You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance

by Chani Nicholas

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From beloved astrologer Chani Nicholas comes an essential guide for radical self-acceptance.

Your weekly horoscope is merely one crumb of astrology’s cake. In her first book You Were Born For This, Chani shows how your birth chart—a snapshot of the sky at the moment you took your first breath—reveals your unique talents, challenges, and opportunities. Fortified with this knowledge, you can live out the life you were born to. Marrying the historic traditions of astrology with a modern approach, You Were Born for This explains the key components of your birth chart in an easy to use, choose your own adventure style. With journal prompts, reflection questions, and affirmations personal to your astrological makeup, this book guides you along the path your chart has laid out for you.

Chani makes the wisdom of your birth chart accessible with three foundational keys:

• The First Key: Your Sun (Your Life’s Purpose)        
• The Second Key: Your Moon (Your Physical and Emotional Needs)
• The Third Key: Your Ascendant and Its Ruler (Your Motivation for Life and the Steersperson of Your Ship)

Astrology is not therapy, but it is therapeutic. In a world in which we are taught to look outside of ourselves for validation, You Were Born for This brings us inward to commit to ourselves and our life’s purpose.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063043770
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	10,952
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Chani Nicholas is a Los Angeles-based New York Times bestselling author and astrologer with a community of over one million monthly readers. She has been a counseling astrologer for more than twenty years, guiding people to discover and live out their life’s purpose through understanding their birth chart. Her app, CHANI, offers users a personalized, daily understanding of their birth chart. It has had nearly a million downloads and counting since its launch in December 2020. She has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and on Netflix. 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Being Witnessed 1

Radical Self-Acceptance 2

I Your Birth Chart 9

The Blueprint of Your Potential 9

The Three Keys of Your Chart 10

Pulling Up Your Chart 11

Committing to This Process 14

How to Use This Book 16

II The Basics 19

The Who: Planets 19

The How: Signs 20

Modalities and Elements 22

Homes, Thrones, and Hostile Environments 25

The Where: Houses 27

Relationships: Aspects 30

The Gifts 30

The Challenges 32

The Mergers 33

Putting it all together: The Rules 34

III The first key: Your sun 37

Your Life's Purpose

Sign of your sun: How Do You Shine? 40

What Sign Is Your Sun In?

House of your sun: In What Area of Life Do You Need to Shine? 66

What House Is Your Sun In?

Relationships with other planets: Who Is Impacting Your Ability to Shine? 81

Which Planets Are in Aspect to Your Sun?

IV The second key: Your moon 97

Your Physical and Emotional Needs

Sign of your moon: How Do You Meet Your Physical and Emotional Needs? 99

What Sign Is Your Moon In?

House of your moon: Where Do You Meet Your Physical and Emotional Needs? 123

What House Is Your Moon In?

Relationships with other planets: Who Is Impacting Your Ability to Meet Your Physical and Emotional Needs? 139

Which Planets Are in Aspect to Your Moon?

V The third key: Your ascendant and its ruler 157

Your Motivation for Life and the Steersperson of Your Ship

Sign of your ascendant: What Is Your Motivation for Life? 162

What Sign Is Your Ascendant?

Planets in the same sign as your ascendant: Who Is Influencing Your Motivation for Life? 185

Do You Have Any Planets in the Same Sign as Your Ascendant?

Planet that rules your ascendant: Who Is Steering the Ship of Your Life? 197

What Planet Rules Your Ascendant?

House of your ascendant ruler: What Area of Life Are You Being Steered Toward? 232

What House Is Your Ascendant Ruler In?

What's next 253

Acknowledgments 257

Appendix 1 Each Sign and Its Symbol, Modality, Element, and Planetary Ruler 261

Appendix 2 Each Planet and Its Symbol, Sign of Domicile, Sign of Detriment, Sign of Exaltation, and Sign of Fall 262

Appendix 3 The Houses 263

Appendix 4 Cheat Sheet on Aspects 264

Appendix 5 Dr. Maya Angelou and Frida Kahlo's Birth Charts 269

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

"Ms. Nicholas’s words covered me in a sheen of being known. And being known, or at least, being treated as knowable and worth knowing, is the most comforting thing in the universe." — New York Times

“This book, with the nurturing yet guiding prose that Nicholas is known for, helps readers see that even the softest, most tender bits of ourselves —those bits are made of starstuff, too.”  — Allure

"Like Nicholas’s entire body of work, the book elucidates a system of logic and explains how that system can be put to use." — Vanity Fair

"Chani reminds us that astrology is a tool—and not a be-all, end-all guide to your life. I can't recommend [it] enough." — Oprah Magazine

"A toolkit for self-discovery." — Vox

"Chani encourages us to use astrology as a tool that can deepen our understanding of our place in the world." — Los Angeles Times

“Make no mistake: Chani Nicholas is a poet. The compassion and insight she stitches into every sentence amounts to a kind of grace. Every page in this book reminds us we can do more than merely weather our personal storms; we can dance in the rain and learn from it.” — Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight For Our Lives

“Chani Nicholas sees you...an ongoing sequence of epiphanies and ‘ah-ha!’ moments that you’ll underline and see yourself reflected. This book is the new source of truth for astrology. We are so lucky to have Chani Nicholas’ work for our generation.”  — Fran Tirado, writer

“These times call for Chani Nicholas’ signature and pioneering blend of spiritual insight and woke political urgency...a book brimming with great astrological information in easily digestible bites. You’ll understand yourself so much better after you read this book. And your friends will wonder when you became so wise!”  — Brittney Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

