On a rainy day in August, Kelley Sattley sat in the atrium of her apartment complex, waiting for the rain to stop so she could get to her car. She felt depressed and anxious about a pending divorce. An old woman she had never seen before sat down next to her and told her everything would be okay.
The woman said she was a psychic witch, and she told Sattley to go to a shop in Tampa called Magickal Happenings.
Sattley was profoundly skeptical, but something about the old woman intrigued her. She drove from Palm Harbor to Magickal Happenings, a store for witches that had opened three months earlier.
She walked into the shop with her 10-year-old daughter Allie. Before they even talked to anyone, they both felt immediately more peaceful.
Sattley had a tarot reading done by owner Tina McCabe and was a skeptic no longer.
"She was able to tell me things about myself that I guess I knew deep down inside, but I wasn't really aware of," Sattley said this week.
Sattley has become a regular customer of Magickal Happenings. She comes for meditation sessions, tarot readings or just to talk to McCabe.
Although Sattley has only been going to Magickal Happenings for a little more than three months, she credits the shop with turning her life around. She has lost 57 pounds. She has a new attitude about life and says her daughter does, too.
McCabe opened Magickal Happenings, at 5915 Memorial Highway, in May. Her parking space is reserved for a "witch," and she sells just about any product or service a local witch could want.
She offers "spell candles," which she makes herself. They're infused with "strong energies and forces." If used daily with the correct incantations, McCabe believes love, a job or a new beginning could be on its way.
She sells handmade brooms. They're not for flying, McCabe said. They're for cleansing rituals.
There are also books, oils, powders and perfumes. But most of McCabe's business comes from her tarot card readings.
"People come from all over," she said. "I have a lot of nurses who come in for readings. I think it's because they see so much, and they know there's something deeper going on."
McCabe's readings cost $35. They're supposed to last a half-hour, but they usually run longer. "If they have questions, I'll keep going," she said.
Her husband, Bob, who also describes himself as a spiritual witch, helps her out in the shop and runs free meditation sessions. Tina teaches classes in basic witchcraft and tarot reading. The meditations and classes are free.
Probably no one still believes in the image of a witch as a cackling crone who stands at a bubbling cauldron and preys on children. But McCabe said there's still plenty of misunderstanding about what a witch is. Specifically, she said, a lot of people think a witch must be a Wiccan.
"Wicca is a religion," McCabe said. "Being a witch is a way of life. There are Christian witches, Jewish witches, Wiccan witches. The life of a witch day in, day out is magical. Even our dreams are magical. It's magical, and it's powerful."
Bob McCabe said witches like his wife actually tap into all religions that believe in not harming people. "She works with the archangels, she works with Buddhist higher powers, she works with ascended beings" — humans, he said, including Buddha, who have reached a high spiritual state of being.
Sattley said Magickal Happenings has helped her feel the presence of God in her own life.
"I usually don't believe in this stuff," Sattley said. "I was raised Catholic, and I absolutely believe in God. But this is the most wonderful place in the whole world."
Marty Clear can be reached at mclear@tampabay.rr.com.
Witches Ball
Magickal Happenings hosts a Witches Ball at the Airport/Westshore Hilton at 8 tonight.
The event will feature food, a Latin dance exhibition, free readings, a silent auction to benefit the Children's Cancer Center and a costume contest. Everyone over 18 — witches and nonwitches alike — is welcome. Tickets cost $57 until 1 p.m. today, and $75 after that.
For more information, visit magickalhappenings.com or call (813) 443-5179.
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