It may or may not have been because the planets were in perfect alignment when Julia Lupton Skalka sat down at her computer and began writing, but her newly released book, "The Instant Horoscope Reader," has found astronomical success.
Nearly 4,000 of the first 7,500 copies of the book have been sold since its release last month. Julie Paxton, publicist for Llewellyn Publications, said the book will be reprinted within six months.
The book was also featured for the holidays in Walden Books' "Preferred Reader," a mailing the company sends to customers.
Ms. Skalka, a Crownsville resident who has been a column writer for Dell Horoscope magazine since 1976, is working on a second astrology guide, "The Instant Horoscope Predictor," which is sched- uled for release in March.
"I think if you have any interest in [astrology] at all, you'll be able to study it on your own," Ms. Skalka said. "It doesn't take Einstein to figure out the book."
"The Instant Horoscope Reader," which can be found at B. Dalton, Walden, and Barnes and Noble bookstores, is a beginner's guide to astrology. It teaches about the zodiac, a horoscope, the planets and the signs.
Near the end of the book, Ms. Skalka charts the horoscopes of Mata Hari, Theodore Roosevelt, Ted Bundy and Grace Kelly.
In her book, she explains that a zodiac is a map of the sky separated into 12 equal parts. Each section represents an astrological sign, such as Cancer or Scorpio, and a period of time. The planets pass through each sign as they circle the sun. The planets that are farthest from the sun take longer to travel through all the signs.
The zodiac becomes a chart as the astrologer calculates the placement of the eight planets, sun and moon for a specific time. The earth is not included because astrologers map the planets ** from the earth.
As each planet moves from one sign to another, Ms. Skalka said, the planet's character is mixing with the character of the sign that it is under.
Ms. Skalka said her book was born out of an earlier astrology project. In 1988, she finished writing the text for Io HoroScope, a computer program that creates a person's horoscope chart showing the alignment of the planets.
In 1992, she finished the text for Io Forecast, a program that interprets charts.
In March 1993, Ms. Skalka expanded on the first text to write her book, and she will use the text from the second program to expand on her second book.