To keep a tarot journal, write down five things for every reading: the date, your question, each card with its position, your first impression before you look up any meaning, and, later, a line about what actually happened. Keep those entries in one section of a notebook, add a page for each card as you get to know it, and read back through it once a month. That's the whole method.
This guide is about how to set the notebook up so it stays useful for years, not weeks: what goes where, two templates you can copy, and how to use the journal to check your readings honestly. If you'd rather start with a five-minute daily habit, our piece on keeping a tarot journal you'll actually keep covers that side.
Paper notebook, app or spreadsheet?
Any of them works. What matters is that you'll open it.
- A paper notebook keeps you away from your phone, and handwriting slows you down enough to notice things. A medium-size notebook with numbered pages is plenty. Choose one with enough pages to last a year.
- A notes app is always with you, and you can paste in a photo of the spread. Make a separate note for each month so entries don't turn into one endless scroll.
- A spreadsheet sounds clinical, but it's the best tool for spotting patterns. One row per card drawn, with columns for date, question, position, card, reversed or upright, and outcome. After a few months you can sort by card and see every time the Five of Cups turned up.
Many readers use paper for readings and a spreadsheet for the tally. That's a good combination.
Set up the notebook in four sections
A journal that's just pages of readings in date order gets hard to use. Splitting it into sections from the start fixes that. If you're using a paper notebook, leave a few pages at the front for a contents list.
- Readings. Every daily draw and spread, in date order. This is most of the notebook.
- Card pages. One page or half-page for each of the 78 cards, filled in gradually. Leave space at the back, or use a second, thinner notebook.
- Spreads. Every layout you use, with its positions written out and a quick sketch of the shape. When you invent a spread, it goes here.
- Reviews. A short monthly summary: what came up, what helped, what you noticed.
The reading entry: a template to copy
Each entry takes six or seven lines. Write the first five at the time and the last one later.
- Date and time:
- Question:
- Spread: (name it, or point to its page in the Spreads section)
- Cards: position, card, upright or reversed
- First impression: what you noticed before checking any meaning
- Reading in one sentence:
- What happened: (added a day, a week or a month later)
Here's what a filled-in entry might look like.
- Date: Tuesday, 7:40 a.m.
- Question: How do I handle the team meeting today?
- Spread: situation, obstacle, advice
- Cards: Seven of Wands; Five of Swords, reversed; Page of Swords
- First impression: someone defending a hill, then a fight that's fizzling out, then a young person watching closely
- Reading: hold your position on the deadline, don't turn it into a point-scoring fight, and ask questions before arguing
- What happened: asked two questions first; turned out the deadline was flexible. Didn't need to defend anything.
The "first impression" line is the one beginners skip, and it's the one that teaches you most. It records your own eye for the cards before the book gets involved.
Card study pages: building your own guidebook
Over time, the Card pages section becomes a guidebook written by you. Fill a page in the first time you draw a card, then add to it each time it comes back.
- Card:
- What I see: colors, figures, objects, the mood of the picture
- Traditional meaning, in my own words: one or two sentences
- My keyword:
- When it has turned up: dates and one-line context
- Cards it often appears with:
After six months, the "when it has turned up" lines are the most valuable thing in the notebook. You'll see that the Eight of Pentacles always appears around deadlines, or that the Six of Swords keeps coming up when you're thinking about moving. That's your own meaning layered on top of the traditional one. When you want to check the standard reading of a card, our tarot card meanings cover all 78.
Tracking your readings honestly
A journal is the best tool you have for checking what your readings actually do. Two habits keep it honest.
Always fill in the "what happened" line, including when the reading missed. It's tempting to note only the readings that seemed to land. Recording the misses too shows you whether the cards are helping you think, which is what they're good for, or if you've slipped into reading them as predictions, which they're not good for. Our guide to whether tarot readings are accurate explains why readings so often feel right.
Count repeats before you read meaning into them. If you draw one card a day from a 78-card deck, a repeat is more likely than not by about the eleventh draw, and a whole month with no repeat at all is rare: the odds are roughly one in six hundred. So The Hermit turning up three times in a month is ordinary chance. It's still worth asking why it caught your attention, but you don't need to treat it as a message.
The monthly review page can be short:
- Which suit appeared most?
- Which card came up more than once, and what was going on each time?
- Which reading was most useful, and why?
- Which reading missed, and what did I learn from that?
What to write when a reading confuses you
Some readings don't make sense on the day. Write them down anyway, with a note: "Didn't understand the Knight of Cups here." Then leave it. Readings that seem confusing often make sense in hindsight, and the ones that never do are useful too, because they show you which cards you haven't learned yet.
If a particular combination keeps puzzling you, copy it onto its card pages and look it up later in our guide to tarot card combinations. Most readers find that a few months of journaling does more for learning the cards than any amount of memorizing, which is also the heart of our advice on how to memorize tarot card meanings.
Questions readers ask
What should I write in a tarot journal?
At minimum: the date, the question, the cards and their positions, your first impression and a later note on what happened. Optional extras include your mood, a sketch of the spread, the moon phase and how you'd rate the reading's usefulness.
How often should I write in my tarot journal?
Every time you read, even if it's one line. A daily single card is the easiest rhythm to keep. Add a short review once a month. Missing days doesn't matter; just pick up again.
Do I need a special tarot journal?
No. Printed tarot journals with templates exist and some people like them, but any notebook, app or spreadsheet works. The best journal is the one you'll actually use.
Should I write down reversed cards?
Yes, if you read reversals. Note "R" beside the card. Over time you'll see whether reversed cards follow patterns of their own, and the notes will help you decide whether reversals are worth keeping in your practice.
