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

10/13/2025

We would like to take a moment to celebrate the incredible work that our friends did putting on the this year. They deserve a huge round of applause (and a nap).

Because of their tireless organizing and promoting, the event grew into a truly regional affair, attracting over a thousand visitors to partake in the wonders on Pike Street.

Those seekers gazed in awe at mysterious cryptids from all over the world, filled their packs with luxurious wares, and consumed exotic delicacies while being serenaded by local and touring musicians.

Once again, we were too inundated with customers to even step outside before the tents started coming down, but we have heard nothing but wonderful things from everyone who visited.

Thank you to and for supporting the party, and for all the many many people who generously shared the news.

This illustration was one of over fifty charming paintings that did as a gift for EVERY SINGLE ONE of the vendors. The amount of love and labor that the organizers put into this show is just staggering.

You’ll have to wait until next year for the block party to return, but will be open this Monday (10/13) from 6-8pm, Tuesday (10/14) from 6-8pm, Wednesday (10/15) from 11am to 1pm, and Saturday (10/18) from 6-9pm.

10/08/2025

We have always believed Lucy to be the best character in Dracula.

She manages to elude her three mortal suitors only to fall (or leap) into the arms of the immortal count. Her decline and death highlights the threats to modernity by ancient evils, and her resurrection and destruction cements the righteousness (or depravity) of the novel’s heroes.

Stoker intended Lucy as a warning of the temptations to English womanhood, an example of what could happen should one fall from the Victorian model of purity presented by Mina. But the reality is that Lucy’s subversion of those ideals of chaste maidenhood and virtuous motherhood make her the more interesting, compelling, and believable of the two.

Whether imagined as vacuous harlot, treacherous vixen, or feminist icon, Lucy is the heart of the novel. In theatrical productions, it is Lucy’s realization that determines whether the play is tragedy or farce, action/adventure or cultural critique.

All of this is why Coil jumped at the opportunity to play Lucy in an upcoming show at the up in Dayton, even though it is going to pose some challenges to our operations in October and early November.

It was also a great excuse for us to commission three wonderful pieces of Coil-as-Lucy art. The first of those is this incredible painting by European wunderkind . It’s actually been in the shop for nearly a month now, you just may not have seen it because it’s only a few inches tall. Keep your eyes peeled next time you visit.

We will be open this Saturday (11/11) from 2PM until 6PM and Sunday (11/12) from 1PM until 5PM. If you need herbs, please email us in advance, and any talismans and wand boxes will be delivered rather than created on site.

10/01/2025

Last week Augur had the opportunity to sit down with the wonderful team from to talk about one of his favorite books of the year, “The Incandescent” by .

The novel was presented as: “Magical school from the perspective of the teachers,” and while it is that, it’s so very much more.

It’s about finding meaning in adulthood while still honoring the child inside, it’s about carving out islands of decency in an unforgiving world, and it’s about learning to change, even when that change hurts.

You should read it. (You should also read Tesh’s Hugo-winning science fiction epic, “Some Desperate Glory.”)

is a monthly podcast where people who love books get to share their favorites with each other. Each episode is a delightful exploration of both the book in question, and of the reasons that the guest selected it.

It’s a great inspiration for anyone looking for their next book, and is particularly relevant to anyone going on the this weekend.

09/29/2025

The Covington Cryptid Block Party returns to Pike Street this Saturday, October 4th for its fourth and most fantastic year ever!

anchors the festivities involving over fifty vendors, live musicians, and the world famous Cryptid Dancers from .

The event is free, isn’t scary, and welcomes guests of all ages.

It runs from noon until 6PM, and if you miss it, you’ll have to wait a whole year for another chance to dance with the indescribable Octo-man and to get your photograph taken with Bigfoot.

We just provide a little bit of support and guidance, the credit for this incredible grassroots festival goes to the tireless team from , who have really outdone themselves this year.

Social media is how people find out about events like this. So, if you can, take a moment to share this, tag a friend, or leave a like, follow, or comment. Even if you can’t make it, that little bit of engagement really matters, so give some love in the comments to your favorite cryptid.

Call us old fashioned, but Nessie will always be number one for us!

We hope to see you Saturday!

09/26/2025

History’s most infamous resurrectionists, William Burke, and William Hare, lend their names to newest candles of the shelves of

There are many candles that smell good. These candles certainly do, and there’s nothing wrong with burning them just because you like the scent.

However, not every candle can transport you to a tilting medieval library filled with chained-down books or to a moonlit cemetery in which shadowy things disturb the withered grass and crumbling stones.

We can’t promise that scents are enchanting enough to awaken the newly dead, but we have noticed more vampires and ghouls in the shop of late.

09/23/2025

The frictions of international trade are nothing new.

They are just something that producers, retailers, and everyone in between has to navigate as best as we can to bring goods to our customers.

Historically, the success at that navigation has determined the rise and fall of empires. Many of the conquests and battles presented as being for high-minded ideals were really about securing favorable tariff rates.

If you have a few years to spare, read up on the tea trade.

As much as it disappoints Murderpaws, we aren’t going to be building any galleons or raiding any ports.

We are, however, shuffling suppliers and tweaking order volumes to try to keep prices steady and to ensure adequate holiday stocks.

Things look pretty good with the exception of goods from Canada, which will probably be in short supply, and jewelry, which is going to be more expensive because of material costs.

As always, we appreciate your support, and will do our best to keep you from noticing the chaos behind the scenes.

Speaking of which, this is the cabinet where we store our backstock of tea. (Murderpaws decided that it really needed to be a picture of her because she’s still angry about the galleon.)

