Centuries-old divination tools, some so mysterious and complex they were once the purview of royalty only, have become mainstream fare in publishing and bookselling. This past decade has seen a boom in materials on such ancient practices as tarot and the I Ching, simultaneously making such ancient subjects more accessible to amateurs and increasingly specialized for veteran practitioners.
Formerly found mainly in specialty shops, divination books and card decks are working their way into small general-interest bookstores as well as the major chains. And thanks to computer technology—which has made quick work of astrological charting and allowed for other hands-on tutorials—authors and publishers say they're freer to plumb the broad field of divination in greater depth. Even some of the lesser-known tools, such as runes—magical third-century Germanic and Nordic characters—are enjoying new and popular interpretations.
"The interest in astrology and tarot and I Ching books is evidence of a deeper sea change in American spirituality over the last several years," said Chris Faatz of Powell's Books in Portland, Ore. "It's evidence of the loosening of religious structures in our lives. People are finding meaning, which is good."
Taking Many Forms
Divination covers a lot of ground, and not just in forecasting. By studying geometric shapes, numbers, card systems, coins—even coffee grounds or water—practitioners seek personal insights, what Inner Traditions publisher Ehud Sperling calls "divining who we are, the Socratic process of self-discovery." The tarot, believed by some to have originated in Egypt and been spread by Gypsies, is one of the more widely used methods, its 78 cards representing personality traits, consequences and other guidance. Tarot, astrology and the like have garnered larger followings since the self-discovery years of the 1960s and 1970s, fueled further by the allure of the New Age movement and Americans' ongoing spiritual quest.
The husband-wife team of artist Amy Zerner and writer Monte Farber has witnessed the growth in interest firsthand. The couple, together 26 years, has produced more than a dozen of what they call "spiritual power tools"—books, card decks, even calendars—since 1988. Their newest book, The Enchanted Astrologer, will be published by St. Martin's Press in October. "To us, the divination systems fill in for the lack of ritual in everyday life," Farber told PW. "Divination is not just divining your future, but getting in touch with the divine."
The path to such discovery seems to be getting easier all of the time.The Enchanted Astrologer offers readers "instant" insights into their personalities, methods for better decision-making and ways to predict the future. The hardcover text comes packaged with 36 cards, each representing a different planet, house or sign of the zodiac. Topics covered include love and relationships, work and career, wealth and success. The book-and-deck set is similar in approach to The Instant Tarot Reader (St. Martin's Press, 1997), also by Farber and Zerner. "Everyone's always asking, 'Is it the New Age?' No, it's the 'Now Age,' because everything has to be done now," said Farber. "The hardest part of our divination system is taking the shrink-wrap off."
Divination primers constitute a large portion of the market. Other recent how-to books include Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners (WeiserBooks, 1998), touting everything from exercises to card-shuffling tips;Complete Guide to Tarot by Cassandra Eason (Crossing Press, 1999) and Alan Oken'sPocket Guide to the Tarot (Crossing Press, 1996). The latter has sold nearly 25,000 copies—similar to sales of the Pocket Guide series' Wicca title.
Seeking the Youth Market
The surge of interest in Wicca is spilling over to the broader area of divination, drawing an increasing number of younger readers and practitioners. "Part of it is the Harry Potter phenomenon," Gabe Weschcke, v-p of Llewellyn, told PW. "The younger audience keeps eating that kind of stuff up." Publishers are responding to that appetite. Inner Traditions launched Bindu Books, a teen imprint, 18 months ago. Teen Astrology: The Ultimate Guide to Making Your Life Your Own by M.J. Abadie, has sold some 7,500 copies since its February release, with a second printing planned in June. Julie Tallard Johnson's I Ching for Teenagers: Take Charge of Your Destiny with the Ancient Chinese Oracle (Bindu Books, Oct.) offers teens instruction in using the Confucian-based I Ching for insight into college plans, relationships and other pressing adolescent matters.
Inner Traditions' Sperling believes the two titles have appeal for younger audiences because they offer guidance at a time of serious introspection for many. "I can remember when I was a teenager using the I Ching," he said. "I started asking questions about how my own life would unfold because, as a teenager, that was critical both in terms of wanting to know and in navigating to the appropriate future."
