Ariana was born and raised in Northern California, in the lovely and diverse San Francisco Bay Area. She was born to a proud and fiery Peruvian father who grew up in the city of Lima, Peru, and a gentle and soft-spoken mother who grew up living on a huge commune known as 'The Farm', in Tennessee. This made for a unique upbringing ~ her parents’ cultural differences made little Ariana fascinated with perspective, seeing the beauty in all, and finding the balance of what felt good and what didn’t in her life. As a Libra in western astrology, it made sense that she was drawn to these things, as did it make sense that she was naturally drawn to the arts and expression from such a young age. Ariana has a strong memory of being in kindergarten and someone asking her “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and she passionately answered, “An artist!”. This has always been her path and will always be. 

Ariana’s connection with her Grandmother Sylvia was always a sweet and nurturing one, but she never quite realized how remarkable of a woman her grandmother was, or that she was even a hippie at all until she hit about the age of 12. Then things started to click for her… the tie dye curtains, living in a cabin out in the woods, the joy and laughter that always came about when visiting… all the things in or around the house that spoke of “Peace” and “Love”. This now made sense to Ariana - she had a hippie grandmother! This made her real curious about her grandmother's life experiences and how she came to be like this, an open loving human being? Not common in society in these times.

Around this age Ariana also started hanging out with some troublemakers and forgot a bit about her dream of being an artist. This was during middle school years when there were so many avenues to explore and social pressures coming from all sorts of directions. At one point, Ariana started to get into some serious trouble and things were not looking good for her and her path if she did not take a 180. Her mother brought her daughter to her grandmother's for a tarot reading, praying that Grandmother Sylvia could give Ariana the guidance she needed to get back on track. While shuffling the cards, a rainbow string magically appeared on one of them, and Sylvia knew this had to be the one. It read ”The Fool” and Ariana started to realize she had been foolish with her actions as of late. This, plus a special reading done on her spirit animals and her mother’s encouragement to get back into making her artwork really made for an impactful and inspirational time. She realized these were the things that really lit her up: art, expression, mysticality, animals, nature, nurture, guidance and support. Not stealing, drugs or any of that non-sense!

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And so, the years that followed, Ariana got more involved in her artwork and passions, and oracle decks. A short while after, at age 14, her Grandmother Sylvia passed away. Three years prior, Sylvia had finally published a children’s story titled Symbolia, which took her 37 years to write. Ariana really hadn’t read much of it at this point, and so when she saw her grandmother for the last time, in the hospital, she had made a promise to her that she would read the entire book, eventually. Little did she know... carrying on the teachings in this book was actually her LIFEWORK.

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When Ariana finally started reading Symbolia, she felt a very strong and deep connection to her grandmother’s writings and the teachings woven into the book. It was so fascinating that she could barely put it down. But she also took her time with it, and really investigated the meaning behind it all. She quickly caught on that ‘Symbolia’ was a world full of symbolism - so she took thorough notes and started decoding the whole thing. Her eyes were wide open and in awe of these teachings. It soon became her spiritual ‘bible’ and she took it everywhere she went! This later turned into one-on-one readings with close friends, group sharings at the park, readings at open mics and then all of the sudden, it just became her life. She shared the book with many, and even gifted copies of it to most of her favorite musicians! Naturally, she began making artwork for the book and in her mythology class at Sierra College, her professor even let her do her final paper/presentation on Symbolia and the mythology interwoven into the book. Ariana had been opened up to a new way of life and has been eager to carry on these teachings ever since.

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Now, after years of being inspired by the book, Ariana has birthed ‘Awakening In Symbolia’ into being - an art business focused on expanding Symbolia and its multitude of depth/teachings through various art forms and mediums. She has many ideas and ways she’d like to express the book, but first, she presents to you the first of many: the Symbolia Medicine Cards project (an oracle deck).