Keeping a Tarot Journal

[WolfyJames]

I keep my tarot journal entirely digital. I use TreeDBNotes Pro ( http://www.mytreedb.com/index.html ) for my notes. I used the free version for many years but I caved in and paid for the pro version. It's a tree database software so I can create different sections. I have one for spreads that I've found online and I created different subcategories there like love, work, creativity, dreams, daily spreads, ect., so like that I can easily find those spreads. I also have a section for RWS/Thoth where I have entered every info I could find on both decks on every card. I have also entered on every card all the study group entries on that cards there. I also have a bunch of entries on tarot that I put there about articles on tarot I found online. I really love it. You can put a password on certain sections or notes and I put one for the whole My Readings tree, so my readings are private, that is why that one is red.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/wolfyjames/nada/treedbnotes01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/wolfyjames/nada/treedbnotes02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/wolfyjames/nada/treedbnotes03.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/wolfyjames/nada/treedbnotes04.jpg

 

[Egypt]

Computer tarot log

I agree with keeping a log when doing you readings. Whether it be for your self or for others as it can bring you insight as to what is going on in your readings and how they differentiate between them. Say you are getting the same card over and over again but your spreads come up with different cards included with that same one. You could go look back at that spread and compare it to the others. If you are reading professionally it is a great idea! This will help you keep track of your client's needs and reading,s and could intern actually help you to better esablish a connection with that querent.

 

[jackdaw*]

I prefer journalling on the computer normally - a Word document that I can rearrange, reformat, edit and add to at will.

But then I realized that all I end up doing is (a) copying and pasting useful snippets on history, theory, etc., without actually absorbing them myself [why *understand* Qabalah when you can just paste in a Tree of Life to look pretty?], and (b) only working with the cards in front of the computer, and so not spending as much time with them as I meant to.

But like others here, I have troubles with paper journals. Pretty books paralyze me. I would love to have a moleskine, if for nothing else than to see what the fuss is all about. But I'd dither and dally over every entry, for fear of "ruining" the expensive book. Then get mad when it isn't perfect, and letting the whole thing go to hell and abandon it in a huff

So I tried cheap spiral notebooks. Too easy to tear out pages, add recipes and phone messages and story ideas and grocery lists and let the offspring doodle, and it goes equally to hell.

Solution: dollar store hardcover notebooks. Pretty enough - and the pages tear out with sufficient difficulty and mess - to make it "special", but cheap enough that I don't worry about ruining it. I have a pretty one with a fancy floral and gold patterned cover and dark endpapes, thick creamy lined pages that don't let the ink bleed through, and ribbon marker. About the size of an address book, but nice and thick, so just the right size for carrying around. I'm using that one as my Lenormand journal. Will get a slightly larger one for Tarot, as I like this book lots.

What goes in it? Well, I'm a bit anal about organization, at least at the outset. That's why so many past attempts have failed miserably! For this Lenormand one, a page or two for each card, followed by combinations. Readings at the back working forward.

For Tarot, I tend to keep a document/book for each "system", so it depends on the deck.

 

[MareSaturni]

Hi Jackdaw!

I am Marinadaw, your lost twin sister.

But then I realized that all I end up doing is (a) copying and pasting useful snippets on history, theory, etc., without actually absorbing them myself [why *understand* Qabalah when you can just paste in a Tree of Life to look pretty?], and (b) only working with the cards in front of the computer, and so not spending as much time with them as I meant to.

Once upon a time in a far away computer I used to have a digital tarot journal. And that's exactly what happened. I had pages and pages and files full of pics and spreads and explanations, but never really took the time to absorb them. Basically what I did was to hoard information...

But like others here, I have troubles with paper journals. Pretty books paralyze me. I would love to have a moleskine, if for nothing else than to see what the fuss is all about. But I'd dither and dally over every entry, for fear of "ruining" the expensive book. Then get mad when it isn't perfect, and letting the whole thing go to hell and abandon it in a huff

I decided to go and finally use the pretty notebook I have been saving for who know what. Turns out that after one week using it I already regret, because it's heavy to carry AND my writing/art is not looking perfect enough for its perfect pages. *headdesk*

So I tried cheap spiral notebooks. Too easy to tear out pages, add recipes and phone messages and story ideas and grocery lists and let the offspring doodle, and it goes equally to hell.

I am looking for a cheap notebook that won't get torn or creased just by looking at it. I also want it to be thick, because I hate thin notebooks.

No luck so far.

Solution: dollar store hardcover notebooks. Pretty enough - and the pages tear out with sufficient difficulty and mess - to make it "special", but cheap enough that I don't worry about ruining it. I have a pretty one with a fancy floral and gold patterned cover and dark endpapes, thick creamy lined pages that don't let the ink bleed through, and ribbon marker. About the size of an address book, but nice and thick, so just the right size for carrying around. I'm using that one as my Lenormand journal. Will get a slightly larger one for Tarot, as I like this book lots.

What does it look like??? I don't think we have here exactly what you are describing , but I'd like to try finding something similar.

What goes in it? Well, I'm a bit anal about organization, at least at the outset. That's why so many past attempts have failed miserably! For this Lenormand one, a page or two for each card, followed by combinations. Readings at the back working forward.

That seems like a nice organization solution, Jackdaw! I hope you don't mind me stealing your idea -- when and if I come across a not-so-nice-but-decent-quality notebook.


