15 Best Astrology Books, Recommended by Astrologers
Updated: Jul. 29, 2024
Obsessed with the zodiac but unsure how it works? Our astrologers picked the best astrology books for everyone from beginners to pros.
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What’s your sign? You likely know the answer to this pop culture catchphrase, but do you know what your zodiac sign means or where it came from? Astrology is an ancient system of philosophy and wisdom, based on studying the relative positions of celestial objects in space. It’s a vast topic with intensive layers and history, it and can feel overwhelming to novices. That’s why, with the help of three professional astrologers, we put together a list of the best astrology books for every level of interest, from complete beginners to seasoned pros.
If you’re brand new to astrology, we have great suggestions for easy-to-grasp intros to the topic. But you might find, like so many do, that once you start studying the stars, you’re hooked and want to know more. In that case, we have the best books for digging deeper into the practice, understanding the different types and uses of astrology and learning the various ways you can read your own birth chart—and more.
If you’ve always been curious about the zodiac signs, read on for the best astrology books to give you a solid foundation on the topic.
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Astrology: Using the Wisdom of the Stars in Your Everyday Life by Carole Taylor
Best for: Beginners
What you get: An illustrated overview of astrology
If you’re just getting into astrology, Carole Taylor’s Astrology is a great starting place. The user-friendly book is fun to read, with accessible infographics that make complicated topics easy to grasp. “[It’s a] brilliant, comprehensive intro-to-astrology book that’s extremely well-illustrated,” says astrologer Chris Brennan, host of the popular Astrology Podcast and author of Hellenistic Astrology. He says this 2018 book is one of his favorite astrology books to recommend to beginners because it gives a manageable overview of what he calls a fourfold system that includes the planets, the zodiac signs, their aspects and the 12 houses.
You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani Nicholas
Best for: Beginners
What you get: An introduction to your sun, moon and rising sign
Brennan says 2021’s You Were Born for This is one of the best astrology books for beginners because it focuses on crucial parts of the natal chart: the sun, moon and rising signs. The book organizes around these “big three” placements as keys to understanding your birth or natal chart as a whole. He finds the book speaks to “this emerging realization in the public consciousness that astrology is more than just … one zodiac sign [but] actually consists of a number of different planetary placements.”
If you’re hooked, you may want to check out author Chani Nicholas’s astrology app, Chani, which can calculate your birth chart and offers daily guidance.
The Astrology Journal: A Celestial Guide to Recording Your Cosmic Journey by Mecca Woods
Best for: Beginners
What you get: A way to track astrology in your daily life
Once you learn the basics of your natal chart, one of the next steps is considering how astrology works in action. Astrologer Mecca Woods gives a brief overview of astrological tools and components in this 2021 zodiac signs book, but the bulk of The Astrology Journal is a diary where you can record daily events.
Each day has a two-page spread that makes it easy to record the astrological “weather”: things like the lunar cycle, retrogrades or other events. You can also jot down what’s happened in your life and how you’re feeling that day. The format urges readers to reflect upon how these details connect to larger transits. It’s a great way for beginners to start a daily practice that helps them notice patterns and test-drive astrology as a meaning-making phenomenon.
Parkers’ Astrology: The Definitive Guide to Using Astrology in Every Aspect of Your Life by Julia and Derek Parker
Best for: Beginners
What you get: The basics from the top experts in the field
The Parkers, a husband-and-wife duo that’s been studying the field of astrology since 1965, have written more than 50 books on the topic, one of which is Parkers’ Astrology, which was updated in 2020. This book is an accessible, friendly and easy-to-understand guide for beginner and intermediate readers alike, says Inbaal Honigman, a celebrity psychic and astrologer.
“It will help you understand your own personality and quirks, and those of the people around you,” says Honigman. “This guide is a fantastic starting point if you’re only familiar with the very basics and therefore makes a great gift for a new partner who hasn’t got on board the astro train yet.”
