How do you journal your tarot?

[Baccus93]

A lot of people journal different things for different reasons. I have a lot of different journals myself. I have a journal for my meditation practices. A journal for my magickal practices. A journal for my dreams. A daily journal just about my life in general. I even journal my earning and spending decisions in a separate journal. And I have two journals specifically for tarot. In one journal I have a section for each card where I log various levels of meanings I've found for each card (like for instance, I have attached a sticky note to my High Priestess section to look into the idea that this card can mean "help is just around the corner"). I also keep notes on most the readings I do for follow up purposes, to learn how accurate I was when the future comes. I like to consider my practices relatively scientific by journeying them and then comparing the future outcomes to my expectations, to see what I can learn from the experiences.

How many people have similar journeying practices, and what exactly do you do to journal things. I'd be very interested.

[kisou]

I journal sort of randomly, to be honest

I do keep a book of sorts and in it just scribble down all the readings I ever do, even if I just pick up a single card in a day, I make sure to write it down just in case. Also, if I try out any new spreads I write them in there and highlight them so they stick out if I want to try something different to mix things up. I haven't done any deep meditation on cards in a while that are logged in my book, but I think I'm more apt to post them on my blog where I'm free to add and remove portions at will.

So yeah, the other half of my journaling is on my blog since its easier, and I don't mind feedback on things like that.

[HonestPuck]

I've tried a few times to keep a tarot journal, but I've usually lost interest in doing so. But now I have a little notebook where I write down the cards in the reading and scribble down a few thoughts. I also keep a personal journal about my life, I've been fairly consistent with that one.

[Imagemaker]

I keep a regular daily journal that records, in drawing and writing, what is happening over time. I put my 3-card pulls there for "what's ahead for today" so that the events and people I encounter are right there with the cards. These "life" journals fill fast, like in a month or 2.

I have a straight tarot journal where I put questions, readings, and spreads for study or looking back at trends and card meanings. This journal lasts for months before I need a new volume.

[Grizabella]

You're all so ambitious and consistent. I write down my readings sometimes but then usually misplace the notebook and have to start another one.

Imagemaker, that's a great idea to do your three cards for the day and then journal what happens each day. I might try that myself.

[celticnoodle]

I use to keep a tarot journal, writing down the readings i did for people and myself. now instead of journaling them into a notebook, i just type them onto my word perfect on my computer. I keep those in a folder titled "readings", & inside this folder are folders titled for each of my clients. Then I can send the reading off to my client. makes it a bit easier.

However, I do try to write everyday whatever happens to me into a journal. everything can go into it, including tarot inspirations/ect. I'm not exactly great at remembering to do this on a daily basis, and must admit, I miss several months sometimes. but I do like to go back (just did today!) and re-read my entries.

Baccus93, I'm impressed that you can keep so many journals going at the same time. That would be just too many journals for me to keep up with!

[Baccus93]

Originally Posted by celticnoodle

Baccus93, I'm impressed that you can keep so many journals going at the same time. That would be just too many journals for me to keep up with!

First, you get married and help to raise a child. This entails getting two jobs. Then you offer freelance services in the IT field. Volunteer to help 0rganize the local pagan community and marry this organization with the Heartland Pagan Association. Volunteer to write a monthly newsletter for said local community. Volunteer at the nearby nursing home to play games and share company. Get divorced. Get in a major auto accident. Lose your mind from all the stress. Get committed for a year of psychiatric care and they will teach you all about journaling. :-)

Yes. Now, thanks to the computer age, most of my journaling is done on a laptop - so cut and paste helps a lot too. Some of my journals are daily, some are weekly. Some are put down in writing out of this little mp3 recorder I use whenever I find the time to do the entry.

It's really just an excuse to keep talking to myself - like my six cats. They are great listeners.

[sharpchick]

Before responding, I'll say that I am pretty much a freak for organization.

I have a journal for each tarot and oracle deck I own. I have a journal for daily readings (regardless of the deck). I have a journal for all of my New Moon readings - again, regardless of the deck used. I have a journal of specific cards and their possible interpretations when I draw the same card repeatedly over a month's period of daily readings (this one serves as the basis for some tarot meditations). I have a journal of tarot card interpretations I have created for the times when a slightly different than textbook interpretation has presented itself to me, including some as a result of discussions of cards, spreads and interpretations on ATF. One section of that journal also goes into some detail about interpreting cards when they modify or clarify others in a specific spread.

All of my journals are handwritten and I date the entries. (And yes, I am running out of space in which to keep them.)

[Little Hare]

i'm a writer ( and anally retentive so i have seriously billions (okay not that many) of notebooks around the house, i had been keeping what i wrote in a journal, but at the moment due to my life becoming alot more fast paced and i need to adjust to it, i haven't had time to journal any of my tarot stuff.

Keeping a journal is very much about the individual so there is no right or wrong way in keeping one. I remember i once went back to a journal and the last entry was over a year old! With my tarot stuff its usually scrawled all over the journal and messy writing because im trying so fast to get things down

[Apocalipstick]

Wow, how many journals can a person have!? I'm lucky if I can keep up with one, usually my dream journal. Mostly I jot things down on post-its, in whatever notebook is around, on napkins, envelopes, on whatever's handy. I always plan to sort through them at the end of the week (yeah, right) but I end up just throwing them away. Except the post-its. Those make good computer decoration.

I tried keeping a tarot notebook when I started. It very quickly became a Tarot binder, one of the big, 2 or 3 inch ones, which now is in a box, somewhere in the basement. If I were to seriously Tarot-journal again, I'd just start out with a binder, that way I could actually find old readings, or unusual interpretations, or whatever else I may need. A binder makes it so easy to keep track of things, and since I make losing things an art, a little organization helps.