You are a witchcraft-supply store. What sort of things do you sell?
We sell books, candles, herbs, oils, incense, tarot cards, items for spiritual guidance. The big thing is the custom candles that we make for people, with the idea that it is a tool. A magic spell is essentially a tool for focusing your energy toward a specific goal. And we sell spell candles which are prepared for a certain purpose.
Do I need to be a witch to shop here?
No, not at all. We get a lot of people who aren’t necessarily involved in the witch community. Because the idea, particularly with the candles, is that it’s a tool to help improve your situation. The most common requests we get are for love and money. Everyone wants love and money.
And how much would love and money run me?
The candles are $27.50, plus tax.
You must see people with all sorts of problems. Have you ever had to refer someone to professional help?
We’ve had to tell people no a lot. People ask us for things, and we look at them and say, “That’s not right. That’s not nice.”
What’s the worst thing you’ve been asked to do?
Kill someone. That’s pretty bad, I think.
Do you get an uptick in people around Halloween?
It’s big time of year for the store and us. Halloween is the pagan New Year. It also represents a time when all the souls of people that had passed the year before roam the earth for the last time before going to rest.
I see penis candles here. What are they for?
The genitalia candles are used mostly for attracting. The white ones are for healing.
They would also be good for bachelorette parties. Do you get people buying them for those?
Yes. We don’t get that many, though. Because we’re not in the West Village.