Metaphysical shops show no signs of slowing after COVID boom
Aug. 5—Walk into Sage N' Tonic in Logansport and you'll find a selection of t-shirts, jewelry, coffee cups, oils and lotions, sage, crystals and even some tarot cards.
You'll also probably find owner Jody Achey engaged in conversation with one of her customers.
It's not just simple chitchat. She has come to know many of them closely.
She knows the new job will work out for one customer, who isn't quite so positive.
She knows that the young man poking around her shop needs to finish his school application. And she tells him that. Then she gives him a crystal that will help him focus.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in all things metaphysical has increased. That includes crystals, Tarot cards, Wiccan practices, astrology.
"National Geographic" reported in March that there are now 1.5 million Americans who called themselves pagans. In 2001, that number was just over 130,000 people.
In the fall of 2020, "The Guardian" reported that crystals had become a $4 trillion industry across the world, but said Americans were especially driving the market based on their anxieties over the pandemic, social turmoil and election stress.
In the small, conservative rural community of Cass County, two other businesses join Sage N' Tonic, 220 S. Sixth St., in the realm of the metaphysical. The Lantern is more focused on art but does sell crystals and Tarot cards. Spooky Grandma's Halloween Shop celebrates all things creepy and has also held spell sessions for its loyal customers.
There's even the Tacos and Tarot food truck which visits Cass and surrounding counties.
One no longer needs to trek to Salem, Mass. for the metaphysical. It's all over Indiana.
Cornfields and crystals
Debi Cooper opened her Goshen business, Hive of Light, 119 1/2 S Main St., in 2020. She carries an expansive selection of crystals, incense and art.
"The Hive of Light has been a dream of mine for such a long time," said Cooper. "For me, my true happiness is helping people. When I help somebody, my heart just brightens up and I feel that life is enjoyable at that point."
Sage N' Tonic opened in Logansport in the early spring of 2021. By the end of that summer, Antoinette Beatty opened Raven's Roost Boutique, 128 W. Main St., in New Albany, Ind.
All three women said opening their shops was a dream.
"I'm always grateful," Achey said. "It was my dream to do this. I am extremely mindful when someone chooses to step into my shop. That means they took the initiative because it's kind of a destination place. I'm always grateful when people come in."
She saved and waited to open the shop for decades, finally doing so after both her children had completed college.
At Raven's Roost, Beatty sells Tarot decks, books, candles and incense as well, but the shop has a specific focus on witchcraft. Beatty said her shop sells 150 types of herbs that can be used in spells and rituals.
She said the shop has grown quickly since she opened.
"It's going a little faster than I am," she said. "I'm trying to keep up."
Both Achey and Cooper found their way to crystals by growing up hunting for rocks.
"I've just always been fascinated with crystals," Cooper said. "Since I have been on a more spiritual journey, since I have been attuned to Reiki, I've been on this journey for a little while. When you pay attention to energetics, it's like a language and you just understand more and more the more that you pay attention to it."
"In my world crystals have been utilized forever," Achey said.
Beatty was raised by her aunt, a Wiccan, who introduced her to metaphysical practices. Beatty said it felt more natural than how she had been previously raised as a Jehovah's Witness.
Beatty opened Raven's Roost because she thought it was just something that was needed in the area. There were really good shops in Louisville but not in New Albany or Southern Indiana.
"I knew it was something we needed," she said. "I just didn't know we needed it as bad as we do. It's grown much faster than I've been able to keep up with."
Along with running the shop, she will hold a Witch's Ball on Sept. 30—an event Beatty described as an adult prom. The 2022 Witch's Ball sold out.
"The community around us is hungry for things to do and to meet people like them," she said.
For Cooper, her shop started small and slowly grew until it was ready for an actual storefront.
"It seems that the world is changing so that energy is a need-to-know thing," she said. "We are wanting to know more about ourselves. Energy is part of ourselves. There are just all of these people who have all of these questions and life has kind of just gently taken me on this journey to understand energy on a different level so that way when people walk in and have those questions, I am able to answer them to the best of my ability."
Spirituality and consumerism
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in and sales of metaphysical items has increased, especially in the United States.
"During the pandemic, everything had to go virtual so I think the main way we interact online is through buying things," said Professor Rachel Wheeler, chair of the Department of Religious Studies in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. "The little purchases could make you feel like you belonged to something."
Achey opened Sage N' Tonic as things started to return to normal after a year of masks and social distancing, but she could understand how lockdown would cause people to become interested in new things, saying they had more time to spend on the internet, explore and learn.
"Publisher's Weekly" later reported in January 2021 about an increase in sales for books that focused on the metaphysical. Some of the most popular titles, they said, were Shaman Durek's "Spirit Hacking," Eileen Day McKusick's "Electric Body, Electric Health," and "Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature's Seasons through Intuitive Magick" by Temperance Alden.
Books about astrology and items such as Tarot cards were also popular purchases.
Both Beatty and Cooper said they thought the increased interest in the metaphysical was because people wanted to better understand themselves and also connect to the earth.
"I think with technology as it is we are really looking for ways to connect more with the present moment, with the Earth, with things that feel more real," Beatty said. "I think people are so engulfed in technology that a lot of things just are not feeling real. I got a little glimpse of the (Wiccan) practice from my aunt. It brought me into reality. That is what a lot of people are finding for themselves as well."
"We're all looking in the mirror at ourselves and seeing ourselves in a whole new way, a completely different perspective," Cooper said. "I think that people are reaching out to these different avenues in order to understand themselves."
Stigmas and stereotypes
Beatty recognized that there are stigmas and stereotypes attached to the metaphysical. She suggested that anyone interested in learning more about crystals or other practices look for answers in books. She also said the first step is abandoning concerns about what other people think.
"Books are absolutely invaluable when starting out," she said. "The information in books, I know a lot of people will run to the internet and they try to Google things and they will find answers on Tiktok or Instagram or social media, those are definitely not places to find information for beginners in truly any spiritual practice."
Beatty said many opinions on social media about spirituality are not the most educated.
"I always encourage beginners who come into the store, I will show them my favorite books, the ones I usually go to," she said.
Cooper said that many shops have someone who understands how crystals work and they are open to helping customers.
Achey said she will always try to help customers understand how crystals or other items in her shop work, but she is not there to try sway them into believing or buying any particular item.
"If you don't want a crystal then there's a t-shirt," she said. "If you don't want a t-shirt there's hand lotion. But at least give yourself the opportunity. I at least gave myself the opportunity to make myself feel good and enlighten myself just a little bit on a different avenue of how to go about with essential oils, aromatherapy, utilizing crystals and positive verbiage. If (customers) are hesitant or frightened, I'm not here to sway them or push them in another direction. So, swing in. I always carry snacks here. If they don't like what they see I will send them away with a fruit snack."