Chani Nicholas

The moon, stars, and current events are all intertwined. That’s what L.A.-based astrologer Chani Nicholas knows to be true in her heart and her queer feminist politics. A counseling astrologer for more than 20 years, Chani sees astrology as a way not to passively accept one’s fate, but as a catalyst for action and change within one’s self and the world. She’s also the astrologer for Spotify and Oprah Magazine, and her book “You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance” (HarperCollins), out January 2020, will guide readers on how to interpret their own birth chart to radically embrace who they are and create space for their life’s purpose. But her magical, radical path wasn’t always so clear. Growing up in Canada, she received her first astrology reading at age 12 and has been a student ever since. It took many years to embrace astrology as her vocation. “When I finally hung my astrology shingle, I was almost immediately overwhelmed with business,” she says. With more than 200,000 Instagram followers, her posts range from inspirational, feel-good quotes to explanations about how the Alabama abortion ban happened on a week with a full moon in Scorpio and Venus conjunct with Uranus, which especially impacted people who could become pregnant. She’s also a happily married queer woman. She says that she and her wife, Sonya Passi, who is the CEO of the nonprofit FreeFrom, share a dedication to creating spaces where healing justice can occur, and is one of the foundations of their marriage. “Being with other queers helped me to radically accept myself which led me down a path to eventually radically accept my work with astrology, find my wife, all of which has all allowed for much abundance,” she says. —AE