LOS ANGELES (RNS) — To Alex Naranjo and Marlene Vargas, intuition and magic are what they call humans’ “natural birthright.” You don’t have to be Wiccan or a New Age enthusiast or have “extraordinary lineage” to get in touch with it.
Magic, they say, “is innate to all of us,” it’s just been “trained out of most of us in Western culture.”
In their first and new book, “Your Intuition Led You Here,” Naranjo and Vargas write about how to access that intuition, partly by telling how a former social worker and an owner of a medical billing company, both cradle Catholics, ended up practicing magic. They also advise readers on how to create an altar, work with crystals and candles and make offerings to ancestors.
“It’s part of our mission to empower people,” Naranjo told Religion News Service. “If that energy isn’t there or if you haven’t put your intention into it, it’s not going to be as effective. It’s not going to be as powerful because there’s nothing more powerful than yourself.”
Naranjo and Vargas are the founders of the House of Intuition, a brand with 10 metaphysical stores — eight from Pasadena to West Hollywood, one south of L.A. in Orange County and another in Miami, Florida. The chain started in 2010 with a small shop offering tarot readings in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park.
The House of Intuition is a metaphysical brand with stores in California and Florida. This store is in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park. RNS photo by Alejandra Molina
Their stores’ sleek and black-and-white aesthetic — “symbolizing the light and shadow inside of us,” according to the couple — is designed to be inviting, neutral and “non-witchy.” Their business no longer leads with tarot reading, focusing instead on equipping people with what they need to tap into their ‘inner magic.’
Vargas, 50, and Naranjo, 54, said they both still personally infuse all of the oils, scrubs and candles they sell at their stores and online.
They offer affirmation candles to induce prosperity and zodiac magic candles paying tribute to astrological signs. In online reviews, those who have bought House of Intuition’s popular “Money Magic Candle” claim their houses were appraised at a higher value than expected or say they got a small business loan approved after losing their day job during COVID-19.
The couple appreciates those kinds of stories. Before they got their first store up and running, both Vargas and Naranjo lost real estate investments in the recession.
Source : ReligionNews