The Mystical Willow
If you’re feeling witchy this winter, there’s a new shop in Goderich that can help you explore those feelings. If you’re feeling hungry for a gourmet peanut butter and banana sandwich, there’s a new shop in Goderich that can help you explore those feelings. And if you are feeling both witchy and hungry simultaneously, you’re in luck, because it’s the same store! The Mystical Willow in Goderich had its grand opening in October, offering up an eclectic selection of services and sundries that is sure to have something for everyone, from students of the arcane seeking cosmic truths to tea enthusiasts on their lunch break.
The store is filled with whimsical oddities, curious resources, magical objects, and remedies. Energy guiding tools like crystals, tarot cards and divination kits are available for those who are inclined to consider their place in the universe, and hand-crafted jewelry and gifts to entice casual shoppers. Visitors seeking respite from the outside world can sit in the shop’s cafe and reflect over a cup of tea, or restore body and soul with a sandwich.
Owner Tracey Bedard also offers a variety of services and classes you won’t find anywhere else. She creates custom tea blends for clients, tailoring herbal blends on the spot to address each person’s specific needs. Bedard puts her faith in the healing properties of herbs and flowers, and hopes her teas will help bring that healing power into hearts and homes across Huron County.
There’s evidence that humans have used herbs for their healing abilities as far back as the Palaeolithic Era - over 60,000 years ago! Civilization developed and evolved over the course of many years, and so did our methods for consuming medicinal herbs. Humanity discovered the benefits of drinking tea thousands of years ago, and the drink has held a prominent position in societies all over the world. In Ancient Egypt, the Pharaohs drank a hibiscus tea known as Karkade, and in Chinese tea culture, the humble act of drinking is part of spiritually significant rituals. The Guarani people of South America considered Yerba mate tea to be a gift from the gods, and there were some North American Aboriginal tribes that brewed tea from whole blackberry plants to cure dysentery and cholera. For the last few hundred years, the act of drinking tea just for pleasure has grown more and more popular. Whatever your reason for drinking it, The Mystical Willow has a tea for you. Chai has already proved to be quite popular, and a Yule inspired tea is currently being concocted - just in time for festival season!
Bedard also holds tarot and intuitive readings, reiki sessions, and classes that range from mystical education sessions to spiritual arts and crafts. It’s a shop with a whole lot going on - all of it born from the memory of a shared dream. For Bedard, everything in the store is exactly where it should be, including herself! When she saw the vacant store on Hamilton St, she knew right away that it was the right place to set up shop and make her vision into a reality. Her intuition turned out to be spot on - the store is a perfect vessel for all of Bedard’s energized objects, unusual concepts, and sandwiches.
So whether you fancy some personalized tea, are interested in a tarot reading, are hungry for a sandwich, or just want to check out Goderich’s funkiest one-stop shop for all things witchy and weird - The Mystical Willow
is the place for you! 79 Hamilton St., Goderich.
