Witchy Store Ritualcravt Struck by Lightning, Branded With Eye-Like Burn Mark

Getting struck by lightning is sometimes used as a metaphor for a sudden and intense shock, in terms of rarity of the circumstance and sometimes in terms of inspiration. Last month in a Wheat Ridge store, it was all too literal.

It happened at Ritualcravt, which has been serving up "spiritual goods made with intention" since it started as a corner of founder Missy Rhysing's tattoo shop. Back then, it carried just a small portion of the hand-crafted and ethically-sourced spiritual materials that it would come to provide in the years following as the store grew and became its own brick-and-mortar shop: candles, incense, jewelry, books, crystals, animal items, art and antiques, as well as a full apothecary of over 200 herbs, resins and curios.

A 2:38 p.m. Sunday, May 25 — with the store open and shoppers actively browsing — it offered something new: a lightning strike.

Staff member Ashton Harold was there to witness it. He recalls hearing "a burning, crackling sound in the ceiling...and then everything got bright for a second." There was a "blue hue" in the air, and then a "snap on the floor."

"Everyone felt a large sensation of energy and pressure, followed by a draining sensation," Harold says. "And then everyone felt very buzzed up afterward."

That "everyone" Harold mentions includes several Ritualcravt patrons. "People were standing in front of our wall of tarot decks, just feet from where we think the lightning struck," Rhysing says. "They both said they saw it happen as well."

And it all happened in the blink of an eye.

While the store's cameras weren't positioned at the right angle to catch the strike, Rhysing says she does have video of "everybody is looking up and thinking, 'What the hell just happened?'"
"The boom was apparently insane," adds Rhysing, who wasn't present but rushed over with her husband, Aries, in the immediate aftermath. "The tattoo shop next door heard it, and we had a class going at the same time, and they felt and heard it as well. Everyone described it differently; several had trouble describing it at all."

Further confirmation of the lightning strike came from the condominium complex behind the store, which was struck at the exact same time. Ritualcravt reports no major damage other than some minor leaking in the ceiling, but the hole doesn't go through the roof layer. The condo complex, on the other hand, did sustain some damage to both the roof structure and its electrical panel.

"We think it struck one of these large, steel cages that were for swamp coolers," says Rhysing. "We have a bunch of those on the roof. We're not sure how exactly the damage was done, but we have a few new leaks that are weird."

The lightning storm that weekend was intense; just the day before, a woman in north Denver was struck by lightning as she watched the skies through the upstairs window of her home.

The lightning left a scar on the floor of the shop: a strangely-shaped burn mark, especially for a metaphysical shop like Ritualcravt. "It looks an awful lot like an eye," laughs Rhysing. Many of her customers are more specific, saying it looks very much like the Eye of Ra, which represents the power of the sun god in Egyptian mythology. One customer just commented, "That is one of the witchiest things I’ve ever heard of."

Rhysing admits there are a lot of lightning-related connections with a variety of spiritual traditions and practices. "So it's been very interesting how people are perceiving it," she says. "For a shop like this to be touched this way, it's fitting somehow. A lot of people are calling it a blessing, and I like that. I really like that."

Ritualcravt is open seven days a week at 7700 West 44th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. For hours and more information, see its website.