Small Business Saturday

The internet is huge (surprise!).  It’s why it’s so hard for so many niche markets (ahem, the occult) small businesses to get any traction.  Without traction, it’s easy to get discouraged or just plain run out of money for the venture, forcing us to go out of business.  There are fewer and fewer “brick and mortar” Occult stores and if you’re not lucky enough to live in a very Pagan-friendly area, it can be hard to sell at events unless you have enough items that can “pass”.

I feel very blessed and lucky to have gotten as much traction with La Sirene et Le Corbeau and The Glamoury Apothecary as I have both in meat life and the intertubes along with The Arte of Glamour (which is available in paperback again, incidentally).  A big part of that is because I was lucky enough to get a lot of support from fellow career occultists.  While I am no Silver Ravenwolf*, I’m lucky to have a lot Charmers who read me regularly.

So, I’ve decided to occasionally do Small Business Saturday where I promote fellow Career Occultists/Occult-Friendly businesses.  The businesses I’m choosing to promote, I either know personally or have good reputations in both the Craft/craft communities.

I’m asking that you take the extra step and help support our community.  I know what you’re thinking, “Bitch, I’m broke as a joke.  I can’t buy anything right now, leave me be!”  But support comes in many forms besides deliciously filthy money.  It’s “giving your heart” on Etsy, it’s blogging about something you thought was pretty, it’s tweeting about something you saw as useful, it’s telling your Facebook friends about a shop you like.

For a new (or not so new) Occult/Occult-friendly shop owner, seeing their stats jump to three times bigger than they were before can give them that extra courage to keep creating (because creating is both hard and scary).  Or even, let’s get crazy here, receiving an email telling them that you like their work can give them a boost to keep trying because they know someone out there besides their friends and family enjoys their work.

(And, you know, filthy delicious money helps too but the other things a whole lot more than you would think)

And now the businesses!

If you want to recommend a small Occult/Occult Friendly business, drop me a note here with info on the business name, website, blog (if applicable) and bio about the shop owner.

* As fun as it is to hate her, girl is living the dream.  She writes books about the occult and makes craaaaaazy money doing so.

Deborah Castellano

Deborah Castellano's book Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want is available for purchase through Amazon, Llewellyn and Barnes and Noble.
Her frequently updated catalogue of published work is available on Author Central.

She writes about Glamour Magic here at Charmed, I'm Sure. Her podcast appearances are available here.

Her craft shop, The Mermaid & The Crow specializes in old-world style workshop from 100% local, sustainable sources featuring tempting small batch ritual oils and hand-spun hand-dyed yarn in luxe fibers and more!

In a previous life, Deborah founded the first Neo-Victorian/Steampunk convention, SalonCon which received rave reviews from con-goers and interviews from the New York Times and MTV.

She resides in New Jersey with her husband, Jow and their cat, Max II. She has a terrible reality television habit she can't shake and likes St. Germain liquor, record players and typewriters.  

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