A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESS.PANPIPES Magickal Marketplace began as A Hollywood tearoom opened by practitioners of the occult in 1961. Surviving four moves and a 1984 firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire from a incendiary device, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. , the store now offers books, classes, and various items for virtually all occult practices. Jennifer Smith There are at least six prominent individuals named Jennifer Smith:
"Basically, we provide information, books and supplies for any and all occult interests: witchcraft, Santeria, chaos magic Chaos magic is a form of magic which was first formulated in West Yorkshire, England, in the 1970s.[1] Through a variety of techniques often reminiscent of Western ceremonial magic or neoshamanism, many practitioners believe they can change both their subjective , alchemy. Everyone on the sales floor is well trained in occult philosophy, so we can steer customers in the right direction. We teach classes in all the traditions. We've been teaching the classes longer than we've had the store. "We were going to close the store back in August of 1995. But (actress) Fairuza Balk balk the action of a horse when it refuses to obey a command to which it usually responds. See also jibbing. , who was a student of mine for a long, long time, said she'd buy it so we could stay in business. So I came out of retirement and started running it again. "It's a dark, tiny little shop with a huge neon pentagram in the window, single point up. It smells very sweet inside from the incense -- we blend about 6,500 wet oils and 4,600 dry blends -- (custom mixed) to order -- on the sales floor. "A dollar will buy you polished semiprecious stones. We sell lab glass and jars of herbs, resins and minerals. We have a lot of silver and pewter jewelry, books, art objects, and Ouija boards. On the high end we have $1,000 crystal balls, cast-iron cauldrons, and rare leather-bound books. "Our customers are everybody from unicorn tree-huggers to Satan worshippers. We don't discriminate. "For the most part, our customers are educated occultists. They're not runny-nosed kids trying to impress the girls. They are well read in comparative religion. We get people from all walks of life -- executives, doctors, entertainment people. "We are absolutely fanatical about protecting our customers' trust and privacy. Some housewives don't want the PTA PTA or parent-teacher association: see parent education. to know they dabble dab·ble v. dab·bled, dab·bling, dab·bles v.tr. To splash or spatter with or as if with a liquid: "The moon hung over the harbor dabbling the waves with gold" in witchcraft. It's a sensitive subject. But if people ask, we will put them on a mailing list An automated e-mail system on the Internet, which is maintained by subject matter. There are thousands of such lists that reach millions of individuals and businesses. New users generally subscribe by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in it and subsequently receive all new . "We have a huge Internet presence because of our Web site, so we're pretty well known all over the planet. We had a Japanese film crew in yesterday. "Competition doesn't really exist in this business. There's only one occult business, with a capital B, and that's the Psychic Eye, which is a chain. The rest of us send people to each other's shops all the time. We're not business people, we're occultists." |
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