with that perspective, how would I feel about my relatives seeing this. and my answer is no way. So I do not keep the journals, and indeed have moved more towards keeping journal online, in cyberspace. think of who would be going through your belongings after you pass on.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting point. I've just started and I'm keeping both a written journal and a blog. The written journal has much more detail and I figured it would be easier to follow up on. The blog is a condensed version and under a pseudonym. I really don't want certain people going through my journal, so... maybe your idea of keeping everything online would work well for me. Thanks for pointing that out.

I've found for myself too, in that letting go of journals, frees up space inwardly. Allows me to be more present to now. Everyone is different. but for me the flow of words is continuous. I love to write. In keeping journals for most of my life, I have rarely gone back to re-read something, esp. years later. I still love the physical act of writing, so satisfying. So I keep some written journals around for several months, but eventually throw them out. this has been gradual shift, towards cyberspace. I do not want nosy eyes reading my journals. and misunderstanding them. as they are where I work through issues, address my inner world. not very interesting or helpful to anyone else. Better they do their own explorations. For the most part, once I have written something down, I have already moved beyond it.

I totally have the same packrat mentality about this kind of stuff as your "friend"

I've only been reading tarot since September, and I haven't even filled up my first notebook yet. It's just a basic composition notebook, but I actually just cracked it open and read through old readings tonight! I like to do it every once in a while (maybe once a month most frequently), since I like to see how I've grown. I like writing notes in the margins, especially for readings I did for things that happened a while ago, but are still ongoing.

I'm keeping mine digitally, which means they're available to me literally any time I want. But...

What I've found is that with few exceptions, I don't end up revisiting spreads. I just went through 9 months' worth of readings earlier today and kept about five personal readings before dumping everything else. Daily draws I'll review only if I've spotted a pattern, like seeing the same card a few times in one month. More general Tarot notes I keep separately, but once I've assimilated the information, I find I generally don't have to look back at it.

The exception to all this is anything I draw related to the fiction I'm working on. Those spreads I refer to pretty regularly, and will probably keep forever...or at least, as long as I have space available in the cloud or on my computer.

I'm concerned about people reading my journals also but I try not to think about it anymore. I tried recording my thoughts online but it's so easy to procrastinate when I have to turn on my laptop, pull up the website, and log on (oh wow I just realized how lazy that sounds). With my composition notebook, it's within reach and always in view so it was easier to develop a habit to write every day. I might throw it out when I reach the last page but I'll probably regret it many years from now, as I regret throwing out journals from my youth.