Books helpful in tarot journaling

I am planning to start tarot journaling. What kind of books help keeping a tarot journal?

I used to be interested in Corrine Kenner's book Tarot Journaling, but according to this thread there is too much filler in the book. I heard that Nina Lee Braden's book Tarot for Self Discovery is helpful in journaling. I looked at its sample excercises, and they seemed to be for decks with scenic pips. Most of my decks don't have scenic pips, so I am looking for other books.

Deana wrote in the thread about Tarot Journaling:

If you've ever read any book on journaling or if you've ever read any book by Julia Cameron or Natalie Goldberg: just do that only in your Tarot journal and you'll be just as well off.

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Have you used general journaling books to aid your tarot journaling process? Have they been useful? I am more interested in studying the cards, but I am also open to therapeutic approaches.

http://www.tarotjournaling.com/printables.htm

It's not instruction, but these are ready made pages. The have spaces for all sorts of info...

Feretian said:

http://www.tarotjournaling.com/printables.htm

It's not instruction, but these are ready made pages. The have spaces for all sorts of info...

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I looked at them while I was writing my post. I have a pile of papers, where I have written my past readings. I have my favourite outline in my head, and I write in blank papers. But the pile is a mess.

I don't know if this website will help but here's the link

http://tarotstudies.50webs.com/whats_new.shtml

It has worksheets to print off.

I actually made a tarot reading organizer...

Would it help to suggest making your own tarot reading organizer?

I found that books just on topics I like are more useful and my keeping a notebook of things I found interesting made a more personal 'book' and helped me reference what I needed...I just did this recently after seeing I scattered everything over the years in different notebooks and reference books...

Three hole punch

8 x 11 inch paper (if you wrote on various sizes of paper)

Tape to tape various sizes of paper notes on 8 x 11 inch paper--so you can insert a page into the binder.

Binder or Binders OR Multiple Pocket File

Nice to have:

Tab dividers - Love, Career, Wealth, Relationships, Spirituality, General Worries or Newsworthy Goals...etc.

Plastic sleeves with 3 holes punched into the side to put in binder. You may notice all the readings are about an individual you have a relationship with and group the readings in that plastic sleeve or section of the binder and insert a tab divider.

OR...

You just might want to put these assorted readings into a Multiple Pocket File ...

At the moment I've made notes in one small journal and if I've typed up readings or ideas or printouts, then I've put the notes in one file folders...after awhile I sort through the items. The new spreads I won't remember very well or experimenting with, I usually keep.

Hope that might be helpful!

Cerulean

Tristram Shandy said:

I am planning to start tarot journaling. What kind of books help keeping a tarot journal?

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No book. Just a steno pad. Just begin writing. write down stuff, thoughts, spreads as they happen.

It's a journal!

You don't organize a journal.

A journal should be stream of conscious, rather than a rule book. The ACT OF WRITING is more important than content or organization.

But if you really feel you need direction, The Artists Way – a spiritual path to higher creativity by Julia Cameron.

Don’t confuse process with product…

Nina Lee Braden isn't very deep.

Yes, Natalie Goldberg is great: pick a card and just go. I haven't read Julia Cameron but I believe her approach is quite similar. Or perhaps Christina Baldwin. Any general book on journaling, really.

But I get the impression that you've already read books like that. You don't need any more then.

Unless you really want something with specific exercises to get more deeply into individual cards: then '21 Ways to read a tarot card' (Mary Greer) is the only book you need. It'll keep you busy for years.

I liked The Complete Tarot Reader by Theresa Michelsen. It really helped me get focused on journaling. It's reviewed here:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/complete-tarot-reader/

I agree with both (seemingly contradictory) comments by Cerulean and Umbrae. My journal is in 2 volumes; one that's spiral bound, so no tabs, just write day by day, reading by reading, meditation by meditation. But I also have a 3 ring journal with dividers for each card, because I love to study, learn, read opinions (such as threads in this forum) etc. on various cards, but I also want to refer to my thoughts later, and I like having everything together for each card. It helps me synthesize my own understanding of the cards. I wouldn't want to give up either of these two parts of my journal process.

Mary V

I just use letter-size yellow legal pads, for nearly all my journal writing. I try to use a separate page for tarot, dreams, etc. in case I want to keep those in different files.

You can store the pages in file folders, or in three-ring binders. If you plan to use 3-ring binders, I recommend punching the holes in the paper before you write on it. You can remove it from the pad, punch the holes, and then use a cheap clipboard to write on. (If you don't have a clipboard and don't want to buy one, the cardboard from a used legal pad works well.)

Why punch the holes first? If you punch the holes first, you don't have to worry about staying within the margin. When I really get into a flow with my journaling, I don't want to worry about margins. Besides, the margins are a good place to insert afterthoughts -- and I always have afterthoughts. If the holes are already punched, you won't lose anything by going back to punch holes and punching out a key word -- and then later have to scratch your head wondering what it used to say. Just my luck, the bit that gets punched out would be the most important information on the entire page.

I do like those Corrine Kenner forms. You can make your own, though, customized for you, with a good word processor. Thanks, Feretian, for the link.

One thing that I'm planning to do again is to keep one main Tarot binder that I put all my key charts, spreads and information in. I did that years ago, and found it an invaluable tool to refer back to. I'm not sure why I later disassembled it. I think it was because that was my only Tarot journal at the time and it got too full. It's good, once you settle on a system and get started, to think ahead about how your journal will expand and have a plan for that as well.

Nevada

P.S. The only hard and fast rule I have is: Always date the top of each page with day, month, and year, so if you go back later, you'll know when you wrote that. It gives even an unorganized journal a built in order.

Thanks

There are some many responses that I can't comment them individually. I need to clarify my background, though.

Mariana said:

But I get the impression that you've already read books like that. You don't need any more then.

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No, I haven't. They aren't popular in the part of the world where I live. There are none of them available in my mother tongue, nothing in the public libraries etc. A couple of months ago I didn't know that they exist!

I was looking for book recommendations and experiences on books. This thread has now given me a lot to think about. I have to study writing tools (like steno pads, binders, and note-taking software), online book descriptions and how much the books seem to suit my needs, and what is a suitable time for regular writing. I want to write more regularly than I do now. I have already studied past forum threads, and there wasn't the kind of journaling book thread that I was looking for. I am aware of other tarot journaling threads here, though. If someone has more opinions or ideas, especially on books, feel free to write them. I'll read them, although I won't necessarily answer them.