In my 37 years of living I h ave seen many trend in our religion. I have seen our religion turn form a hush hush thing to being featured in movies. I have been in various Pagan groups and seen the Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

One thing I have seen come and go are Pagan vendors. Now, I remember the times before the internet where the only place to buy Pagan supplies was at your Ye O' Occult Shop. Living all my life in the San Francisco Bay Area I have seen many come and go. One trend I do see in these shops. The stores who's owners are very connected in the Community tend to stay in business. They are usually run and operated by very respects members of the community. They usually cater to all Religions (Pagan and non-Pagan) who uses magic, herbs, candles, and incests. Back in the old days this was the first stop in your journey in becoming a Pagan/Witch.

There are many reason why some of these stores do not make it. I find the biggest reason is lack of networking. Owners who only belong to one Pagan group or none at all has a recipe for disaster. It is hard to advertise in mainstream media. Usually the opening of a new story is/was by word of mouth.

I has a friend who opened up a shop in the East Bay. She was a member of my old groups Fellowship of the Spiral Path. I helped her advertise by making her flyers. Some of the members of our group went to her story. The rest of the Pagan community at large did not even know about it. Instead, they kept on going to a well established store in Oakland called Ancient Ways. Ancient Ways on the other had held festivals, classes, and went to all the Pagan events in the area. They really got the word out to the community. Plus the own is a well respected member of community.

Another problem that I have seen is that the store is way too "womyn" orientated. For many men this is a big turn off and they will not patronize the store. Then again some females feel a heavy handed feminist store is not very attractive either. I mean I have seen stores where they will not give any service to men in general. This is very illegal but it happens.

Now I am not saying that all feminist Pagan stores will go down in flames. The ones I see who stay in business again are owned and operated by very well respected and known members of their community. Also, they really try to get the word out any way they can.

Besides lack of networking my friends shop had trouble with the city. Her shop was in Albany, Ca. Yes the East Bay is very open minded and liberal. Yet NIMBY runs very deep. So the city tried and did shut her down. They sent health inspectors to building inspectors. The cities fire marshal came and cited her for have an open flame (candles on alters). She asked if the Catholic Church was cited too. The Fire Marshal said "No" for they are a religion and your are not. Being shut down by the city is very common. Especially if they still have anti fortune telling, occult, and witchcraft laws on the books.

As Pagan periodicals increased in the 1990's so did Pagan Supply Mail Orders. Some Pagan vendors with a little cash flow actually advertise in various Pagan periodicals. For a small fee they would send your a catalog. These catalog ranged from a small hand written booklet to full color catalogs. One even had Cher as a model!!! YES CHER. Lot of these vendors come and go for various reasons. One of their biggest problems was bouncing checks. We all heard of the old joke, "Pagans = Poor". Well it was very true then. Some business had to close because they received too many out of state bounced checks. For this reason many local Pagan shops today will not accept checks. Especially is you are buying ritual items for prosperity spells.

On a side note. I never had a problem with a mail order Pagan vendor. Nor did anyone at the time. Then again the community was very very small and selective. It was not like any Joe Pagan comes along and open up a shop and sell you crap. We were still few.

Now we have the internet. Anyone from anywhere can sell your crap. Some e-vendors are legit some are not. I really have not heard of a problem with any vendor until the invention of the internet. Now here is some food for thought.

Here in Sonoma County in California I have met various members of the local communities. There is one community that comes into mind. Many members of this particular community try to form Pagan Groups, start life coaching service (with no credentials or degree), and try to run e-businesses. Now some do run very legit business selling high quality herbs. However, some try running full line Pagan e-stores. The problem is that some of these people do not have homes. They are transient or couch hoppers. They just get or steal pics and/or pages from somewhere and make it their own. When they get an order they will buy it online elsewhere and resell it to you. Worse yet will not fill your order. If they will take your money... I honestly do not know. It does make me wonder.

My Thoughts

Cross Sidhe