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Tarot, Reiki, and Incense: Investigating the Paranormal at Psychic Saturday

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The cards don’t tell me when I’m going to die—which is a bit anticlimactic—but they do give me further insight into the mysterious world of the paranormal. Welcome to Psychic Saturday.

As a budding paranormal investigator, I’d found myself at Psychic Saturday, a small craft market and metaphysical fair hosted by Richmond Moon Market at Champion Brewing Company. The event promised a collection of local artisan craft vendors, psychics, and healers, all with the intention of offering insight, spiritual council, and a peek into a thinly veiled world beside our own.

Champion Brewing Company hosted the psychic fair

At least, that was the pitch.

What I found instead was an array of booths and vendors and a few dozen people milling inside Champion Brewing Co., the air thick with incense and craft beer. There were more than 20 booths, selling everything from Tarot card readings to painted meditation pillows.

I had my Tarot cards read at the Sword & Sworcery booth, a couple’s joint venture to bring traditional folklore and magic into the modern age. Ash Emrys, one half of the founders, said she’s been practicing in this field for as long as she can remember.

Where I’d learn my fate

“I tell people I’ve been practicing witchcraft for over 20 years, but the truth is that I can remember working with spirits and connecting with the earth as far back as around five years old,” Emrys said. “People talk about having a job or a career—I’ve always felt I had a calling.”

Sword & Sworcery offers Tarot readings, energy work, magic consultations, enchanted jewelry, and Reiki—a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch.

Emrys said that the mission of all of their practices is to help people. “We try to make some of this stuff translatable for people so they can actually incorporate it into their lives. I remember feeling really overwhelmed thinking it would be impossible to live a truly magical lifestyle in my everyday, and yet now that I’m doing it it’s incredibly simple.”

She described their home in rural Ashland as part of an intentional community, where they have a meditation and art studio and live close to the land. “There’s always some plant or bush or tree or animal greeting us like an old friend,” Emrys says. “The world feels a lot more full than it used to.”

Most of their work is done at events and pop-ups, catering to seasoned practitioners and the casually curious, alike. I fall into the second group, more a skeptic than anything, but I try to approach my card reading with an open mind.

Ash’s husband does a three card reading—past, present, and future—and after I randomly chose a deck, he paused to “connect with the cards and say a prayer.” Then he shuffled the deck until a card fell out. “Sometimes the fate is just out there,” he said.

He interpreted each revealed card in turn, and as much as I tried to listen and nod, I had trouble taking it seriously. But his passion for the work was apparent, and my cards—The Lovers, The Knight of Cups, and The Fool—were explained to me patiently. After he flipped the last card, he told me “you’re free to start whatever it is that you want to do.”

As vague as that may be, it was a nice message to hear. And ultimately, that’s the point of Tarot readings: to provide the promise of a future broad enough for it to mean what you need to hear.

“The Tarot is basically a system of self help,” Emrys said. “Nothing the cards tell you is written in stone—our readings are typically aimed more at helping people find help and inner guidance.”

I’m still a skeptic after my hour at the metaphysical fair—I don’t know if I believe, but I also don’t think I have to. Regardless of beliefs, it’s important that anyone in downtown Richmond that day could walk off the street to escape the stifling 90 degree heat, and find themselves somewhere a little different.

Whether you are researching haunted mansions, UFOs, or just searching for some spiritual guidance, we all deserve a little mystery—cosmic or otherwise.

Please tip your witch

See some of Sarah Honosky’s previous paranormal research in “The Peculiar and Spectral History of Swannanoa Palace.”

RVA #30: Scott’s Addition’s newest brewery, Manchester’s Twisted Ales, & new brews at The Veil

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Originally printed in RVA #30 FALL 2017, you can check out the issue HERE, or pick up your copy around town today. 

