In these turbulent times, when it seems everyone is tense about their job, their family, their health, even their politics, it’s hard to look upward or inward. Mind-body-spirit publishers are seeking to help revive readers’ energy and inspire their psyches with a host of new books that are more practical than ever before.

Many forthcoming MBS titles still feature staples of the category—witches every which way and plenty of magic from many world cultures. But now, says New World Library acquiring editor Noelle Armstrong, “we’re seeing less ‘woo-woo and more ‘how-to.’ ” And that means a burst of books by knowledgeable guides and amiable mentors to ease the way for anyone seeking to start or travel further on a spiritual path.

Many authors with forthcoming titles belong to the second generation of mind-body-spirit publishing—people who learned from the leaders in the field in the 1990s and early 2000s. “Literature in the mind-body-spirit space has evolved as people have taken those early teachings and now are writing to teach others,” says NWL spokesperson Kim Corbin, who highlights two forthcoming titles as examples of this shift. In How to Live So You Can Die Without Fear (June 2026), author Dale Borglum, founder of the Living/Dying Project, hearkens back to his conversations with the late spiritual teacher Ram Dass. Peter Russell’s How to Meditate Without Even Trying (May 2026) is part of the publisher’s series curated by new age bestselling author Eckhart Tolle.

Though more people want to personally shape their spiritual lives, says Lisa Kloskin, an acquisition editor at Broadleaf, they still want guidance and support. “Since they’re leaping out on their own, they’re even more hungry for practical, guide-style resources that will help introduce them to new, more expansive practices and concepts,” she says. “Guides help readers tune into their own wisdom more.” That can even mean looking to the past for guidance about moving. Angela Herrington suggests women ditch the nasty stereotypes about witches in Embracing the Old Witch in the Woods: Liberating Feminine Wisdom from Christian Patriarchy (Oct.). Herrington, an online pastor, steers readers to see how, like those witches, they can discover and trust what the publisher calls their own “sacred gifts and hard-earned wisdom.”

Even some more esoteric mind-body-spirit titles take a teach-a-skill approach. Findhorn Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions, offers The Spiritual Dog: Emissary of Unconditional Love and Healing (May 2026). According to the publisher, author JJ Flowers “presents a loving-kindness meditation, gifted to her by high-level light beings known as Melchizedek, that opens telepathic communication with your dog.”

Journeys Within and Beyond

Readers are also seeking what Amy Lyons, senior acquisitions editor at Red Wheel/Weiser, calls a “gentle mentorship” with authors whose books can lead them on a spiritual journey. As an example, Lyons cites Tapping into the Akasha: A Wonderous Journey of Personal Growth and Spiritual Development (Mar. 2026) by Rohini Moradi, host of the Magic Inclined podcast. Moradi describes the Akasha as the universal energy field that, according to the publisher, “reminds us of our inherent interconnectedness and our shared history as souls” and shows readers how to integrate this knowledge into daily life.”

Lyons also highlights Madison Murphy Barney’s Our Ancestors Want Us to Be Mushrooms: Wisdom for Living in Balance with the Planet and Each Other as an example of another trend in MBS publishing. “There’s great interest in looking at the foundations of the earth, your own history, your family’s history,” she says. “People today want to feel connected to the past.” Whether it’s a grandmother’s recipe or a spell from an ancient witch’s handbook, Lyons adds, “there’s a real interest in authenticity.”

Publishers are paying attention. Sarah Stanton, editorial director for Sounds True, says that readers struggling with groundlessness and change long for genuine guidance they can trust. “We’re years out of the Covid pandemic and still it is touching our lives,” she says. “Today, people want support and comfort after all they have gone through. They want resources and practices from trusted experts, and they want a sense of community and connection.”

Accordingly, ST last year launched a series of self-help psychology workbooks. In June 2026, popular meditation teacher Tara Brach’s The Courageous Heart Workbook: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times will lean into the spiritual. Stanton says the book intends to “help people develop their relationships in a time when we all need inner bravery and fortitude.”

Running Press editor Kate Anderson also sees this trend in divination card decks, which have become one of the most popular corners of MBS publishing. “Where we are in the world right now,” she says, “it feels like mind-body-spirit products need to root themselves in a deeper history, a deeper sort of cultural practice, or a very deep connection to nature or to psychology.”

One book that does just that, Anderson says, is Tarot for the Wild Soul by Lindsay Mack (May 2026). Drawn from Mack's podcast of the same name, the book explains how to use the cards for growth, healing from trauma, and personal evolution. In addition to the book, RP offers a related Soul Tarot deck that comes with a slim guidebook for reading the cards.

Standing out in Crowded Market

The push toward a pragmatic approach is also a way publishers might respond to a slowdown in sales, says Ben Gleason, production editor at Wisdom, a publisher specializing in eastern philosophies and spiritual practices.

“There’s a glut in the market of meditation books from a lot of different traditions,” Gleason says. “By now, everyone has a shelf full of introductory books to the Zen of this or the dharma of that. They may try to sit for 30 minutes and chant some sutras. Then they give up.” As an antidote, Gleason points to Wisdom’s Sit: 28 Days to a Rock-Solid Daily Meditation Habit (Feb. 2026) by Buddhism teacher Bodhipaksa. “He picks away at all your excuses,” Gleason says, “sets you up minute by minute, and suddenly you’re doing it.”

Still, there’s no single road to the divine. Llewellyn, a press known for titles on the practice and history of magic, has two forthcoming books that offer readers contradictory approaches to spirituality. Maevius Lynn’s Holy Year of Thelema: A Guide to the Ritual Calendar of Aleister Crowley’s Tradition (May 2026) focuses on ceremonial magic practices from the early 1900s, while Thumper Forge’s The Chaos Apple: Magic & Discordianism for the Postmodern Witch (Nov.) rejects conventional systems and practices entirely.

Heather Greene, a Llewellyn acquiring editor, says these books play to seekers’ desire for autonomy and choice. “When a society is experiencing upheaval and uncertainty, as we are today, some people want to go back to the structured rituals that have stood the test of time,” she says. “While other people, like Forge, say, ‘Why not try new ways?’ There’s a randomness to his magic. Just do something. If it works, you do it again.”

Greene has even given that advice a spin. When she presented Forge’s book at a Llewellyn sales meeting, she recalls, “I stood up in front with a bunch of change in my hand and said, ‘I’m going to do little blessing on our presentation.’ I took the money, which represents success, and I threw it out in the middle of the room and said, ‘Let us be blessed with success.’ ”

Mind-body-spirit publishers are banking on readers’ willingness to embrace authentic connections, practical advice, and knowledgeable guides on whatever spiritual paths they chose.

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