Marshall metaphysical shop owner hopes to bring comfort to community with new teahouse

MARSHALL - Madison County's lone metaphysical supply shop owner Pascha Haninah said an "all are welcome" attitude is one of the tenets her shop is founded on, and thanks to a recent expansion, the business will be able to extend its reach even further.

Of Wand and Earth, located in downtown Marshall, now provides a teahouse, complete with a library space.

While there is a shop that sells crystals in Mars Hill, Of Wand and Earth is the lone shop in the county dedicated to all things metaphysical supplies.

"There's never been a place like this," Haninah said. "When I was opening this place, I was like, 'It's a big name for a small town.'"

But according to the owner, the shop has always been well received by residents.

"I've never had any pushback," she said. "People have walked in and walked out. Before we ever even opened, there was a local woman who came in ... and she asked, 'Well, what are you about?' I said, 'Let me tell you what I'm about,' and by the end of that, I spent over two hours with her. She started coming back every week."

Haninah, who has an anthropology degree from University of California-Berkeley, does psychic readings at the shop. The team has come up with clever, often alliterative nicknames for its staff members. Haninah's is the "Mistress of the Magical."

Rhiannon Vaughn specializes in tarot readings and has been dubbed the "Whimsical Wonderwitch." Vaughn has been performing tarot readings for 26 years.

In addition to Haninah and Vaughn, Susan Stowell performs astrology readings for the shop.

Inclusivity has always been one of the main goals for the shop, according to Haninah and Vaughn.

"We try to make people feel comfortable. They can ask questions like, 'How do you use this product?'" Vaughn said. "We want people to feel comfortable and safe. This is a place of refuge and community."

According to Haninah, she and the staff have structured the shop to allow customers to come in and sit and spend quality time in the store.

"I think this is what makes it different than a retail place," Haninah said. "Really what we're inviting people to do, as has always been our goal, is that you can just come here and be. Everybody's safe here."

The new teahouse

Sitting and spending quality time is now even easier to do at Of Wand and Earth, thanks to the new teahouse located in the rear of the shop.

In what Haninah is affectionately calling "Mama Haninah's Tea Garden" in recognition of her French-Moroccan great-grandmother, the space serves many functions for all ages.

"Mama Haninah was a healer in Casa Blanca," Haninah said. "She had what they call 'fire hands' and my grandmother always complained because she'd come home from school hungry but there would be like four people from the village in the kitchen, and they all had some ailment, and Mama Haninah would be taking care of everyone."

According to Haninah, her great-grandmother's "hot hands" healing might be similar to what is commonly referred to as reiki.

Haninah said her grandmother joked, "All I got was hot feet. What am I supposed to do ‒ go put my hot feet on someone?"

The teahouse operates on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"You order your tea, come back here and sit and we bring it to you," Vaughn said. "If you want to reserve this for a party of any kind - birthday party, bridal showers, kids tea parties - that's really cool. We have people bring their kids.

"The other day, a bunch of kids showed up in handmade fairy wings to come have tea. That day, the kids all sat in here, and the moms all sat near the library. Say, you want to order tea and read something, but you don't want to buy something. That's what the library is for. Or breastfeeding, whatever."

Haninah, who is a mother of three, said the idea for the teahouse started in part due to her history as a mother.

"I was mostly alone that first year, and I didn't have anywhere to go, because I've got these two babies, and I had to either get in the car and go somewhere, or take one down the stairs and the other in the stroller," Haninah said. "So, I was very isolated. We found this one coffee shop, and I could go in there because I could sit.

"So, everybody's welcome here. Mommies are welcome here. They can come back here and nurse. There's a privacy curtain. If they need it, we can keep other people out. But sometimes, you just need to get out of the house."

The teahouse is dog friendly, too.

"One day, we had a mom, her baby and their Great Pyrenees back here, and they all came back here and had tea," Vaughn said.

Plus, there are all kinds of goodies, from purple tea to cookies.

According to Vaughn, the shop offers more than 40 different kinds of tea, as well as French press coffee.

"Having a place where you give any child - especially when they're little and clumsy - and you give them something really delicious, in a really beautiful cup, in a really beautiful room, it doesn't cost a lot of money.

"Where else can you drink tea that cheaply in a nice environment, and bring your kids and they can mess around with the rocks and get a dragon toy before they leave, and Mom can get some makeup and some candles and a book, and Dad gets a magic wand?," Vaughn said.

According to Haninah, she and the "Maven of Mystical Curation," author Lisa Wagoner, are still recording their podcast, "Mystic Tea," in the shop as well.

More: Of Wand & Earth's Lisa Wagoner talks first book, 'Positive Pagan,' not just for pagans

In their efforts to bring the community together, Haninah and Vaughn said Of Wand and Earth also holds group events, such as a women's night and open mic night.

"There's such a power in taking something - people are reading private things, and taking it from the journal, or that hidden back page, saying it out loud and breathing life into it, and blowing it into existence," Haninah said. "Just sometimes the act of speaking your words out loud. And they don't have to be super poetic. They don't even have to be your words."

The owner said she hopes Of Wand and Earth provides a space for all to feel a sense of solace and comfort at her shop.

"You can believe what you want. You can love who you want," Haninah said. "You can be who you want. Just be kind. Because it's hard out there. It's easy in here."

Of Wand and Earth is located at 20 S. Main St. in downtown Marshall, and is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The News-Record & Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jcasey@newsrecordandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Marshall metaphysical shop expands operations to provide tea house