Mystical Key Metaphysical Shoppe

Mystical Key Metaphysical Shoppe - A person posing for the camera - Florida Keys

It’s all about the light

Wicca and Paganism get a bad rap according to Monika Wilkens, a practitioner of Wicca and owner of Mystical Key. Former critical care nurse and CEO of a small hospital on Colorado for 18 years, Wilkens is combining her love of healing and her religion in a new store off Truman Avenue, aptly named Mystical Key. Wilkens and her husband, Bob, originally planned on retiring in the Keys but moved ahead of schedule for the sunshine and to start a new chapter in their lives.

Mystical Key celebrates alternative forms of worship and healing. It’s filled with fresh healing herbs, essential oils, candles, crystals and tribal jewelry, Wilkens has created a space for people who practice Wicca, Paganism or just dabble in the ideas to shop and meet. The store not only is a place to buy runes, tarot and authentic spell bags but will also provide classes to learn about the mystical arts. Wilkens wants to pair education with her products and have rotating classes to teach the ancient traditions such as reading runes, tarot or astrology.

“Key West has been receptive,” said Wilkens, “People have a misconception of Wicca, it is about loving the earth, animals and celebrating nature. We celebrate the light not the dark.”

She said she is surprised how few people in the Keys understand or celebrate Wicca or paganism, adding she frequently finds herself explaining the pentagram — “it’s not an evil thing, it is just a chart of earth signs.”

Wilkens dismisses skepticism and focuses on the healing nature that many of her products provide. With a vast array of crystals and healing stones and herbs, Wilkens wants to help her customers use the energy of the earth to enhance their health and attitudes.

Even her husband Bob, a lineman for Keys Energy, will be marketing his stained glass creations in the shop. Whether it is selling sage smudge sticks to clean the energy from your home, natural handmade soaps, astrology books or herbal teas, Wilkens looks forward to teaching her customers and erasing old misconceptions. Check out Mystical Key’s booth during Fantasy Fest street fair, located in front of La Concha.

 Mystical Key

1100 Truman Ave.

305.780.7955

Open weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

We don’t sell ouija boards, it’s not that kind of place.” –    Monika Wilkens, owner of Mystical Key

Hays Blinckmann is an oil painter, author of the novel “In The Salt,” lover of all things German including husband, children and Bundesliga. She spends her free time developing a font for sarcasm, testing foreign wines and failing miserably at home cooking.