Looking to the stars for guidance is a practice found in many cultures and has in more recent years has become mainstream. In a time when “What’s your Big Three?” could be considered standard small talk, authors and editors are highlighting the nuances and joys of astrology and tarot practices in books for young readers. We spoke with the authors and editors of books showcasing the influence of astrology and tarot on their novels.
Ananya Devarajan
How long have you been interested in astrology and tarot? What was your introduction to the practice?
I’ve been interested in astrology for years now, and I can trace the start back to my childhood. A hopeless romantic at heart, I’ve always been intrigued by the role of the Universe in creating fated connections, and how the stars can lead us closer to the life we’re meant to live. So, when I found out that my parents, who were arranged to be married in the late ’90s and have been the pinnacle of true love ever since, had their relationship synastry analyzed by a Vedic astrologer, I was hooked.
What made you want to incorporate astrology/tarot in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
As an avid TikTok user, I was thrilled to see astrology make its way into the mainstream during the last few years. Videos about chakras and houses filled my feed, but I quickly noticed that the creators profiting from this new wave of spiritualism didn’t always acknowledge the roots of the practices they preached. Vedic astrology originated in India as a form of Hindu teachings, and even in its current form, astrology continues to distinguish itself as a crucial facet of South Asian culture.
When I was first writing Kismat Connection, a novel that openly discusses Indian American representation in Western spaces, I knew that I wanted to highlight the version of astrology that I, as well as my community, grew up with. Much of my research stemmed from the personal accounts of family members, both in India and the United States, but I also referenced primary literature sources regarding the history and tenets of Vedic astrology while writing my novel. In doing so, I hope to have presented a nuanced perspective on the significance of astrology, and its intersection with the Indian American lived experience.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology/tarot? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
The heart of Kismat Connection lies in Madhuri Iyer’s battle to justify the existence of her free will after being told for years that her fate would be determined by the Universe, whether that be through her ancestral family curse or her astrology chart. This is a character who has a very complicated relationship with astrology given its stereotype as a so-called hindrance to science and modernization, but over the course of her development, Madhuri begins to realize that her life can’t be predicted or controlled by a set of variables. And while astrology might not be able to offer her a perfect answer either, it can definitely help identify her core values as she navigates her coming-of-age. Ultimately, I chose to include astrology as a unique modality of introspection for young adults to better understand themselves and their place in the world around them—just like Madhuri.
What did you want to portray about the practice of tarot/astrology in your novel?
I think there’s a common misconception in Western media of astrology being, at best, a form of hippie guesswork, and at worst, the tired punchline to an Instagram joke—like how Gemini women are two-faced, and Pisces men are heartbreakers. In actuality, astrology is an age-old practice derived and descended from generations of South Asian families, and I wanted to make my novel a space for an informed discussion regarding it. Through the process of writing Kismat Connection, I believe that I’ve done my best to show that while astrology may not be an exact science, it is still an undeniable element of Indian culture that is worthy of respect and acknowledgement on a global scale.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
I’m a Sagittarius Sun, Sagittarius Moon, and a Virgo Rising. Save for my Virgo Rising and Pisces Mars, my chart is otherwise completely ruled by Sagittarius, which is why I tend to get along best with signs that are fiercely passionate while still being grounded and loyal. And the best examples of that are Libra and Cancer!
Kismat Connection by Ananya Devarajan (Inkyard Press, June 13 $19.99; ISBN 978-1-335-45368-6)
Freja Nicole Woolf
How long have you been interested in astrology? What was your introduction to the practice?
It was my online best friend from California who introduced me to astrology. I’ve since become much more in tune with my internal world and I’ve said to people who have questioned astrology’s “truth” that whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter to me—it’s been a fun tool that I’ve used to explore myself. Also, as a Pisces, I really can’t help being a bit weird and spiritual!
