Chani Nicholas: Celebrity astrologer on the biggest misconception about her work

Many people have this daily habit, but according to expert Chani Nicholas there’s a lot more to it and the common mistake is her pet peeve.

Bring up the topic of astrology in a conversation and chances are you’ll start talking about your star signs.

Most of us are willing to admit to at least a cheeky glance of our sign’s “reading” in a magazine but know that those signs assigned by birth dates don’t necessarily match our personalities.

According to astrologist Chani Nicholas — who works for Oprah magazine and has done readings for the likes of pop star Lizzo — that’s because your sign isn’t even half of what astrology is about.

“I think astrology really loses its magic when we just look at one little flat piece of it, even when it’s a really beautiful piece that’s really sparkly and shiny, but it’s just one piece,” she told news.com.au.

Instead of just a one-paragraph prediction in a magazine or ap, getting an accurate astrology reading is a more exact practice and can reveal so much more than just a few personality traits, Ms Nicholas explained.

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Astrologer Chani Nicholas stars astrology is about so much more than your sign. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“Astrology doesn’t exist without the exact timing of something, so astrology is a map of a moment in time,” she said

“We talk about sun signs because it’s really easy to know what sign the sun was in when you were born, but that’s not astrology … your astrology is the moment you took your first breath and a snapshot of the sky at that moment.

“That snapshot contains all the information that an astrologer needs to look at your past, your present, your future, where you have success, where you have challenges, and I can guarantee if you get a reading the astrologer will mention the sign your sun is in but they’re not going to stay there or focus there.”

Ms Nicholas thinks the emphasis placed on star signs is probably a key reason so many people doubt astrology.

“It’s a common misconception and that’s why people are like ‘I don’t believe in astrology because I’m not like that as Cancer,’ and you’re like yeah, of course you’re not because you have all these other things happening in your chart,” she said.

People can be dismissive of astrology because their sign’s personality traits don’t match up with who they are, Ms Nicholas said.

“A lot of times people don’t like astrology because they actually have not idea what it is because so few people understand it, and I think when we talk ad nauseam about sun signs it really turns people off because its like, how can you just categorise me in one of 12 personality traits?

“That feels really limiting as a person … as humans we’re so interesting and so complex and we’re so nuanced, we’re so much more than just a stereotype of anything.”

While astrology has its sceptics, fence sitters and down right disbelievers, Ms Nicholas said she isn’t out there to convince people to believe in her work.

“I’m glad for people to be sceptical about whatever they are, it’s really none of my business what you believe in, I don’t really have anything to prove, I’m not invested in you thinking astrology is good or bad,” she said.

The astrologer to the stars is in Australia at the moment to launch her Cosmic Playlists on Spotify, a curated list of songs created for each sign every month, which she hopes will be a “little love letter” for listeners.

Spotify users can find their curated playlist by simply searching for their star sign in the app.

“They’re not the be all and end all of anything, but they’re an offering. They’re like a little love letter in musical form that we’ve curated for you each month and we take a lot of time and a lot of energy to do so,” she said.

“We just hope that people feel cared for and thought about when they listen to them because we’re really considerate of who we are putting on and how it is all flowing together and the themes of the month for that sign.”

Spotify listeners can check-in every month for a new reading and new set of songs that matches their astrological makeup.