Tarot with Tasha: Old School Pen and Paper Journaling

Everyone seems to have a journal or grimoire these days. Us bloggers and journaling folks are everywhere. If you are looking for some inspiration on starting your own personal or Tarot journal, maybe this post will be a good starting place for you.
It can be intimidating to start a journal in the first place, I can tell you that from my own experience. No matter how hard however, I do believe that keeping a journal is a really awesome thing to do, and honestly, I think everyone should at least try it. I have been keeping a personal journal since I was eleven and have continued to add to its volumes over the past seventeen years (annnnnd that sentence just made me feel really old!). The journal that I have been keeping holds all of my secrets. If you ever made an impact on my life your name is probably scribed on one of those pages. There are things in those books that no-one knows: joys, sorrows, adventures mixed with misadventures and of course, a lot- like an embarrassing lot, of teenage angst. My journals are my most sacred possession. Like all things some have gotten lost but I am content to still have most of them kicking around. My hope is that I keep adding to its volumes for the rest of my life. It has been a lot of work and dedication but I know when I am old and can barely remember who I am, I will have these books to remind me. I will have a chance to read the names of those I love, those I have lost and maybe laugh at myself along the way. A gift from mostly able minded me to not so able minded future me. The pièce de résistance of my life.
I started my Tarot journal when I started my classes with my teacher. I read a lot about Tarot journaling in books but never really knew how to get started so it was something I always put off. I knew how to write a personal journal but to write on a specific topic, that was tough. I had too high expectations of myself and ended up giving up because it wasn't coming out "text book" enough. I would focus more on the wording than what the actual card was about. When I started to study, A. recommended that we start a journal. She said that it would help us get our own interpretations out of our minds and on to paper. She said it would be easier to remember the cards this way and she was right. After my first lesson, I was assigned a card and was told to write about it. I was told not to focus on the sentences or it making sense. No one was going to read the journal but me. I was not writing for a public platform. Realizing this was just a personal journal about a topic was an "a-ha" moment for me. I was no longer writing a text book, and with that my first Tarot journal was born.

Bumblebee book is the first one. What? Bumblebees scream TAROT! No?

I was told to just look at the card and write my first impressions down about it. Like I was meeting it for the first time. Did it make me feel happy? Sad? Did I want to run away from it or be a part of it? I would go through the deck starting with the Minor and just write down my thoughts on each card. There were no fancy pictures in there or beautifully written poetry. No flowery spells for psychic clarity or anything like that. Just the name of the card and my first impression. It was the most basic of basic, but it worked. If you want to start your own book, try doing this little meet and greet through the cards. You don't have to write a paragraph, a quick sentence or even a word jotted down quickly will do. Use this as your start. Before you know it the pages will start to fill up- the most gratifying part of any journal- if you ask me! Its crazy the little hang-ups we get before we starting writing in a new book. Push through the "fear of tainting the shiny new book" and just go to town on it! No one is going to care if your writing is messy or if you use different pens. You will be too busy having your mind expanded with Tarot awesomeness that you too will stop caring about your penmanship or choice of Bic.

The rewards of keeping a journal are too many to list but I will try a few in a last ditch attempt to get you writing.

You will:

Learn more about yourself than you ever thought you would.
You will remember odd things and strange memories will surface that you thought you buried six feet under and covered in cement.
You will be surprised how much life without auto correct both sucks and doesn't suck.
There will be no phrases such as, "The 3 of Swords makes me really ducking depressed". When you use a pen and paper journal.
You gain a creative outlet.
You will be able to document your awesome Tarot journey and someday turn it into a real book or blog- if you want too!
You can always add to it, start again or make your existing one better. *See pretty glitter book above, behind the bees. LOL.
You can bring up in conversation that you, "journal" which will add to your already sexy mysteriousness.
You can literally do whatever you want. You could even write your own Tarot-Sutra or Tarot-erotica. Maybe the next 50 Shades of Grey cash cow is sitting in your Tarot cards right now! Hubba hubba! Toot-Toot!
You do not have to write in it every day. I don't write in either my journals daily. I only write when the mood strikes me. I find it is so much easier to commit to keeping a journal this way because it stops it from being a chore. Try this method if you struggle with daily journal writing.
Every time you write in it, its an escape from this world to somewhere magickal and who doesn't want more magick in their lives?

I will one last time beg humbly before your supreme sexy mysterious awesomeness and ask you to please, please, please give this a try. I think you will be happy with the results!

Next up we will get risky, explore the unknown and take a ride on the Wheel of Fortune!

Here are some more pics of my Tarot journals.