Zibby chats with bestselling author, speaker, and astrologer Ophira Edut (one-half of the renowned, identical AstroTwins!) about THE ASTROLOGY ADVANTAGE, a delightful, illuminating, actionable guide to using astrology as a tool for personal and professional success. Ophira describes the I*AM Method she developed with her sister, which uses your birth chart to define your archetype in the workplace and in relationships: the innovator, the authority, and the maven. She also reflects on her career (from writing for Sassy Magazine to a 21-book career) and her family background, including her relatives’ Holocaust survival stories.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Ophira. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss The Astrology Advantage.

Use your horoscope for personal and professional success. Thank you very much. 

Ophira: Thank you. 

Zibby: Okay, can you just start off? I know we're going to talk about this book and how useful it is and all the rest. Actually, start with that, and then I want to really dive into just the quick backstory of how you got here to be the Astro Twins expert and all that.

Ophira: Yes. And all of that. It was definitely an accident, but this is my 21st book, believe it or not, but you can relate to that. Book factoring. Uh, it's not a factory, it's just, you know, it's in you and it's gotta get out. 

Zibby: There you go. 

Ophira: I've had astrology as my accidental 20 plus years and have worked with more and more, you know, ambitious, creative people who.

you know, don't want to have to go work for the man and would like to have tools and shortcuts so they don't waste their time and resources and energy. So astrology became that for me, which is how I, you know, first started using it. I was like, Whoa, okay, I can make better decisions and plans with this.

And You know, I've worked with so many different people helping them with that and came up with a little, a little system that we call the I am system, which we put into this book. I thought how fun would it be to have kind of like a Enneagram, StrengthsFinder, Myers Briggs. It's just based on your birthday.

You don't even have to take a, 70 question quiz to get your archetype. 

Zibby: I love that. And just for context, you got started very early on. I loved seeing you in Sassy Magazine. Oh my gosh, I was obsessed with Sassy. Not Enough has been written, I think, about Sassy and YM and all those great magazines of the day.

But you got started super early and you and your identical twin sister decided to do this out of the University of Michigan. And it has grown and just, take us through that and I know you just mentioned, you know, the, the comfort that the systems gave you, which I'm sure we can all relate to, but how you parlayed this into a 21 book career and a TV show and just all the things that you do.

Like, how did that happen? I know a lot of us have kids who are trying to find their path and how would, You know, how did this happen? 

Ophira: Yeah, you know, and, and it's happened bit by bit over time, not all at once, as I think, you know, you always, when you look behind the curtain, you're like, Oh, I see a lot of, uh, a lot of sweat pants and, you know, take out there.

But, uh, when I was at Michigan, my boyfriend at the time gave me a birth chart as a gift and, you know, cause we, I was interested, I'm a Sagittarius. So I was like, Oh, I do fit some of those traits, but it was just like a fun curiosity. Like, yeah. But then he gave me this 30 page chart that was the entire map.

And I was like, Oh, wow. Okay. This is a little eerily true and there's got to be something to it. So around that same time, my twin sister, Tali, applied to Sassy Magazine's reader produced issue. Do you remember when they had the contest? 

Zibby: Yes, yes. 

Ophira: I don't know if you ever entered. I don't know what, well, my sister had met a guy who was from New Jersey, who was passing through town, and she thought, rather than like, just save up for a plane ticket, she thought she'd enter a contest to win a trip to New York to try to see him again, and won.

And ended up going to New York, and then, you know, Forgetting about the guy, but having the time of her life and discovering the publishing industry. We both came back the next year to intern at Sassy, and I'm so happy that I was part of that Sassy era. I guess now you have blogs and everything, but didn't it just mean so much to you at the time?

Zibby: Oh my gosh. I would like, it would come in the mail, right? And I would just like, you know. Lay on my bed and clear the day, you know, I was like, yeah, we're over every page. I don't know. 

Ophira: Totally. 

Zibby: Yeah, but yeah. 

Ophira: Not at all. I mean those the writers were so good and so ahead of their times I'm still friends with many of them and they're just Iconic.

