Keeping a tarot journal

A tarot journal is a written record of your readings: the date, the question, the cards and what you made of them. Keeping one is the fastest way to learn the 78 cards, because you meet each card in a real situation of your own rather than on a page of meanings. It is also the only way to see, weeks or months later, what a reading turned out to mean.

Why keep a tarot journal?

A tarot journal turns single readings into a body of experience. One reading on its own is easy to forget, or to remember only in the version that flatters it. Written down on the day, it stays as it was, and you can return to it once time has passed.

Three things follow from that record:

• You learn the cards faster. Each entry ties a card to a moment you lived through, and that sticks far better than a list of keywords.
• You see readings in hindsight. A card that puzzled you in March may make plain sense by May. Without the entry, you would never connect the two.
• You learn your own habits as a reader. Over time the journal shows where you tend to lean: toward hope, toward worry, toward certain cards you always read the same way.

What should you write in a tarot journal?

A useful tarot journal entry records the reading as it happened and leaves room for what came after. These are the parts worth keeping:

• The date. Readings make the most sense set against the time they were drawn.
• The question. Write it in the words you actually used. How a question is phrased shapes what the cards can say to it.
• The spread. Name it, and the meaning of each position.
• The cards and their orientation. Each card in its position, marked upright or reversed.
• Your first impression. What struck you when the spread lay in front of you, before any interpretation: a colour, a figure, a card you did not want to see.
• The reading. What you made of the cards, in a few sentences or a full page.
• One line of takeaway. The single point you want to carry away from the reading.
• A later note. Days or weeks on, a line on what happened, or what changed in how you saw the question.

The first impression and the later note are the two parts most often skipped, and they are the two that teach the most. Write the impression before you interpret, so the reading does not overwrite it. Leave the later note blank on purpose and come back to fill it in.

A simple tarot journal template

A short template is easier to keep up than a long one. Copy this into a notebook, or use it as a checklist:

• Date:
• Question:
• Spread and positions:
• Cards (upright or reversed):
• First impression:
• Reading:
• Takeaway in one line:
• Later note (added on):

An entry made this way can take five minutes. On busy days, the date, the question, the cards and the takeaway are enough. A brief entry kept is worth more than a complete one abandoned.

The Eight of Pentacles is the card of the workbench, where skill grows one careful piece at a time. A journal is that card’s method applied to tarot: modest, regular practice that builds into real knowledge.

Eight of PentaclesThe diligent apprentice: perfecting a craft through steady, detailed work.

How do you review a tarot journal?

Reviewing a tarot journal means reading back through your entries at regular intervals to see the patterns no single reading shows. Once a month suits most readers: often enough to remember the context, far enough apart for patterns to form.

When you review, look for:

• Recurring cards. A card that has appeared three or four times in a month is worth a page of its own. The guide When the same card keeps appearing, in this Library, covers how to read a returning card.
• Recurring suits. A month heavy with Swords tends to describe a season of thought and difficulty; a run of Cups points toward feeling and relationships. The guide The four suits of tarot sets out each suit’s ground.
• Recurring numbers. Several Fives across different suits can describe a period of friction; several Aces, fresh starts. The guide Numbers in tarot goes further.
• The weight of the Major Arcana. A month in which the Majors keep turning up often describes larger themes at work than one in which they are scarce.

Then read your later notes against the original readings. Where were you right? Where did hope or worry pull your reading off course? This part of the review is uncomfortable at times, and it is where most of the learning happens.

Your own card meanings grow over time

Personal card meanings grow out of a journal almost by themselves. Set aside a page for each card, 78 in all, and whenever a card plays a part in a reading, add a line: the question, the position, what it turned out to describe.

After a year, some of those pages will be full. You may find that the Two of Swords has come to stand, for you, for one particular kind of standoff, or that a card you once found cold now reads warmer in your own hands. Your personal meanings do not replace the traditional ones. They sit beside them, and they are the reason an experienced reader can see far more in a card than any book of meanings holds.

Keeping a daily-card log

A daily-card log is the lightest form of tarot journal: one card drawn each morning and one line written about it. In the evening, or the next morning, add a second line on how the card sat with the day.

The log builds familiarity quickly, because you spend a whole day with each card. Over a few weeks, you meet a good share of the deck in ordinary circumstances. Keep to one card a day, without redrawing, so the log records what came rather than what you preferred. The guide The one-card draw, in this Library, goes deeper into this practice.

In the Gilded Garden deck, the Hermit is a single lantern above a stone stair, lighting only the next step. A daily card works in the same spirit: it is not a forecast of the day, only a small light to walk by.

The HermitWisdom found by stepping back, carrying your own light, and walking a path that is yours rather than the crowd's.

Keeping your journal private

A tarot journal holds private material: your questions, your worries, sometimes other people’s situations. Treat it accordingly.

• Keep a paper journal somewhere only you look. It is a record of your inner life, not a diary for guests.
• Use initials for other people. If you read for a friend, note the reading under their initials and keep their question in their own words.
• Write honestly anyway. A journal you censor for an imagined reader teaches you less. Privacy is what makes honesty possible.

Paper, the app, or both

TarotSeeker keeps a journal of every reading for you, automatically, with a calendar to look back through by day and month. Your daily card is kept there too, one card a day, so the daily log builds itself. With journal recall switched on, the companion can notice when a card has returned across your own recent readings and point it out in a new one. Readings you do for someone else are kept separate and are never mixed into that recall.

Paper and the app can coexist. Many readers let the app hold the record (the cards, positions and readings) and keep a notebook for what only handwriting catches: first impressions, sketches of the spread, the later notes that come weeks on. Use whichever mix you will keep up. The only journal that teaches you anything is the one you return to.

Questions readers ask

What should I write in my tarot journal?

In a tarot journal, write the date, your question in your own words, the spread, each card with its position and orientation, and your first impression before you interpret. Then add your reading, a one-line takeaway, and, days or weeks later, a note on what happened or what changed. The first impression and the later note are the parts that teach you most.

How often should I review my tarot journal?

Most readers review a tarot journal once a month. That is often enough to remember the context of each reading and long enough for patterns to appear: cards that keep returning, a month dominated by one suit, repeated numbers, many or few Major Arcana. Reading your later notes against the original readings shows where your interpretations were sound and where hope or worry pulled them aside.

Do you need a tarot journal to learn tarot?

You do not need a tarot journal to learn tarot, but it is the quickest way to do it. A journal ties each card to situations you lived through, which is far more memorable than a list of meanings. It also lets you check readings in hindsight and notice your own habits as a reader, two things memory alone does poorly.

Should I keep a tarot journal on paper or in an app?

A tarot journal works on paper or in an app, and many readers use both. An app can record every reading automatically, with its cards, positions and date, so nothing is lost. Paper suits first impressions, sketches and later reflections. Choose the combination you will actually keep up, because a journal only helps if you return to it.