Hierophany & Hedge, 19 West Pike, Covington, KY (2025)

12/18/2025

The Yule Cat is a giant creature of Icelandic myth who eats anyone that doesn’t receive a gift of new clothing prior to Christmas Eve. In some versions it is new clothing before the winter solstice, so we’re posting this today in the interest of safety.

The origin of the myth is ambiguous, and might actually be a Victorian invention related to the production quotas imposed on woolen workers. Baroness often daydreams about running an oppressive factory, so this kind of feels right.

In more recent years, the beast has been incorporated in the larger Icelandic Christmas pantheon including the mischievous dwarven Yule Lads and their Krampusian troll mother, Gryla. Tuesday night Augur dreamt that Gryla stole his skeleton. We’re not sure what that means, but, just in case, please avoid stepping on any screaming puddles you find in the shop.

According to the legend, there is just the one Yule Cat. But, seriously, do you think anyone being eaten by said cat bothered to check whether anyone else was being devoured at the same time?

We’re just saying that we have pretty good reason to believe that there are at least two.

We are also pretty sure that Baroness and Murderpaws are feeding most of the AI algorithms flooding social media with Yule Cat images, which is why we check every morning to make sure that our cats haven’t been replaced with AI simulacra. So far, so good. (They also haven’t been replaced with cake, in case anyone was worried.)

Come get your loved ones a scarf or shirt as protection before the cat comes calling. (Cat-calling?)

We’re open today (12/18) from 5-8PM, Friday (12/19) from 12-3PM, Saturday (12/20) from 12-6PM, Sunday (12/21) from 12-5PM, Tuesday (12/23) from 6-8PM and Wednesday (12/24) from 5-7PM

12/15/2025

always feels a bit displaced in time, but never more than during the annual horse parade.

Streets echo with the clatter of steel-clad hooves, and shop windows illuminate revelers clutching hot chocolate, gazing wide-eyed at giant Clydesdales, and guffawing at ponies bedazzled with Christmas lights.

It’s a wonderful time to spill powdered sugar on your scarf while searching the crowd for Santa, or to share a molten s’more with someone that you love.

Also there is frozen custard.

This year we didn’t get the snow that we had been hoping for, but did get to compare hats with some locals at a nearby Waffle House afterwards, so we’re calling it a win.

We know that this weekend’s weather thwarted some shopping plans, so we’ve done our best to push our schedule for everyone still looking for magical presents. Don’t wait too long though, or some squire on a spry Percheron might make off with your present first!

(Please don’t ask us to identify a Percheron.)

We’ll be open Thursday (12/18) from 5-8PM, Friday (12/19) from 12-3PM, Saturday (12/20) from 12-6PM, Sunday (12/21) from 12-5PM, Tuesday (12/23) from 6-8PM and Wednesday (12/24) from 5-7PM

12/12/2025

Boxing Day is an informal holiday celebrated on the day after Christmas.

It is named after the great Victorian tradition in which English servants would sit on leftover Christmas boxes and play Dungeons & Dragons from dawn until dusk.

(At least that’s one theory of how the holiday was named.)

In an effort to bring this celebration back, our friends at are hosting an evening of revels just over in Newport at the Southgate House Revival ( ) on December 26th.

It is called CRYPTMAS!!!! and not only will there be all manner of tabletop role-playing games (just like the D&D those Victorian scamps used to play), there will also be a half dozen live bands playing dungeon synth music (music famously popular in the 1880s)!

We’re a proud sponsor of the event, but there are only a few tickets left, so get yours today!

Before you go, you can pick up a fresh set of dice at or a copy of our favorite D&D game, Shadowdark, produced by .

Incredible Dungeon Master screen on loan from professional DM ._ produced by

12/09/2025

Helpful magical animals, often called familiars or familiar spirits, are an integral part of magical practices all over the world.

In some cultures they are believed to be physical manifestations of a sorcerer’s soul or will. In others they are seen as enchanted animals, or supernatural beings that have assumed animal form.

In the darkest years of the Witch Trials, familiars were feared as messengers of the Devil, and talking with pets could be taken as evidence of black magic.

It was a bad time to be a crazy cat lady.

To celebrate the tradition of magical familiars, we asked to capture some of our best non-human friends. Here, you can see Coil getting an assist from her long-time companion, Kaa.

He is particularly talented at botanical spells. This is helpful, since he is also talented at ruthlessly crushing every plant that he meets.

