New titles from MBS publishers are turning to the sun and the stars for spiritual inspiration and guidance. Within a week of its release on January 7, Chani Nicholas’s You were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance (HarperOne) hit PW’s overall bestsellers list as the #7 book in the country. And that was before the dark cloud of the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, stressing lives and livelihoods and provoking fear for the future.
“There is something profoundly moving and comforting about the awesome night skies and realizing our place in this universe,” says Monica Perdoni, commissioning editor for Leaping Hare Press. “We are all interconnected, and that sense of feeling small as we look up at the stars reminds us we are simply part of a bigger existential picture.”
In September, Leaping Hare will publish The Mindful Universe by Mark Westmoquette. In the book, Westmoquette, an astronomer and the founder of the blog YourUniverseYoga, looks at the scientific workings of the universe, exploring space and time and combining facts, stories, and meditations to “connect the outer and inner universe,” he writes.
White Lion publisher Philip Cooper observes that “astrology is a subject of perennial interest, and we would hope that, in these challenging times, books like this will find an added appeal, given a heightened desire to find answers and guidance to life’s problems.” The publisher’s timely entry is Theresa Cheung’s The Astrology Fix (Nov.). Offering up 54 astrological solutions for readers looking to achieve goals or states of mind, accessible to anyone regardless of their sign, Cheung becomes “part life coach, part contemporary cosmic guide,” Cooper says. The book is organized by key themes such as joy, success, protection, and comfort.
Several forthcoming titles pay homage to the cycles of the moon. Even its dark phase offers something meaningful for people, says Peter Turner, associate publisher for Red Wheel/Weiser, which releases Lunar Alchemy: Everyday Moon Magic to Transform Your Life by Shaheen Miro in August. “Shaheen’s perspective is to see the moon as a metaphor for integrating the feminine and masculine, our intellect and intuition, and the light and dark parts of ourselves,” Turner adds.
John Hays, director of sales and marketing for Inner Traditions, sees the MBS category appealing to a new demographic. “Millennials are showing a surge of interest in all things oracle—tarot and divination decks,” he says. “They are looking for answers and are drawn to its signs and symbols. Tarot and astrology, in the big picture, offer hope.”
Hays looks ahead to the February 2021 release by Inner Tradition’s Destiny Books imprint of Astrology for Mystics by Tayannah Lee McQuillar, which aims to guide readers in using their astrological birth chart to find “deep and often complex insight” into their lives, he notes. Hoodoo Tarot, McQuillar’s earlier book and tarot deck released in March, sold out in four weeks, according to Hays.
More decks from Inner Traditions imprint Bear & Company are in the cards for later this year, including Nadine Gordon-Taylor’s The Heart Path Oracle Cards (Sept.), which Hays describes as “very new agey,” and The Spiritual Roots of the Tarot (Oct.) by Russell Sturgess, who posits that early medieval Christians hid a key to recalibrate human consciousness in certain Tarot cards.
Below are additional upcoming titles that will help the earthbound find help and hope both overhead and within:
Sacred Energies of the Sun and Moon by Erika Buenaflor (Bear & Co., July). The author, a self-described spiritual counselor and coach, draws on ancient Mesoamerican rites surrounding each period of the day and night, making a case for how these ancient rituals and practices can lead to healing and transformation.
Tarot: Connect with Yourself, Develop Your Intuition, Live Mindfully by Tina Gong (DK, Oct.). A tarot enthusiast and designer of tarot decks offers a guide to reading tarot cards as a means for self-reflection and mindful action.
The Chiron Effect: Healing Our Core Wounds Through Astrology, Empathy, and Self-Forgiveness by Lisa Tahir (Bear & Co., Nov.). Tahir, a social worker and host of the All Things Therapy podcast, writes that by tracking the position of Chiron—a minor planet already in everyone’s Zodiac charts—readers can access meditations that focus upon forgiveness and love.
The Moon Book: Lunar Magic to Change your Life by Sarah Faith Gottesdiener (St. Martin’s, Sept.). Artist, designer, and tarot reader Gottesdiener promises “a guide to conscious living through the moon and her phases, incorporating wellness rituals, spell work, and witchcraft for the modern seeker,” according to the publisher.
The Power Wish: Japan’s Leading Astrologer Reveals the Moon’s Secrets for Finding Success, Happiness, and the Favor of the Universe by Keiko (Viking, Nov.). The astrologer, who calls the moon “Earth’s helpdesk,” offers instructions for readers on the phases of the moon, and when it is most available to deliver their wishes to the universe.
