Madame Clairevoyant's Guide to the Stars: Astrology, Our Icons, and Our Selves

Written by Claire Comstock-Gay

Narrated by Lori Prince

“Not just a shimmering guide to our personal cosmologies written in precise and lucid prose, this book is also a devastating collection of cultural-criticism essays cum meditations on the very nature of being alive.”—Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of The Third Rainbow Girl

A soulful exploration of the twelve astrological signs embodied by our living “stars”—from divas to philosophers, poets to punks—and the ways they can help us better understand ourselves and each other, from the wildly popular astrology columnist for New York magazine’s The Cut.

Whether you believe in it or not, astrology’s job has never been to give us a preordained vision of the future, nor to sort us into twelve neat personality types, but to provide the tools and language for delving into our weirdest, best, most thorny contradictions, and for understanding ourselves and each other in our full complexity. The stars and the planets then are more like mirrors that show us who we are, that give us an understanding of how to be and how to move through the world; how certain people do it differently, and what we can learn by studying them.

In Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars, Claire Comstock-Gay brings the sky down to Earth and points to our popular “stars”—from Aretha Franklin to Mr. Rogers, from poets in Cancer to punk singers in Scorpio—to reveal what the sky has to teach us about being human. In this wise, lyrically written guide, she examines the twelve astrological signs, illuminating the ways each one is more complicated, beautiful, and surprising than you might have been told. Claire suggests that actually it’s okay, and even important, to be a seeker, to hunger for self-knowledge, and if astrology is the vehicle for that inquiry, so be it.

Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars offers a clear introduction to the basics and an innovative new framework for creatively using astrology to illuminate our lives on earth. It’s a road map to our internal world, yes, but Claire also reminds us that it’s still our job to navigate it. Combining both heavenly insights and the earthly wisdom of writers like Cheryl Strayed and Heather Havrilesky and the poetry of Patricia Lockwood and Mary Oliver, Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars offers a fresh, profound, and fun way to look at ourselves and others, and perhaps see each more clearly. And in that way, this book is not just beautiful, but transformative.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062998835

Claire Comstock-Gay

Claire Comstock-Gay has written horoscopes under the name “Madame Clairevoyant” since 2012—first for The Rumpus, then The Toast, and since 2016, for New York magazine’s The Cut. She has also written for the New York Times and has been featured on NPR’s On Point and Bitch Magazine’s Popaganda podcast. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Reviews for Madame Clairevoyant's Guide to the Stars

[oddandbookish · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher (Harper Books) in exchange for an honest review. I LOVED this book!Ever since quarantine started, I’ve developed an interest in astrology. I used to be really into astrology when I was a young girl, but then never thought much of it as I got older. I’m so glad I got back into it. I’ve been doing more research on it, and it is a lot more complex than you think. For example, I finally figured out all of my three signs (Taurus sun sign, Virgo rising sign, Aquarius moon sign). This book is not your typical astrology book. It does not give the same stereotypical information you get everywhere else. Instead, the book is a collection of essays that goes beyond the superficial. Each sign gets its own essay where the author does a deep dive into the sign and provides examples of famous icons who embody the sign. There is also an emphasis on the fact that we embody elements from all of the signs, not just our sun sign. I did find that some essays were better than others, but that is to be expected in a book like this. I liked that the book had both an introduction and a conclusion. One of my pet peeves in non-fiction books is when books have a strong introduction but no conclusion. Having a conclusion helps brings the book full circle, which is exactly what this book did.Lastly, I just want to talk about how gorgeous this book is. The cover is a vibrant blue with shiny gold details. But the best part is the color of the font. The entire book is in blue font. How cool is that? (In case you’e wondering, it is totally readable).Overall, I really recommend this book to astrology lovers, both new and seasoned.