Notebooks

don’t panic. Any old notebook can be a gorgeous notebook if you bind it with exactly the paper that you want. You can use any paper or fabric that will stick to the cover. Or save your pennies for some classy marbled paper from Il Papiro, which has moved from Covent Garden to Etsy,  or Choosing Keeping which is dangerously near to Deciem. Then get a cheap notebook and some Pritt stick or spray mount. You can also find new, ugly but nice quality paper notebooks on eBay, or charity shops,  often with hideous corporate branding.

Look out for people selling unwanted Paperblanks on eBay. I have a soft spot for the current Humming Dragon design.

For notebook journaling systems, you need a lot of little ‘travellers’ notebooks that you can bind together with elastic in a nice cover like these . Or with more discreet clips. Traveller-style notebook refills come in every colour and quality of paper, handmade, rainbow, dotted, black, indestructible, and ones with folding out pages for sketching.

Loose paper filing systems

You’ll probably want one of these if you want to build diary content from scratch. I’m told that no one is allowed to call these filofaxes any more haha. But for a full year you’ll need at least the size A5 Standard or Personal (not ‘Personal Compact’) which will allow you 2 or 3 pages per day/card plus dividers.

Other loose binding systems use the filofax same sizing terminology. You can use rings, solid disc binders, flexible spirals, or tie or clip little notebooks together, depending on your preference. And if you’re obsessive you can build your own from scratch, black rings and all.

I got a cheap organiser like this from whsmith . You can cover an abomination like this with something nice or you can spend hundreds on leather designer ones. The key thing is that they all take the same out-of-the-box refills and dividers, from Collins, whsmiths, filofax or wherever.

Dividers, dashboards and decorations

Etsy of course. Although there are a plenty of UK independent websites and some eBay sellers.  But you could make your own. Dividers often come in sets of 12 for the months which can easily be rejigged with tabs and stickers for the astrological months. Likewise you can re-purpose alphabet tabs for the Majors.

Here are some of my favourite tarot-related sellers and items

Nice quality British dividers and tabs here and here

Hebrew letters

stickers with the most adorable Underworld Deities ever

Astrological stickers

Moonphase stickers are here and here and everywhere

Beware with tarot stickers that they sell a complete set of 78. And also check the size.

• RWS
• Thoth
• Cat (it’s hard to find a complete set of these. There’s also a tiny version, but it has sold out

Maybe we should invest in a full set of stamps?

• arty
• complete set
• There is also a complete set of bronze RWS stamps at Camden Passage

 

Pre-set Tarot journals

I personally don’t think it’s worth using these, instead of creating your own exercises or working through a good book-

• Chang Living Tarot – my current favourite intermediate exercises
• Greer Tarot for Yourself – tried and trusted introspection
• Katz Around the Tarot in 78 Days – good for fluency in readings

You might want a good astrological diary instead of copying out an entire ephemeris though.

Ladies may enjoy the classic  We’Moon Diary

I love the Hasting anarcho queer wizards Moonwise Diary

There is also Llewellyn’s Witches Diary and Astrological Pocket Planner but these may not give UK times.

Hands down the best occult blank planners are these, because they have numbered pages and indexes:

Yop and Tom Tarot

Yop and Tom Moon

If you look hard there are still some of the excellent Paperchase Dreams Journal around, but you might want to re-bind it as the new covers aren’t great.

If money is no object there is the Choosing Keeping Dream Notebook which seems to have disappeared for the moment. Don’t search for it, you’ll only want it!

And yes you can get a pre-set blackout planner

All phone apps produced by The Fools Dog include a card of the day system. These include Deviant Moon, Paulina, RWS (called ‘Classic 1910’) , Tabula Mundi, Dark Goddess, Robin Wood, CBD Tarot de Marseille.

Accessories

Diamine inks– perhaps the last thing British and great! Their ‘Writers Blood’ is the Rouge Noir of the ink world. The official ink of FFF is Mystique of course.

Don’t have the time to make your own oak gall magical ink?

I cannot believe how great is the quality of this £10 fountain pen, including the nib. It’s a version of the little Kawecos which are nice. Look out for mispriced Kawecos on Amazon and eBay. And you can, infamously, change the nib.

You can write on black paper with any ballpoint pen containing a silver space pen cartridge, so people think you’re a grown-up.

Perhaps I’m the only person who’s interested in iridescent sealing wax and the like. So I shall stop now.

Ah but Mr Hare has asked for my ink list it’s:

R+W Scabiosa– waterproof oak gall desaturated purple-black- for envelopes, addressbooks etc.

R+W Ebony ltd edition which I probably won’t use

Herbin scented Rose and Violet – to mix with other inks

Diamine Bilberry- everyday writing

Diamine Writer’s Blood because

Krishna Dense Black which I probably won’t use much

Diamine Mystique for FFF

Wearingeul Anubis I am addicted. But Herbin’s Shogun is similar and blacker if you prefer

Sailor Shikiori Sakura-Mori– actual japanese cherry blossom colour

Mita Sanshodo Ume – slightly dark and scented with cherry blossom to mix with it

Edelstein Golden Lapis is on order

Still looking for a turquiose that sheens the right shade of pink…