Sabio Tarot · Tarot basics and learning
Tarot journal: what to record after a reading
On Monday you write, “This card announces a change.” On Friday an unexpected conversation takes place, and you think tarot “got it right”. But what kind of change did you actually have in mind on Monday? Would a cancellation, a purchase or a new idea have counted too? If you do not keep the original question and interpretation, memory can reshape the reading to fit almost any outcome.
A useful tarot journal is not there to prove that a card predicts events. It helps you learn how you observe images, frame questions and form interpretations that make your next step clearer. You need to record what you described well, what you did not know and what you changed later.
The minimum reading template
Before drawing, write down the date, deck and edition, the exact question and the spread positions. Then record each card with its number or suit, visible details and an interpretation for its position. End with a step you can check and a limit: something the reading cannot claim.
| Field | Fictional example |
|---|---|
| Question | “What should I prepare before asking to change my working hours?” |
| Positions | “Known information” · “missing information” · “first step” |
| Card and edition | “Two of Cups, deck X” |
| Observation | “Two figures face each other and there are two cups”, if that is the image on your actual card |
| Interpretation | “Perhaps I need to know when the other person is available” |
| Check | “I will ask for the shift schedule before the conversation” |
| Limit | “The card cannot tell me whether they will accept my request” |
You need not write a page about every card. You do need to preserve decisions made before you know the outcome. If you change the question the next day, start a new entry and mark it as a different reading.
Keep observations, interpretations and facts apart
In one column, write only what you can see on the card. In another, record the meaning offered by your guidebook or your own association. In a third, list facts about the situation that you know from other sources. This prevents a common confusion: “the figure looks away” describes one edition's image; “my colleague does not want to talk” is a claim about a real person that needs a conversation or evidence.
The particular deck matters. A Marseille Five of Cups may not have the scene shown in Rider–Waite–Smith. If you record only “Five of Cups = sadness”, in three months you will not know what you saw or which book gave you the idea. Keep the edition title and a short description.
A review that does not rewrite the question
Leave room to return to the entry a week later. Write what actually happened and which interpretations proved useful. Keep the initial entry intact: add a date and comment if you like, but do not edit the original prediction to make it sound more precise. If you asked about a conversation and later used the card to interpret a purchase, mark that change of subject.
A good review considers alternatives. Perhaps you prepared the information and the conversation was easy. Perhaps it was difficult but having the information still helped. The value of that step may have nothing to do with whether an image “got the outcome right”. Your interpretation may also have been unhelpful. Record why, and consider whether the cause was a vague question, a poorly defined position or a rushed association.
Do not turn the journal into an exam with an invented hit rate. To measure one, you would have to define beforehand what counted as a hit and what counted as a miss. In personal practice, it is usually more honest to assess the clarity of the question, the usefulness of the next step and your ability to revise interpretations.
A complete three-card example
Question: “How do I prepare for a conversation about dividing up tasks?” The positions, set in advance, are “what I am assuming”, “what I need to ask” and “what I can propose”. Imagine drawing the Four of Pentacles, Two of Cups and Justice from a named deck.
The first note does not say “someone is selfish”. It describes what is on the card and how your method links Pentacles to resources. One interpretation might be “I am treating a division of work as fixed without checking it”. The second position prompts a question about mutual expectations without assigning motives. Justice in the third invites you to propose a clear criterion for dividing the work. A checkable step is to list each person's tasks and available time so you can discuss the facts. The limit: you cannot know from the cards what the other person will accept.
A week later, record whether you brought the list, what new information you received and which part of the summary helped. If the other person suggested something unexpected, that makes the reading neither a failure nor proof of fate. It is information you did not have.
Privacy and conversations involving others
A journal may contain intimate subjects. When writing about someone else, avoid unnecessary personal details and do not present imagined intentions as facts. Use initials or general descriptions if you need context. Decide where you will keep the notes and who can see them. If you read for someone else, agree on what you may keep and for how long; the simplest choice may be to keep no identifying information.
Privacy can improve the reading too. It pushes you to focus on your own room for action and the relevant facts instead of narrating other people's lives from symbols.
A monthly learning review
At the end of the month, choose four entries, one from each week. Ask: Which questions led to clear steps? When did I confuse a personal association with a fact? Which card led me to check a source compatible with my edition? Which uncertainty keeps coming back? Write down one rule to test next month, such as “I will set the positions before shuffling”.
To improve the first line of your journal, read how to ask useful tarot questions. To distinguish an association from a fact, continue with intuition and traditional meanings.
When an entry is not worth keeping
You do not need to store every card you draw out of curiosity. Keep readings with a defined question, a method you want to practise or a decision you plan to review. If there is no way to return to the situation, the journal can become a collection of general phrases. Selecting entries helps both privacy and learning: fewer notes, each with enough context to show what you thought before you knew the outcome.
Sources and scope
- Sabio Tarot's original editorial method. All examples are fictional and are not drawn from real consultations.