So that whet our appetite for publishing. We went back to University of Michigan, started our own magazine that was kind of a, a sassy plus. Yeah. It was called Hughes and it was for every woman who didn't feel represented. in mainstream magazines at the time. And, you know, we, it was, it was the early 90s, so we were talking about a lot of intense identity politics, which has not gotten, gotten any easier to talk about now as we're all experiencing.

But, We would all bond over astrology talk like after we'd come up with our slate of articles and revolutionary ideas, we'd start talking about our signs and the people we're dating and friends and oh my God, there's such a Gemini and it just lighten the vibe. It became like the only way I ever heard.

And have ever, uh, seen people being able to talk about differences that's light and fun and allows you to own your quirks and so I just, that, that just led me down the rabbit hole and, um, I just love publishing. I'm Sagittarius supposedly rules publishing. So being true to my sign. 

Zibby: I love that. Well, every day I read my kids their horoscopes and mine on the way to drop them at school.

Yeah, yeah. So we're, we, you know, I love this. There's always something you can find that relates to something and that can help guide the day and all of that. Talk a little more about your system and how it's based on birth date and how, you know, you have such great tips in here on like how to be a leader at work and how to parent and how to do all these other things once you know what you're working with.

So talk a little bit about how you even develop the system and then sort of the main archetypes. 

Ophira: Yeah, definitely. Well, I don't know if you've ever looked at your full birth chart. It's the wheel. I mean, or if there's any video, this is yours, but it's complicated. It's hieroglyphic. So when you read it and see it, it's like, Oh my God, this is mind blowing. Where has this been all my life? But nobody can remember it. So we tapped into a shortcut that's called the chart dominance. It's you take all 13 of the points and planets that's on that wheel, that hieroglyphics wheel, and distill it down to what the composition or percentage you have of fire, earth, air, and water signs, and then what are called the qualities Cardinal, fixed and mutable, which we, we renamed Innovator Authority and Maven to, to spell out I.A.M., I know, I don't know what's like, kind of silly, but fun, but not because people love it. And it's, and most of all, it makes astrology accessible, like much more than just you being a Leo. It's like encompasses the full character of your chart. So the innovators are people who have out of the 13 signs and points in this, in this system.

They have the most planets in Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. Those are the signs that start each of the seasons. So they're the starters, initiators, innovators, and pioneers. Within every season there are three three signs, three waves. So the innovators are the season starters. The authorities are the middle of the season.

They're the builders are the ones that take the things that the innovators started and really build it into something that lasts. That's what you are. You're an authority. Makes sense. And then the mavens are the signs, I'm sorry, the signs and authority are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. And then the mavens are the signs, Gemini.

Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. So, if you have a lot of those in your chart, then you're going to be a Maven, and those are the signs that end every season. So, they're the marketing team, the ones that gather everyone around the table, the community builders and connectors and communicators. We all have, well, not everybody, but most of us have some of each of the Innovator, Authority, or Maven in them.

So, you can play with the, the composition that you have. 

Zibby: Amazing. So what, what should I know? You read my chart. Give me like a, what should I know about work habits or parenting that I might not have that your book and your system will allow me to, to know. 

Ophira: So you are an authority and you're the highest on earth and the lowest on air, funny enough.

So. Earth really likes to kind of dig in and Earth Authority is what we call the provider. So you really are like the champion for everyone. You create, you know, you help authors. You're like, I am going to plant my flag and I'm going to set up a thing that's built to last. Like you're not a whimsical, like the mavens would be, you know, would be like, all right, I'm going to do this.

But then I'm also dabbling in something that has nothing to do with it. And I don't even know where I'm going to be next week. You know, the innovators might have like a big lofty idea, but. Authority for you is like, no, we're having a publishing company, we're having a brand, we're having a bookstore, we're having brick and mortar.

And as an authority parent, I mean, I think that's the easiest archetype to be for parenting because authorities do like structure and consistency. So it's, I guess it's the easiest with little kids, but as they become teens and start to pull away, maybe not as easy because you're like, where are you going?

I just created this beautiful nest and wait. Hold on. So does that track? 

