Tarot Journals
Even though I’ve been reading and teaching tarot for many years, I still like to do a card of the day (COTD) draw and make a journal entry about it. I know the meanings of all of the cards, of course, but there’s always a chance to learn something new. I also read through entries of online tarot groups for the same reason. I work with a new deck each month and if the deck I choose has a companion book, I always read the entry for the card I drew to see that deck creator’s point of view. Over time this adds even more layers of meaning to each card for me and enriches my reading ability.
Sometimes there is an element of synchronicity in my studies. Last week I happened to draw the eight of swords twice. Just prior to that I had read a thought-provoking entry (this one in a FB Tarot group) about the eight of swords that acknowledged the feeling of being trapped in a way of thinking but it also presented the idea that the very thoughts that trap us can also offer a path out of our dilemma if we are patient and painstaking about our analysis of the problem and are careful to choose the right sword to remove. Brilliant! Maybe that’s the way lots of people see that card, but I hadn’t seen it that way before. Because I take the time to constantly research card meanings, I get rewarded with insight.
Another great thing about tarot journaling is that it allows us to compare our daily draw with the events of our lives. I’m a total geek, by the way, with different colored pens to represent the suits and the majors. I write my notes about the card meaning in black and then later I go in with a blue pen and jot down a few notes about what actually occurred in my life that day. It’s fascinating to go back later and compare the two.
Here’s a random entry from January 2019: Deck: Aquarius – Card – Five of Cups. Meaning: ‘Disappointment in love, change in relationship, at a point of being ready to let go.’ Journal Entry: ‘Spent time with the ex going through things in our old home to decide what to keep and what to pitch. There was certainly a focus on emotions of the past, but a feeling that both of us were ready at that point to move forward emotionally.’
As further testimony to my tarot journal geekiness, the blank journals I buy always include a calendar page of the month-at-a-glance which I populate with color-coded record of the card I drew for each day (red for wands, green for pentacles, etc.) That way when the month is complete I can get an overview at a glance about how the month was. Were there lots of blue entries for cups? How does that compare to my emotional state? Not many wands? Maybe I need some more ‘fire energy’ to get things going!
I also make notes about how the deck reads in general if anything stands out for me, especially in terms of whether or not I connect with it. In April of that same year, for example, I decided to work with my Alice in Wonderland tarot from Baba Press which had been languishing on a shelf since I bought it. At first I thought I wasn’t really connecting with the deck; then I made a note that the daily draws ‘seemed to mirror my emotional state’ even if the classic meaning didn’t quite match.
Whether you are brand new to tarot or you’ve been reading for years, I highly recommend keeping a tarot journal. It’s a great way to accumulate field notes that over time will totally enhance your mastery of the art of reading the tarot.
