Meet
Ashley River
Multidisciplinary Artist, Mystic, Seeress, Poet, Author, Soul Midwife, Bridge Between Worlds, Deeply Attuned to the Rhythm of Creation, Woman.
Hi, I’m Ashley!
And I am here to hold space for the birth of the new.
Along with expressing my heart’s light through my artistry, I hold deep space for creative liberation and initiation into your unique soul’s song, midwifing the birth of your light and power. I serve the pulse of creation and the feminine flames of desire. I am your mystical doula holding a lantern through the dark night of your descent journey and towards the light of the heavens you are made of so that you may widen your capacity to birth new realities on Earth, hold more of love’s blessings, protect your visions, and show up fully expressed in your power, magic, and ancient mystery as you weave the web of your life with so much PLEASURE, purpose, and joy.
MY JOURNEY
My path to serve the feminine and what she desires to birth began lifetimes ago, and this life has been a journey of remembering.
I grew up witnessing, for witnessing life in all its cycles, beauty, and how others interact in the realities we weave, in my opinion, is where we can extract the most profound teachings of this cosmic, creative human experience and remember who we really are as artists of life.
I have always felt connected to a higher knowing ever since I was a child. My pure, creative light was nurtured by my mystical, free-spirited grandmother, who raised me on all things esoteric, art, and Venusian pleasures. We spent much of our time reading tarot, listening to Prince, making art, preparing healing baths filled with gardenias, and eating lemon pie straight out of the box as she taught me the roles of the feminine and masculine, space energetics, and how to trust in the mystery of life. When she passed, my whole world was shattered and reconfigured in a new way. Her death awakened me to my extra-sensory and creative gifts and catapulted me onto a path of divination and the oracular healing arts alongside my art. It was then that I inherited some of the most pivotal tools for my path: her film cameras, a vintage tarot deck, and astrology textbook, and my grandmother’s love forever imprinted in my heart.
After two years of formal art school with a focus on design and illustration, I went on to spend a decade deepening my studies in various forms of divination, psychic mediumship, energy healing, breathwork, Quantum Healing Hypnosis, past life regression, ceremonial tattooing, plant spirit communication, and earth shamanism guided by the little people of the Earth (Kontomblé, fae, elves, gnomes, etc) with teachers, mentors, and guides, both in form and unseen while simultaneously pursuing my career in film photography and design/illustration. This path guided me to allow more and more of my authentic expression and how creation and the feminine force move through me in the most soul-aligned way. This led me to my unique medicine and to hear my soul’s true song, letting this lead the way and teach me how my soul wishes to express life through me.
In 2014, I began hand-weaving tattoos, and in 2016, I channeled my Soul Tattoo® modality of alchemical ceremonial tattooing as a bridge between soul and embodiment. Soul Tattoos was the birth of a new lineage of light weaving that catapulted me into a level of expansion, devotion, and service beyond what I could imagine at the time. This led to facilitating, teaching, and sharing feminine transformation, creative liberation, and soul essence expression through tattoo alchemy with thousands of people worldwide. It also led to co-leading over 600 students and apprentices in the art of Sacred Tattooing through the School of the Sacred Arts, as well as passing the torch along to apprentices privately training with me in Soul Tattoos from the U.S. to New Zealand.
In 2019, I signed with Sounds True and wrote my book, Tending to the Sacred, and created my oracle deck, Messages from the Heart of the Divine, both released in 2021. In 2022, I began channeling my second book, which radically shifted my creative path and life, opening me to a fuller expression of soul truth, desire, and divine artistry.
Along my journey, I have transformed through a million deaths and rebirths as the feminine does to step into why I am here, following the voice of my soul to create, guide, and lead. I will continue to dream big, make art, follow my hunger, honor my prophecy, let my creative flame and desire lead, and dedicate my path to soul song liberation because what we can create is infinite and needed. I hope I can inspire you along the way.
I humbly bow with devotion, gratitude, and love to the guardians, teachers, guides, grandmothers, ancient ancestors, starry ancestors, and spirits of the elementals for guiding me along this path.
Let’s weave together
We all have a unique voice, medicine, divine spark, and creative expression to share, a medicinal heart light that may have never come to earth before but is needed more than ever to revitalize the earth. The greatest lesson you can ever learn is to allow for more of your soul to flow through you in all that you do. That is your healing balm to offer the world. And I am here to help you share that.
I currently reside in Los Angeles, CA, until Oct 2024. I will be in the Sedona area in November 2024 and then will be based in New Zealand for 2025.
In-person, I offer photoshoots/visual artistry, private and group ceremonies, mentorship, and more. Not local to where I am? Check out my online courses, group mentorship journeys, and virtual sessions, or sign up for my newsletter for more seasonal residency announcements. Want me to come to your part of the world to create? Reach out, and let’s weave.
Interested in featuring or working with Ashley?
FOR COLLABORATIONS, PRESS, OR PODCAST INQUIRY, REACH OUT!