Spring break is over. A new moon is approaching. Mercury is in retrograde. All signs that a new cycle is about to begin again — and it won’t be a good one. I think. Maybe? I’m a novice when it comes to spirituality and astrology. I enjoy a good tarot reading, and I can be extremely superstitious at times. Yet, I’ve never read up on any of these topics — or even realized I could purchase a book to explain why you can’t trust a Gemini rising — until I wandered into Seven Stars in Central Square. The store is just a short walk from the MBTA stop; it offers books, crystals and everything one could ever want to know about New Age movements.
So, if your Co–Star notifications have been particularly brutal recently or if you’re getting into crystals to manifest passing that class, then Seven Stars may be the place for you.
As you enter Seven Stars, the shop’s windows cast the front of the store in bright, airy light. Dozens of nonfiction books are laid out on tables that fill the shop’s center. The walls are lined with bookshelves home to a variety of topics. Further in, the checkout counter features cases of crystals in raw and processed forms: polished pink quartz, moody tiger eyes, glittering amethyst and many others that surpass my seventh-grade earth science knowledge. Way in the back, the shelves close in, forming tight rows of vaguely defined topics that blend into one another. The tables in the front appear to feature a curated selection of recent releases and bestsellers.
Seven Stars is unique, to say the least. Never before have I seen a bookstore with a serious section dedicated to unidentified flying objects. If little green men experimenting on rural Americans is not your style, then perhaps the astrology, meditation or folklore sections are more to your fancy. They also have a considerable Roman and Greek classics section alongside the history books. Mostly unfamiliar with the topics listed above, I spent more time with the tables that held more books I recognized. There, I pored over nonfiction books from a range of subgenres, including self-help, sociology, psychology, ecology and memoir — all meant for the general reader.
It may be the Virgo in me, but I found the store needlessly confusing and tricky to navigate. Even with some shelves labeled, I struggled to orient myself among the sections. With new books mixed with old, and nonfiction shelved with books that are arguably fiction, this store can be even harder to parse.
Nevertheless, if you are passionate about crystals, meditation, spirituality and the occult, Seven Stars is a must visit. However, if you are not dedicated to any of the above, Seven Stars might be more of an if-you-have-time-to-kill-in-Central kind of place.
I did not purchase a book at Seven Stars; my horoscope said it was best to save money that day.
