
Tarot is a powerful self-care tool that’s effective for both occultist and secular users, but while tarot practices vary from deck to deck and person to person, you might find that a tarot journal is the next tool you need to deepen your interpretation of the cards. Tarot journaling is similar to regular bullet journaling, the only difference is that instead of only tracking the events of your day and the tasks you need to get done, you also keep track of the tarot cards you pull.
As a tracking tool, a tarot journal helps you get a clear overview of all the cards you’ve pulled in the past few days, letting you step back from your most recent readings and see where you’re actually headed. This can be especially handy if you keep getting ‘scary’ cards like the Tower. Since you have a log of past readings, it also helps you pin down when certain patterns in your life began to emerge and connect these to the ways they manifested in reality.
Why Keep a Tarot Journal?

Just like how reading tarot cards can be a way to reflect deeper when meditating, a tarot journal lets you dig deeper into each reading. A tarot journal is a tool for braiding together ideas gleaned from the symbolism of the tarot cards, personal reflections, observations on daily life, and themes from books you’ve read or other media you’ve consumed lately. This lets you parse the objective symbolism of the cards from your personal interpretation and figure out why you see it that way.
A lot of tarot reading is subjective and personal to the reader, what you read from Death as an inevitable end today may be read as rejuvenation the next week because of, for example, leaving a job you felt burnt out in or reading a book about how seasonal changes shape the environment. With a tarot journal, it becomes easier to pin down what experiences and ideas have been introduced to us lately that have shaped the way we see the cards.
Another great thing about keeping a tarot journal is that it’s a record of all the cards you’ve pulled in a fixed time period. If you’re familiar with the numerological meanings of tarot cards, you’ll find this useful for identifying patterns in your thinking or forces that shape your current environment. For example, a lot of Fours can mean stability is the main concern in your life right now and with the Emperor being a frequent visitor, you may find you have the power to make that possible.
How to Keep a Tarot Journal and Stick To It

1. Establish a Tarot Reading Routine
A lot of tarot readers do a Daily Card pull to guide them through their day and many apps for tarot offer this option. Daily pulls are easy to track because they happen on a regular basis. Other big routine readings include moon phase readings, monthly readings, and annual tarot readings. Regardless of when and how you do yours, you’ll have better chances of keeping a tarot journal for months to years if you stick to an established tarot reading routine.
You don’t have to track every reading, but when you start your tarot journal, decide right away which readings are getting written down and which ones won’t be. If you decide you only want to track monthly readings, then by all means do so but remember to do it for every month or as close to that as possible.
2. Decide on What Trackers You Want to Include in Your Journal
Bullet journals have what’s called weekly, monthly, and daily spreads as well as mood trackers. You can do something similar with your tarot journal by noting down your daily pulls, weekly readings, and monthly readings. You can also create schedules that include tarot learning and notes on tarot books that you’re reading right now as well as trackers that mark your progress.
In my case, I keep tarot journal spreads for learning the suits of the minor arcana week by week, going over the meanings of each card from the court cards to the Tens. I also keep a separate “cheatsheet” spread that condenses all of the contents of these tarot journal spreads into two pages. This way, I always have something to reference when I’m doing a reading.
3. Make Art Based on the Cards
Everyone’s interpretation is different and this shows through in the way we write about the cards and illustrate them. You may find that you’re able to connect with the cards on a different level, or at least a different way, when you draw how you visualize the cards on their end. Think of it as a free exercise in creativity and meditation. Your tarot journal is yours, it doesn’t have to look like Picasso made it, it just has to mean something to you and reflect the meaning you see in the world.

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Interpreting Your Tarot Journal

Pay Attention to Themes in Your Tarot Journal
A lot of the cards overlap in meaning or have shared meanings that can clue you into what you need to start paying attention to more in your life. Some cards will bring to mind structure and authority, maybe even the need for it in your life. Others, when they appear together, will call you to tap into your inner strength and kindness for yourself. On the other hand, certain cards may tell you it’s time to take a step back and rest while others can push you towards your goals — no matter how hard the journey is.
Notice how they come up, which other cards they come up with, and the context in which they appear in your readings. This is possible to do with a tarot journal since you’ll have notes on what previous cards appeared in which positions.
Notice the Numbers You Draw Most
As mentioned earlier, the cards in your tarot deck have numerological meanings and trends in which numbers appear for you can mean that’s the main concern or the main theme of your life right now. Here’s a quick look at all the tarot number meanings:
- Aces: Beginnings and raw potential. In the major arcana, card #1 is the Magician who is not just the first action towards pursuing an idea, but the very conception of that idea.
- Twos: Union, harmony, and balance. Think of the High Priestess who embodies the balance of opposite but complementary forces.
- Threes: Groups, things and people coming together. Think of the phrase “three is a crowd”. Three is active and acting.
- Fours: Stability and foundations, but also some rigidity. Remember the Emperor who is necessary and stable but can be too rigid.
- Fives: Flux. This can be for better or for worse as we move out of the stability of the Fours.
- Sixes: Harmony. There are a lot of ‘happy’ cards here like Six of Wands, but Six of Swords is a call to let go of what no longer works and finding internal harmony when external reconciliation from the conflict of Five is no longer possible.
- Sevens: Reassessing, going back to the drawing board. In the major arcana, card #7 is the Chariot and in the Sevens we are asked to really think things through, identify what really matters to us, and assess risk before we valiantly forge ahead.
- Eights: Accomplishment. This is evident with the Eight of Pentacles and Eight of Wands, not so much for the Eight of Swords and Eight of Cups. But remember card #8 is Strength and in Strength, we find not just accomplishment, but inner strength. Eight of Swords and Cups speak to this.
- Nines: The final stretch. At Nine, we begin to grow comfortable with or used to our situation as we head towards the completion of Ten, but the Nines are a brief respite, a final summoning of will, and an invitation to ask ourselves ‘Is this what I really want?’. This meaning becomes clearer with Major Arcana card #9, the Hermit.
- Tens: Completion, the end of a cycle. Things have come full circle and we are being brought back to the starting point again. Fittingly, it corresponds with card #10 of the major arcana, the Wheel of Fortune.
Note the Suits You Draw the Most Cards From
The suits of the minor arcana represent the elements and certain concepts such as intellect, wealth, creativity, and emotions. The suit of swords corresponds to air and intellect. The suit of pentacles is earth and wealth. The suit of wands is fire and creativity. Lastly, there’s the suit of cups which is water and emotions.
Drawing a lot of swords can mean your energy is strongly focused in the mental realm, whether that means you’re coming up with new ideas and strategies or worrying too much is up to you to interpret. If you’re seeing a lot of wands, there may be a creation of something new on the horizon or you may already be working on that. Meanwhile, the pentacles can mean material security is your main concern. If it’s the cups, your energy may be needed in the emotional realm.