My path to astrology began with a personal crisis. 

It started when I dropped out of a PhD program in my final year. I loved the research I was doing – collecting oral life histories with Black women in my hometown of Boston, MA – but the constant grind of academia took a massive toll on me. My inner critic became very loud there. My mental health, my self-confidence, and my connections with family and friends suffered as I tried to conform to a set of expectations that just didn’t fit me. 

The decision to leave academia was slow and painful. I’d invested years in my field, building with people I cared about, and walking away gave me a profound sense of grief and failure. During this period, I was drawn to daily horoscopes and tarot pulls - for guidance and as windows into new possibilities. What began as a search for direction evolved into a deeper fascination with astrology as an elegant system that brought some order during a difficult time.

With deeper study, I discovered astrology’s applications extended far beyond the study of an individual life through the birth chart. I was inspired by the ways people in different cultures across the world had used astrology and other types of divination as tools for survival and perseverance. I learned how to use it for practical decision-making, locating what's been lost, choosing better times for taking action, and forecasting collective shifts in culture and politics.

My interpretive style weaves techniques from four branches of astrology– horary, natal, electional, and mundane –  in a way that offers my clients and students a distinct perspective and reliable analyses. My objective is to help the people I work with strengthen their connections with themselves, with their environments, and with people with whom they most want to build for the future. 

Astrology is now the central pillar of my creative practice. A deep study of people's stories about their experiments and struggles with living across artistic forms has given me a richer vocabulary for responding to the big, messy questions my clients pose about love, faith, anxiety, purpose, grief, and power. It has also led me to a community – of writers, thinkers, organizers, practitioners, and artists – committed to staying true to themselves amid cycles and institutions that tried to stifle their creativity and hope for the future.

As a Black queer person living in the United States, the only thing I know for certain is the world we live in keeps inventing ways to break our hearts and break our spirits.

Rare Form Astrology is my attempt at imagining a different future. A future where we learn to adapt and thrive by cultivating moments of beauty, reflection, and wonder in collaboration with nature.

An ode to divination as an act of presence and vulnerability, Rare Form is a space for supporting ourselves and each other through our fears of the unknown.

Alicia Lochard

April 2025