J is for Journaling

Many of us I am certain have used a journal at some stage in their lives, it is an important part of our learning process and it is always interesting to look back over the years at how we’ve changed. 

I have been a sporadic journal keeper throughout my life.  I go through phases where I keep one and phases when I don’t and it has been interesting to look back at them.  Journaling isn’t just for teenage dreams and angst; it is an important spiritual technique also.

Throughout your spiritual practice you may find journaling to be beneficial in a number of ways.  Firstly, in simply tracking your journey in life – part of our spiritual growth is to better understand ourselves and so simply keeping a standard journal that you can look back on plays an important role in that.  You can also keep a dream journal – I am terrible at this, I recall my dreams no problems but I don’t have time to write it all out first thing in the morning as I’m usually jumping straight in the shower.  I tend to ponder my dreams in there but the benefits of dream journals are many.  It can train your mind to recall dreams, you can use it to create your own dream dictionary and it is a great way to tap into your own meanings. 

You can also keep and Oracle/Tarot/Rune or general divination journal – a way to record your drawings and to perhaps cast for a week and return and record events at the end of the week.  It gives a great deal of insight into your journey. 

Keeping a journal of your spell work and rituals (which I’ve seen called your Book of Shadows and Book of Mirrors) is another good way to track what works for you and what doesn’t.  This type of journal can be quite complex with recordings of hours, moon phases, moods, etc or it can be as simple as you make it.  This is especially a good idea when we consider that oft times it takes time for magic to work.  We can work a spell and forget about it before it actually comes to fruition and this is a great tool for looking back and tracking the spell.

The journal that I currently keep I found the idea from in a book on Wiccan Wellness.  I liked the idea so much I ran with it.  Essentially one divides the journal up into three sections. Body, Mind, Spirit.  When you journal each time you write an entry in each section.  The categories are pretty obvious.  Body deals with how your body is feeling that day, Mind deals with your thoughts etc and Spirit deals with your spiritual aspects and connections.  It is a great tool to look a little deeper than the usual gloss over for me, it forces me to go deeper.