What made you want to incorporate astrology in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
I did a lot of research—reading books and numerous online articles on the zodiac, including the cheesiest of horoscopes. There’s a whole world of it out there—and I love that my narrator, Cat, would have access to all this too! I wanted it in the book because astrology is important in sapphic culture: the go-to icebreaker when dating. It’s a lesbian love language, so it makes total sense that Cat would love it, and also… it’s got really cute symbols.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
Cat is a diehard hopeless romantic, so it makes sense she’d be led by the stars. It also helps me, as the writer, give Cat—and therefore the book as a whole—a solid structure. If I’m struggling with how a character would respond to a situation, I study their star chart and almost always find my answer! Failing that, I make someone fall over—or set fire to something. If it’s good enough for Charlotte Brontë, it’s good enough for me.
What did you want to portray about the practice of astrology in your novel?
I wanted to show that while astrology can be a great guiding star (ha ha), it’s not just another rulebook. Life is such a vast spectrum of possibility; it cannot be contained by 12 constellations. Astrology can be a useful tool for personal growth so long as we’re not trapped by it. So, go on the date, quit the job, be free! If you know enough about it to annoy boring people, you’re probably doing just fine.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
I am a Pisces sun, Virgo moon, and Cancer Rising. I have a lot of Aquarius in my chart, though, and I’m very much a cusp baby, so I also claim Aquarius as an important sign for me! Much as I love being an emotional Pisces trainwreck, I’ve always been very jealous of the more grounded, assertive signs like Aries and Capricorn. Sadly, I can only aspire to such lofty heights!
Never Trust a Gemini by Freja Nicole Woolf (Walker Books US, May 9 $19.99 ISBN 978-1-5362-3054-3)
Lorraine Avila
How long have you been interested in astrology? What was your introduction to the practice?
I grew up being very aware of my star sign due to my older cousin, Diana, who was into zodiac signs and told all of us (my cousins and sister) what our signs were and their characteristics. I began getting myself keychains or small amulets that said Aries or posting my sign on my Sconex and Myspace accounts. As I grew, I started diving into research. I moved with that understanding of who my sun sign said I was and looked into the signs of the people who I was in relationships with. It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I started to understand that we aren’t just predisposed by astrology due to our sun sign, and that the Big Three (along with all other placements) are the true blueprint to our identities. With tarot, Botánicas, and folks who read the cards, or who have the “don” and can see into past, present, and future have always been in the fabric of my culture and community; these are all very Afro-Caribbean practices and beliefs that frequently trump religious notions. Yes, they are often “hidden” or “masked” but always present one way or another.
My early experiences with tarot involve my elders. One of my elders, particularly, was going to a tarot reader frequently, and she was judged because that “wasn’t very Catholic” and that didn’t “make God content.” Then, when I was about 11 or 12, another elder went to a reader and took me with them when they were having romantic and career tensions. They had been one of the initial folks who judged my other elder, and when I questioned it, they explained that sometimes you just need a little help for clarity. A year or two later, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble, and I picked out one of those tiny little packages that come with a starter deck and book. I remember reading it for myself, but also reading it to my stepdad’s sister who was wondering about her love life. Essentially, I told her that heartbreak was in the past, but that someone was coming in who was going to serve as the husband she currently thought she wanted. I told her they’d have a house and kids. Like clockwork, that came to be! I still hold it as one of my first successful tarot readings.
What made you want to incorporate astrology/tarot in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
I knew that Yolanda was a Bruja from jump and I wanted to give her tools and instruments to show both the reader and the characters around her how her gifts work. Still, I made sure to include visions and dreams to show off her Bruja ways in a way that was not so wrapped up in a physical tool, too.
I did astrology and tarot research for the book. Back in 2017, I took various classes on tarot reading from Tatianna Tarot; the classes were super helpful as she went deeper into every single card to demonstrate the story they were each telling about the human experience, and how it can best connect to the current narrative of whoever was inquiring. I also took to watching and reading a number of astrology and tarot readers on socials; I, of course, got my own astro and tarot readings and really dissected what placements or cards meant what to me in the present moment. Additionally, I interviewed people in my community who have connections to Afro-Caribbean divination systems and religious and spiritual practices. Lastly, I traveled to the Dominican Republic to interview my paternal aunt, who I had never met, but who was so compassionate in telling me the history of my paternal family’s connection to the tradition.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology/tarot? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
Yolanda’s entry to the tarot cards has a very specific family lineage story attached. Her grandmother received the tarot from her great-grandmother during her initiation, and her great-grandmother received them from her great-grandmother and so on and so forth. The origin story of the tarot cards in this maternal lineage is that they belonged to a settler European girl back in the early stages of the colonial project of the Dominican Republic. The girl’s mother ordered Yolanda’s ancestor, an enslaved Black woman, to burn them, but instead she kept them and burned a book she had read many times in secret. In creating this familial history, I wanted to highlight survival through colonial realities, but also demonstrate how Afro-descent folks received their gifts and dones from their Indigenous ancestors as a means to survive and thrive. In addition, [I wanted to show] how these divination systems have facilitated moving through the hard stuff for so many of us and the ways in which Brujes make it their mission to share the healing and wisdom that comes from it.
