Tarot Journaling and Daily Card Pulls + Writual Planner Review (Podcast Ep. 31 Blog)
In this blog entry that goes along with Healing Thru Tarot Podcast Ep. 31, I will be discussing tarot journaling and the importance of logging daily tarot card draws. And I will be sharing my experience with the tarot planner I am currently working with – The Writual Planner.
Tarot Tracker
When I bought my first tarot deck, I purchased a year long tarot tracker to help me keep a record of my daily and weekly tarot card pulls. This tracker (shown above and below) offered a paragraph sized space per day to include any thoughts on the cards pulled for the day, which was enough at the beginning of my practice because I was just getting starting and still learning the card meanings.
But I’ve upgraded my journaling over time as my tarot practice has evolved over the years. My tarot spreads and pulls have gotten more frequent and more complex, so I needed more space to log all my readings. For really long spreads over 10 cards, I usually take a photo and type up a summary and post on blogger. I’ve set that blog to private so only I can see those entries. I love having a digital journal in case I need to review those deep readings again in the future. You can even use tags for keywords to help you locate those readings easily if you don’t recall the dates.
Around the end of the year, I’m always asked which tarot journals and planners I suggest for the next year. So, let me tell you about the tarot planner I am currently using and in love with. Sheila Ellis, the owner of Writual, was kind enough to send me an early copy of their Writual 2022 Planner to work with. She even included pages for October through December 2021, so I could start working with this planner right away.
This planner (shown above) has been perfect in every way. It keeps me organized, motivated, and on track with my goals and my current manifestations. There is space in this planner for so many tarot activities that it’s easy to incorporate tarot into your daily routine and make it a ritual that sustains you throughout the week.
The Writual planner provides a place for you to record a 3 card daily spread, which is a way to check in with yourself to see where you are emotionally and to check in on the energy for the day and your progress on your current goals. I always suggest getting into the routine of pulling 3 tarot cards at the beginning of the day and observing how those cards play out throughout your day. In the evening, you can reflect on your day and journal about how the cards you pulled earlier played into the day’s events. Or you can pull 3 more cards in the evening to help you reflect on lessons from the day. Experiment and see which routine works best for you and your schedule.
I love to use the Writual tarot stamps to record the cards I pull that day (shown above). There are 26 stamps in total – you have one for each of the 22 major arcana cards and one stamp for each of the four tarot suits. For the minors you just write 1-10 or the court card name by the suits to identify which minor was pulled in that suit. This is such a fun way to keep up with my daily tarot draws!
I also use the Writual tarot stickers to record my year ahead spread and the energy for each month. These stickers are so easy to use. You just peel them off and apply to the areas in the journal that are perfectly sized for both the stamps and stickers. It couldn’t be any easier to track your daily card pulls. The stamps and stickers make it so easy to identify patterns in the cards pulled. When you can look at all your card pulls for the month, you notice patterns of which suits and majors you commonly pull, and you start to notice stalker cards like we discussed in Ep. 28: Stalker Cards and Vague or Confusing Messages in Spreads and How to Get Clarification in Readings
I've already added the tarot stickers for my Year Ahead Spread in the 2022 Planner.
Journaling each day keeps you connected with your goals and is a way to organize your thoughts and process your emotions on a regular basis, which helps avoid a buildup of anger, anxiety, or stress. I’m a big believer in logging behaviors, thoughts, symptoms, and habits. In therapy sessions, I often have clients fill out thought logs over the course of several weeks, and we review them in session to help identify patterns that could be changed or eliminated in order to fulfill the treatment goals that the client wants to achieve.
It’s hard to notice patterns without recording our daily behaviors because much of the time we are acting without thinking about it. Most of the day when we are engaged in menial tasks, we are on automatic pilot and aren’t consciously aware of all our actions. So, we could easily miss these repetitive habits that could be sabotaging our goals or leading to maladaptive behaviors.
Before starting a new diet, a food log helps identify snacking throughout the day that needs to be cut out to avoid sabotage, homework logs work well to keep ADHD individuals accountable, and thought records help to narrow down toxic self-talk and negative thought patterns behind OCD, depression, anger, and anxiety. So, the same logic applies to our tarot practice. It’s too easy to forget which cards we pulled a week ago, if we don’t have a record to look back over to review.
