I advise clients to journal their thoughts, write things down, or even record themselves. This process brings those inchoate emotions and thoughts outside of you and into the real world where it is easier to study them dispassionately. The physical act of speaking or writing is magical; it clears the mind and sometimes resolves issues.
My Take on Journaling
As a compulsive journal buyer, I really want to journal! I love looking at the fancy journals people create with templates and stickers and nine different types of pen colors. This kind of journaling just doesn’t work for me. I can’t sustain it.
My current practice consists of four separate journals, which should probably be three.
Journal One: Daily Stuff
The grey journal is used for daily journaling. I generally keep it open to the current page somewhere on my desk. Every morning, after coffee which I drink while catching up on the news and Twitter, I write the date and the day of the lunar cycle. (I’m trying to track my sleep and moods to the lunar cycle.) Then I pull a Tarot card (or three) and record my thoughts. This functions as either a head’s up or a general notice of what the day is going to be like.
I recently invested in a 6-month astrology forecast, so I read that and record anything notable. Side note: The Tarot card and astrology readings generally concur. It is pretty cool.
After reviewing the previous day and writing down anything that comes to mind, I write down a list of things to get done today. Any tasks from the previous day which didn’t get done are moved forward. Although I attempt to keep this list small, I usually over-schedule myself. Items which never get done, but keep moving forward generally aren’t that important and get dropped at some point (I’m looking at you, “dust the house”).
Any notes that come up, client contacts, reminders, stuff that would go on sticky notes, get written down here. This journal is a mess and is intended to be that way.
Journal Two: Learning Notes
The light brown book is for note journaling. I almost always have some sort of class going on, a book I’m reading, or an interesting podcast I’m listening to. Journaling important points, quotes, information, or ideas I want to explore further goes into this book.
In the front, I have an index so I can find things more easily. I don’t do sections – instead when new notes are added they are just added after the last notes and I update the index. When I come back and add more notes to a previous subject, I add those page numbers to the original index entry.
With this method of note-taking I have one place where all of my notes reside. There is no remembering what notebook, when I studied something, etc. It is all in one place. This journal is also pretty messy, with lots of arrows, highlighter marks, and sketches.
Journal Three (and Four, and Five): Reference
My memory is linked to writing things down. I don’t need to take the grocery list to the store because the act of writing it down helps me remember what I wanted. This last method of journaling is more like writing a book. The dark brown book is my Tarot book. In it, there is an index, a section of keywords for suits, numbers, symbols, and cards, two pages for each card in a Tarot deck, and a whole section of spreads I want to remember.
This book is almost full. I’ve learned quite a bit over the past year, but some of my knowledge and understanding has changed, so I’m getting ready to start a new book in the same format, but rethinking my keywords and interpretations.
While this is a reference book for me – I use it on a daily basis – it is also a method of learning. It is always a work in progress, so starting a new book is just a continuation of that process. I’ll integrate information from the old book, but add new knowledge and remove anything that no longer resonates.
This method of journaling is akin to re-writing your notes in college. It refreshes your memory but also encourages thinking about each entry as you re-write it. I don’t sit down and do the whole thing at once! Instead, it is a process that takes a couple of months.
I only have two reference journals right now, but I’m wanting to start one specifically for symbolism. This started out being blog posts on another, now defunct, blog, but typing isn’t as powerful for me as writing. The best thing is that this means I get to go buy another journal!
Journaling Supplies
I’m happy with the journaling books I find at Michael’s in the art section. I use the dotted ones because lined books make me anxious and don’t accommodate my small writing. Occasionally I’ll splurge for a Moleskine or Leuchtturm. Look for heavier paper stock and the more pages the better (at least 180)
What Clients are Saying about Sophrosyne Tarot
I was advised to ask open-ended questions instead of predictive questions which I thought was helpful because I never would have known if it weren’t for the reader. The reader provided the reading along with some advice too so the entire reading was very thorough and explained in an understandable manner.
Everything said was accurate and helpful for me to identify my flaws in order to grow as a person. I have learned a lot about tarot and what it does to help me.
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