Over the course of my almost 20 years as a professional card reader, I’ve noticed that a growing part of my audience is people beginning their card reading journeys.

​Besides deck and book recommendations, I’ve been asked what has been most helpful to me in my journey, and my answer is “spending time with the cards.”

And once I give that answer, I make the suggestion of keeping a journal and recording readings—a practice I still do to this very day.

Keeping a journal and recording your readings allows you to chart your progress with the cards over time.

In my own journaling, I’ve noted interpretations of cards that came to me in the moment of a particular reading that I might not have remembered if not for taking the time to write it down. In that sense, my journals have become my own personal guidebooks.

So I thought I’d share how I record my readings, taking a page out of my journal with a recent entry.

Here’s an entry from my journal, dated April 23, 2018:

Date: 4/23/18

Personal Day Number: 8

Time: 7:59 am

Deck used: Romeo & Juliet Playing Cards

Question: What will I experience today?

Cards drawn: Jack of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, 2 of Hearts

Ruling suit: Clubs = work/business; social; progress

Jack of Clubs: news/messages about work/business/progress

Queen of Clubs: a woman; a working/business woman; a female friend

With the Jack of Clubs: Thoughts of the woman; may pertain to work/business, or the progress she’s made. Can also be a child to her, and their relationship (notice they’re not facing each other = disagreement)

2 of Hearts: emotional exchange; sharing feelings—“I feel the same way”; a relationship; healing exchange; child (mirroring the Jack of Clubs); expectancy (2 of Hearts = pregnancy)

Possible scenario: A child (Jack of Clubs, 2 of Hearts) and mother (Queen of Clubs) are in a disagreement (Jack and Queen not facing each other) about the future of a relationship (2 of Hearts). The mother (Queen of Clubs) may feel (Hearts = feelings, emotions) that the child (2 of Hearts) could get pregnant (2 of Hearts) in the future (Queen facing 2 of Hearts).

That was the entry.

What I do, after drawing the cards, is write down every thought that comes to me in the moment without censoring or editing myself (I’ve come to call this a “brain dump”).

Then I consider how whatever I’ve written might become a part of my experience in my day. In this particular case, I had a phone consult scheduled with a client—a business woman—and I thought this might be a topic of conversation, so I noted that as a possibility.

​And then I went about my day.

Following Up: Revisiting the Journal Entry

When the day was over, I returned to my journal to write down the day’s events. Here’s what I wrote happened:

The scenario I presented did not happen.

What did happen was that on the news (Jack of Clubs), it was reported that Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William (Queen of Clubs), gave birth to their third child today (2 of Hearts).

The baby, a boy, arrived on his due date (2 of Hearts = expectancy).

So, here are some real-life possibilities for the cards for me going forward:

Jack of Clubs: news/message for the public (Clubs = social)

Queen of Clubs: a public figure; a woman in the public (eye); a woman in (high) society

For me, it’s important to follow-up with what actually happened and see how the cards related/connected to those events. In this particular case, I’ve gained some additional meanings for the cards that I might have overlooked if I just stuck with what the cards meant for me at the time of the draw.

And that’s how I record my daily readings in my journal.

If you’ve been inspired to record your readings, what will you incorporate into your entry (notice that I include the time and personal day number)? Will you write in an actual journal (I write by hand in a composition book), or will you record your readings electronically?

And if you already keep a journal of your readings, what’s your process?

Let me know in the comments section below—I’d love to hear all about it.