Astrology fans: here’s what it’s really like to read the planets for a living

Roxane Gay x Stylist


Astrology fans: here’s what it’s really like to read the planets for a living

By Hannah Keegan

6 years ago

Work/Life is Stylist’s regular column about the professional routines of successful women. Here, astrologer Chani Nicholas takes us through her one-day diary, from morning latte to lights-out. 

Chani Nicholas is an astrologer. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife.


MY ALARM GOES OFF…

At 7.45am; 6am if I’m really on it. Then I try to remember what day it is, who I am, what my responsibilities are and have a low-grade panic. If we have the time, my wife and I will lay in bed for five minutes and talk about our dreams, if there’s anything that came up in them. I run my office out of our house, so I have to make sure I’m up and ready so I can open the door for everyone. I usually wear yoga pants, a bralette and a shacket, as Tan France calls them. 

I’M RESPONSIBLE FOR…

The overall direction of my company, ChaniNicholas.com, which has evolved from just me to a whole team over the last few years.

I GOT THE JOB…

By giving in to astrology. I got my first reading when I was 12 years old and was so enamoured by it that I started studying. I didn’t want to do it professionally, but it ended up being the only thing that ever worked in my life. After a lot of protesting, and trying a lot of other professions, I gave in. I began seeing clients then started my website in 2014. It took off by itself. I always felt like, I can’t do that it’s so easy. It took a long time to realise that it was my calling. 

MY TYPICAL DAY…

Starts with a Dorchester blend tea from Harney & Sons. It’s the strongest black tea I can find. I try to block off the morning for creative work. I write for my website twice a month (for the new moon and full moon), for O magazine online monthly and for Spotify monthly. I also help to curate the playlists that accompany the horoscopes. For me, it’s just like reading words except that it’s planets – I think about how what I’m interpreting can be useful for that sign, given the fact it’s incredibly general. Horoscopes are just a gateway drug into the vast, complex world of astrology. 

If the writing isn’t flowing it can feel really isolating and lonely, so I try to think of it as connecting to myself spiritually. We have altars dotted around the house with candles, crystals, tarot cards and oils that help remind me to take a breath. I tend to snack throughout the day instead of having lunch. I’ll meet my wife in the kitchen. In the afternoon, I might have a meeting with my team or a reading with a private client. I talk about what’s coming up for them, but also things in the past – for example, what happened in, say, 2009, because that was the beginning or ending of a cycle. You can see the huge, overarching patterns of someone’s life. I try to finish by 6pm. 

MY MOST MEMORABLE WORK MOMENT…

Was doing a reading for Lizzo onstage at my Spotify launch party. I couldn’t believe that astrology brought me that.

THE WORST PART OF MY JOB…

Is doing everything 12 times over. 

THE BEST PART OF MY JOB…

Is how it connects me to people. Astrology can be an incredible tool for healing.

AFTERWORK…

We might have friends over. If things are going well, I’ll cook rice and chickpeas with cinnamon and spiced yoghurt. The more tired I am, the more likely I am to watch TV. The Great British Bake Off is television Xanax. Paul Hollywood will scowl, people will giggle and it’s all going to be fine. I try to be in bed at 10pm. My wife and I talk about our day, or she might read to me. We just finished Prisoners Of Geography by Tim Marshall. 


Roxane says:

Chani is an amazing astrologist who read my chart for me as a birthday gift. I wasn’t skeptical about it but I have never been well-versed in astrology. It was interesting to learn more about my sign, Libra, and see how the things she read in my chart were so accurate and insightful. 


Photography: Graham Walzer

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