River Oracle

As water, we all owe ourselves to other bodies of water. As water, we all eventually pass our waters on. Even while in constant motion, water is also a planetary archive of meaning and matter. To drink a glass of water is to ingest the ghosts of bodies that haunt that water.
Astrida Neimanis

The River Oracle is meant to be a situating tool for self reflection, asking questions to the river, wondering what it can tell us. The cards are trying to find their way into material reality through you. We are not particularly interested in thinking about the oracle as a tool to predict your future. What we actually want is for you to connect with your present, with a sense of deep knowledge, in order to embrace (self-) awareness. The cards are printed by water and infused with stories created by an encounter of artists in the riverine ecology of the Rhein.
(See credits for more information)

pool of reflections

The River Oracle has many pools, or ways of reading the cards. The pool of reflections is a three-card spread created to help you accept change and gain different perspectives.

Permit yourself gentleness and stillness as you work through this spread. Reading oracle cards can sometimes be painful, but it can aid and guide transformative processes. This is ultimately liberating. You might think of a theme or pattern of discomfort, pain or irritation that you are feeling at this time. What deeper issues are connected to your discomfort or pain? Is this linked to similar patterns in your ancestry? How do you feel about changing the patterns? How can you heal this part of yourself?


how it works
*PLEASE READ*

Think about one issue that you want to gain perspective on.
Take a few deep breaths and click on Draw Cards.

Each card answers different questions about the same issue. The first card tells you about standpoints from which to observe the problem; the second guides action; the third is to prompt change.

about the river oracle

Project developed by Paloma Ayala, Anne-Laure Franchette, and Riikka Tauriainen within the frame of Tauriainen's exhibition «Intimacy of Strangers» at sic! Elephanthouse, Luzern, 2020

Cyanotypes printed by Paloma Ayala, Vanesa Ayala, Anne-Laure Franchette, Jocelyn Lopez, Carolina Opazo, Laura Rodriguez, Riikka Tauriainen, Kay Zhang, and PlanteSorcieres – Caterina Giansiracusa / Andrea Herrera Poblete.

Cyanotypes were created within the frame of the sun and water printing workshops proposed by Anne-Laure Franchette, during the collective retreat «Silhouettes of Potatoes, Herbs, and Fire», organized as a spatial research for the Hochrhein Triennale. This experience gathered 10 women during the summer of 2020 at Kaiserstuhl and Hohentengen, Swiss and German border towns located along the shores of the Rhein River.

Texts: Paloma Ayala, Anne-Laure Franchette, Riikka Tauriainen
Website: Paloma Ayala
Background video: Riikka Tauriainen
Two-tailed siren illustration: Anne-Laure Franchette
Typefaces: 'Snell Roundhand' and 'Water Script'

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2021