Hi fellow founders!

I built esotericAI as an experiment combining symbolic systems (tarot astrology) with modern AI and real astronomical calculations.

The idea started as a curiosity/ambition: could LLMs generate meaningful interpretations about symbolic/abstract systems given the right resouces/references?

Not the intention to prove anything, just exploring how technology and ancient symbolic systems work together and if it provides real value to people.

This project actually started during a hackathon. I didn’t like any of the ideas on idea lists/pools, so I ended up with something around two things I’ve always been interested in: technology and esoteric/symbolic systems.

Growing up, my family was very into things like tarot, astrology, I Ching, pendulums, and similar esoteric practices. I grew up around conversation about the universe, the cosmos, books about these things, palmistry, tarot readings during difficult moments, and a lot of discussions about cycles, energy, patterns, and how people try to interpret life through symbols.

Whether you believe in those things or not, I always found the symbolic structure behind them fascinating. My interest in astronomy and the science part, along with astrology and its symbolic part, and all the symbolic systems out there are part of my genuine curiosities, so the idea of combining tarot and astrology symbolism/real orbital math with AI interpretation felt like an interesting experiment, things like digital tarot are not new and are used since much longer, but now I could give it much more resources and richness.

Instead of hardcoding meanings, the app generates readings and cosmic insights dynamically from:

• tarot card combinations

• natal chart placements

• real-time planetary positions

• current transits

Some technical details in case you're interested:

• Frontend: React Vite SPA (no Next.js)

• Backend: Supabase (Postgres Edge Functions)

• AI: OpenAI API (used for interpretation, not calculation)

• Orbital math: custom calculations for planetary positions houses

• Localization: EN / PT-BR with locale-aware routing

• Hosting: Netlify Edge functions for SEO snapshots

For astrology, I didn't want to call external APIs, so I implemented:

• planetary positions from orbital elements

• local sidereal time

• ascendant / midheaven calculation

• aspect detection

• whole sign houses

For tarot, the system doesn't store fixed meanings. Each reading is generated from:

• card archetype

• position context

• question intent

• previous readings history

Some interesting challenges I ran into:

• grounding/framing LLM outputs when translations are inconsistent

• SEO issues with SPA bots (solved with edge HTML injection)

• Timezone / birth location precision for natal charts

• Keeping readings and journey chapters meaningful and to the point with so many potential interpretations and signals

• Preventing prompt injection in user questions

• I would say that being a solo founder is also a challenge by itself, hahah

This is still an indie project, but it turned into a full platform with:

• tarot readings (daily/ask a question/share a draw)

• natal chart blueprint with on demand current transits-based insights

• daily cosmic transits insights

• generated tarot tales based on trends

• energy archetype / personality generation of destined connections

Would love feedback, especially from people interested in:

• LLM structured inputs

• symbolic reasoning

• astrology math / orbital calculations

• Edge functions

• SPA SEO strategies

• Monetization and distribution for niche SaaS/webapps

Here is a demo video of its earliest stages:

https://www.loom.com/share/ec90a688118a4b63b20d0875471977fe

Happy to talk about any aspects of it.