Pagan supply stores are "we sell appropriation for 5x what you would pay if these were for an open practice!"
Example? Three of the four pagan shops I've visited in my area are packed with things that shouldn't be there. At all. All owned by white people who have the awareness of a WASP who puts Buddha heads on display.
Shop One: full of Hoodoo/Voodoo stuff, owned by a white woman who dresses in hippie fashion and tries to come off as ethereal and holier than thou.
Second shop: full of Hindu and Indigenous stuff all marked as Wicca, and when I pointed out how incorrect and very wrong it is, the owner went on about how there's only one god and one goddess and the test of us are just confused.
Shop Three: looks like a mall souvenir shop full of Satanist stuff marked as Wicca (I left wheezing because of how hard I was laughing) and bottles of stripper glitter being sold as fairy dust. Oh, and they had little booklets on how to contact fairies using the glitter.
Y'all will have better luck finding supplies at the grocery store and/or dollar store. Those little chime candles sold for $1.50/each at the pagan shop? The ones that fit in the itty bitty cardholders? You can get a box of 100 in a variety of colors for $15 online. Just look up chime candles. Convinced you need some special crystal for those vibes? Go to a rock shop. They don't markup the price like so many pagan shops do. Altar cloth? Go to the fabric store, buy the fabric your want, hem the edges (go to a seamstress or tailor if you want to) or use a pretty scarf.
I've gotten my best stuff from paying artists for the work like @torque-witch and the painted/altered statuettes they find. Oh, and they sell vintage stuff like candleholders.
I make my own altar and tarot mats because I'm a quilter. Make them look however I want. Or however you want (if you commission me). I used a pretty head-kerchief for years, and have since passed the scarf on.
Personally, I just like shiny things as decorations around my home. Rocks and crystals are just pretty things to me. My favorites are the ones I've found on the beaches and many streams and rivers in my area.
The only genuine and good pagan shop I've encountered since moving across the country eight years ago is @portlandbuttonworks
Not all pagan shops are bad, but very few of them are good and genuine. If you're uncertain, don't buy anything.
Baby witches, the money you spend is meaningless. You don't even need an altar. Carry a little card around if that's all you can or want to do. You don't actually need the things to be a valid witch. Anyone who says you do is lying and/or in a cult.
janainaart
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