"Chani cares about us, she cares about justice, and she wants us to see the many ways we are miraculous and capable of shaping powerful lives. Spoiler alert: this book is a portal! Step through and have an intimate, no-nonsense conversation with Chani about your journey by starlight."  — adrienne maree brown, author of Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism

“Chani Nicholas gives us the keys to self-understanding, and thus the keys to our healing...Chani shows us we can actively work to heal old wounds, and we can actively work to show gratitude for the gifts our stars bring us. Through astrology and her own personal anecdotes, Chani pushes us to re-write old narratives and guides us to new understandings. You Were Born For This is a revelation and should be required life-reading.” — Fatimah Asghar, author of If They Come For Us

“A glorious exploration not of self-fulfilling prophecies but a life-affirming guide on how to be an engaged, intentional participant in your truest purpose. This book teaches you that you don’t have to be a passenger to fate or a victim to history. A valuable, dazzling resource, Chani Nicholas has given us an owner’s manual for our individual destinies.” — Mary H.K. Choi,  New York Times bestselling author  

" Chani presents an introduction to astrology that is at once extremely approachable and incredibly meticulous, opening up an entire galaxy of possibilities for you and the life you’re living. This is the best kind of 'Choose-Your-Own' adventure book I’ve ever been on—I had no idea what the stars had in store. And I’m so glad Chani was the one, through this book, to tell me!" — Philip Picardi, editor in chief of Out Magazine

"You Were Born for This includes not only Chani's wisdom, but journaling prompts, questions to think about, and more." — Los Angeles Magazine

From the Publisher

Chani Nicholas sees you...an ongoing sequence of epiphanies and ‘ah-ha!’ moments that you’ll underline and see yourself reflected. This book is the new source of truth for astrology. We are so lucky to have Chani Nicholas’ work for our generation.” 

Fran Tirado

"Chani cares about us, she cares about justice, and she wants us to see the many ways we are miraculous and capable of shaping powerful lives. Spoiler alert: this book is a portal! Step through and have an intimate, no-nonsense conversation with Chani about your journey by starlight." 

adrienne maree brown

"Like Nicholas’s entire body of work, the book elucidates a system of logic and explains how that system can be put to use."

Vanity Fair

"Ms. Nicholas’s words covered me in a sheen of being known. And being known, or at least, being treated as knowable and worth knowing, is the most comforting thing in the universe."

New York Times

"Chani encourages us to use astrology as a tool that can deepen our understanding of our place in the world."

|Los Angeles Times

"Chani reminds us that astrology is a tool—and not a be-all, end-all guide to your life. I can't recommend [it] enough."

Oprah Magazine

Make no mistake: Chani Nicholas is a poet. The compassion and insight she stitches into every sentence amounts to a kind of grace. Every page in this book reminds us we can do more than merely weather our personal storms; we can dance in the rain and learn from it.

Saeed Jones

"A toolkit for self-discovery."

Vox

This book, with the nurturing yet guiding prose that Nicholas is known for, helps readers see that even the softest, most tender bits of ourselves —those bits are made of starstuff, too.” 

Allure

These times call for Chani Nicholas’ signature and pioneering blend of spiritual insight and woke political urgency...a book brimming with great astrological information in easily digestible bites. You’ll understand yourself so much better after you read this book. And your friends will wonder when you became so wise!” 

Brittney Cooper

A glorious exploration not of self-fulfilling prophecies but a life-affirming guide on how to be an engaged, intentional participant in your truest purpose. This book teaches you that you don’t have to be a passenger to fate or a victim to history. A valuable, dazzling resource, Chani Nicholas has given us an owner’s manual for our individual destinies.

Mary H.K. Choi

Chani Nicholas gives us the keys to self-understanding, and thus the keys to our healing...Chani shows us we can actively work to heal old wounds, and we can actively work to show gratitude for the gifts our stars bring us. Through astrology and her own personal anecdotes, Chani pushes us to re-write old narratives and guides us to new understandings. You Were Born For This is a revelation and should be required life-reading.

Fatimah Asghar

"Chani encourages us to use astrology as a tool that can deepen our understanding of our place in the world."

Los Angeles Times

" Chani presents an introduction to astrology that is at once extremely approachable and incredibly meticulous, opening up an entire galaxy of possibilities for you and the life you’re living. This is the best kind of 'Choose-Your-Own' adventure book I’ve ever been on—I had no idea what the stars had in store. And I’m so glad Chani was the one, through this book, to tell me!"

Philip Picardi

★ 12/30/2021

Nicholas, a Webby Award—winning astrologer, brings 20 years of "counseling astrology" and one million readers to her first book, described as a "choose your own adventure" guide and workbook. Her thorough and easy-to-use text is divided into five sections, each of which includes journaling prompts, questions for reflection, personalized affirmations, and summaries. Nicholas gently guides readers through an existential journey in which she breaks down three foundational keys to Western astrology: sun, moon, and ascendant signs based on time and location of birth. She opens the book and sets the tone with a personal narrative (she discusses early childhood trauma and her own journey of radical self-acceptance) but focuses the majority of her text on covering basic astrological definitions and the roles of planets and signs. She uses the astrological charts of Maya Angelou and Frida Kahlo as examples to explain major concepts. Nicholas is a poetic and direct teacher who has created interactive exercises on her website, and her book will give readers an illuminating experience with many "aha" moments. VERDICT The ideal readers for this book are introspective, contemplative, reflective, curious types searching for a fun and practical guide to finding self-acceptance and meaning in their lives.—Anita Mechler, Anita Mechler Consulting, New Orleans

Library Journal

"You Were Born for This includes not only Chani's wisdom, but journaling prompts, questions to think about, and more."

Los Angeles Magazine