Kaa usually prefers to spend his time sleeping under his favorite mossy hut, but was lured out by an incredible painting of Medusa by .

Thanks to for helping us give this Medusa a new home in our Ophidian Room. We think that she fits right in. After all, snake girls gotta stick together.

We will be open Wednesday (12/10) from 6-8PM, Thursday (12/11) from 6-8PM, Friday (12/12) from 12-2PM, Saturday (12/13) from 12-5PM, and Sunday (12/14) from 12-4PM.

12/01/2025

Thank you.

We have the best customers in the world.

Your generosity for the Atramenta Initiative during the month of November means that we were able to write two checks, each for five thousand dollars, to and . We rounded up a little bit, but you did all the heavy lifting.

Even Baroness, not a cat anyone would accuse of generosity, decided to kick in a few Benjamins, but only if we called her contribution “Benjamins.”

We also have the best staff. We would not have survived this weekend’s plague without help from .j.howell, , and our newest shop witch, .circus, who also went above and beyond to create the signage for this weekend’s event.

We ask a lot from our shop witches, and they consistently go far beyond that. We are deeply thankful for them.

This weekend also marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season!

We are going to be open as much as we can during December, but we still expect there to be crowds, particularly on weekends. We thank you in advance for your patience and consideration of our staff and other customers.

Supply chains in 2025 are also not what they were a year ago. If there is a present you absolutely must get, please don’t delay.

We’ll be open this Thursday (12/4) from 12-2PM, Friday (12/5) from 6-8PM, Saturday (12/5) from 12-5PM, and Sunday (12/7) from 12-4PM

11/28/2025

Black Plague Friday has finally arrived at Hierophany & Hedge, so make sure that you’re ready!

Those leftovers aren’t just delicious, they are fuel for your immune system! If you don’t eat that pie, you’re letting the bacteria win!

If you don’t have enough food of your own to reheat, visit the culinary artists of and before you come by to check out our wares.

A brain swimming in delicious sugar needs stimulation, and we have got that here in abundance.

We just received a restock of one of our favorite books on plague (yes, we have more than one), the Hugo and Nebula Award winning Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. It’s just one of the many books about magic and history that we’ll try to tempt you with. There’s no reason you can’t have dressing AND literature!

If you’re looking for some other wonderful things to read, you could consider visiting some of our favorite local bookstores.

, one of the oldest children’s bookstores in the country and an under appreciated regional gem, has a special place in our heart. Please give them a visit this holiday season.

A bit closer to us here on Pike Street, offers a brilliantly curated collection of used and rare books, and was recently named by as one of our best independent bookstores.

The Atramenta Initiative remains in effect all weekend. That means 10% of all purchases will be going to local food banks and shelters (and you get a sticker with every purchase).

Shop small this weekend! Do your part to defeat the billionaires!

We’ll be open today (11/28) from 2-7pm, Saturday (11/29) from 12-6pm, and Sunday (11/30) from 12-4pm.

(Yes, Coil has a pot with a snake on the top.)

11/25/2025

What would Black Plague Friday be like without cats?

Even worse!

Everything was absolutely horrible during the worst periods of the bubonic plague pandemics, so it’s no surprise that desperate people came up with all sorts of terrible ideas.

One of those was blaming cats for the disease.

Cats eating rats probably didn’t do much to limit the spread of disease,* but getting rid of them certainly didn’t help.

After visiting us, you can apologize to more cats over at the .

You could also grab a delicious coffee at or , confident in the safety of the sizzling brew, 100% free of ergotamine.

If you haven’t succumbed to crippling ennui, you could relax at , or have a snack at or and be thankful that some of Italy survived the 14th century.

Our Black Plague Friday festivities will run through the weekend, and you can always find our latest hours at our website!
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*Rats probably weren’t as important as legend makes them out to be. Most of the human infections were probably either by direct airborne spread, or fleas and lice moving directly from human to human.

11/24/2025

Black Friday is coming.

Black . . . Plague Friday!

When faced with the dystopian reality of contemporary consumerism, we occasionally need to laugh instead of cry.

That’s why we’re celebrating this year’s Black Friday with a contemplation of mortality in the great tradition of the Danse Macabre.

You’re encouraged to dress up as a plague doctor, plague victim, or plague cart. We’re also having our first ever sale! All plush rodents are 10% off!

In all seriousness, this weekend sets off the holiday shopping season. Our circumstances are a bit unusual, but lots of small retail businesses live or die based on the next few weeks.

