Earlier this month, I posted about Tarot Journaling. Today, I thought I’d share the section on journaling from my forthcoming book, Tarot for Beginners. Most tarot books and teachers encourage keeping a journal or a notebook of your tarot studies and practices—and I am one of them. A journal is a valuable companion on your tarot journeys. There are probably as many kinds of journals and as many ways to use a journal as there are tarotists. Let’s take a look at a few of both. Types of Journals Traditional Journal A traditional journal is any sort of bound book with blank or lined pages. They come in different sizes and qualities…for every taste and every budget. You

I cut my tarot teeth on 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack. Ever since, I’ve waited for what I thought of as her “sequel” to be published. It has finally happened and is called Rachel Pollack’s Tarot Wisdom: Spiritual Teachings and Deeper Meanings. Isn’t that title divine? The book is, too. Every word of it is wonderful and the interior design as well as the cover make an altogether creative and magical package. Toward the end of this book, Rachel poses the question “how does tarot work?” She writes: The answer to this is very simple: no one knows. People will say various things—the person’s unconscious or “higher self” guides their hands while shuffling, a

Whether you write professionally, for personal enjoyment, or journal, Corrine Kenner points out that “any blank page can be intimidating.” In her book, Tarot for Writers, Corrine devotes an entire chapter to breaking writer’s block. Her ideas are, of course, excellent for doing just that. But I also think they can be great journal prompts or tarot meet up exercises. Here’s a few for you to try: 1. Complete Description Describe a single card in as much detail as you can muster. Start at the top and work your way down. Then describe the background and work your way toward the foreground. Notice the predominant colors as well as the mood and emotion in the card. Describe

Most tarot students agree that the court cards are the most challenging. Perhaps this is because they represent people and, let’s face it, people are complicated! One of the best books I've read to explore all the complexities of the court cards is Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K. Greer and Tom Little. They help us jump right in by getting up close and personal with the court cards by having us pick our significators. What is a significator? How do you pick one? Let’s see what Mary and Tom have to say: One of the most familiar uses of the court cards in divination is the significator. The significator is a card that represents the querent—the person who is asking the