I'll also start giving workshops of how to transform simple problems into huge and intricate dramas. In fact, I think I'll give up journaling entirely and write scripts for grade-Z movies instead.

 

[jackdaw*]

You have a PM with notebook info, long-lost twin

 

[kalliope]

But then I realized that all I end up doing is (a) copying and pasting useful snippets on history, theory, etc., without actually absorbing them myself [why *understand* Qabalah when you can just paste in a Tree of Life to look pretty?]

Ahahaha! Why, indeed??

I am so guilty of this...

... Readings at the back working forward.

Brilliant idea!

 

[Winterchild]

Journals

I totally agree with you Jackcaw about the computer journaling.... doesnt work for me either! I have a funny relationship with writing and my Mac... I used to not be able to write on it but now I tend to write my poetry on it... think its become more me!! But Tarot Journal.... nope... doesnt work for the reasons you have said, although I have tried and tried... the only thing I love about it, is that you can find stuff easily!

Maybe I just need the right kind of messy notebook approach app!

I also know the pristine blank book feeling... so I make my own journals from recycle paper, envelopes anything that can be written on..... stuck in..whatever. I like when they look full and a bit tatty, and its a very green option, I personalise them too for tarot or friends or whatever mood I am in

Here are some pics of ones I have made.... including one I made specially for my Herbal Tarot which I love...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raggedpoet/7523959912/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raggedpoet/7523960628/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raggedpoet/7523960830/in/photostream

They are sooooo easy to use and write in!

 

[poopsie]

to digitalize or not to digitalize...that is the question

In my case, i realize that when it comes to journalizing, I prefer to still write my insights in a notebook ... and with an old-fashioned fountain pen ... not a ball pen, not a signature pen ... not a pencil ... it has to be a fountain pen.

However, i also realize something ... when it comes to the day-to-day reports and writings that I do, i don't mind using a computer.

I have been reflecting on this and i discovered that when i was so much younger, a professor of mine would often give us time to journalize our thoughts before we started the classes for the day ... he often would even advise us to wake up as early as 5:30 to take ten to 15 minutes just writing down whatever came from our minds. He didn't want us to computerize it, he wanted us to literally write it down in a notebook that we felt reflected our taste and personality and using a pen we were most comfortable with.

Later i realize what he meant. our handwriting would reflect our state of mind at the time we wrote whatever that was. He even gave us little hints ... when our handwriting would slope to the right side, it meant we were getting more emotional about what we were writing about. When we notice our handwriting would straighten up or slant towards the left, it meant we were trying to keep a more rational or logical perspective. I apply this to my journalizing in the tarot. I looked back at my past journals and i noted that in some of the more emotional questions i had, yes, they do tend to slope towards the right. Whenever i would journalize some thoughts that were more about our business, say, how to position a proposal to a client, i realize that my writing would tend to be less slanted to the right and more steady and straight. i am not a graphologist so i don't know any better but one thing for sure, at least for me, journalizing the old fashioned way seems better.

I guess when writing, i do like to take my time to collect my thoughts, feel the paper on my hand and just get inspired that everytime i write, it's like starting on a clean slate. i tried using a computer once and i realize that it felt like work to me... i had to type fast, as if i had a deadline because it was what i associated computers with.

However, surprisingly enough, when i study a deck, as I did in Etruscan Tarot and Wizards' Tarot, i prefetted using Pages in Mac... i love the feel of imagining i was writing a book, doing layout and even putting pictures on them. I often wonder why this is so.

 

[Winterchild]

Handwriting

Poopsie... thats fascinating about the slanting handwriting! I just looked over my many old journals and wow... slope to the right ! Rarely any left sloping, but some upright. I must dig out my Morning Pages from Julia Cameron's book which I did years ago and check those. Of course when I am very stream of consciousness I cannot recognise my handwriting at all!

I have a Mac but haven't tried Pages, I see they have an App store cheaper version now so I may give it a go... I like how you can buy things separately. I use a very simple program called Journler, or I used to but I think it has been zapped now.

I am definitely determined to be better about backing up now though. I lost my old tarot blog which I had done all directly online Gutted about that and not had the energy to get it all up and going again recently.

Thanks for sharing!

Oh the writing a book thing..... hmmmmmm it could be honouring your inner child..... maybe she/he is speaking to you

 

[velvetina]

I've kept a journal since I was 9....40 years! Now, that is not to say I have all these journals..the earliest ones morphed into a scrapbook & so-called 'Book of Shadows'..but I have kept all the ones since 1994 intact.

These journals include important Tarot readings, path workings with the cards, everything really...they include the mundane (shopping lists, to-do lists etc) with the magical and in between is my everyday life-

I use A5 ringbinder files with plastic pockets to keep memorabilia as well as paper to write absolutely anything I want. Including random Tarot stuff.

I decorate each one with postcards, magazine clippings, photographs, old Tarot cards etc.

I write with the same Elysee fountain pen my grandfather gave me in 1994 (which somehow prompted this continuity).

In addition, I have an A5 filofax devoted to my Thoth deck, 3 A5 notebooks devoted to my Rider Waite, a gorgeous little book into which I copied Chesca Potter's words about the Greenwood Tarot and a black & silver notebook with gold edged paper and ribbon marker which I use to record my encounters with the Bohemian Gothic.

It is rare I look back at what I have written, but I enjoy the process.