What did you want to portray about the practice of tarot/astrology in your novel?
I aimed to portray that tarot and astrology are spiritual tools to facilitate larger truths and conditions that already exist in the physical realm. Also, that we give them the power to serve as affirmation and/or clarity tools. Yolanda is not just playing cards, she isn’t just saying, “I'm a Libra, so I love my community.” The cards serve as a preemptive message to all that she is experiencing, and her internal world already knows, while the astrology of Yolanda (and the other characters) allows her to respond in ways that best serves her role and mission out in the world.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
I am Pisces Rising, Aries Sun, and Taurus Moon. Pisces rising was one I did not know until January 2023, when I got my birth certificate and realized my birth time was off by 20 minutes. I thought I was an Aries Rising as well, but Pisces makes a lot more sense for the way I show up actually! Although I have an appreciation for all zodiac signs, especially when considering the Big Three combinations, the signs I’ve found I get along with best in my life are Aquarius, Taurus, Geminis, Leos, and Capricorns... and to some degree, Scorpios. Of course, their other placement in conjunction with my own, really, really matters. I’ve found that sun signs cannot be the only placement considered for any sort of compatibility.
The Making of Yolanda la Bruja by Lorraine Avila (Levine Querido, Apr. 11, $19.99 ISBN 978-1-64614-243-9)
g. haron davis
How long have you been interested in astrology? What was your introduction to the practice?
I’ve had an interest in astrology since I was young. Because of the religious background of my family, I grew up with this idea that astrology fell into the vast array of dark-sided activities not to mess with. So it was this mysterious forbidden donut kind of thing (shout-out to Simpsons fans) that I stared at from afar but was too terrified to dive into.
In high school, my perspective on a lot of things changed, including what was and wasn’t a fast pass to damnation. I read about all sorts of astrological topics, read my horoscope semi-regularly, tried to correlate astrology and astronomy. My introduction was just newspaper horoscopes and library books. I read a lot on my own and pieced together a passable knowledge of astrology. And I haven’t been smoted yet! (Smoted? Smote? Smitten? Smited? Smoot.)
What made you want to incorporate astrology in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
Adrianne, Cam, and I wanted to collaborate on a publishing project for quite a while. An interest in astrology was a common thread among all three of us, and it seemed like a somewhat obvious choice as to what topic we could work on together. My research for this project looked similar to my research when first diving into astrology: lots of reading.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
I think there’s an idea that the stories in the anthology are direct representations of astrological signs, and that isn’t the case. My own story, for instance, takes the bold, somewhat obsessive, fiercely loyal, insta-love traits that people whose Venus lies in Aries can have and envisions that as a literal contest for love and how far someone might go to win. So rather than direct translations and an actual checklist of in-universe mentions of Venus in Aries representing, I’m asking readers to think about that kind of love conceptually and how it may translate to a story theme.
I wanted both Álava and Chi to embody these traits: both become fascinated by and fixated on each other extremely quickly. Álava represents an aversion to game-playing; they want the whole trial for their hand in marriage to end because it seems silly. They display directness and authority and at times even a flightiness. Chi, then, shows the softer, sweeter, unendingly loyal manifestation of an Aries Venus. I didn’t want to only pull from the positive takes on how love manifests in this position—I wanted the ugly, messy side as well.
What did you want to portray about the practice of astrology in your novel?
