Chani Nicholas

Chani Nicholas (pronounced /tʃæni/; born 1975) is a Canadian astrologer. She weaves progressive politics, activism, and queer identity into her work. Her first book, You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Acceptance, was released by HarperCollins on January 7, 2020.

Nicholas was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. She became interested in astrology when she was 12 after her first astrology reading.

At age 20, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. After deciding to leave the industry, she enrolled at the California Institute of Integral Studies where she completed her bachelor's degree. During this time, she began to study feminists such as bell hooks and grew her interest in social justice.

Nicholas began her career by writing a weekly astrology newsletter to friends and family in 2011. As her audience grew, she created a blog where she continued to write horoscopes and charged for astrology related-classes. She has continued to build a following through social media by posting humorous memes to her Instagram account. Her work and writing includes progressive values and speaks to marginalized communities such as queer and trans people. Nicholas also weaves current events into her astrological readings, and encourages her social media followers to take political action, such as contacting the FCC about Net Neutrality.

She has supported herself financially through her work since 2014; as of 2017, at least 12,000 customers had paid for one of her classes. Her blog attracts approximately one million regular visitors.

Other work

Nicholas appeared on the fourteenth episode of the Netflix series Explained, "Astrology". Her interpretation of Drake's album Scorpion was published in The Atlantic, and she is the "resident astrologer" on Oprah Magazine's website.

Her first book, You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Acceptance was released by HarperCollins on January 7, 2020. In an interview with KCRW, Nicholas stated that she hoped to "write a book that would help people access the wisdom of their chart so that they could more quickly align with living out their purpose. And so that we could all be, again, more quickly of service to the world."

• You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Acceptance (2020, HarperCollins; ISBN 9780062840653)

Nicholas is married to Sonya Passi. They reside in Los Angeles.