I suggest logging card pulls daily, and then at the end of the month tallying up the cards pulled for the past 30 days. It is also beneficial to do this again at the end of the year to help identify stalker cards that followed you throughout the year. These stalker cards could be related to themes you encounter during the year whether it is related to milestones, your tarot year card lessons, or birth card patterns that will play out over the course of your life.
Starting a daily tarot journaling practice helps to carve out time in your busy day to allow yourself a few minutes to slow down and reflect on your day. I find it helps me organize my thoughts, focus on my goals, reconnect me with my higher self, and align with my life purpose. Journaling and meditating help to connect us with our intuition and regain focus on the larger picture. It’s easy to get off track when we are distracted by breaking news every hour or the crisis of the day.
It’s vital for us all to carve out at least 10-15 minutes a day where we can unplug from the noisy world and reconnect with our intuitive self. Just the act of shuffling cards helps me to settle down and slow my racing mind to allow my inner voice to whisper wisdom that is much needed to help realign me with my goals, intentions, and dreams.
Astrological transits can show up in your tarot patterns as well. One of the things I love the most about the Writual planner is that Sheila has put in all the work to display the astrological transits, eclipse dates and signs, as well as all the dates of the planetary retrogrades and when they go direct for the entire year. She includes all the new and full moons including the dates, times, and signs of the moon phases each month. This saves a lot of time on our end because every year I spend a ton of time in January looking up all the dates for the full moons, new moons, and mercury retrogrades. Here, Sheila has already put in that work for us.
Astrology is peppered throughout this planner, which I love because I personally combine astrology in all of my tarot readings as these two practices are closely associated. There is also a space at the beginning of the planner to fill in your birth chart, which is so handy. I refer to my birth chart multiple times a month to check on planetary transits applying pressure throughout the year. Also, there is space to record your year ahead spread. I check back in on my yearly card pulls every month to remind myself of the energy for that month and the oracle card I pulled for that season, so I love having this space built into my planner for easy access.
The Writual planner gives you space for a monthly draw of the energy of that particular month and all the areas of your life like love and health and more. There are sections devoted to monthly and weekly intentions, aspirations, and action steps. As someone who focuses on manifestation throughout the month, I love these devoted spaces to prioritize what I want to focus on manifesting for the month. Goal setting is so important, if you want to manifest your dreams. It helps to be mindful of the goals you are working toward. There is a space for highlights for each month, and I’ve gotten in the habit of logging my favorite decks for the month as well as tv shows, movies, youtube channels, and books I enjoyed over that month along with anything new that I tried that I enjoyed and want to continue. This will be fun to look back over at the end of the year to remember highlights from the whole year. You’d be surprised how much you forget about after only a few months.
Sheila even provides the times of the void moons. That’s something I never remember to look up on my own until it is time for me to launch a new project, and then I’m racing around trying to find the time of the void moon at the last minute so I don’t take action at these times. If this is a new term for you, simply the void-of-course moon is a period of time before the moon moves into a new sign. During this time there are no planetary aspects, and it is sort of a rest period when it is not advised to start new projects, launch anything, or take action. This energy can feel like a brain fog. So, it is helpful to know these time periods during the week which could last a few hours or a full day. Sheila has truly thought of everything we might need over the next year and gathered it all in one place for easy reference throughout the year.
These astrological times and tables are a huge upgrade from the 2021 Writual planner. In fact, all of the cheat sheets and astrological tables are new features in the 2022 planner. Sheila’s even provided space in the back of the journal for you to fill in your spreads for new and full moons for each month. There is space for up to 6 cards for each moon spread. I highly recommend for everyone to work with the moon phases each month to help with manifestation. There’s a moon calendar provided in this planner where you are given the exact moon phase for everyday of the year for 2022. This is handy for moon magic and rituals. I’ll link my podcast episode on moon magic in the shownotes in case you want to add moon rituals into your tarot practice to help launch your manifestation skills to the next level.
