Meet Ivy Aranaught | Seeress, Vitka, and High Priestess of Hekate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ivy Aranaught and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ivy, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It is actually a bit bizarre to most people I think… I am a Seer, which means I get visions and messages from Spirits and Deities and have all my life. The Goddess I work with most has helped guide me into my path more and more and She called to me one day to see if I would honor Her request to start a store and community place for the witches and pagans of DFW. I don’t mean to make it sound as if I am “The One” or anything, but I was asked and if I had said no She simply would have found someone else who would say yes. The day I said yes to Her was the day I started Higher Purpose Emporium with a pagan temple space, learning library, apothecary, and much more. It was to become a place of genuine spirituality and a place where people could find where they belong and find their “higher purpose” in their current incarnation. It has been such a fulfilling and deeply moving experience that I am honored to have.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The coolest part of HPE to me is the learning opportunities and how versatile that is. I teach classes on all kinds of witchcraft, pagan customs, meditation, shamanism, animism, and more and I would argue that these and my more hands-on creative classes are different because they come from a place of genuine spirituality. I teach from what I know and if there is to be a class on something that I don’t, then I will have a Guest Teacher come in and teach that topic. Furthermore, there is the Learning Library in the store. This is a really unique opportunity that does not exist elsewhere in the community, where you can come and study for your path for just $6 an hour. The books offered are my personal collection, some of which are rare and out of print editions. The books range in topics of culturally specific traditions, pagan traditions, historical texts, modern witchcraft and Wicca, Traditional Witchcraft, metaphysics, divination, ceremonial and high magick, and much more. It also grows constantly as I am addicted to books! Lastly, Higher Purpose Emporium is here to help YOU find YOUR path and learn to coexist around others who identify differently than you do, along with getting to a place where deeply diving into your spirituality is possible in this Safe Space.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As someone who truly loves nature, I have been in love with the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens since I was a kid. I love how they have expanded it and that it now includes all this rich cultural diversity in their exhibits. So we would most definitely go there at least once. Defiunitely would go walk around Sundance Square too. Others on the list would include my favorite coffee place Fort Worth Coffee Co., Grow plant shop, axe throwing, The Artful Bead, Montgomery Antique Mall and their Tea Room, and probably hit up some of my favorite eats at Fixe, B and B Deli in Clearfork, Tokyo Cafe, Akari Sushi, and of course we gotta hit Chuy’s!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I genuinely cannot even put into words the gratitude I have for my employees and the volunteers and the members of this community who have all made me feel so part of it and in allowing me to teach them, have taught me so much as well. It has been so amazing and moving to watch the community grow and come together through all kinds of turmoil, births, moves, painful growth, outreach, and more. Higher Purpose Emporium would not be what it is today without the beautiful community in which it thrives. I am often at a loss for words about the depths of how appreciative of every one of them I truly am. I think this entire experience has helped me understand my own path and has even helped me understand unconditional love.

Website: www.shophpe.com

Instagram: higherpurposeftw

Yelp: Higher Purpose Emporium

Other: TikTok @higherpurposeemporium

Image Credits
all images taken and/or created by Ivy Aranught