We’ll be open this week on Friday (9/26) from 6-8PM, and Saturday (9/27) and Sunday (9/28) from 12-4PM.

09/16/2025

Augur here, and I’m hijacking our social media to remind everyone that it was a double digit number of years ago this week that Coil and I met in a Michigan goth club.

We joked about Batman. She kicked me. Neither of us stood a chance.

For anyone looking for love, my advice is to find yourself a Cornish half-snake witch girl with a Mallen streak who’s trained in the art of the blade. And it’s a big red flag if she doesn’t talk about how much she misses her throne of skulls back in the Abyss at least once a day.

In all seriousness, I just got lucky to have fallen in love with someone who is as beautiful as she is kind, and as funny and smart as she is dutiful and protective. What really matters is that she cares about me despite my faults, and makes the effort to communicate and find solutions even when things are hard.

I made a real catch all those years ago.

Okay, Ness and Paws are making puking noises, so I’ll stop with the sappy stuff, and remind everyone that we’ll be open this Thursday (9/18) from 6-8PM, and this Saturday (9/20) and Sunday (9/21) from 12-4PM.

09/03/2025

We rolled our eyes back in the day when all the audiophiles claimed that MP3s were ruining music. We were young and listening to music with low-quality speakers. A bunch of information we couldn’t hear anyway being ditched in favor of portability seemed like a fair trade.

We can afford better speakers now, but our ears got old, so this particular instance doesn’t really matter for us any longer.

This devil’s bargain between accessibility and quality, however, feels more relevant than ever.

We realized this the other day when going through some goofy old family photos from JCPenney. These are not going to win any photography awards, and the chemicals used for the development have aged poorly.

Despite that, the actual image fidelity of a forty year old photo taken at the mall is significantly better than the overwhelming majority of the images we use to document our existence today.

None of the faces in that old photo were smoothed by an algorithm, and the photo itself was crisply resolved at 11x17.

Our world is increasingly mediated through the distorting and compressing eyes of our phones, and not to our benefit. We give up a few pixels here and there for convenience, and suddenly we discover our worlds have shrunk and our memories have been compressed.

In our little effort to hold back the tide, we are delighted to welcome to this year’s where she will be taking tintype photographs.

It is absurd to post scans of these photos to instagram, as they have a resolution and luminosity that embarrasses the very best digital tool. We’re doing it anyway in the hope that it inspires you to get some real ones taken.

We’ll be open this week on Thursday (9/4) from 12-2PM, Friday (9/5) from 6-8PM, Saturday (9/6) from 12-3PM, and Sunday (9/7) from 12-2PM.

Most of our shop witches are away this weekend, so we will be understaffed. We appreciate your patience, and hope you all enjoy the lunar eclipse on Sunday night.

08/26/2025

Simulacra are some of the oldest and most powerful forms of magic.

The first human paintings are found deep in ancient caves. They illustrate game animals, and were part of rituals designed to guarantee successful hunts.

Similarly, various forms of representational poppets (e.g., “Voodoo dolls”) have been used magically to treat illness or curse enemies. One might treat a fever by chilling a therapeutic poppet, or hobble an enemy by putting a pin though a doll’s foot.

As a result, we take very seriously any representation of our shop, and were a little concerned when we started receiving messages that Hierophany & Hedge was on display at the 2025 show.

But then we saw the photos of the marvelous model that long-time customer and her daughter had produced, and we haven’t stopped grinning since.

This is perfect, right down to the green string on the packages, and we love it. We are so looking forward to seeing it in person

Our customers are wonderful, and we are honored every single day to be able to serve you. Thank you so very much for helping to create something worthy of becoming magical art.

We will be open (in full size) this Thursday (8/28) from 6-8PM, and this Saturday (8/30) and Sunday (8/31) from 12-4PM.

08/22/2025

October is shaping up to be an exciting time on Pike Street!

From October 3 through October 5, the street will be turned into a brutal dungeon crawl in which contestants will be forced to endure a life-and-death struggle with hideous monsters. It will be broadcast live across the galaxy, and folks at home will be able to wager on their favorite con . . .

Wait. Hold on.

We’re receiving word that it isn’t actually a “dungeon” crawl.

Our bad.

It’s an Independent Bookstore Crawl.

Apparently contestants participate by . . . buying books?

Okay. That’s probably safer - particularly if you prepare yourself to endure monster attacks by picking up a copy of Dungeon Crawler Carl.

After all, may attract at least a few dangerous monsters that weekend.

You can find out more about the event at . In addition to , you’ll want to make sure you visit our friends at as well as local favorites and .

08/05/2025

Please join us in wishing a (slightly belated) happy second birthday to Lt. Commander Atramenta Murderpaws and her twin sister, Baroness Belladonna Nightshade.

We had no idea when we summoned these two furry voids from the outer darkness that they would lodge so deeply within our hearts. But it turns out that if you stare long enough into the abyss, it stares back . . . and meows.

They have gifted us with cryptic utterances, savaged toys, and occasionally hard-won purrs, and we can’t believe there was ever a time that they weren’t the managers of our little shop.

They are shown here “helping” us hang a canvas astrological painting from an early twentieth century circus.

We once thought that they were terrible astrologers, since every fortune they give is exactly the same, “You will give us treats.”

It turns out, however, that they have a more accurate prediction rate than any diviner we’ve ever met.

We’ll be open this Friday (8/8) from 12-2PM, and this Saturday (8/9) and Sunday (8/10) from 12-4PM.

Hierophany & Hedge

10/13/2025

10/08/2025

10/01/2025

09/29/2025

09/26/2025

09/23/2025

09/16/2025

09/03/2025

08/26/2025

08/22/2025

08/05/2025

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