Honestly, I had no agenda regarding the portrayal of the practice of astrology with this anthology. I just wanted to have fun. At most, I suppose I wanted astrology to be seen as fun and fascinating rather than scary or evil.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
Leo sun, Gemini moon, Virgo rising! I’m really partial to Virgos, I think because I’m a cusper and Virgo dominates my full chart, so my vibe is often more Virgo than Leo.
Cam Montgomery
How long have you been interested in astrology? What was your introduction to the practice?
I began as a casual astrology stan when, in the early 2000s, I was 12 and J-14 Magazine told me (a Taurus sun and Venus), that my soulmate was Lance Bass (also a Taurus). My love and appreciation for it really took off in college when a couple of my cousins who practice dedicated Hoodoo got me my first tarot deck.
What made you want to incorporate astrology in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
No pun intended, but my personal appeal for making our book an “astrology book” was just that astrology is so universally loved and practiced and enjoyed—whether that’s casual or cultural or otherwise. It was nice not to feel the need to do a ton of additional research other than what I’ve learned from my cousins.
I did, however, spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to suss out where Ophiuchus would fall on the 12-sign Western zodiac calendar. We wanted to make sure the stories in the book fell in their correct order as they correspond to the astrological calendar, from Aries through Pisces.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
In my story “Formation,” my characters are bayou witches. They’re magickal girls who practice Hoodoo, so my inspiration was primarily familial and largely based on the religious practice. My story’s inclusion of Ophiuchus comes through both literally (my main character can change people’s star signs) and figuratively (she runs into a demigod with an unnamed star sign that “does not belong”).
What did you want to portray about the practice of astrology in your novel?
For me, it’s felt really important that people know about Hoodoo and how real it is as a closed-practice religion. I don’t use Hoodoo for the sake of storytelling and entertainment—it’s a whole thing and every facet of it is important. Hoodoo has many parts, one of which is astrology. And astrology is open to anyone and everyone.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
Taurus sun, Sag moon, Cap rising, baby! A lot of my birth chart is Taurus, actually, so that’s always been where my loyalties lie (plus, Rob Pattinson is a triple Taurus and I think that man can make anything worthwhile). (But it’s definitely the Sagittarius in me that makes me admit things like that.)
Adrianne White
How long have you been interested in astrology? What was your introduction to the practice?
My interest began with magazine horoscopes. Teen me scoured Essence, Vogue, and Seventeen for clues on how much of a Sagittarian cluster my life would or wouldn’t be (but who am I kidding? I lived for drama) each month. My appreciation grew immensely as I explored tarot and divination and learned that those practices run in my family.
What made you want to incorporate astrology in your novel? Did you do any research for the book?
I’m gonna be corny and say it was written in the stars. When we first discussed astrology as a thematic foundation, it just felt right. It excited us from the beginning, and we hoped that would come through in the book. Whether it’s beloved or reviled, astrology has universal familiarity that reaches across cultures.
How did you develop your character’s relationship with astrology? How does it help communicate their traits and motivations?
In “I Come from the Water,” my characters are a ghost, an ancestor’s wish made corporeal, and the girl who communicates with them. She comes from a family with varying degrees of acceptance of the magic interwoven in their lives, so she uses what she’s learned of astrology paired with her rebellious nature to make sense of it. Her intense connection to water, specifically a mysterious nearby creek, is the most well-represented Aquarian trait, and she’s often unsure if it bears friend or foe.
What did you want to portray about the practice of astrology in your novel?
I felt it was important to show how astrology can be abstract. The shape it takes as you develop the practice that works for you, along with the mistakes you inevitably make along the way, is such a vital part of the process.
What’s your Big Three and what are your favorite signs?
Sagittarius sun, Pisces Moon, Taurus rising. I’m feeling more of my Pisces self coming to the fore lately, which is interesting because it’s one of the signs that fascinates me the most. I’m also a huge fan of Scorpios. I feel they’re misunderstood quite a bit and that speaks to the Sagittarius in me.
All Signs Point to Yes, edited by g. haron davis, Cam Montgomery, Adrianne White (Inkyard Press May 31, 2022 $19.99 ISBN 978-1-335-41862-3)
