Twins Chart Star Course

Michigan natives and twin sisters Tali and Ophira Edut (Ay-DOOT) are astrologers to the stars, appearing on MTV's "Total Request Live" and the Style Network and delivering celebrity forecasts for E! News. There was no predicting this when they were growing up in Oak Park, the children of Doris, a rabbi, and Shimon Edut, an Israeli-born landscape-business owner. But they always attracted attention, whether as xylophone players in the Ferndale High band or when they painted a 1980 Ford Fairmont in psychedelic images of the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. The sisters, 36 and Sagittarius, will be in Birmingham later this month to autograph their book, "The AstroTwins' Love Zodiac." Ophira is married to a Taurus and lives in New York City; Tali recently left New York for an Aries and Seattle.

Local stargazing: In Oak Park, the twins remember a woman who invited neighborhood moms over to chart astrological forecasts. And when they were at the Unive! rsity of Michigan, somebody did a chart for them "and we were so mystified that it was so accurate," says Tali.

Obsession becomes profession: They studied astrology through books. "And we started to see patterns with people," says Tali. "It became a hobby turned obsession turned accidental career." They also write monthly horoscopes and columns for Teen People, US Weekly and OK! Magazine.

Orbital influences: An astrological chart reading that Ophira's college boyfriend got her as a gift suggested that the sisters' Sagittarius sign was influenced by four planets in Scorpio, which "makes us very intense, very intuitive and we can read people. It explained this other side of us," Ophira says.

Celebrity forecasts:"All the divas, for example, are Aries. Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey." They've done forecasts for Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Sting and Avril Lavigne. They offered to do a chart for Beyonce when her romance with rapper Jay-Z, now her husband, was starting to go public. "I just told her what it would take to work it out, and apparently she listened," says Tali.

Star-crossed matches: "We do believe that any two signs can make a relationship work," says Tali. Says Ophira: We'd never be like 'We can't date you, because you're a Capricorn.' "

Love lines: Ophira's husband is a Taurus, "who is funny, but it's not supposed to be a good match for me, a Sagittarius." But Ophira says knowing each other's personality traits compensates. "When you know your sign and you know the other person's sign as well, you know what buttons not to push."

As for Tali's partner: "He does like to spend a lot of one-on-one time. ... Aries are that kind of heroic, protective type. He doesn't treat me like a damsel in distress type."

Stellar tool: Ophira says people should consider astrology another tool in life's arsenal. "We believe in free will. It's not like you have to live your entire life by it. But it can give more insight into your day, into your decisions. When you're stuck at a crossroad, it can help give you some clarity."

Adds Tali: "I think if you read our columns and our books, we're not airy-fairy wack jobs with crystal balls. Basically, we like to give real-world advice. We basically like to say we bring the stars down to earth."

Detroit's 2009 forecast: Detroit, founded on July 24, 1701, is a Leo. It's the sign associated with Hollywood and the entertainment biz. Tali and Ophira say that the current deals with movie studios will be a great move for the city's growth. Also, they add, in 2009 long-distance partnerships are highlighted, so there may be surprising collaborations with foreign and domestic automakers in the stars.