I just wrapped up my third tarot journal of the year and figured, why not drag you along for the ride as I set up a fresh one? Full disclosure: I’ve got ADHD, which means my brain operates somewhere between "Pinterest aesthetic" and "unhinged goblin." I have this deep desire to be organized and make things all pretty, but honestly, I thrive in chaos (Shh let me believe this).
So, as much as I adore the idea of keeping everything neat and pretty in one epic Book of Shadows, it’s just not going to happen, or it would, and I'd abandon it a few months in. I have to keep things separate.
It lives its own life, always being thrown in my bag for school car line, or when I'm at the cafe. I use it every day (sometimes twice or more), and it’s where all my daily draws, personal spreads, and tarot study notes are.
WHY?
Tarot journaling is hands-down one of my favorite tools—not just for dumping all the swirling thoughts in my head, but also for leveling up my tarot knowledge. Yeah, some people just seem to get it naturally. But hot take: Psychic intuition is also a skill you can learn and sharpen. Building a Tarot Journal is like creating your own study guide.
My journal is like a workshop —a place to study, experiment, and reflect. It’s where I can compare traditional meanings with my own personal correspondences and keep track of how my understanding of the cards shifts over time. Like, if the 6 of Pentacles keeps popping up every time you bake cookies for your neighbor, then maybe that card is less "money charity" and more "comfort food and checking in on others". Next time it shows up you might be more inclined to preheat the oven.
PICKING A JOURNAL
This part is all about your vibe—anything goes. Personally, I’m a sucker for dot journals. The dots keep my writing from turning into a slow-motion downhill slide across the page, but the lack of strict lines gives me the freedom to doodle and sketch out spreads, plus it feels aesthetically pleasing.
Ideal page count? That’s where it gets tricky. Too few pages, and I’m constantly annoyed about running out of space. Too many, and it’s a chore to lug it around. My sweet spot is around 300 pages, front and back. It’s enough space for months of readings without turning my bag into a workout session. This has been my go-to for the past year.
Whatever you pick make it yours. Go wild—decorate the cover, pick a design that calls to you, or slap on some stickers. I usually stick to blank covers (sorry I'm boring), but this is your journal give it a personality. A good bookmark doesn’t hurt either.
PREP AND SET
Once you’ve got your journal in hand and you’re ready to dive in, I like to start with a good smoke cleanse. Let’s be real—it’s probably been through a lot: hands, factories, mail trucks, who knows what else. Starting with a clean slate just feels right. Since we’re working with paper, smoke is a safe bet compared to something like Florida water. A few passes with your favorite incense stick or bundle does the trick. I usually let the incense keep burning while I finish up the rest of my setup—
For the record, I don’t cleanse my journal every time I use it. This is strictly a "welcome to the family" kind of ritual I do with new journals.
THE FIRST PAGE
The first page or inside cover is where I add a personal sigil. I made my first one a few years ago with protection and the journal's intention in mind, and it’s become a ritual I stick to with every new journal.
When creating your own sigil, think about what you want this journal to represent. How will you use it? What energy do you want it to hold? Think of keywords like:
Safe
Study
Explore
Create
Growth
Take your list of words, mash them into a phrase or intention, and craft your sigil from there. It doesn’t have to be fancy—just something that feels personal and charged with your energy. I'll have to come back and link my own article about creating sigils (adds to list) but in the meantime remember there are lots of different ways to create a sigil, utilize what feels best, or if you're looking for ease using a generator like this one totally works!
TAROT AS A DAILY PROMPT
This is the main way I use my journal. When I have the time, I love turning it into a whole ritual—making my coffee, sipping it at my altar, picking out a deck, and pulling my morning cards. I try to pull at least one card a day.
If life’s chaotic (which, let’s be real, it often is especially with three littles), I’ll keep it simple with a KNOW/LET GO pull. But on slower mornings, when I can really sink into my cards, I’ll go for a full spread. That said, spreads aren’t a hard and fast requirement to reading Tarot. Plenty of readers pull cards without the structure of a spread. And although I love copying down the layout in my journal and making it cute there are days where I just shuffle, pull, and let the cards take the wheel.
I like to head the page with the date and title of the spread if it has one. One of my favorite parts about a dot journal is how easy it is to map out a spread. I label the card placements, including the prompts and the deck im using. This is mostly out of preference so if you want to get right into it, by all means. But this is my sort of therapeutic doodle sesh before pulling and it's nice to look back through to reuse spreads I may have forgotten about.
LEARNING TAROT
My headache-free go-to method for using a journal as way to study and learn Tarot card meanings is to pull a card and start with a section I call "What I See." This is where I jot down my personal interpretation—what stands out in the art, what intuitive ideas I get, and any connections I make without cracking open a book.
Once I’ve poured all that out, I move on to "What It Means." where I dive into the book definitions—key phrases, traditional meanings, and anything I might’ve missed in my personal read. I write it all down underneath my initial thoughts, so it’s easy to compare. Kind of turning it into an exercise on top of divination.
As a visual learner, this method has been a game-changer. Seeing where my gut reactions align with or differ from the "official" meanings helps me bridge the gap between intuition and study. Over time, it’s a great way to build confidence and deepen your understanding of the cards as a whole.
REFLECTION
One of the absolute best parts of keeping a tarot journal is being able to flip back through past readings and see how things played out—especially the ones that didn’t make sense at the time. It’s wild to realize how the cards connect to events you didn’t expect or interpret quite right at the moment.
A perfect example is a Year-ahead spread. When you first pull them, December of next year feels like a million miles away. But when the time finally rolls around, having your original interpretation right there in your journal is so satisfying. It’s like piecing together a puzzle.
Looking back on those "aha!" moments is a reminder of how much the cards and your intuition can teach you. I like to include the name of the deck I used for each reading so that when I look back if I want I can pull out the actual card. Plus, it's just plain cool to see how your understanding of the cards grows over time.
So, grab your journal, a pen or two, your favorite deck, and dive in.
Happy Journaling!
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