Zibby: Yeah, that tracks. I love it. Wait, what are you? 

Ophira: I'm an innovator. 

Zibby: Okay. 

Ophira: So yeah, you are a 364 Innovator Authority Maven. I'm a 643. So I'm a rearranged version of you, funny enough. And yeah, so of course I'm innovating a new way to look at astrology, for example.

Zibby: Interesting. Oh, I love it. So when you meet people, are you like, what's your birth date or like, how much credence do you give that? And you're looking for partners or work colleagues or, you know, does it affect your day to day? 

Ophira: Oh God. Yeah. I mean, of course, I, you know, I'm always afraid that people will think that I would discriminate against someone based on that or that I would be like, oh, well, you're a Scorpio.

Sorry, bye. No, we, that's not the way to use it. I think that there's something great about everyone and, but I do observe and, and see see if they fit their tendencies and after doing this for as long as I have, nobody ever really doesn't. So, uh, but it really helps me with our business. I make sure that the authorities on the team always get clear instructions from me.

As an innovator, I'm always off doing something else and I have to consciously make sure that I give the authorities their bulleted lists. If I don't, They'll drift off, uh, tasks. And so, and the mavens, I know if I need to do the ideation with, like, they're going to be able to take notes for me. And so, I try to give, you know, play to everyone's strengths and make sure they have what they need.

Interesting. That's one way I use it.

Zibby: I don't know. I'm debating if I should email this to my whole team. Oh, you 

Ophira: should. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's so fun for teams. Absolutely, you should. 

Zibby: Yeah. I think I'll do that next. 

Ophira: Yay. 

Zibby: In reading your backstory, I learned also that you are descended from Holocaust survivors.

I don't know how you feel about talking about that, but I wanted to hear more about your family and their experience. Absolutely. 

Ophira: Absolutely. So, my maternal grandmother It was an amazing woman who was actually a dentist, and she was born in Luxembourg, and they had to flee from the Nazis very young. She ended up as a full on dentist in Paris.

She went to the Sorbonne, and she had to leave all of that behind, but she was, she hid in the mountains of France, and even had to pose as a nun in a convent, so. My grandfather left, uh, his, he was in Berlin and his family left and went to Palestine in the 1930s. So and then he actually came to the United States, was in the army, and was the chief interpreter for the Nuremberg trials.

Zibby: Wow. 

Ophira: I know. 

Zibby: My gosh. 

Ophira: I know he was in charge of all the interpreters. He has a whole paper and story about that and he kept, he was a Libra maven. So he kept very, he kept very copious notes and diaries of everything. And so we have the whole story of what it was like. And yeah, pretty incredible. Uh, and then my dad is a Sephardic Jew.

His family was on this ship, this, this, I found this through a weird, mystical kind of way, the, the family story, but there was an eye doctor who bought the ship and it was a wooden ship. It was no good, but he was trying to help Jews escape from Bulgaria. And he put 300 people on the ship that could only fit 50 and it had no life preservers.

It crashed off of the, off of I think Turkey or somewhere and, and a lot of the people drowned, including one of my uncles. So they came back and then my dad was born and his mother caught scarlet fever from him and died. He had a really tragic, horrible, like, start before he was even aware of his existence.

So they were refugees in Israel. That's where my whole family on that side lives. So what a time. 

Zibby: Oh boy. 

Oh my gosh. Wow. What a story. I like, I feel like I never get tired of learning about survival stories and look at all the things that have come. I mean, from the fact that they did, then thinking about the things that did not come from those that did.

Ophira: Well, that's very much in line with you being an authority because each of the Iams has a time, uh, zone, we call it a time zone. The innovators are very much about the future, but authorities are about the past. They are the historians and the collectors. So it makes you a great novelist, but also an archivist, like someone who really does want to know about the future.

Every person's story and how they got to where they are and and they're very linear in that way. So tracks. 

Zibby: There we go. 

Yeah, thank you as I dive into your past 

Ophira: Right, which thank you 

Zibby: How else can we use your system? How can we use your system to like improve? Diplomatically or how we deal with other countries or how leaders of like what can how big can this go?

