How to Begin a Spiritual Journal (Start Here!)

It is my deeply held conviction that journaling is a sacred practice.

Journaling is an altar for sacred creative ideas, a palace for holy epiphanies, a temple of deep feelings, and a shrine for mystical reflections.

In essence, journaling is innately spiritual:

It is a practice that helps to mirror the mind, open the heart, and reconnect us with the Soul.

Therefore, to begin a spiritual journal is a sacred undertaking – and there are endless ways to do it, many of which are surprising!

What is Spiritual Journaling?

Put simply, spiritual journaling is the sacred practice of keeping a journal that explores one’s inner landscape.

Regular journaling tends to focus only on surface-level thoughts and feelings whereas spiritual journaling tends to dive deep into one’s core fears, hopes, dreams, discoveries, and inspirations.

In other words, spiritual journaling is a path of Soul Work (or Inner Work) that helps to awaken, expand, empower, and illuminate the hidden recesses of our inner selves. 

The Power of Spiritual Journaling 

The result of committing to a regular spiritual journaling practice is usually:

• Discovering one’s higher purpose
• Feeling empowered at a core level
• Finding a sense of belonging within oneself and life
• Increased Self-Love and acceptance
• Accessing one’s inner Creator
• Deeper Self-Awareness and understanding
• Healed relationships with others
• Enhanced intuition 
• Spiritual clarity and integration
• Ability to access more peace, love, and joy (even in the darkest times)
• Profound growth on every level

At the core of spiritual journaling is the drive to reconnect to something deeper and higher than ourselves. Some refer to this force as one’s Inner Guide, True Nature, Authentic Self, Higher Self, Daimon, Christ Consciousness, or Buddha Nature – but we refer to this force as the Soul.

Spiritual Journaling and the Soul

Soul Work is at the very center of our practice of spiritual journaling.

By being intentional, putting a pen to the page, and letting our inner thoughts, feelings, and discoveries flow, we are accessing our Soul’s wisdom and guidance. What we’re experiencing is a form of Ensoulment.

Ensoulment means to live from and within the Soul. We live within the Soul by letting it guide, direct, and inspire our lives – and this helps us to live from the Soul, creating luminous ripples of change around and inside us. 

Journaling supports our reconnection with the Soul by making a mindful ritual out of this inner journey of awakening. Depending on what technique or prompt we decide to use, we enter a sacred spiral path of inner illumination, healing, and expansion! 

What Do I Write About?

Anything and everything!

Keeping a spiritual journal is all about the mindful intention and purpose you give it – so if your purpose is to learn, grow, and evolve as a spiritual being, anything is relevant!

For example, you might write about:

• How you feel
• Patterns you’ve notice emerging in your life
• Synchronicities, signs, and omens
• Anything that inspires you
• Insecurities, fears, and shadowy parts
• Mystical experiences you’ve had
• Thoughts you’ve been having recently
• Dreams (both conscious and unconscious)
• Oracle and tarot card readings
• Sudden epiphanies
• Poetry
• Meaningful goals and plans
• Introspective deep dives
• Art – yes, you can draw in your journal! (Why not?!)
• Found objects like leaves, newspaper clippings, artwork, feathers, etc. that inspire you (yes, by all means stick them into your journal if it calls to you!)

Obviously, there’s a lot more you can include, but the above is just to give you an exciting idea of the possibilities!

How to Begin a Spiritual Journal

There are two sides to beginning a spiritual journal: 

the external and internal side.

We’ll start with the external side:

Spiritual Journal Ideas (What to Buy!)

[Please note that there are affiliate links below. If you decide to purchase anything we link to, we get a small percentage to help with our work at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]

Externally you’ll need to find yourself a nice journal and a pen that flows nicely – that’s it!

(Of course, if you prefer to exclusively journal on your phone, tablet, or computer, this part won’t be relevant to you, so feel free to skip to the next section.)

There are so many types of journals out there – here are some of my picks under the vintage, rustic, whimsical, modern, and minimalist categories. Ultimately, find what excites you and go for it! 

If you prefer a handmade journal (which has something extra special about it, but not all of us have that time), follow your instincts and make one. Here’s an inspiring and instructional video that may help you to do that:

Next comes the pen. 

Sure, you can go grab that old grubby pen you got for free somewhere, but does it write nicely? You wouldn’t think it makes much of a difference how a pen flows on the paper, but it does (believe me!).

A scratchy, heavy, lethargic pen will do nothing but weigh you down and make your spiritual journaling practice feel like a drag (quite literally!).

Instead, consider mindfully investing in a good quality pen made for writing long-form. 

In this case, the best types of pens are rollerball, fountain, or gel pens (on the other hand, ballpoint pens kind of suck, sorry but it’s true!).

Some good options I’ve hand-picked include Pilot FriXion gel pens, Waterman Graduate Allure Fountain Pen, and Writech Liquid Ink Rollerball Pens.

Internal Side of Spiritual Journaling

The most crucial internal part of spiritual journaling is our intention.

An intention, quite simply, is the aim or purpose we give to our journaling.

Keep in mind that there’s a BIG difference between directionless ranting-and-raving journaling and journaling with a higher purpose (which is the intention we carry).

One of the biggest struggles many people have when they journal is that it can lead to spirals of self-pity, anger, and feeling like a victim. Note that this only happens when your journaling lacks a higher purpose!

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Here’s how to make your spiritual journal intentional:

• Give a name to your journal (yes, a name!) as it may help you to feel closer to this practice. Examples could be “Journal of Insight,” “Ethereal Reflections,” “Mirror of the Soul,” or even a name of someone you admire like a mentor or best friend such as Plato, Devi, Mary, Merlin, Rumi, Anna, etc.
• On the very first page, write a dedication (to your past/present/future self, to Life/Divine/Source, or to someone you love if that resonates)
• Whenever journaling, try to always dig deeper and ask “Why?” or “What does this mean?”
• If you find yourself spiralling into a dark place while journaling, ask, “What is this person, feeling or situation teaching me?”
• At the beginning of the journal, list some topics you’d like to explore more deeply (examples could be mistaken beliefs, childhood experiences, unhealthy patterns, recurring dreams, a magical insight you’ve recently had, etc.)
• Make a daily habit out of writing in your spiritual journal. Even just a couple of minutes to jot down something meaningful to you can make a world of difference.

Where to Go From Here?

If starting a spiritual journal excites or inspires you, stay connected with us! This whole website is about going deeper on your spiritual awakening journey – and journaling is one of our favorite practices!

Feel free to:

1. Take the advice in this article and put it into practice.

2. Learn more about journaling in our following free guides:

• How to Journal: 19 Beginner Tips For Modern Mystics
• 18 Benefits of Journaling (+ Tips For “Bad” Writers!)
• 100+ Journaling Ideas For Deep Mental & Spiritual Healing
• 30+ Mindfulness Journal Prompts to Find Calm in the Storm (+PDF)

3. Explore our collection of premium guided journals that can help to start your spiritual journaling practice, especially if you’re feeling a little lost or want to focus specifically on one of these topics:

• Shadow Work Journal (best seller)
• Self-Love Journal
• Inner Child Journal
• Dark Night of the Soul Journal
• Inner Work Journal Bundle (contains all our journals)

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The very fact that you’ve read this far (even if you skimmed most of it!) is a wonderful sign that it’s time for you to go deeper.

The Soul within you yearns to unfurl, blossom, and flourish, and what better way to facilitate that than through the ancient art of journaling!

Tell me, do you have a spiritual journal? What is your unique approach to this type of journaling? Also, feel free to let me know if this article helped you at all in the comments.

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