Kristin Raphaela Otti

Kristin Raphaela Otti - The Founder

Shaman & Storyteller

Kristin Raphaela Otti was born and raised in the Lavant Valley in Southern Austria, Carinthia. She is a shaman, storyteller, artist and drawer, a student eternal, who never stops learning and pursuing new paths, embodying and using the playful approach of the trickster archetype to the ways of old, initiating change. Being a teacher and change manager by trade, she loves analyzing old structures, tearing them down and from the ensuing chaos of creation, dream a new path into being.

Kristin is a firekeeper, tending to the fires of winter in the hearts of those, who wish to embark on a journey deep within themselves and reignite their dreams. Our lives have become rituals, our dreams routines, our hearts are frozen, encased in ice, yet there is an ember within our hearts, a spark, that, no matter, how deep and harsh the winter in our lives is, no matter, what we have experienced, cannot be extinguished – winterfire, hope eternal. It is the energy we can feel in every being, every plant, before they burst into bloom again, it is our pure essence, our fire, our dream. She works individually, in her way, no healing ceremony is the same, for there are no rituals to be held, but lives to be celebrated, beautiful hearts to be seen and unique dreams to be dreamt.

A shaman’s task is to guide you, while you are embarking on a journey deep within your very core, your heart. Each and every single one of us, without exception, is a unique gift to this world, to all of creation.

Each and every single heart bears healing within, a seed of light, waiting to be seen, to take root, to grow and to come into full bloom. A shaman takes you by the hand, guiding you through your shadows, so you can recognize your uniqueness and your incredible beauty, see yourself with bright and clear eyes, love yourself and know yourself for the gift you are. A shaman is there to guide you through storytelling, teaching and bringing back the ceremonies into your life, for your life is a ceremony and not a ritual, a gift to both you and to this world.

On Walking With Kristin as a Shamanic Mentor

Kristin draws and paints the spirits, the fire, she sees within the hearts of those she meets on her path and walks with as a guide, mentor and teacher.

She draws the energies of the animal spirits, the light within us and the shadows hidden in plain sight, our gift to this world, our potential, a gift that is our responsibility to develop and honour, born during the nights, we have experienced in our lives.

It is the gift we bring into this life, when we dare to look into our own darkness, into our abyss and walk our path till the end.

Each and every spirit animal is unique, a bearer of healing wisdom, a mentor, companion and guide on our path, who speaks from the heart.

She gives these drawings as a gift or - if you so wish - you can commission a drawing and she will take a look into your heart.

If Kristin gifts you a drawing, it is indeed a gift and nothing is expected in return.

She gifts the drawings to those walking with her at different stages during learning and growing together or to people she meets in cafés or on trains.

Why? It is our responsibility to tell others about the incredible gift we see within them.

Dare to look at what is hidden within plain sight. Your shadow is a gift and not a curse. "Shadow Butterfly", black pastels, Kristin Raphaela Otti (2024)

"Old Codger and Spring Chicken", white pastels, Kristin Raphaela Otti (2023, an illustration for a story)

The gift of life is not about dimming the light of others or belittling them, it is about speaking of the beauty found in every being of creation, uplifting others, helping each other to blossom and to bloom and thus create a world in which hope and love are the emotions watering the seeds of light we bear in our hearts.

At times Kristin will hand out a drawing as an invitation into her circle and as an invitation to walk with her. Walking with her means walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart.

There is no such thing as a master, for learning never ends. If you are walking with Kristin, you are her mentor just as much as she will be a mentor to you and both of you will be students of each other.

Your power comes from within, so dare to say no and use your own tools, your own wisdom and combine, what you have learnt from her with what is within you.

Your power does not come or stem from Kristin or from copying or taking from her. It comes from within your own heart.

Trust yourself.

You are the gift. You are enough.

If Kristin has gifted you a drawing at any point in time and you want to walk with her, feel free to contact her via e-mail.

Languages & The Far North

Northern mythology and fairy tales were among Kristin's favourite stories as a child. After having listened to songs in Swedish and becoming in love with the language, she taught herself how to read and write Swedish. When her classmates and her were given the opportunity to choose pen pals from countries all over the world to practice their English with, she chose Sweden and Finland, eventually switching from writing in English to conversing solely in Swedish.

After finishing school in 1998 Kristin started studying Scandinavian languages and German at the University of Vienna and Stockholms Universitet. Since she already knew Swedish, she also started to learn Danish and Icelandic. Kristin specialised in runology, Old Norse, etymology, folksongs and fairy tales, trickster and creation lore and narratology. During her studies she also learned Medieval German, Medieval Swedish, Old German and Gothic.

After delving deep into the myths and fairy tales of the Far North Kristin became in love with Greenland and started teaching herself Greenlandic by reading newspaper articles side by side in Greenlandic and Danish and her favourite novel, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter ujarallu inuunartoq", once more.