Looking to the Stars
The search for answers is not limited to teens. Astrology—a close cousin to divination, with crossover between the two—has fed a proliferation of books and sideline products among most age groups in recent years. "There seems to be a core of practitioners and buyers who continuously fuel the demand for new books on astrology," said Christopher Wold, director of sales and marketing for Red Wheel/Weiser. "As a practice, it's very daunting and there are no limits to the types of angles you could take in looking at it, which is what we're finding in our more recent publications." Wold points to The Astrology of Family Dynamics (Apr.) by Erin Sullivan and Liz Greene's Astrology for Lovers, which has sold more than 45,000 copies since 1990 and is in its eighth printing.
Much of the diversity in astrology titles comes from a single, earthly phenomenon: the home computer. Where charts and other technical computations were once laborious, math-intensive affairs, amateurs and professionals now use software to draft their astrological charts.
"In the early 1970s, if you could do one really good reading a day, that was good. Now you can do one an hour," said Stephanie Jean Clement, author, astrologer and marketing manager for Llewellyn. "A lot more research can be done in a short amount of time, so the professional astrologers are constantly coming up with new techniques and wanting to present them to their colleagues." But even the professionals still seek out fundamental texts. The house's founder, the late Llewellyn George, wroteThe New A to Z Horoscope Maker & Delineator in 1910. Now in its 65th printing, the part-encyclopedia, part—self study has more than 208,000 copies in print.
Charts or almanacs of planetary tables, known as ephemerides, are also steady sellers. As soon as New Leaf Distributing stocked up on one version of Neil Michelsen's American Ephemeris for the 21st Century (2000—2050) earlier this year, 1,000 copies went out the door, according to New Leaf spokesperson Judith Hawkins-Tillirson.
The sun-sign or newspaper zodiac aficionado, drawn to the likes of Sydney Omarr and Linda Goodman, is at one end of the market. The ephemeris-savvy astrologer is at the other. But an attractive demographic falls somewhere between casual and professional interest. "The middle market could be thought to include psychologists with open minds, people interested in New Age subjects or people trying to figure out what their spiritual mission is," said Llewellyn's Clement, who tailored her own book, Charting Your Career: The Horoscope Reveals Your Life Purpose (Llewellyn,1999), to that segment of the market. Other titles in that more practical vein include Your Cosmic Kids: Using Astrology to Understand Your Children (Hampton Roads, 1999) by Trish MacGregor and How to Read Signs and Omens in Everyday Life (Destiny Books, Oct.) by Sarvananda Bluestone, aimed at young adults and featuring 75 divination methods, such as cloud-reading, that can be applied to the quotidian.
It's in the Cards
Much of the emphasis in publishing these days can also be found in the cards, both in astrology and in the broader category of divination. Linda Goodman's Star Cards, a book-and-deck kit inspired by the late astrologer's teachings, sold 8,000 copies in its first month, said Grace Pedalino, an editor at Hampton Roads. A second print run, this time of 10,000, is in the works. The set's appeal is largely grounded in the popularity of Linda Goodman's Love Signs and other of her bestsellers. The illustrations on the 33 cards—from fiery scepters to heavenly sunbursts—also are a big draw. "Art is very, very important," Pedalino said. "Any deck you pick up, if it's a tarot deck or a Linda Goodman deck, if you don't feel the art is attractive, you're not going to buy it."
U.S. Games Systems has put that maxim to work. The company publishes more than 150 different tarot decks, many with accompanying instruction books. Their bestseller is The Original Rider-Waite Tarot Set, a facsimile edition of the 1909 deck. Originally illustrated by Englishwoman Pamela Colman Smith, who has a following among tarot devotees, the Rider-Waite deck is believed to be the first modern set of cards decorated with allegorical pictures instead of geometric shapes. New Leaf has sold 24,000 copies of the Rider-Waite deck so far this year, said Hawkins-Tillirson.
Other decks put out by U.S. Games Systems cover an eclectic and vast topic mix, from vampires and The Lord of the Rings (an adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien novel) to Native-American tribes and The Tarot of Gemstones and Crystals. The Epicurean Tarot Recipe Pack by Corrine Kenner, with recipes to "nourish not only the mind but the spirit," comes out this month. Feng Shui Tarot Deck by Peter Paul Connolly is due out in June.
U.S. Games Systems also publishes some 70 books on tarot without accompanying decks. Owner Stuart Kaplan's The Encyclopedia of Tarot, rich in history and photographs of cards from the 15th to the 20th centuries, is among the offerings. Each of the three volumes has sold 100,000 copies over the years, Kaplan said, with a fourth and final volume currently being researched. The company sells to both major book chains and specialty stores. Kaplan, a card collector and not a tarot practitioner, credits his own work for expanding the divination tool's appeal. "Thirty years ago, tarot cards were sold in head shops. Today, they are mainstream," he said. "I think I've changed the idea that they are frightening or evil or superstitious to something that is very comfortable for people to look at."
