Llewellyn Worldwide (formerly Llewellyn Publications) is a

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

based in

Woodbury, Minnesota Woodbury ( ) is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, east of Saint Paul along Interstate 94. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The population was 75,102 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's ...

. Llewellyn's mission is to "serve the trade and consumers worldwide with options and tools for exploring new worlds of mind & spirit, thereby aiding in the quests of expanded human potential, spiritual consciousness, and planetary awareness."

History

Llewellyn Publications was formed in 1901 by Llewellyn George in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. At first the company concentrated exclusively on

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

, in the form of both books and annuals. Later, Llewellyn began to branch out into other New Age topics such as

alternative healing Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices ar ...

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

development, and earth-centered religions, among others. In 1920 Llewellyn Publications moved from Portland to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. George died in 1954 and the company was bought by Carl L. Weschcke in 1961, who then moved the headquarters to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s, Llewellyn published books from authors such as

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 or 8 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted philoso ...

and

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

writing on

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and other topics. President and publisher Weschcke founded a series of Gnostic Aquarian festivals to help create a broader audience. Llewellyn went on to publish books such as

Raymond Buckland Raymond Buckland (31 August 1934 – 27 September 2017), whose craft name was Robat, was an English writer on the subject of Wicca and the occult, and a significant figure in the history of Wicca, of which he was a high priest in both the Ga ...

's 1986 ''Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft'',

Scott Cunningham Scott Douglas Cunningham (June 27, 1956 – March 28, 1993) was an American writer. Cunningham is the author of several books on Wicca and various other alternative religious subjects. His work ''Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner'' ...

's 1988 ''Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner'', and Ted Andrews' 1993 ''Animal Speak'', a shamanistic guide to totem animals. The company also expanded into

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

decks, magical kits, and materials for younger readers. Declines in sales in 2001 spurred the company toward

layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

s and a restructure of its sales and marketing departments in 2002. By the end of 2003 the company had rebounded with $16 million in gross sales."Llewellyn looks to the stars," Publishers Weekly, 12 Jan 2004
/ref> In July 2005, Llewellyn moved its offices to the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury. On February 1, 2005, Llewellyn launched its first fiction imprint, Midnight Ink. A year later, Llewellyn launched its second fiction imprint, Flux Books.

Notable authors

The company publishes a wide offering of non-fiction books by such noted authors as

, Michael Newton,

Donald Michael Kraig Donald Michael Kraig (March 28, 1951 – March 17, 2014) was an American occult writer and practitioner of ceremonial magic. Kraig published six books, including his 1988 introduction to ceremonial magic, ''Modern Magick''. He was also an editor fo ...

, Richard Webster,

Silver RavenWolf Silver RavenWolf (born September 11, 1956) is an American writer on New Age magic, witchcraft and Wicca. Career RavenWolf received her Third Degree Initiation from a member of the Serpent Stone family, a pagan congregation. While studying und ...

Karen Mehringer Karen Mehringer (born February 12, 1967) is an American author and psychotherapist who is the founder of Creative Transformations, an organization whose stated purpose is "to help people awaken, live with purpose, and realize their dreams." Mehri ...

, and Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson. Authors for its fiction lines include

Maggie Stiefvater Margaret Stiefvater ( ; née Hummel; born November 18, 1981) is an American writer of young adult fiction who is best known for her Fantasy literature, fantasy series ''The Wolves of Mercy Falls'' and ''The Raven Cycle''. Life and career Early ...

Simone Elkeles Simone Elkeles (born April 24, 1970) is an American author known for the teen romance ''Perfect Chemistry'' trilogy and ''How To Ruin'' trilogy. She is a New York Times Bestselling young adult author. Simone has won the 2010 RITA Award for Best ...

Laurie Faria Stolarz Laurie Faria Stolarz is an American author of young adult fiction novels featuring teenage protagonists, best known of which are the series of books beginning with '' Blue is for Nightmares''. Early life and education Stolarz grew up in Salem, Mas ...

Kirstin Cronn-Mills Kirstin Cronn-Mills is an American author of children's books including the Minnesota Book Award finalist ''The Sky Always Hears Me And the Hills Don't Mind'' (2009) and ''Beautiful Music for Ugly Children'' (2012) which was a Stonewall Book Awa ...

, Amanda Grace (a pen name for author Mandy Hubbard), Kelsey Sutton,

A.S. King Amy Sarig King (born March 10, 1970) is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". She is also th ...

, and Nick James.

References

External links

* {{Official New Age literature New Age organizations Modern pagan media Book publishing companies based in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1901