Ophira: It can go as big as you want it to go because actually every country has a birth chart. The day it was founded, the moment it was founded is, you know, what, what a birth chart or an astrological chart is, is a snapshot of the position of the planets related to Earth at the exact moment of a child being born, uh, a company or a country being founded like the United.

States, July 4th, a cancer. Israel, you know, Taurus. So a lot of the Middle Eastern countries are very, these stubborn Taurus signs and the Taurus constellation is in that area. So it, I look at that kind of stuff all the time. Like, why is it so hard to Yeah. Cool. get out of this entrenchment over there, but not in other parts of the world.

And it is affected by that, I believe. You don't have to believe that, but I look at it and observe it and go, okay. But you can, you can use the book for that. You can use it though for, um, what our real intention was to make it kind of like an Enneagram or a strength finder for people to you. Really optimize how they live their lives, like how you work with your team, how you communicate, how you parent your style.

We even have like suggested layouts for your office, for example. The ideal workspace and environment because people get this one size fits all advice about how to parent or how to be successful with their careers and it only fits for some people and the rest of us will feel ashamed or embarrassed that we're not.

Doing it well enough. So I wanted to take the shame away for people and go, Hey, you can actually succeed and do it in a way that feels good to you. 

Zibby: Oh, I'd love that. How is it for you working with your identical twin sister? Often. How do you navigate that collaboration? 

Ophira: You know, we've been starting businesses together since we were really young.

We've, I mean, we, we had our own language as babies, so we are the twins that get along, but we do have different parts of our personality, for sure, that are actually really complementary. I'm kind of the, more of the nerd. I like to do the business y and the coding, and she's a little more in the artistic creative.

I guess we both do. do all the things, but it's easier for us to divide and conquer. So we, we usually can just divide up duties and we can switch off too, but there are definitely things, but it's great. It's like, I have a daughter who, you know, one daughter, I have a stepdaughter who's 11 years older than her.

So she doesn't have a peer. I was, I realized she My daughter just started high school, I'm like, I was so lucky to always have someone my own age to like, digest the day, you know? I had Sassy Magazine too, but I had a built in best friend, so it's just, it makes it fun. 

Zibby: Aww. Do you, do you do, I have identical twin uncles and they often will give the same gift or have all these things that are constantly happening.

You have that too? 

Ophira: Yeah, we do that all the time. We're like, okay, or like, we once we were roommates at different points in our lives and we had this triplex or duplex and she was upstairs in the shower. I started singing a song and then I heard her in the shower. She had not heard me just literally sing exactly the next without even missing a beat, the next bar of the song.

I was like, Oh my God, this is so weird. 

Zibby: Is there anything in astrology and your sign or whatever that guides loss and death and like how you, the afterlife or anything in that area? 

Ophira: You know, there's a, the two of the points that we use in the IM system are called the North and South Node.

And I'm, and I'll tell you probably, you know, what's in your chart that would make it something that you would ask about, too. So the, the South Node is what you were in your past lives, and it's the Kabbalistic astrology. They call it the Tikkun, the North Node, kind of the, the correction or adjustment.

Like the, the belief is that you've lived prior lifetimes and you come in with gifts and talents and also sometimes some limitations or biases, and this lifetime is your opportunity to learn new things, shift and grow in this new karmic direction, this Tikkun. So your, uh, your past life sign is Taurus, which is very consistent, but your north node, the Tikkun sign is Scorpio, which is the sign of loss and death and transformation.

So now I'm curious to know why you asked that. 

Zibby: No, I was just, I had two interviews recently with Catherine Michon and Bruce Cameron, who write about you know, a dog's journey, a dog's purpose and the reincarnation essentially of dogs. And I've been thinking of that. And as we're recording, it's 9/11. And I don't know, 

Ophira: 9/11.

Zibby: I know it's just on my mind. And I don't know. I just didn't know. Like, how, how can this be a guide and a balm for us in that area as well? 

Ophira: Oh, so much. It's funny that you say that about the dogs. I'm literally wearing a, a ring of my dog who lived to age 17. 

