As a longtime notebook user I certainly don’t need more recommendations. Yet I recently, and very willingly, fell down a notebook hole on YouTube (this video was my favorite of the bunch). It seemed fitting that this coincided with Virgo season.
As fun as it is to consider different notebook brands and accessories (I’m still thinking about these Hobonichi double-sided tape strips and sticky notes), using a notebook for journaling and organizing one’s life goes far deeper than the paper—it helps us cultivate discernment. Discernment in the “one-in-herself” virgin sense isn’t about being “right” and feeling in control. As Clarissa Pinkola Estés says: “Discernment is the magnetic compass that points to the true north of the Self.”
Tarot and astrology are two tools that help us find that magnetic compass and pair perfectly with keeping a journal. I once spent two years tracking the Moon in a journal and have long made observations about particular transits; retrospective review is ultimately more helpful for me than passively reading a forecast. I’ve also done a card of the day in tarot and journaled my observations through that lens.
During my notebook video deep dive I discovered a type of journaling called “interstitial,” which was created by Tony Stubblebine. It involves creating short journal entries throughout the day as you finish each task, rather than writing one large entry. Listening to yourself in that small space between things strikes me as Virgoan, and a practice of discernment. One could use this at a soul level to note not just what you did, but what it stirred within you. Call it marginalia of the soul.
Maureen Murdock encourages us to use “the sword of discernment” to find out what serves our soul’s purpose. I can’t help but add: how about swapping out a sword for a pen and pairing it with a Field Notes notebook or a Leuchtturm1917? After all, as I wrote last Virgo season, Jung did say a journal should be kept in a “beautifully bound book.”
What does your notebook look like closed on the shelf or nightstand today? What marginalia does your soul want to leave on its remaining pages?
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In depth,
Anita Ashland
AnitaAshland.com
