You may have noticed that I did not put any books or journals or paper goods on the previous (first ever) gift guide that I sent out.
That’s because I wanted to send a gift guide featuring books & sundry by the newsletter’s paid subscribers, as a thank you for their incredible support this year. Invitations to contribute were sent out to folks in the Astrology for Writers Discord, and also via the Substack chat feature. If you’re a paid subscriber who missed the invite, please feel free to drop your books, tarot decks, and/or journals in the comments, so that folks can find you and support you!
Support these incredible writers! It’s been a hard year to be creative. Let’s spread the love. A rising tide lifts all boats.
These are organized by category/genre: children’s, tarot decks, fiction, journals & magazines, non-fiction (witchy), and non-fiction (other).
also, please forgive the two newsletters in one day — this one got delayed and I want to make sure any orders can hit shipping deadlines!
Children’s
Confession, I put multiple books for these authors because kids should always get as many books as possible!
Kayla Whaley’s A to Z Animal Mysteries series makes a great gift for young readers! Start them out with The Absent Alpacas and Bats in the Castle!
You can pre-order Lindz Amer’s forthcoming picture book Hooray for He, She, Ze and They! What Are Your Pronouns Today? You can also pick up Amer’s essential Rainbow Parenting: Your Guide to Raising Queer Kids and Their Allies as a gift for anyone in the family.
Tarot Decks
Just get these. They’re queer and beautiful with good card quality and thoughtful re-interpretations of the cards. You know you want to!
Fiction
Shelly Jay Shore’s Rules for Ghosting is available for pre-order, and since its cover hasn’t been released yet, I am going to include a bit of its description, because it is the queerness we DESERVE as gifts to our future selves!
To save his family's failing funeral home — and his own chance at a queer love story — a reluctant clairvoyant must embrace the gift he long ignored in this poignant and tender debut, perfect for fans of the swoonworthy romance and queer community of One Last Stop and the macabre humor and family dysfunction of Mostly Dead Things.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK.
If you’re looking for a cozy historical romance — but with queerness and magic — please allow me to direct you to the work of Celia Lake. Specifically, to Best Foot Forward.
This is “an enemies to ‘it's complicated’ M/M romance full of espionage, magic, extreme competence under pressure, music, and healing from the traumas of the Great War.”
Extreme competence under pressure — where are my fellow Capricorns who are swooning at that?
Journals & Magazines
If you’re the type who likes an illustrated journal, or if you know someone who would love this in their stocking, then check out Amelia Hruby’s Fifty Feminist Mantras: A Yearlong Practice for Cultivating Feminist Consciousness.
I love
’s The Rebis, which a print anthology of original art and creative writing inspired by a single tarot card. In a day and age where print is dying all around us, her issues — chock full of contributions from some of the most brilliant artists and occultists today — are stunning, downright spiritual labors of love.The most recent issue of The Rebis is dedicated to The Chariot. It’s gorgeous. I cannot recommend this magazine enough.
Nonfiction (Witch & Witch-Adjacent)
Interested in numerology?
’s The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic with Numerology is THE book to get. Like, THE book. Cannot recommend enough. Also, get a reading with Rebecca. She’s fabulous.You knew it was coming, but even if Meg Jones Wall wasn’t my partner, I’d still recommend Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation for its incredibly inclusive, deconstructed, user-friendly guide to reading tarot.
Creative people everywhere — artists, writers, sculptors, graphic designers, chefs — have something to gain from Cassandra Snow & Siri Plouff’s Lessons from the Empress: A Tarot Workbook for Self-Care and Creative Growth. It’s so helpful.
If you’re wanting a more explicit guide in terms of how to use story to construct your story/narrative and guide you through your creative process, then you want Caroline Donahue’s Story Arcana: Tarot for Writers. This has customized spreads and prompts to get you through writer’s block.
Non-Fiction (Other/Queer)
Queer history and women’s history buffs: this is for you. Trust me, being a fan of football is optional, although you may well be in love with what the game offers by the end of
’s Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League. It’s so good.And of course, my own memoir! Heretic. Because I’d be remiss if I didn’t put it on here. I’m bad at describing it. This is what Lucy Dacus said:
Bless this brave, thoughtful, funny, aggravating, nearly triggering book. It made me wish I still believed in the God I knew in my youth so that I could pick a fight with Him. Kadlec provides an astute picture of what it feels like to be born into the maze of a rigid faith and the twists and turns it takes to find yourself. I wish I had this book when I was a teenager. . . . This will hit very close to home for a lot of people.
And that’s it! I hope you enjoy these offerings. If you’re a paid subscriber who has a book or journal or tarot deck or Kickstarter campaign or other such paper good offering that can be ordered On the Internet out in the world, please feel free to drop the link below! <3
Ooo, the Rosebud Tarot is exactly what I needed for my housemate for Solstice. Thank you!
What a delicious line-up. Thank you again for including Story Arcana, super dark and mysterious cover and all. 🙃