Dover, DE - Books, gemstones, candles and jewelry are what draw customers to Dover’s Bell, Book, & Candle, which bills itself as “your one-stop shop for metaphysical needs.”

But retailing isn’t really what concerns Ivo Dominguez Jr., who became co-owner of the West Loockerman Street shop last August.

“The store does well, but the primary purpose here is to be a crossroads for a community that doesn’t have a fixed location in time and space,” he said.

He’s talking about the state’s pagan population, including Wiccans like himself, who have no churches or official gathering places.

Delaware’s pagan population comprises numerous spiritual seekers who find it difficult to embrace mainstream faiths and who find succor in a theology that emphasizes free will, self-responsibility and harmony with nature.

That community has been in good spirits for weeks now because a Superior Court last month upheld a religious discrimination case against Boscov’s that involved two Christians, two Wiccans and a pagan.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the Boscov’s case because what’s important in this country is equality in everything,” said Dominguez.

“Within the [pagan] community, they’re like, ‘Heyyyyyy, the court system worked!’ ” said Darleen Aragon, who has been the store manager and “priestess at large” for five years.

The shop’s customer base is vastly diverse. People drawn to the exotic can find the sort of jewelry, apparel and objets d’art not normally found in a kiosk at the mall.

For Wiccans looking to do the rite thing, the shop has books, crystals, gemstones and various and sundry esoterica.

While the shop doesn’t stock eye of newt, it has a bewildering pharmacopeia of leaves, flowers, herbs and oils.

Curiosity-seekers might enjoy browsing the candles or leafing through magazines such as SageWoman, newWitch and PanGaia.

Wicca, Dominguez said, is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world, because people today feel freer to explore “what’s true for them now, as opposed to what they were raised with.”

The Cuban-born Dominguez was raised Roman Catholic but explored other faiths before finding that Wicca best filled his spiritual needs.

During his years of soul-searching, Dominguez read the Muslim Quran and the Hindu Bhagavadgiitaa, among other holy books.

Wicca is a form of 20th-century witchcraft based on nature worship and magic. Its practitioners call themselves witches and belong to groups called covens.

Dominguez, an elder in a Georgetown coven called Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, estimated that there are at least 30 covens in Delaware.

Before coming to the shop, Dominguez worked primarily in nonprofits. He was the founding executive director of AIDS Delaware.

Apart from the Boscov’s case, a frequent topic of discussion in the shop is the Wiccans’ battle with the U.S. government, which refuses to allow pentacles on grave markers issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs, even though the “A” symbol for atheism is allowed.

The pentacle, a symbol of Wiccans, is a five-pointed star representing earth, air, fire, water and spirit.

IF YOU GO

Bell, Book, & Candle

WHERE: 115 W. Loockerman St., Dover

PHONE: 678-4545

HOURS: 10 a.m . to 6 p.m. Mon.-Thu.; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fri.; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat.

Upcoming workshops

Training the Mind, 6-8 p.m. March 28. $10.

Intro to Healing Herbs, 1-3:30 p.m. April 1. $15.

Intro to Reading Tarot, 2-4:30 p.m. April 28. $20.

Open Ritual for the Three Mothers, 6-9 p.m. May 12. Free.

Intro to Egyptian Myth and Ritual, 6-8 p.m. May 24. $10.

Source

• Kemp, Al. Let’s get metaphysical. (2007, March 21). The News Journal, DE. Retrieved March 21, 2007.

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