1 Jul 2018
When I started creating my tarot journal, I thought I could have a cute little book I could stick in my purse! Nope! Tarot journaling quickly balloons in information, so I ended up with FOUR tarot journals. I have pages for both the RWS deck and my primary deck, as well as copious notes for each card for each deck. Just, basically, this is a lot of information.
I have one journal for the pips, one for the courts, and one for the major arcana. Since the other three became so large, I added one more journal to serve as a reference book, which is the cute little book I could stick in my purse and bring with me places while the other notebooks stay home.
I made the journals using the discbound system to bind the pages and allow me to quickly and freely rearrange pages whenever I please. I go into details about binding pages into a discbound notebook on my post about making a DIY RWS tarot coloring book.
Currently the covers are clear ploy with the first page images of cards from my favorite deck, The Wildwood Tarot (artwork by Will Worthington). I plan to replace these covers with custom covers eventually. I'm thinking of tooling leather! But for now I'm focusing on my tarot studies.
Major Arcana Tarot Journal
I created a coloring page for each card from the RWS tarot. After each coloring page, I include my notes from reading up on other sources, and a more lengthy personal interpretation of the card. In the photo above, I demonstrate how I can easily remove the coloring page, which allows me to color it, spray it, and then place it back into the notebook wherever I want it to be.
I flagged each card so I can quickly jump to it. I decided to use symbols for each card instead of numbers because the numbering system is not consistent for each deck. When I have notes about a specific deck, I can put it along with its related brethren from other decks.
Courts Tarot Journal
I divide it up by King/Queen/Knight/Page and then by suit. I flag each suit by the color of its element.
Pips Tarot Journal
Similarly to the Courts Tarot Journal, this journal is divided by number, and then by suit.
Tarot Reference Journal
The bulk of this journal is reference pages for each card. There are just 78 pages for the tarot cards. The front is for the Wildwood Tarot interpretation, and the back for the RWS Tarot interpretation. No more, or else this journal will get unwieldy like the others! The goal is to keep it short and simple, and fit it within 3/4" discs.
There's also a section to reference my favorite spreads, and lastly a journal of my tarot experiences. However, I am planning on pulling out the journal section from this notebook and keep this as a pure reference journal. I'll be making another journal that will collect all my personal experiences and keeping that journal more private.
I organize the cards by Major Arcana, then by suit. I put a flag at the beginning of each suit so I can quickly jump to the card I'm looking for.