- Serena 2 Comments

journaling through the tarot

journaling through the tarot

Hi there, friends! Whew, has June ever been a doozy. And where did it even go? I swear just last week I was lamenting how far my Fourth of July vacation seemed to be, and now it’s next week. Ahh!!

As many of you know, I moved to Nashville in February and ever since then, to be honest, my spiritual practice has been completely out of whack. I went from having a job to not having a job to finding a new job, and my routine has changed dramatically with each new shift. I’ve been super ungrounded with no personal space of my own, sacred or otherwise (living with family will do that to you) and have just felt completely untethered to any kind of spiritual routine. It’s hard to get your spellcraft on when the TV is blasting downstairs and three other people are having a conversation in the next room, you know? I don’t know how other witches do it, but I was definitely spoiled by having my very own office space all of last year.

I desperately want to fix this, because I know I feel more stable and fulfilled when I’m regularly making space for my spiritual practice. To ease my way back into daily time for witchcraft, I decided to embark on a journaling exercise.

The tarot was my gateway into witchcraft, and so I decided to go back to my roots and begin a daily journaling practice, writing about one card each day and eventually going through all 78 cards. (I’m not going to lie, this was partly inspired by how obsessed I am with that visual novel app The Arcana – anyone else??? HELP I can’t stop.) I’ve attempted this many times in the past and never made it through all 78, so who knows what will happen, but this time I know I can use my lunch break as writing time which helps a lot!

I wanted to keep the prompts really simple so I could extrapolate on them as much or as little as I wanted, so feel free to add or remove prompts to fit your own journaling style. This is just what I’m doing and I thought I’d share! You could easily make this into part of your grimoire or add it to your tarot journal – I think it helps to keep a record of personal associations you have for each card in addition to their “traditional” meanings. Tradition isn’t always best, you know!

Without further ado, here are the journaling prompts I’m writing about, starting today with The Fool.

journaling through the tarot

1. Name

Pretty straightforward – what is the name of the card? You can also include other names you’ve seen it have, such as “The World” as “Awakening” in the Victorian Fairy Tarot. The Slow Holler tarot did some cool things with the court cards and gave them gender-neutral titles which I like a lot.

2. Key Words/Traditional Meaning

What is this card “supposed” to mean? What are some of the traditional meanings, key words, and archetypes associated with this card? This can be a list of key words or a more prose-like description. It doesn’t matter – it’s all for you anyway! I’m just doing a looooong list of keywords.

3. Correspondences

Does this card have any planetary, herbal, or numerical correspondences? Are any deities associated with this card? Write all of this down.

4. What is your relationship with this card?

Does this card appear for you often? Is it one you’re not very familiar with? Is it something that appeared frequently during a particular time of your life? Do you freaking hate it? For example, the Three of Swords appeared for me many times when, unsurprisingly, I was caught in a cycle of bad relationships. Seeing it now reminds me of that time, even when I’ve drawn it for someone else. Write down what your history is with this particular card – this will affect your feelings about it, good or bad.

5. What does it mean to you?

What are your personal associations with this card? It’s okay if they vary wildly from the traditional meanings. For example, an introvery might feel comforted by the Hermit card, but for someone who is terrified of being alone it might dredge up some shadow feeiings. Death is another card that people tend to be very mixed about – in some it inspires dread, while others revel in transformation. This part can be as long as you want, can take whatever form you want, and can even conflict with itself. You just want to express your feelings here so you can return to them in the future and see what’s changed.

6. Artistic interpretation

Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I’m not doing this step for my current rendition of this exercise. But I included it because I like the idea and I have a vision that someday I’ll do this for at least the Major Arcana. I really love the idea of capturing your feelings, traditional meanings, correspondences, and whatever else pertains to this card in some artistic form. You can draw a picture, make a collage, paint some abstract colors, write a poem… whatever you’d like!

I don’t know what order I’ll do the suits in – I think I’ll probably go with whichever one I feel LEAST like writing about, as there’s bound to be a lesson to be learned in there somewhere! I’m hoping that this exercise will bring me back in touch with the cards and make them a regular part of my life again.

Have you ever journaled your way through the tarot? Were your prompts different than these? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to get some inspiration from your experience! <3