Chani Nicholas is an Instagram astrologer with over 100,000 followers. What sets her apart from other practitioners of the intuitive arts is her focus on social activism in her horoscopes, rather than the usual psychic fare of loves lost and found, whether the stars are auspicious for financial transactions, and so on.
“Nicholas’s popularity owes as much to the Internet’s ability to foster communities around niche interests as it does to the current political and social landscape,” according to Ariana Igneri in an article for Rolling Stone. “And for those who’ve tapped into this unique convergence, it’s good business. The psychic services industry, which includes astrology and palmistry, among other services, is worth $2 billion annually, per data from industry analysis firm IBIS World. It grew by 2 percent between 2011 and 2016, but Nicholas, who offers astrology workshops through her website for $38 to $48 a pop, says she’s seen demand for her classes increase by more than half in the last year alone.”
Igneri noted that “Nicholas Campion, an author and historian of astrology, explains that astrologers have pushed a progressive agenda throughout history. Campion points to Nicholas Culpeper, an astrological herbalist, who went against the establishment in the 1640s because he believed that medical knowledge belonged to the people rather than exclusively to physicians. Around the time of the English Civil War, Culpeper wrote astrological predictions in favor of overthrowing the Crown, including a prediction that the eclipse of 1652 would usher in the rise of republicanism in Europe. ‘He didn’t care if his predictions were true or not,’ Campion said, “‘so long as they encouraged the enemies of monarchy.'”
Source: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/meet-the-woman-bringing-social-justice-to-astrology
More Stories
Solving Homelessness
Starting an emergency fund
Top 7 ways to set rates for private lessons