Non-tarot divination sidelines have been embraced by other publishers. Since 1992, Bear & Company has sold 82,000 copies of its Inner Child Cards: A Journey into Fairy Tales, Myth and Nature by Isha and Mark Lerner and 35,000 copies of The Mayan Oracle by Ariel Spilsbury and Michael Bryner. (Inner Traditions acquired the Bear & Company imprint in 2000.) Inner Traditions' Destiny Books imprint has sold 50,000 copies of The Lakota Sweat Lodge Cards: Spiritual Teachings of the Sioux by Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer and Helene Sarkis. Another Bear & Company kit, Sacred Geometry Oracle Deck by Francene Hart, will be published in October. "You have sacred geometry as fundamental to Hindu temple structures and Greek aesthetics. In geometry are embedded all of the mysteries in the world," said Inner Traditions' Sperling. "These are for a more sophisticated readership, for our audience that knows there is already a tradition of sacred geometry out there."
As with the broader New Age market, divination materials are increasingly delving into goddess, Wiccan and other predominantly female themes. The orientation is well-suited to an audience courted by Crossing Press and other publishers: the so-called Cultural Creative, defined by sociologist Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth in The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World (Harmony/Crown). Crossing Press sales manager Shauna Gunderson sees them as women, between ages 24 and 55, with well-honed global perspectives and social consciences. The Crossing Press title, A Woman's I Ching by Diane Stein (1997), is aimed at that audience. So far, the book has gone through two printings of 5,000 copies each. "Women have always used these various divinatory tools to gain insights into their feelings, their environments," Gunderson said. "I think the movement that triggered reintroduction of the goddess triggered interest in these old tools." In January, U.S. Games Systems put out The Goddess Tarot Deck by Kris Waldherr, along with a separate workbook. Zerner and Farber's The Oracle of the Goddess: Revelations, Reflections and Rites of Passage book-and-card set was published by St. Martin's in 1998.
Numbers & Runes, Too
In addition to its impact on astrological chart-making, technology has shaped the publishing of other divination materials in recent years. Red Wheel/Weiser recently took on The Instant Numerologist by Norman Shine and Felix Lyle (Connections Book Co., Apr.). The 176-page text covers names, birth-date numbers and relationships; it is to be used in tandem with accompanying software. "Numerology is hot. And the CD-ROM certainly makes it applicable to people who aren't so inclined to doing the pen-and-paper work," said Red Wheel/Weiser's Wold. "We hope it will be a foot in the door for us to start moving into the chains. We have a very strong background and relationship with specialty and New Age bookstores, where this would definitely fit. But this is more toward the mainstream, not as esoteric."
Similarly, Learning the Tarot (WeiserBooks, 1998) has a technological tie-in. Author Joan Bunning gives away much of the material in tarot tutorials on her Web site, www.learntarot.com. That exposure, along with her CD-ROM and diskettes, only seems to whet buyers' appetites. "This works on the basis that the best way to sell things is to give them away for free. The book has done nothing but great things for us," Wold said, adding that more than 25,000 copies have been sold thus far. "People want to come into the store and pick up the tangible item." The title will be recommended reading for an upcoming tarot course on the Barnes & Noble University Web site, which should sell another 800 or 900 copies, Wold said.
While tarot and astrology are the most popular pursuits in this corner of the metaphysical marketplace, runes are not without a loyal following. Pagans are the main buyers of books on the 1,800-year-old Germanic and Nordic alphabets, chiefly considered magical symbols in their time and used for divination. New Leaf's bestsellers are by Ralph H. Blum, including the 10th anniversary edition of The Book of Runes: A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle: The Viking Rune (St. Martin's Press, 1993), which comes with 25 ceramic runes. The distributor has sold 623 sets so far this year, according to Hawkins-Tillirson.
"Usually if somebody's interested in runes, they're interested in tarot—not necessarily the other way around," said Fran Carey, book buyer at Isis Books, a metaphysical store in Denver. Other divination trends are tough for her to discern these days. When it comes to tarot, buyers encompass "basically anybody breathing," she said.
Interest in such instruments will endure, Inner Traditions' Sperling believes. "Human beings have always been interested in divination, as much as the major religions have tried to exclude it," he said. "It has returned through a popular movement, New Age, which is reintroducing these very traditional forms of religious and cultural endeavors."