Väsen: A Swedish word that roughly translates to “inner essence” or “animal spirit.” Also, a new brewery in the quickly developing Scott’s Addition area, just down the street from The Veil Brewing Co. and Ardent Craft Ales. So why the name, and the giant psychedelic reindeer head painted on the wall? Väsen president Joey Darragh and head brewer Tony Giordano, cousins, tracked their ancestry to Sweden and discovered that their ancestors were reindeer herders. Combining that inspiration with an appreciation for the outdoors and adventure — Tony and co-founder Nathan Winters lived in Colorado at one point — makes for a unique aesthetic, but it also informs the beer that Väsen produces. Winters heads up the marketing and environmental branches of Väsen; he seeks to make the brewery as sustainable and environmentally conscious as possible. The brewery is largely focused on yeast-forward styles like saisons and various sour ales, and as such, has dedicated part of the company to harvesting and researching local wild yeast strains, yet another aspect of the company that is intertwined with the natural world. Co-founder Jon Warner is the head brewery scientist, and does all of the microbiological research. With his expertise, the brewery is working towards building their own house yeast strain, and hopes to be able to package and make available to other brewers a variety of local yeasts. They also plan to be fully transparent in terms of what goes on behind the scenes of beer production via having information available to the public regarding which beer is in which tank, and at what stage of the process any beer is in at any given time.

Originally printed in RVA #30 FALL 2017, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now. 

That all sounds like a lot for a young brewery to undertake, but they seem more than capable — Warner holds a Ph.D., Winters used to do environmental work for Patagonia, and Darragh worked at Tesla early on. The brewery has also been in planning for two and a half years, with lots of pilot batches and experimentation going on in that time period. A recent visit revealed that the brewery had a variety of farmhouse ales on draft (six in total), a gose, a vanilla dubbel, a Belgian Wit, and even a sour stout on draft. Some of those beers are the products of early experimentation, and beers like Nate’s Wheat will likely be mainstays. In terms of beers that brewery plans to put out in the future, a Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale, a barleywine, and a chocolate wheat beer are planned for this winter. Further out, in about a year, more sours will be available — the production schedule for many traditional Belgian-style sours is fairly long-term, with a great deal of time needing to be devoted to the aging of and, in some cases, the blending of multiple beers. Väsen hopes to have 750-milliliter bottles of sours available in about a years time. Currently, the brewery is draft only, but Winters noted that they plan to install a canning line in about four to five months. According to him, the neighborhood has been kind to Väsen so far, and with more food options popping up in Scott’s Addition soon, he sees things only getting busier in the coming months.

Twisted Ales Legend is no longer the only brewery in Manchester. Twisted Ales opened up their doors in June, and so far, it seems the reception has been rather warm. The brewery is located in a charming, historic taproom, a building built around the turn of the century. While the brewery is still fairly new, and as such mainly offers draft pours, a couple of recent rounds of canning of their New England-style IPA Industrial Rev have proven successful. In addition to that beer, at time of writing, the brewery has several other varieties of IPA available, as well as a hefeweizen, a saison, and an English Brown Ale made with espresso. Besides beer, Twisted also offers board games like giant Jenga, trivia night, and live music. The brewery is family-owned and community-minded; they support urban renewal, and they support causes such as FeedMore, James River Conservation, Amy Black’s Pink Ink Fund, and Richmond’s Daily Planet. Although fresh on the scene, Twisted Ales seems to be fitting right into Richmond’s beer scene, and more good things can be expected of them in the future.

Champion Brewing Company A little ways back in our spring issue, we first featured Champion Brewing Company’s Richmond location, which had not yet opened its doors at the time. Champion RVA has now been open for several months, and has rolled out some really fun additions to their taproom. While the kitchen mentioned in issue twenty-eight may or may not still be planned, the brewery has installed bar-height “viking tables” for taproom patrons, as well as a wall of pinball machines with varying themes, such as Game of Thrones and Metallica. Additionally, the brewery has begun hosting free shows every Thursday, so far featuring all local acts: The Milkstains, Fat Spirit, Dazeases, Gull, and many others have played so far. Most interestingly, brewing at Champion finally began in September. So far, a Biere de Garde and a Patersbier-inspired Belgian Pale Ale have been produced on the Richmond brewery’s system, and more interesting brews are sure to come.