So don’t give your money to the seven-headed Bezos of the apocalypse, shop small instead!

After visiting us, you might want to stare into the abyss while enjoying a drink at , , , or . You could imagine how attractive you’d look like as a skeleton while modeling clothing at or .co. Or you could just dance until your limbs start falling off at or .bar.

Black Plague Friday festivities will run through the weekend, and you can always find our latest hours at our website!

We will be highlighting lots of local businesses this week, but please use the comments to name some of your favorites.

11/18/2025

What are memories made of?

Sights, certainly: shimmering dawns reflected on crisp snow, mischievous eyes nearly hidden by a tightly wrapped scarf, trees glittering with borrowed starlight.

Sounds, of course: the crinkle of brown leaves underfoot, the crack of burning logs, the titter of laughter, the urgent playful bark.

But is there any palette of recollection more vibrant than that of scent?

Can anything transport you more completely to an otherwise lost time than the smell of freshly cut pine? Can anything resurrect as grandmother like the aroma of rosemary and thyme? Can anything recreate a moment of friendship like the smoky tang of a campfire?

You might be able to guess our answer.

If you’re not convinced, then come tempt your senses with some of the enchanting new holiday scents from

Augur is particularly fond of Co**se Queen, but that’s hardly a surprise.

We will be open this Tuesday (11/18) from 6-8PM, Friday (11/21) from 12-2PM, Saturday (11/22) from 12-5PM, and Sunday (11/23) from 12-4PM.

11/10/2025

Things got so crazy last week that our shop witch, Curio, completely lost her head.

Siswrn is luckily pretty handy with needle and thread and, it being Halloween, there were no shortage of gourds willing to volunteer to fill the spot.

We hope that she finds the real thing before Baroness does, and that no one pulls too hard on that green ribbon before then.

We can’t tell you what transforms a few people in a room into a moment, or what makes a moment slide out of time. But we know it when it happens. Shadows twist, boundaries blur, and anything seems possible.

We know candles and good tailoring help.

So many thanks to all of you who joined us for a night of costumes and candelabra on this All Hallows Eve. We think the shop is pretty magical all the time, but there are some nights that stand out.

We’re trying to be open more to accommodate holiday shopping (we also can’t believe that is a thing already), and advise anyone who prefers a quieter experience to try to make it to our weekday hours.

We’ll be open this Wednesday (11/12) from 6-8PM, Thursday (11/13) from 6-8PM, Friday (11/14) from 12-2PM, Saturday (11/15) from 12-5PM, and Sunday (11/16) from 12-4PM.

11/03/2025

Murderpaws is in the kitchen! (Literally, right now, she is in our kitchen getting fur on the incredible brioche from .)

She’s cooking up holiday spirit and goodwill towards people in need. (She’s also trying to see if she can fit into a pot. She can’t, but one of the reasons we love her is because she never gives up.)

On her behalf, we want to thank all of you who have already stopped by the shop in November, and for those of you who have reached out to tell us that you’ve been inspired to donate money, food, or time to the many worthwhile charities in our neighborhoods.

She’s particularly happy with some of the local businesses who accepted her challenge.

Also, her stickers have arrived! Come get yours!

We’re open Tuesday (11/4) from 6 to 8 PM, Wednesday (11/5) from noon to 2 PM, Friday (11/7) from 6 to 8 PM, and Saturday (11/8) from noon to 5 PM.

11/01/2025

Murderpaws found out people are going hungry, and that the federal shutdown is making things worse.

She gave us a look that said she thought people were better than that, that she thought we were better than that.

We can’t bear to have her disappointed in us, so we’re giving 10% of every dollar we make in November to and the food bank.

That’s gross income. So we’ll give ten cents of every dollar that you spend with us.

We hope other businesses will also join in the Atramenta Initiative - at whatever percentage they can and to any relevant charity they want. We’ll happily give shout outs to any that do.

Please don’t purchase things from us instead of giving directly. But, if you’re going to buy things anyway, you’ll know that some of that cost if going to those in need.

This isn’t a marketing thing. If other businesses want to call this something else, we don’t have any problem with that. We just want to try to encourage businesses to provide more support to charities that really need the help right now.

Oh, and everyone who makes a November purchase gets an Atramenta Initiative sticker. (They’re supposed to arrive Wednesday.)

Hierophany & Hedge

12/18/2025

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11/28/2025

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