Walking into the purple and green building, which sits at the end of a short gravel driveway in Soldotna, shop owner, Rondell Gonzalez, offers a friendly greeting.
To the left of the entry, is a room filled with books on Wicca, Celtic wisdom, voodoo and other spiritual practices and philosophical theories. Moving through the store the floor creeks. Buddha statues of various sizes, fairy figurines, crystals, pendants, jewelry, stones, incense, sage, herbs and candles labeled with words like meditation, healing, success and passion fill shelves. Relaxing, instrumental music plays throughout the store.
In the back, a workshop space is ready for the next event and, in an adjoining room, chairs and a table is set up with a basket of crystals waiting for the next reading.
Gonzalez opened Pye’ Wackets eight years ago filling a void in the community for alternative holistic and spiritual practices.
“I’m interested in all spirituality all facets, the rainbow gambit of spirituality,” Gonzalez said. “There’s not just one way to get to your own spiritual space. Some people would call me an eclectic witch as my store depicts my eclectic likes.”
The store moved from its previous location off of the Kenai Spur Highway and re-opened in June along the Sterling Highway between Kobuk Street and Riverside Drive. Gonzalez said she likes the new location better; the front yard has trees.
Gonzalez first opened Pye’ Wackets next door to her new location.
“I just got sick and tired of the rat race and crying everyday going to work, hating the job you’re at,” she said about first opening her business. “So I decided to create my reality and this is what was brought forth and thankfully a lot of other people like my reality too.”
Gonzalez spends time traveling throughout the world and finding top-quality, spiritual-based items to sell in her shop.
“I’m always on a journey, always trying to expand my own spirituality,” she said.
Gonzalez has been reading crystals for years. When she does a reading, which requires appointments in advance, Gonzalez calls on her guides and the guides of her clients to reveal a narrative.
“The stones tell me a story about you and I bring forth the information that’s for the highest good at this time in your life,” she said.
This summer Gonzalez is also hosting monthly psychic faires at Pye’ Wackets. The next one is on Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Gonzalez said her shop offers different opportunities for people frustrated with their lives and the beliefs they were taught as children. She said some people who come into her store are so lost, they don’t know where to begin. So she works with them asking questions about where they’ve been and where they want to go in their lives.
“The bottom line is about listening to your heart, listening to your own wants and your own desires,” she said. “And being OK with those choices and not being afraid of what other people think about those choices.”
Kaylee Osowski can be reached at kaylee.osowski@peninsulaclarion.com.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion A statue of Medusa, one of many statues and figurines at Pye Wackets in Soldotna, Alaska.