During her studies at the University of Vienna Kristin was given the gift of getting to know and to be allowed to learn from Professor Sven Hakon Rossel who collected folk songs in their original languages while travelling and specialised in fairy tales, folk songs, narratology and literature theory. Over time he became a mentor and friend.

Storytelling & Writing

Kristin started writing stories at an early age and became a member of the authors’ circle of her home valley at the age of 16. Her poems were first published in an anthology of the non-profit organisation "Mütter und Ärzte gegen Atomkraft" ("Mothers and Physicians fighting against Nuclear Power") when she was 17.

After writing stories for children, she wrote her first novel, "Die Katze, der Teufel und ICH " ("The Cat, the Devil and I"), when she was 19. Kristin re-published the novel under her birth name in an edited version in 2022. The novel is about a young woman sitting in hell, writing her autobiography flipping the script on the devil.

This is an illustration drawn for the online role-playing game, the half-demon "Khris". "Khris", coloured pencils, Kristin Raphaela Otti (2002)

While designing and drawing book inlays for an online bookstore in Germany early in her career, Kristin had the pleasure to meet and get to know storytellers from around the world, among them Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams and Wolfgang Hohlbein.

After returning to Austria from Sweden and while still attending university, she started designing book inlays for a German online bookstore, created an online writing role-playing game for the official website of the German fantasy author Wolfgang Hohlbein and served as a juror in a writing competition organized by the website and the publishing house Piper in 2003.

The online role-playing game was forum based and built with the intention of helping young writers in developing their skills. It was placed in a medieval fantasy world filled to the brim with magic. The character Kristin played was a half-demon, dancing a never-ending dance between fire and ice. She was one of the mentors and teachers in the game, residing in a fortress called Mitaravah in the misty deserts of Vah’karamai. Her character in the game reflected her real life teacher and mentor self and her teachings are part of the stories written and published back then.

Change Manager & Organisational Designer

Kristin is a jack-of-all-trades, taking a generalist's approach to life. Growing up her father told her to never ever stop learning and to study and dive into as many different subjects as possible, never setting a boundary or limit when she got interested in something new.

After being asked if she were interested in doing digital storytelling with her students, she turned the idea into a project and when tasked with creating an online learning environment during the pandemic, she got interested in business studies. After first studying different branches of business management and being certified as a start-up manager, Kristin decided to pursue a master's degree in Change Management and Leadership.

She is building three organisations and circles at the moment, Animal Wisdom Speaks, Winterfire and LearnToBloom. The power of storytelling and language used and its impact take on major roles in all three of them.

Building LearnToBloom, Winterfire and Animal Wisdom Speaks is Kristin's way of turning her own past experiences into learning and growth and walking the path from victim to healer. Each and every single one of us is unique and every single one of us bears a story within their hearts that can turn into a seed of healing in someone else's world if told and given breath in the form of hope.

In 2024 Leah Myers designed the logo for Animal Wisdom Speaks using "White Crow" as basis for the logo. One of Kristin's spiritual names is "The White Crow".

Telling our stories and speaking our truth is an integral part of healing and bringing about change.

To get more information about the circles Kristin is building at the moment, visit

Animal Wisdom Speaks

Winterfire

LearnToBloom

Floorball

Kristin is an international floorball player who also served as Team Austria's goaltending coach during the World Championship Qualifications in Trenčín, Slovakia, in 2019. She is a goaltender playing for SU WFV.

Over the past 25 years she has played for Wiener FV 98 (later rebranded as SU WFV), IBC Leoben, Feldkirch Knights, FBC Dragons and SU WFV. Her floorball career began while studying in Stockholm, Sweden, as a forward. She started playing in goal in 2004. After representing Austria as a forward during an international tournament in Salzburg, she played her first international match in goal against Hungary in 2004, her last against Belgium in 2018.

Prior to playing floorball she played badminton for her hometown team. She stopped playing badminton after embracing floorball full-time.

Kristin's mask was designed by Peter Eichinger from AirbrushWien in 2019. Like every goalie mask it tells a story.

It depicts the dance between ice and fire, calmness and aggression, every goaltender dances, two of Kristin's aspects and the Austrian crest, the Eagle.

On the left side of the mask you can find Nanoq, the Great Wanderer, symbolising resilience, quiet force, unwavering strength to keep on going even when you are wounded, fearlessness and unfailing stamina.

On the right side you can see a male lion. A Lion knows, when to roar and stand his ground and is a leader that makes others stronger, never operating from a place of fear but instilling trust and hope, using his fire to nurture rather than to devour.

The Eagle symbolises the balance between calmness and aggression, ice and fire. Eagle observes the big picture and responds, she never reacts blindly.

To learn more about floorball in Austria visit

ÖFBV - Austrian Floorball Association

You can find out more about Kristin's art on her blog, "Council of Spirits".

Council of Spirits
by Kristin Raphaela Otti

To get in touch with Kristin, to get to know more about her art and Animal Wisdom Speaks, to arrange an appointment or to commission a drawing, contact her via E-mail.