If you are new to tarot, this Writual planner provides you with tarot card meaning cheat sheets and tarot and astrological correspondences, which means Sheila provides the astrological signs associated with every single tarot card in both the majors and minors. This is incredibly helpful, if you are learning tarot and if you want a quick reference while pulling cards.
And if you bullet journal, there are several pages at the back of the journal for you to add those sections to this planner, so you don’t need an extra bullet journal for the year. It can all be included in one book. There’s also a tracker for each month so you can track your consistency on any activity or habit you are trying to create. It only takes 21 days of repetitive behavior to create a new habit. You can track your water intake, daily workouts, writing routine, etc. Think about what habits you want to create for the new year!
You are also given several 2 card and 3 card tarot spreads to help get you started with short daily draws. So, if you are new to tarot, this is a great first step to reading for yourself on a regular basis. I always suggest pulling 1 card a day for a few weeks before moving up to simple 3 card spreads like obstacle/advice/outcome, past actions/current energy/destination, and subconscious/conscious/superconscious just to name a few. When you feel comfortable, move up to 5 card spreads and so on.
Tarot is all about confidence. And the more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel with pulling cards for yourself and eventually others. Keep it simple when pulling every day because this insures you will keep it as part of your regular routine if it is quick and simple to complete and document. Below are some of my favorite 3 card spreads.
Use my Writual ambassador link here along with my discount code HEALING (all caps) to get 15% off your Writual purchases at checkout.
Wrapping up 2021
Now that we are nearing the end of 2021, it is a good time to look back over the year and review how the themes from your personal tarot year card played out throughout the past 12 months. Remember we each have a personal tarot year card that changes every year that is based on our birthday, and there is a universal tarot year card for the world. In 2021 it was the Hierophant for the global energy.
Journal about the lessons you learned this year related to both the universal year card and your personal tarot year card and make a note of lessons and goals you are still working on. Some of those lessons will be wrapping up as the year draws to a close and a few may carry over into the new year.
Universal Tarot Year Card For 2022
Since 2021 is winding down, I wanted to talk about The Universal Tarot Year Card for 2022. Since these numbers add up to 6, the tarot year card is The Lovers card (Bonestone and Earthflesh Tarot shown above). This year could include themes of love, sexuality, and relationships including business partnerships and joint ventures. We may see merges of top companies, world-wide networking, and pacts between countries on the global stage next year.
During the year on the personal level, you may find that you are reconsidering the relationships that make up your life including romantic relationships, family, and friendships. You might start to review the quality of these relationships and may make choices to deepen some relationships while cutting others loose, if they don’t serve you anymore. This could be a year of important choices that need to be made as the Lovers card is called The Choice. You might also have areas in your life where compromises are needed and collaboration and partnership with others is beneficial. This year could bring more spirituality and a flow between consciousness and your higher consciousness, which is your higher self. Reflect on these themes as we usher in 2022.
2022 Universal Tarot Year Card Spread
I created a 7 card custom spread to explore the Lovers theme for our Universal 2022 Tarot Year Card. See what 2022 has in store for you in regards to this Lovers theme that will play out globally throughout the year. If you throw this spread for yourself, I would love to see the photo of your spreads. Please tag me on Instagram @healingthrutarot and please use #healingthrutarotloverscardspread
A Spread For All Seasons Ebook
If you are looking for a spread book for next year, I wanted to remind you of my spread ebook called - A Spread For All Seasons that I released in April 2021. I recently released an upgraded version which is now the 2nd Edition. This spread ebook now contains 17 custom tarot/oracle spreads designed to guide you through the seasons of any year. It covers holidays like Halloween, the New Year with a 9 card New Years Resolution Spread, and the 9 card Holiday Spread. I left it generic enough for all to enjoy no matter what you celebrate between November and January. This new edition now includes a new 9 card birthday spread, the 12 card Samhain spread I recently created in October and tips on how to calculate your personal tarot year card each year and how to work with that card for the year.
