Our Tarot story begins with a gifted reading and continues because we combine Tarot and astrology in our day-to-day lives.
We’ll admit it: Tarot cards used to scare us. The images on the cards are powerful but unsettling. The names can be frightening, too (Death? The Devil? The Hanged Man?).
We were intrigued but stuck to astrology, where the planetary cycles could be measured, predicted and plotted. No surprises—at least, not compared to Tarot.
The first Tarot reading
Our Tarot story begins when Ophi was 29. A friend gifted her a Tarot session with a legendary advisor named Bethany. It would have been rude to refuse! So Ophi traipsed to the card reader’s tiny Brooklyn apartment, nervous but curious.
“You’re the Queen of Wands,” Bethany declared as she slapped a card down on her cluttered coffee table. “You always need to be in charge of your destiny. You’ll have a very successful career.” Okay, this isn’t so bad…
As if on cue, The Devil card showed up next. “You see those chains the Devil has on the two people?” Bethany said as she held up the card. “You need to flip The Devil so those chains fall off.”
But what could that mean? Ophi quickly got the memo when a toxic boyfriend broke up with her the next day (really!). Distraught, Ophi signed up for a personal growth workshop that turned out to be life-changing. Through that work, she began to free herself from many limiting self-beliefs.
Despite the truth in that inaugural Tarot reading, Ophi was still unsettled. Handing that much control to a stranger didn’t align with her sovereign style (we are Sagittarians after all). So like a true Queen of Wands, Ophi decided to buy a deck of Tarot cards and learn Tarot herself.
It didn’t take long for Tali to follow suit. (Haha, tarot pun intended.) At first, it was pull card-read description from book-repeat. Over time, the cards and their meanings became familiar—tools that were supportive rather than scary. And when The Devil card showed up in a reading—reversed, so the chains were falling off—Bethany’s message resounded.
Tarot’s presence continues to be part of our lives
When Ophi was pregnant with her daughter in 2010, she searched for a name that started with the letter C. A friend suggested Cybele (pronounced suh-BELL); its lyrical sweetness hit as an instant “yes.”
A Google search then revealed that Cybele was a Roman goddess—the fearless but gentle female figure depicted on the Strength card, the eighth major arcana. In most Tarot decks, Cybele is opening a lion’s mouth. Ophi’s daughter would have two Leo grandmothers and a Leo big sister. Indeed she tamed those “lions” with the love she brought to our family.
Today, we both supplement many of our astrology readings with Tarot card draws. They add nuance to what the stars tell us. They empower our introspection with cues and clues, like journal prompts. We’ve dipped into new decks (Tali’s got us hooked on the Alastair Crowley Thoth deck at the moment). We find more and more alignment between cosmic cycles and the cards, which fascinates us all the more..
Our message to you: try Tarot! We created this Tarot content so you can have a gentle and positive entry into the cards. There’s nothing more empowering than learning to do Tarot yourself. Find your rhythm and relationship with the cards. We hope our Tarot story inspires your own!
Select a Tarot card from the dropdown below to learn its meaning