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

05/08/2025

Rituals are powerful because they extend beyond a moment. They are done repeatedly, to a schedule divorced from profane time.

They are a what and a why that sanctify the when. To perform one is to reach into the past and future and make yourself more than the now.

However, for them to be meaningful, they require work and commitment. It is okay for them to feel onerous sometimes. The only thing magic likes more than an offering is a sacrifice.

Every year we have the floors throughout Hierophany & Hedge and Hierophany House oiled and waxed. That’s just house maintenance for floors not sealed with plastic.

However, we also take that time to ritually reconsecrate the space. We cleanse, we anoint, and we ward. It is a lot of work, but it centers us in our keep, and it reminds all our guardians and ghosts that they are beloved.

(The cats just like to flop onto and slide around on the empty floors.)

We will be open this Thursday (5/8) from 12-2pm and this Saturday (5/10) and Sunday (5/11) from 12-4pm.

05/06/2025

This year, give your mom what she really wants: a visit to an alternate reality.

Two of our favorite books so far in 2025 involve familiar worlds twisted by chance and malign intent into places even more troubling than our own.

“Gone World,” by Tom Sweterlitsch, follows a detective searching broken futures for the means to avert an apocalypse so uniquely disquieting we can’t stop thinking about it.

Most of the novel takes place in the back woods of Appalachia. The forest of “Gone” is the kind of place Coil loves to ramble in, a place where you can feel sad and hopeful at the same time, and a where one can brush against worlds filled with both might-have-beens and might-yet-bes.

, who knows a thing or two about magic circles in gothic revival dorms, pointed us toward “Last Exit” by .Gladstone. This might have been because Augur spent the years after he left those circles driving a Challenger through parts of America that were beginning a slide into shadow.

“Exit’s” hauntingly beautiful language circumscribes a group of students who discover magical portals, and realize that there is something dangerous and hungry waiting at the thresholds.

It’s hard to pick just one favorite quote from “Exit,” but this one is certainly in the running: “school was its own place . . . a special bubble full of weirdos . . . surrounded by magic circles and wards, unreal, and untouchable as fairy land. You could be someone there you hadn’t been before. You could expand to fill the space you’d cleared when you set your old self on fire. You could buckle a mask to your face and melt your face to fill the mask.”

Fair warning: both of these are difficult reads in 2025. It’s ok if your mom might prefer one of the many books we stock about smutty witches, dragons, and vampires.

We’re open this Thurs (5/8) from 12-2pm, and this Sat (5/10) and Sun (5/11) from 12-4pm.

04/16/2025

The world has certainly felt chaotic recently. Just yesterday it we were in conflict with Oceania, and today it is Eurasia. Or was it the other way around?

When we feel our blood pressure starting to rise, we go find a gnarled tree to hug. Or we sniff an orchid whose flowers evolved to entice an insect that hasn’t existed for millions of years.

If it’s that time of year, we might gaze in awe at an overflowing river irresistibly inundating a shoreline. Rarely, we’ll even try to figure out whether zoo security could catch us before we hugged a condor.

This isn’t to say that the human problems of right now don’t exist or aren’t important. They do and they are.

But there are things that we can change, and there are things that are just making us crazy, and it is okay to do what you need to do to quell the fear and anxiety.

On a related note the The Krohn Conservatory is particularly beautiful at the moment. It always feels delightfully Lovecraftian to us, both in terms of its shockingly alien inhabitants, and its stylish early 20th century architecture. When we step deep into its simulated jungle we become uncertain whether it’s a century ago, or an aeon.

If you get tired of looking at plants, you can come visit us this week on Thursday (4/17) from 12-2pm, Friday (4/18) from 12-2pm, Saturday (4/19) from 2-6pm, and Sunday (4/20) from 12-4pm.

04/07/2025

Legendary fantasy artist kindly agreed to help us celebrate Coil’s birthday with this incredible painting.

Visual artists see the world differently from the rest of us. That can be both blessing and curse, as they sometimes spy things better left disguised.

In this particular instance, for example, Mr. Murphy saw all too clearly how Coil is able to make such quick work of the shop restocking.

If you’d like to offer your birthday wishes in person, we will be open this Wednesday (4/9) from 12-2PM, Saturday (4/12) from 2-6PM, and Sunday (4/13) from 12-4PM.

04/01/2025

As many of you already know, the fine Canadian chandlers of the Folklore Candle Company have set their last wick and poured their last pot of wax.

Their candles have been with since we opened to the public, and the shop won’t feel quite the same without those wooden lids and haunting aromas.

We knew this was coming, so stocked up heavily, but some scents are already nearing extinction. If there is one that you particularly love (for us it’s Storyteller and Longest Day), don’t wait.

Despite inflation and tariffs, they are still the same price as the day we opened.

We will be open this week on Thursday (4/3) from 12-2PM, Friday (4/4) from 12-2PM, and Sunday (4/6) from 12-5PM. (Note that an unavoidable conflict means that we aren’t able to be open this Saturday . . . something that hasn’t happened in years.)

03/18/2025

You need to read “Dungeon Crawler Carl.”

On the surface, it is “Hunger Games” meets “Hitchhiker’s Guide” (and they both play “World of Warcraft.”) After conquering Earth via bureaucratic loophole, aliens force the few surviving humans to navigate a lethal dungeon while the galaxy watches, bets, and laughs.

But these books (there are currently seven) aren’t really about gory monster battles and gruesomely hilarious traps.

They’re about regular people confronting a world built to crush their spirits and to make them turn on one another.

They’re about how a down-on-his-luck former Coast Guard named Carl and his talking Persian cat, Princess Donut, refuse to give up on each other, and refuse to tolerate a world where the strong prey upon the weak.

