Hi! Erica, Head Witch in Charge here! I’m a little shy so I don’t do this often, but I couldn’t resist a fireside chat. Although honestly, I think I’ll leave fireside chats to the old white guys and call this a “hearth-side chat” instead since I channeled this sitting in front of our shrine to Hestia, the goddess of hearth and home.
I love the idea of the hearth as the vessel rather than the flame. The yin to fire’s yang. Especially since I think that’s what we’re all being called to do right now, slip into a state of yin. Of quiet and of softness. Right now we’re in the void. There aren’t really answers or leadership coming from anywhere, and nobody really knows what’s going on. Honestly as a purebred introverted haus cat myself, in some ways I feel like I was born for this moment. Some might even say I wrote the book on staying home and feeling good about it. (HausMagick available here or wherever books are sold- had to do it!)
But for now, I wanted to give you a little update on what’s going on here at HausWitch Home + Healing and hopefully let the vibes of our golden amethyst hearthfire offer some virtual comfort.
Luckily, as of now there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Salem. We’re a really small team, so we’re able to keep our work flow going while still social distancing. We ship orders from our office (which is across the street from the shop and five minutes away from all our hauses), and of course we can do some work remotely from our homes. We’re taking all the proper precautions, and honestly just trying to keep some money coming in while the storefront is closed. This is a big shift for us, because about 75% of our business comes from the brick and mortar store. BUT! I’ve done some financial witchcraft, and can put off some big bills for a while, so luckily I should be able to keep paying my team in full for the foreseeable future.
Now, all of that to say: we still really need and appreciate your support via the online shop. We’re fully stocked since we were planning on our busy season starting to pick up in April, so we have plenty of treasures for both your home and your healing. We’ve added a bunch of new stuff to the online store and we’ll keep adding as our new spring merchandise comes.
We even created a new Spell Kit called “Starter Home”, which is a totally DIY Kit that comes with some fresh apothecary bottles, crystals, a candle and a blank notecard. It’s available on its own AND as a “shelter in place” bundle with our zine DIY Witchcraft + my book HausMagick (the idea being: read the books, make your own spell)! I could see this being a fun project to do with any little budding witchlings out there too if you’ve got kids at home!
As of this morning we’ve also launched our new virtual Psychic Portal! We’ll be offering readings from our team of amazing healers and witches including tarot and mediumship, plus my wife Melissa will be offering clairvoyant readings starting with “Past Lives, Present Purpose”, which I honestly want to get myself lol! This page may still be evolving over the next couple of weeks while we figure out what works, but in the meantime I hope that you’ll check it out, all readings are $20 for 10 mins and $40 for 20 mins. That’s at HausWitchstore.com/readings.
The best way to stay posted about new stuff we have coming in, new virtual workshops we’ll be offering, and some Instagram crystal sales we’ll be hosting (if we can) is to follow us on Instagram, @hauswitch. But even better: sign up for our newsletter!
And remember that when you buy something from us, that sale directly impacts not only me and my staff, but the maker themselves. We don’t have any middle men here. We buy our inventory directly from makers and artists and witches. One of my abundance practices has been continuing to support people in my life directly, even though I feel the crunch of scarcity as well. For example, I’m still going to place an order for ceramics from our friend Christina Kosinski, because I know that as an individual she needs that income. In turn, she placed an order through our online store. It’s this web of close community and direct exchange that will get us through these times.
So in the meantime, know that we are here for you. We share all of the feelings you’re feeling, but chances are we have some medicine for them too. We are witches after all, and who better to navigate the void? In times of uncertainty all we can do is stay present, be like water, and wait for the next light to appear in the darkness and lead us towards our next steps. This is a time to find comfort and joy in the pleasures of everyday life.
I’m going to leave you with a sentiment from the zine we carry by Genderfail “Radical Softness as a boundless form of resistance”:
“The call to think of softness, sensibility and vulnerability as a form of resistance challenges what for decades has been implemented in our country. What we are experiencing in the streets- from protests, artistic manifestations, and self-organized assemblies- taught us (or reminded of) a new way of understanding ourselves as a community. Together we are building another way of connecting to each other as a collective, imagining what kind of society we want to live in.”
-Camila Gonzalez Simon on the ongoing Chilean revolution
So that’s all for now folks! Please take care of yourselves and each other, and if you have a chance, tell your rich friends about us!
The moon is in Aquarius and the witches say, “There is power in passion”
