Keeping a tarot journal

[Water Lady]

You need to use what appeals to you or you won't use it.
I use a small loose leaf notebook for my tarot notes on each card and I use small wire ring notebooks for all my readings.

 

[teomat]

I love the idea of journaling. The idea of getting a lovely little book that I can fill in over the years about my tarot journey. Or creating an encyclopedic blog with all my daily draws, links to helpful websites and downloaded pictures of my deck.

But when it actually comes to doing it…I just can’t . I don’t see what the point is and what I’m supposed to get out of it. I don’t know what to write, and the feelings I get when I turn over the cards are too abstract and incomprehensible to put into words. As soon as I try to write, the feelings are gone. The moment has passed.

I find that it doesn’t deepen my understanding of each card, because each card can change it’s meaning according to the question I ask or the situation I’m in. It’s almost like creating your own LWB of fixed meanings – and I thought fixed meanings are generally considered a no-no?

Can anyone elaborate on how journaling is helpful to them? How has it made them a better reader? What do you get from it? What do you write about and how is it useful to you?

 

[Open Arms]

Nice idea but it isn't A4. It takes pages half A4 size (a standard A4 folded in half) and I never see those plastic insert things this size.

nice idea though!

If you are not going to add anything to the pages you *could* laminate each page, cut them a little wider than A5 and punch holes in the clear plastic down the side. Makes the pages almost indestructible and still readable both sides.

I got a laminater from the supermarket a year ago for about $30 and a box of 100 sheets isn't that much.

 

[amethyst57]

I use those 'composition' notebooks...my readings,etc, in front, in the back I jot down new spreads I want to try...

 

[kfk]

taot jounaling and color coding

I like color coding as well but my journaling style is a bit scattered. Writing a keyword or two by the date and using markers for a at a glance finder is my current method.But change is good and I am considering the methods discussed here.

 

[Krystophe]

That Special Book...

For those who have expressed reluctance to "spoil" a special book with crossouts, erasures, and so forth...check out this link:

www.daneldon.org/journals/

These aren't tarot journals, but they are absolutely sublime!

 

[Krystophe]

If I glue the pages on a sheet, I'd lose my notes on the other side!

What to do, what to do...

You might consider photocopying the sides of the pages you don't wish to lose by gluing them down. Of course if a multitude of pages involved that could become a rather expensive option, but in the end it's unlikely that a perfect solution exists...

 

[shadowdancer]

well, I have just been adding shedloads to my first proper journal of a reference type. It is just a 20 sheet ring bound document holder.

** Summary of my ethics.

** Sample spreads (x 8 generic spreads for most situations, with a further 90 three cards spreads).

** Explanation of symbolism I may want to interpret, mainly relating to RWS decks. I tend not to use symbolism often, but if the need is there, I have a handy quick reference, as my brain has not yet absorbed them all ready for instant recall

** Some sheets I can write readings up on (shows the usual blurb of dates, decks used, cards used, card positions, interpretations, interesting focal points etc).

** Leaflets I have printed advertising my readings. (you never know when you may have cause to give them out).

** Use of contra cards (where you find the opposing card in the deck to highlight something positive for those difficult positioned cards, or something to be aware of in the case of positively placed cards). This is still ongoing, as I still have the courts to write up as well as the Major Arcana. Not my idea I hasten to add - something James Ricklef has shared on his blog, and something I have extended for my own use.

** Using a card to formulate the question. If I have no real idea of what sort of spread questions I want to form, I can just choose cards from a deck and lay them out. They form the question, then cards from a different deck can be used to give the answer or reading. Again not my idea! But it is cool to use at times. I went through every card in the deck and used the How/why/what/where/who/when system to come up with some possible questions for each of the cards. Some have more than others and even now I know it is not definitive. Does cover a lot of scenarios though.

** Numerical associations. Again I cannot claim this - I just loved how Mary Greer showed this using some stick men climbing a mountain, and thought it would be a nice inclusion for my journal as a visual representation of what they represent. Clients would have no problem understanding the visual or the explanation.

** How to use court cards in a 3 card reading. Again not my idea. An ex member here did explain this system a long time ago, and it has been one I have found very good for those readings where there is no position question for the three cards.

** A spidergram for use with the Transparent. I just dowse to see how the cards are to be placed. (mirrored, reversed, mirrored AND reversed, overlap right corner of previous card, overlap left corner of previous card, full overlap etc). Sounds complicated and long winded but isn't. It means if using the transparent deck, I know where exactly to place the card and in which orientation it is meant to be.

**Spidergram of different ways of reading a reversal. I don't tend to use them, but if one does crop up I will not have any excuse for going for the bog standard "opposite of upright". I have 17 different options which could apply, so would dowse for the one I am meant to use.

Well, I will say many of the systems suggested were not my own idea. All I have done in some cases (i.e. using a card to form a question, using a contra card) is take the ideas of authors who first showed the system, then actually applied that to ALL the cards in the deck, writing down my findings for the journal. I think this has shown me how there are just soooooo many ways to do a tarot reading. And having all this as a reference journal is really useful.

 

[BlueDragonfly]

That sounds like a very thorough and concise journal, shadowdancer!

I have a question, is the spidergram you mentioned a sort of web expansion of something?

 

[jackdaw*]

I used to use different types of notebooks for my studies when I was examining Tarot traditions - one for TdM, one for Thoth, one for Rider-Waite, etc. Stuff I did on the computer - readings, etc. - I would print and put in 3-ring binders.

But then we lost a lot of our stuff in a move (long story, that). So now I wonder if someone's got their hands on those old notebooks, and I cringe to think of some anonymous person reading them and thinking I'm a lunatic, or maybe just stupid.

So I've started keeping Tarot stuff just in electronic format - Word documents and the like, and private blog-type programs. More private, less nerve-wracking.