They are goofy and ridiculous, occasionally filthy, and they will absolutely double you over with laughter and then break you with an ugly-crying jag. As often as not, though, the tears aren’t from sadness, but from the sheer unexpected impact of hope.

They were just what we needed in 2025, and it is possible we’ve already started reading them again.

It’s also possible that we asked the original cover artist, .fleitas.art , to envision the four of us as Dungeon Crawlers. We couldn’t be more delighted with the result.

, if you see this, thank you.

You can (at least until our stocks run out) buy the hardback from us this Friday (3/21) from 12-2PM, and Saturday (3/22) and Sunday (3/23) from 12-4PM.

03/12/2025

We are delighted to reveal this painting of by .

Megan’s incredible tarot and oracle decks have graced our shelves since we opened, and we were honored that she agreed to help us celebrate our upcoming shop anniversary.

Her uncanny style makes us feel as if we’ve wandered into a dream, one at once both inviting and unsettling.

We can’t imagine a more perfect rendition of our liminal space.

It’s back from the framer and now hangs in the shop near the calligraphy desk.

03/10/2025

“That’s a pretty nice rock you’ve got there, be a real shame if anything happened to it.” - Baroness Belladonna Nightshade, shortly before doing a mischief.

We want to welcome the thousands of new faces who have joined us virtually over the last few weeks, to the hundreds who have visited the shop in person, and to the millions (gulp) who have watched and shared media of the shop.

When we designed the space, and decided to open our home to strangers, we never imagined anywhere near this level of enthusiasm. We are deeply grateful to you all for your support, and profoundly honored to have positively touched so many lives.

We would say that it is a dream come true, but we had never dreamed something like this was possible. Thank you. Thank you.

The downside, unfortunately, is that the shop wasn’t built to accommodate anywhere near the level of enthusiasm that viral social media can generate.

We are doing our best, and appreciate everyone’s patience.

We imagine that this wave will pass, and in a few weeks there won’t be people spilling out onto the street.

We appreciate your understanding, and look forward to meeting you all soon.

This week we are open Thursday (3/13) from 6-8PM, Friday (3/14) from 12-2PM, Saturday (3/15) from 12-4PM, and Sunday (3/16) from 12-4PM.

03/05/2025

Last week we had the pleasure to visit the to check out their new exhibit of folk art related to the Oddfellows and Freemasons.

Understandably, the marketing focuses on the “mystery” of these organizations. It’s what sells tickets, and for centuries the fraternal orders have been feared and lauded as cultists and/or secret masters.

Shockingly, you won’t find a lot of art related to unholy cabals or to secret plans for world domination.

There is, however, a focus on fellowship and mutual care that feels alien to contemporary America.

A significant portion of the Oddfellow mission was to make sure that its membership would be able to afford funerary care. Maybe more importantly, weekly or monthly meetings provided an opportunity for people to just get together and learn about one another.

To be fair, this fellowship was not universal, and the exhibit does a great job of highlighting the fact that many people were excluded from membership based on race and gender.

Still, one has to wonder whether our nation is worse off for these organizations having largely faded. People rightly feel isolated, and so much of our culture has been hollowed out by the thin substitute of television and “social” media.

The exhibit is definitely worth checking out, particularly on a Monday when admission is free.

02/24/2025

One of ours friends surprised us with this beautiful emu egg for Augur’s birthday.

It inspires us to dream of Neptune’s court, and we imagine it smuggled past dozing mermaids and scheming krakens.

The silver stand, in an Egyptian revival style, once held a cut glass serving dish, but can now usually be found in the shop displaying a shungite sphere.

Welcome to our many new followers, and many thanks to for featuring our little shop.

We want to remind everyone that our shop hours are both variable and limited, and can always be found for the coming week at bespokearcana.com.

Our temporal sorceries allow us to bend time around the edges, but there are certain limitations we can’t safely break. Thank you for supporting our strange schedule.

We will be open this Wednesday (2/26) from 6-8pm, and this Saturday (3/1) and Sunday (3/2) from 12-4pm.

02/17/2025

Presidents’ Day is a strange thing to be celebrating in America right now, but it’s a good time to think about heroes.

We need heroes. We need ideals to believe in. We need organizations and systems that make us larger than ourselves.

This is always true, but it is particularly true in dark times, when we are called upon to think beyond personal fears and beyond the present.

Sadly, real people are flawed. We grew up idolizing Abraham Lincoln, and while he did seemingly impossible and heroic things, he also supported genocide in the American West.

Organizations of any scale are composed of people, and thus are equally tainted. There is no nation state, religious faith, or political movement without blood on its hands. There is no symbol so pure that it can not be used for evil.

Too often, smart and informed people turn to cynicism. They give up on heroes and ideals, and they take a grim satisfaction in both recognizing and anticipating evil so they won’t be fooled.

Cynicism may be reasonable, but it is the antithesis of hope. As a practical matter, it encourages us to give up on good things because they are not perfect.

We don’t have the answer, and we don’t think there is one right solution, any more than there is one best moral code or political system.

We just know that we could all use some heroes right now, even imperfect ones.

This week we’ll be open Thursday (2/20) from 6-8PM, and Saturday (2/22) and Sunday (2/23) from 12-4PM.

02/14/2025

Not every romance is a story of fairy tale love.

Some are supervillain origin stories.

Here my companion is contemplating the awful destruction she just inflicted upon an innocent Belgian waffle.

I never stood a chance when she decided to steal my heart, and I love her more every day.

We hope this Valentine’s Day sees you reveling in as much romance (and as many truffles and flowers) as you desire.

Hierophany & Hedge

05/08/2025

05/06/2025

04/16/2025

04/07/2025

04/01/2025

03/18/2025

03/12/2025

03/10/2025

03/05/2025

02/24/2025

02/17/2025

02/14/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share