Tarot Journal Guide

the nourish exchange’s Tarot Journal Guide

Tarot is a great tool for getting in touch with our intuition and highest selves. We can use the cards to connect with what's happening in our day-to-day lives and reflect on bigger themes that are showing up for us.

The best way that I’ve found to fully process the lessons of the tarot is by journaling. Journaling with the cards daily has taught me a lot about taking an honest but non-judgemental approach to self-reflection and about the cards themselves. In this guide I’ll share a few reasons why you might want to give it a try and my step-by-step process for how to do it.

What do you need to start? All you need is an open mind, a deck of tarot cards, and a journal and pen (or note taking app, if that’s your style).

Reasons to start a tarot journaling ★ Learn to trust your intuition ★ Get clear on your intentions and goals ★ Make your day a little more magical ★ Start a spiritual practice that’s fun and badass ★ Get a better understanding of the cards and their themes

A little bit about the tarot cards Each deck has 78 cards, made up of the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. The 22 Major Arcana cards are, well, major life themes, phases, and shifts. The 56 Minor Arcana cards are made up of suits (very similar to a typical playing card deck) — the suits are typically wands, swords, cups, and pentacles.

The Ace through 10 cards reflect everyday occurrences, feelings, and emotional states and the court cards (Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings) often come up as aspects of your personality (or the personalities of people you’re dealing with).

If you want to dive deep into the card meanings, journaling is one of the best ways to connect them to your own experiences and form a relationship with them. (Sure, a relationship with cards sounds ridiculous, but it’s real).

Grab your deck and let’s start journaling with the tarot!

1. Get quiet. You can make it a ritual — light a candle, grab a crystal or two, or pick up the cards after meditating, when your mind is quiet and fresh — but this isn’t required.

You can just get comfortable, take a few deep breaths, and hold your deck in your hands. It’s really just about finding what feels good to you and taking a moment to focus.

2. Shuffle with your question in mind. Holding your deck, start tuning into what you’d like to know, then begin to shuffle. The way you shuffle doesn’t matter, btw, just get those cards nice and mixed up. Stop shuffling when you feel its right and your question is fully in your mind.

If you don’t know what to ask, start with a simple: What do I need to know today? Avoid yes or no questions or queries about specific timing of events. The tarot works best when you’re looking into a situation more deeply to find out what’s lying below the surface, what motivations are there, and what’s available to help you make the situation better.

Types of questions to ask: ★ What’s going on for me right now/this week/this month? ★ How can I work through this feeling I have right now? ★ What’s going to be useful to me in this situation? ★ How might I feel if I decide to X? ★ What strength will help me with this situation?

3. Start by pulling one card. Start by just pulling one card, especially when you’re first starting to learn the tarot. Choose any card you want — it can be from the top, back, middle. Whatever. Turn the card over.

4. Look at the card closely. What feelings do you get as soon as you look at it and hold it in your hand? How might it relate to your question? Does the image remind you of anything? Does the card seem to carry a strong emotion to you? What clues are in the imagery that you notice only the second or third time you scan the image? Jot down the first few things that pop into your head about the card.

If you’re struggling with what the card might be trying to communicate, you can pull another card or two to help you clarify. You can also dive deep into the bigger, more well-known tarot spreads, but for the purposes of everyday journaling and the beginning of your tarot experience, I find that 1 to 3 cards daily is plenty.

5. Check with the experts. I believe that your intuition is the ultimate authority here, especially because this journaling exercise is all about you getting in touch with you. But if you want to learn the cards, I suggest checking with a source that really resonates for you. Personally, I hated the little booklet that came with my Smith-Waite deck and didn’t find that any of the descriptions landed with me. I threw it out in favor of a few resources I return to regularly. There are a bunch of tarot resources out there, but some of my favorites are:

★ Biddy Tarot ★ WTF is Tarot & How Do I Do It? ★ The Numinous ★ The Creative Tarot ★ Wild Soul Tarot ★ Tatianna Tarot

6. Write it out. All your gut reactions and any poignant descriptions you find in your outside research — write it all down. As you write, what questions come up for you? Are there any actions you feel like would be useful to take with this new insight?

Now's the time to get really real with yourself. What is this card trying to highlight (good or bad) for you?

You can write a sentence, a paragraph, a page or three — whatever feels right, go there. My process can vary, but I generally write about a page and go through everything that’s coming up for me personally and any interesting things about the card generally.

7. Notice patterns and check back later. Check back at the end of the week or month and look at what’s come up for you in relation to the cards. Pay attention to those cards that keep appearing. You might be missing a piece or the puzzle or something's not quite sinking in for you. Read up on that card, spend some time with it, keep it on your desk that day and get cozy with it. The lesson will come eventually, likely with a little ah-ha moment.

I hope this guide helps you to create a wonderful, insightful journaling practice and makes your day just a little more magical.

xo Leah [email protected]