As I stood before a bowl of muskrat mandibles in Ritualcravt, one of the Denver area’s biggest and hippest witchcraft stores, I stared with interest at the delicate rodent jaws, each with its 16 tiny white teeth still intact, artfully laid out in a pewter dish. But I couldn’t focus for long on them, or on the vintage wood curiosity cabinet with drawers containing neatly stacked armadillo toe bones, raccoon ribs, and needle-sharp urchin spines in glass vials. Although these objects were undeniably alluring, what really captivated me was the shop’s clientele.
On that Friday afternoon, the Wheat Ridge store was bustling. I spotted two Gen Z girls in a corner; one of them was scrolling TikTok while her friend looked at candles. A middle-aged man in a polo shirt browsed the book section, and an older Hispanic couple checked out the large selection of tinned herbal teas. In the back, one of the House Witches on staff, Zach, was mixing herbs in a jar, concocting the shop’s popular New Moon Oil blend.
Before visiting Ritualcravt, I’d imagined a stereotypical portrait of its customers—namely, white ladies in their 30s and 40s, with understated wrist tattoos and mostly black clothing. A few visitors fit that mold, but many more did not. Welcome to witchcraft in 2025.
“For years and years, people have been telling me that this is a place where they feel safe,” says Missy Rhysing, who founded Ritualcravt in 2015. “We have a lot of people who come from marginalized communities. People will come here after a tragedy and just sit and light a candle.” Nothing and no one is weird or unwelcome in the witch community…