Avalon's faery fair

In Orlando for 15 years!

Today I went to Avalon,  Orlando's Wiccan and Alternative Earth religion's store.

It is shame on me that I had not ventured there before now.  As one who has owned three such shops in my career, and spent 17 years as a Priestess in the Wiccan community I should have sought Avalon out ages ago.

However, it is not unusual for Wiccan folks to be less than welcoming to travelers of the Left Hand Path.  For newcomers to the Occult/Metaphysical/Alternative religious community there are two primary heading under which religions fall:  The Right hand or the Left Hand Path.

Wicca is a RHP tradition.  Satanism is a LHP religion.  Rarely do the two mix.  There endeth the lesson because of how really cool Avalon is and how warmly I was received by one of their employees.  If they noticed my Baphomets or pentagram bracelet (as opposed to the Wiccan pentacle,) they didn't let on or they didn't care.  I am cool either way, and the retail help I was granted was that perfect mix of professional and warm.

When one enters r Avalon it is every stereotype of new agey, white witchy, airy faerie concept imaginable.  And that is fabulous!  It smells great, appropriate music gently plays, and a witchy earth mother type helps out young pierced up kids learn a helpful spell---this is exactly what a witchcraft shop should be.

The product inventory is stunning and vast.    I dragged my poor husband about like I was prepping my birthday lists for the next 8 years, pointing out everything from jewelry to spell books, happily concluding by seeing the lovely gift cards for sale at the register.

This Saturday Avalon will be holding their Faerie Fair.  The store will be holding a sale on merchandise and outside the store there will be vendors and readers and all sorts of opportunities to buy and mingle and meet and greet.  I hope to make my way there and I am not telling which goodies I plan to buy because someone may beat me to it and then jack up the price on ebay.

Now, my only gripe would be no books or products catering to  the legal alternative religion of Satanism, my own religion.  I find this even odder as Voodoo is represented as are a few items of Santeria interest.  Both of those valid religions practice rites much darker than anything found in The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, or The Satanic Scriptures. 

It is not uncommon for Wiccan stores to believe that Satanism is either Christian based (when it is atheistic based,) or that Satanism practices illegal or unethical magical practices.  This mistake is generally cleared up once a Wiccan has simply read The Satanic Bible and discovers that Satan is used as archetype just like Aradia or Herne or Cernunnos or Artemis, and that Satanists have no interest in the Christian heresy of Devil Worship.  Perhaps one day Avalon will carry a few of the LaVey/Barton/Gilmore books or some of our wonderful Hell's Kitchen products.  We'll see,

Until then I look forward to this weekend and meeting more of the wonderful and uniquely spiritual people in Orlando!  I hope others will do the same.

Avalon is at 1211 Hillcrest St.  www.AvalonBeyond.com  or call: 407-895-7439