🪬Is the blank page sabotaging your Tarot readings?
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You're receiving this because you signed up for Tarot Underground, my newsletter for curious Tarot readers who want to go beyond memorizing card meanings and actually use the cards. No Tarot Police. Just more ways to explore the cards. It’s Monday, the minty fresh start to a new week. Things have been going pretty well, or maybe they haven’t. Maybe you’re just feeling off. Either way, you’re looking for some insight.
Just a little nudge saying, “Head that way.” ​ Or that thing that’s bothering you, it’s because it reminds you of when you cheated on your spelling test in 7th grade. You sit down with your Tarot cards, a lovely blank page in your journal, and your favorite pen… Now what? What do I ask? What’s bothering me? What do I even want to know?
A blank Tarot journal can be surprisingly intimidating. You're sitting there with 78 cards capable of speaking about practically anything, and you can't think of a single thing to ask them.
How to embrace the blank pageIt’s called a Tarot Journal. Have you ever thought about that? What if your Tarot journal wasn’t separate from your life journal, your dream journal, or any of the other places you collect your thoughts? What if they were all part of the same conversation? As someone with multiple journals, I get it. I get the impulse to keep it organized. However, if you are looking to integrate Tarot into the fabric of your life, this might not be the best approach. Want more hands on Tarot? Let’s get messyTry this: Before pulling any cards, spend three minutes writing whatever comes into your head. This is similar to the idea of morning pages. Just do a brain dump. When you journal before the reading, you’re capturing the story you’re already telling yourself. That’s important because we all have stories about what’s happening in our lives. -This person doesn’t appreciate me. You write those things down, and now they’re visible. They’re not just swirling around in your head. Then go through and circle or highlight anything that jumps out at you. It can jump out for any reason. Don’t filter. Maybe it’s confusing, maybe it’s funny, maybe it feels like it needs an ending, or it wants your attention, any reason at all. Now take a look at what you’ve circled. Maybe there’s a question hiding in there. Great! You’ve got something to ask your cards. But maybe there’s no question at all.
Maybe there’s just a feeling, a recurring thought, or something you didn’t realize was bothering you until you saw it on the page.
That’s enough.
You don’t need to turn every thought into a perfectly worded Tarot question. You can simply invite the cards to join the conversation. Yes, I realize that’s strange coming from me, the Queen of Questions 🤣 Shuffle, draw a card or three, and see what happens.
Connecting the dotsAnd don’t put your pen down just because you’ve picked up your cards! Write about what you notice. Does something in the imagery remind you of what you wrote earlier? Does a card contradict something you’ve been telling yourself? Does it introduce a completely different angle? Follow that thread. You can go back and forth between your journal and your cards as many times as you like. Your journal isn’t just a record of your Tarot reading. It’s part of the reading itself. Here's what that looked like for me today. And I'll warn you, none of this came wrapped in a neat little answer. One of the notes was I am still waiting to hear from property management about getting my fireplace operational. One of the cards I pulled was the Emperor, with a stack of firewood behind him. Coincidence? I noted it in my journal, but am not taking it as a prediction at this point. I also noted that I’ve been feeling “beside myself” in a very real sort of way. Feeling like part of me is here and another part is there. Ungrounded. I pulled the Queen of cups, the page of cups and the page of pentacles. I wrote: the Queen has 2 children and she loves them both very much. Is this myself and the myself beside myself? It makes sense that the pages are 2 different approaches to exploring the world or discovering information. Can I love them both? Who knows.
The next time you sit down with your Tarot journal and find yourself staring at that blank page, don’t worry about finding the perfect question. Start writing about your life. The ordinary stuff. The weird stuff. The thing that’s been bugging you for three days. The dream you can’t stop thinking about. And then see what the cards have to say about it. Because Tarot isn’t something separate from your life. Your life is what the cards are there to help you explore. -Cassandra the Card Reader |