I have seasonal spreads to help you usher in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I include a full moon and new moon spread that you can use each month of the year. I particularly love the 7 card Mercury Retrograde Spread I created that can be used for each of the 3 mercury retrogrades we experience every year. I included an eclipse spread, year-end wrap up spread, and year ahead spread as well. And there is a great 6 card Weekly Spread and a 9 card Monthly Spread that you can reuse and implement into your tarot routine to help give you a heads up each month on what to expect and how to navigate through the week and month ahead. I made these spreads so that you can use them again and again, year after year. I used them all throughout 2021 and was so pleased with how helpful and spot on they were.
You can find this spread ebook on my website healingthrutarot.com for $10, which is a bargain for 17 spreads that help you navigate a whole year at a time. If you purchase it now, you can use the 9 card Close Of Year Spread to help you wrap up 2021 and to see what lessons you’ve learned this year and what you may need to carry over into the next year to complete.
I’ll be taking a few months off to thoroughly enjoy the holiday season and work on my fictional divination book series. I’m hoping to release book one in 2022 so I have some work to get it to that final stage before I share it with the world. Fingers crossed! I plan on coming back with new episodes in February 2022. During this break, I suggest listening to Ep. 14 on Year Ahead Spreads and how to calculate you personal tarot year card as well as Ep. 15 for Goal Setting With The Tarot which includes a New Years Resolution spread. I’ve posted those links below for convenience along with links to the Writual 2022 planner and their tarot stamps and stickers that I discussed in this episode and that I highly recommend for your tarot practice.
Writual has more that just planners, they have tarot candles, tarot and oracle decks, jewelry, and mala beads. They even have an undated tarot journal if you prefer one without dates that can be used for any year.
Thank you to Sheila at Writual for sending over the 2022 tarot planner for me to review for this episode. I’ve loved working with it so far and am excited to use it all next year.
2022 Year Ahead Spreads Available Now
If you would like a year ahead spread from me, you can book your reading on my website healingthrutarot.com - I’d love to help you get a sneak peak into what 2022 has in store for you. I pull a tarot card for each month of the year, a card for the energy of the year and 4 oracle cards - 1 for each season of the year. And if you give me your birthday, I will calculate your tarot year card as well. This reading is one of my favorite readings to do for myself and for others every year. This spread is $95.
Have a wonderful holiday season whatever you celebrate. See you in 2022!
Products shown in this blog or recommended: The Writual Planner, Tarot Tracker (Affiliate Writual link for former and amazon affiliate link for latter)
*When you use my affiliate Writual link and the discount code HEALING you can get 15% off Writual purchases.
FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 255, “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” I received The Writual 2022 Planner, Writual Stickers and Writual Tarot Stamps from Sheila Ellis, creator of the planner and owner of Writual for prospective review. Everything I’ve said here is sincere and accurately reflects my opinion of the deck.
Link to Podcast Episode 31 on Anchor click here
Other relevant Podcast Episodes - Click below to listen
Ep. 10: Moon Magic with Tarot + Magical Gifts Spread
Ep. 14: Year Ahead Spreads + Calculating Your Personal Tarot Year Card
Updated Writual Discount Code & Link for You!
Use my Writual ambassador link here along with my discount code HEALING (all caps) to get 15% off your Writual purchases at checkout. Writual has tarot stamps and stickers, dated and undated tarot journals and planners, including one for kids, lunar planners, tarot resources, tarot decks and tarot-themed mugs, candles, and jewelry so check them out using my link and code!
Healing Thru Tarot's Spread Ebook Line
A Spread for All Seasons - 17 custom spreads
Healing and Mental Health Spreads Vol. 1 - 15 custom spreads
Healing and Mental Health Spreads Vol. 2- 15 9-card spreads
Shadow Work Spreads and Workbook - 20 spreads
* (Newest) Healing Thru Tarot’s Life Path and Life Purpose spread ebook includes 15 custom spreads I’ve created to help you identify and align with your life path and sail to success. Spreads like the life path alignment spread, lightwork path guidance spread, conquering obstacles on my path spread, advice from my future self-spread and karmic healing path spread will help you position yourself to step into your full power and achieve the purpose you incarnated to fulfill. Plus many more spreads offering guidance and advice to get on path and stay on track. $12
Click here to purchase any of these spread ebooks
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