On the Heavenly Spheres: A Treatise on Traditional Astrology by Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: An introduction to traditional astrology
On the Heavenly Spheres, published in 2010, is a longtime favorite of Brennan’s—and a book he recommends often—because it offers a comprehensive overview of what’s known as traditional (aka Western) astrology. Even though it’s an intro, Brennan classifies it as an intermediate-level read because it focuses on much more complicated and in-depth topics, such as different types of astrology. Read it to learn, for instance, all about horary (casting charts to answer questions), mundane (looking at broad cultural events) and electional (finding specific auspicious times in the future) astrology. You’ll get “a much broader scope of the full technical apparatus of astrology that is outside of just birth charts,” he says.
Astrology and the Authentic Self: Integrating Traditional and Modern Astrology to Uncover the Essence of the Birth Chart by Demetra George
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: An accessible synthesis of traditional and modern astrology
Astrology and the Authentic Self is the book to read once you’re hungry for more knowledge about the zodiac. Author Demetra George is a major figure in the larger astrological discipline. She has a background as a translator of ancient astrology texts, and her work gives an accessible overview that’s great for readers who want to study these topics. This 2008 nonfiction book is “truly successful in taking some of the ancient concepts and fusing them with the modern concepts in a way that’s compelling and makes sense both conceptually as well as practically,” says Brennan.
Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice: A Manual of Traditional Techniques, Volume 1Â by Demetra George
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: A book to solidify your foundation in astrology
Ancient Astrology is a great companion book to Astrology and the Authentic Self and a true intermediate text in that it builds on and adds to a foundation. “It gets into the nitty-gritty specifics of how things work and why they work,” says professional astrologer djenneba drammeh (whose naming convention is lowercase), coeditor of the forthcoming astrology anthology Mercury’s Brood.
Though this 2019 book includes mathematical and scientific content, it manages to make complex aspects of astrology digestible and straightforward. Don’t be intimidated if this sounds hard—George’s work is perfect for you if you long to understand more.
Planets in Transit: Life Cycles for Living by Robert Hand
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: A great reference to quickly interpret chart placements
“This is an astrologer’s holy grail,” says drammeh, “but it’s also a reference text. Planets in Transit breaks down every single possible transit in short digestible blurbs.” It’s the perfect text to reach for if you have a question about, for instance, what it means if the moon is transiting your 11th house or Venus is transitioning your fifth house. This 2002 book offers an easy way to understand the meanings of specific aspects of your chart in a way that grounds you but won’t overwhelm you. You’ll find it concise and straightforward. It also includes info on both the modern (Pluto, Uranus and Neptune) and traditional planets.
Post-Colonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power and Labor by Alice Sparkly Kat
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: A richer understanding of the planets’ meanings
In Post-Colonial Astrology, astrologer Alice Sparkly Kat examines the “etymologies”—the larger historical and cultural meanings—of the traditional planets in Western history. Sparkly Kat asks in the introduction how to make astrology more responsible, and their 2021 book offers a way to critique or think differently about the seemingly universally accepted meanings. The book offers a strategy that is queer and inclusive as it considers astrology’s connection to politics and power.
Sparkly Kat sees astrology as a way to offer healing and community, but to do so, its history and influence have to be understood so it can be discarded when necessary. This is one of the best astrology books for a deep dive into planetary meaning. Read it to really get to know the two luminaries, the sun and moon, and the traditional planets: Saturn, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury.
Love Signs: Unlock Your True Love Match by Linda Goodman
Best for: Intermediate
What you get: A primer on zodiac compatibility
With more than 12 million copies sold, Love Signs (updated in 2022) is one of the most popular astrology books for taking your interest in the zodiac a step further and applying it to your relationships. “Compatibility is one of the top reasons that people get into astrology at all,” says Honigman. “When you can’t figure out how somebody feels or why they react the way they react, you reach out to astrology to ask your questions. This beautiful, heavy, forever book belongs in every household. It explains the ins and outs of compatibility for lovers but also family members, exes and even colleagues.”
Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View by Richard Tarnas
Best for: Advanced
What you get: A philosophy of astrology as a legitimate phenomenon
Cosmos and Psyche is for both an academic and general audience, and it demonstrates the ways astrological concepts both correspond to and help describe broad cultural events across history. Keep in mind that it’s pretty thick—around 500 pages of rich, philosophical wonder. Richard Tarnas’s work influenced what’s now known as “archetypal” astrology, and if you’re a fan, you can check out the related website, Archetypal Explorer, which is kind of like an astrology book in that it has an interactive interface for the daily understanding of your chart and the larger world’s. Brennan describes this book, published in 2007, as a pitch for “astrology as a legitimate phenomenon.”
Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune by Chris Brennan
Best for: Advanced
What you get: A foundational introduction to ancient texts and techniques
Brennan learned Greek to translate ancient astrology works at Project Hindsight, which was an inspiration for this work that took 10 years to write. Before Hellenistic Astrology published in 2017, there wasn’t a comprehensive primer on ancient astrology. Translating those ancient texts was so important because they contained techniques such as whole sign houses, the concept of sect and timing techniques like profections and zodiacal releasing. These ancient concepts are fascinating and gaining popularity. Give this one a try if you want to know astrology’s vast history and how to put these techniques into practice.
“Hellenistic Astrology was my personal introductory text,” says drammeh about this nearly 700-page masterwork that’s an essential read for advanced astrologers and anyone else with a passion for the topic. It’s perfectly fine to jump around in this book, as long as you’re “not being overwhelmed by the overall page count,” drammeh says. Hellenistic Astrology is dense and intense, but you can still get into it as an advanced beginner if you have the basics down.
Practical Plentary Magick by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine
Best for: Advanced
What you get: A guide to planetary workings
“Going way off the deep end, Practical Planetary Magick is for those who already know their planets but want to get the cosmos to work for them,” says Honigman. This 2007 book is an experiential, celestial overview of astrological ritual, both ancient and new, for seasoned practitioners and those who are well on their way. But it’s also a practical, easy-to-follow guide for the reader who’s interested in planetary energies and how to use them to their benefit.
A History of Horoscopic Astrology by James Herschel Holden
Best for: Pros
What you get: An essential masterwork in the discipline
Brennan calls A History of Horoscopic Astrology his favorite book on the history of astrology. He describes it as a masterwork that gives “an overview of the past 3,000 or 4,000 years of Western astrology in a relatively concise 350 pages.” You’ll find short biographies of the major astrologers throughout history. And since Holden was a scholar who knew multiple languages, he could read ancient texts in their original forms. This astrology book, published in 2006, includes detailed footnotes and two indexes for aficionados looking to expand their knowledge.
The American Ephemeris: 1950–2050 at Noon by Neil F. Michelsen and Rique Pottenger
Best for: Pros
What you get: Tables of planetary movements
The American Ephemeris is one of those astrology books that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious astrologer, but it’s a good book for enthusiasts too. It’s basically a book of tables that show the planetary positions on any given day across 100 years. Sure, you can access the planetary transits with apps or astrology software. But Brennan says there’s something valuable in holding an ephemeris in your hands. Modern software allows you to skip the calculations that astrologers of the past had to master.
This is one of the best astrology books for practitioners who want to go old school—you’ll get an overview of the planet’s positions that you can see all at once. You can also find an episode called “How to Read an Ephemeris” on Brennan’s The Astrology Podcast that explains how to read these tables. This can be both fun and compelling if you’re interested in astrological timing and applying it to your everyday life.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece on the best astrology books, Molly Pennington tapped her experience as a journalist and professional astrologer, interviewing three astrologers to ensure all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Inbaal Honigman, celebrity psychic and astrologer; interview June 2024
- Chris Brennan, astrologer, host of The Astrology Podcast and author of Hellenistic Astrology; interview November 2021
- djenneba drammeh, astrologer and astrology writer; interview November 2021
Originally Published: December 16, 2021
