Five ways to summon your witchy side in NYC
I’ve been known to give unlicensed and unsolicited astrology advice. If your birthday doesn’t naturally come up within the first 30 minutes of chatting, usually I’ll go straight for the guttural and ask. “Oh…you’re a Scorpio” Eyes widen, eyebrows raise, conversation immediately changes. Everyone is instantly uncomfortable.
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Believe what you want and naysayers continue to dispel any alternative ways of thinking. If you have a Fantasy Football team, please try to argue that your obsession is more logical than mine. However, there are countless schools of unconventional thought into areas like astrology, tarot, Wicca, crystals, and mediums that have vibrant communities in the corners of our fair city and allow opportunities for believers and nonbelievers alike to immerse themselves.
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So since this newsletter is already dripping with a Halloween sentiment and heavy autumn undertone, join me, my coven, in exploring some of New York’s quirkier places dedicated to those who travel down a less mainstream path:
Komnata Quest‘s Escape the Rooms were voted the best in the country in 2017 and they have two seriously scary ones to get you in the holiday spirit. In Cursed, you entered an abandoned house that is haunted by the ghost of a little girl and her 6 sisters who all died mysteriously…and you have to figure out why. In Boxed Up, you’re locked in a coffin and have 45 minutes to get out. Casual Lazy Sunday activities.
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Enchantments is New York oldest witchcraft store and even after 34 yearsin business, it still has its charm. Here you’ll find intention candles (which are a trice yearly purchase for yours truly), witches, cats, occult-themed goods, and a fully stocked apothecary. Be known that if you horse around in this store or laugh, you will 100% have a hex thrown on you by one of the witches.
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Brooklyn Brainery offers an awesome array of classes but their Tarot Card Reading Class is my favorite thus far. You don’t have to believe whole heartedly in tarot to enjoy this class – it’s almost more of a self-awareness exercise to unveil your true intentions. Which is actually the most terrifying activity of them all when you think about it.
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Obscura Antiques and Oddities in the East Village is the oddest place I’ve been to in the city – and I was brought during a date so…there’s that. Here you’ll find: extensive taxidermy, fraternal memorabilia, a mounted Moose’s hoof, glass eyes, an apothecary’s set of poison, and a mummified head of a Peruvian child circa 500 B.C to name a few. It’s like Whole Foods for Serial Killers.
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Rock Star Crystals is quite literally a warehouse of precious stones, rocks and rock wands, crystals, fossils, dried giant starfish, and every other object that remotely falls in this category. For anyone who believes in the energies behind crystals, the yelp reviews are pretty affirmative. Or if you’re a 7-year old at heart and just like collecting rocks, this also will satiate that urge.