Zibby: Aww. 

Ophira: So, and my, my new puppy who found me through all these karmic ways, I always say is a reincarnation sent to me.

So I, you actually have a chart that could explore that even deeper. That might be like a personal fascination for you. I have given people, uh, probably a lot of comfort through reading their charts throughout my career, because you can see, you can look at the chart of a person who passed away. I've actually, over the years, and I didn't intend for this, but there was a certain point where I, I kind of hit the 10, 000 hours of mastery with charts and then I started downloading, you know, people's departed relatives and messages from them during readings.

I started just to say, you know, I'm just going to say this, this thought popped into my head, but it just didn't really feel like it was my thoughts. So I'm just going to. Take a chance and say it. And it was shockingly kind of psychic, so I just trust myself now when that comes through when I tell people.

Zibby: Wow. Look at that. Who knows? You just have to be open to it. 

Ophira: Yeah. 

Zibby: Amazing. So what, what is coming next for you and Tali, the Astro Twins? The whole brand, astrostyle. com, the whole thing. What's next? 

Ophira: Yeah, I love it. Well, we're developing out the Astrology Advantage into workshops, helping people design their personal brand with their IAM, because that's something that we've done for the past few years.

We, we've led groups of over a hundred people. We call it astropreneurs, uh, who are entrepreneurial and want to use the IAM system in astrology. That's what we developed. So to make sure that they're really conveying who they are. through, uh, you know, I went to art school, so I have this other skill set of branding and marketing and that kind of thing.

So helping them make sure that they are conveying their truest essence through the colors and the tone and the content that they use. I really love getting in there and tinkering with people and helping them make their idea work and ready for the market. So we're doing that. Um, We have a program called Become Your Own Astrologer, teaching people who really want to learn the nuances of astrology, how to read birth charts and actually understand it and be able to use it.

So we did that this year. We're doing it again next year. And we have a book that we publish ourselves every year, uh, annual horoscope guide. Speaking at the Fast Company Innovation Festival about the astrology advantage and just, you know, really having fun helping empower creative entrepreneurs, women, anyone who just wants to do things in a way that feels great to them.

Zibby: Amazing. And do you have any advice, having now written all these books as well, uh, advice for aspiring authors? 

Ophira: Absolutely. Do not wait to publish yourself. I mean, there's so much you can learn. Just self publishing on Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing. Don't, you know, start building your author profile. Just do a little book.

Do an 80 to 100 page manifesto. Have it out there. You can even, you can even publish it on Kindle and Audible and start getting your name ranked as an author. It's really, I love this resource called Kindlepreneur. Are you familiar with it? I'm not, no. Yeah, he has this whole way to understand the bestseller ranking and how to, I mean, amazing resources for that.

So I've used it and I just tell people don't, don't wait to be chosen. That's like, you know. Waiting, waiting to be picked at the dance in eighth grade. Or you could just get out there and start dancing and having fun and then create your own following. And it's the same with your books and your writing and, and it's, it's also, it's content.

Start building your platform. Another book I love is called Oversubscribed. The author, have you ever read that one? No. Also recommended. The author, Daniel Priestley, talks about a formula called 7 11 4, and he says you need to have, to really establish yourself, he recommends you have 7 hours of bingeable content on your subject of expertise, uh, 11 different kind of entry points to the topic, and, and you need to be seen and felt.

four places and then you cross this tipping point. So I played around with that with this book and managed to get it to be a national bestseller on the USA Today list in its first week by doing that all summer long and creatively having what we called a summer of success and doing free webinars and building excitement and interest and sharing.

So the minute you type your first word, is when you begin your book's launch, not the day of publication. 

Zibby: Love that. Oh my gosh. 

Ophira: Go get me started. I got lost. 

Zibby: Okay.

Amazing. Ophira, thank you so much. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for the reading and, and all of the help you're giving everybody. I appreciate it. 

Ophira: Absolutely. I can't wait to hear what your team's composition is. Let me know. 

Zibby: I know. I'm going to do that next. I have some hunches. Okay. All right. Bye. 

Ophira: Bye!