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Fall is upon us, and while it hasn’t quite cooled down at the time of writing, the leaves are changing, and pumpkin beers are appearing on the shelves. While pumpkin ales are not for everyone, there are plenty of other seasonal beverages out there to appreciate.

The Veil will be putting out their imperial oyster stout Unloved sometime in October, with an accompanying oyster roast, courtesy of Northern Neck Oysters. The brewery will open early (at noon) on November 24th for a dark beer-themed Black Friday event, Dark Daze. They will have ten plus dark beers available, which so far includes bourbon barrel-aged imperial chocolate milk stout Whangdoodle, espresso bean-conditioned robust chocolate milk stout Double Espresso Hornswoggler, black double IPA blackivy, their anniversary imperial stout Sleeping Forever, plus Vanilla Sleeping Forever, and bourbon barrel-aged 2016 Sleeping Forever. Whangdoodle is the imperial version of Hornswoggler, conditioned on Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for fourteen months. It’s sure to be a decadent treat, and will also be available in 500-milliliter bottles. Additionally, Double Espresso Hornswoggler and Blackivy will be available in The Veil’s usual format of sixteen-ounce can four packs.

Also in Scott’s Addition — which now boasts two cider makers, one meadery, five breweries, and one distillery, making it THE up-and-coming neighborhood for brew lovers in the know — the Three Notch’d RVA Collab House has released Reaper’s Red, a low-alcohol red IPA brewed in collaboration with Creepy Hollow Scream Park. The ale is mild enough to continuously sessioned, and the sweeter malt character paired with piney, citrusy Centennial and Cascade hops calls to mind classic red IPAs, but with virtually no detectable alcohol.

Image result for hardywood sixth anniversary stout

October saw the release of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s Sixth Anniversary Stout, a coffee and coconut flavored imperial milk stout bourbon-barrel-aged for one year.  Later that same month, Hoax was unleashed upon the world. Hardywood normally has Trickery, their imperial milk stout Cassowary aged in apple brandy barrels, available around this time of year, but in 2017, Hoax took its place. While Halloween is more about tricks and treats, a hoax will do. Instead of the apple brandy barrels used with Trickery, grape brandy barrels were used to make Hoax, imparting some different characteristics upon Cassowary, with notes of oak, grape jam, fresh plum, and dried date. On November 12th, Hardywood will hold their Fall Harvest Festival, a family-friendly event with carnival games, pumpkin painting and face painting starting at noon, as well as live music from two to five.

Legend Brewing Company accompanied the Manchester Harvest Festival on October 28th with the release of a fall seasonal, dubbed “Ember Ale.” Details on this one were also unavailable at press time, but one might imagine it to be some sort of twist on an amber ale. What we do know is that Legend’s third Urban Legend release of the year, The Witch of Oak Hill Road, also made its debut in October. The urban legend that it’s tied to was actually spawned not in Richmond, but in Danville, Virginia. On a hill known as “Gravity Hill,” it is said that if one is to leave their car in neutral at the intersection of Oak Hill and Berry Hill, it will roll backwards up the hill towards Oak Hill cemetery, gaining speed as it does. Seems like a risky proposition — you should probably just stick with this high gravity ale. November ninth sees the release of Legend’s Lebkuchen. It’s an American Brown Ale inspired by the German dish of the same name, a savory spice cake that is traditionally made during the holiday season. Brown sugar, nutmeg, molasses, and cinnamon are included in the beer, making for a nice seasonal beverage for those who like their beer roasty, warming, and a little sweet.

RVA #28: Upcoming Three-Notched brews, Champion Brewing opens, & Black Heath Meadery celebrates 2 years

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This article was featured in RVAMag #28: Spring 2017. You can read all of issue #28 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.

Comng Up At Three Notch’d

Back in RVA Mag #25, we featured an interview with Dave Warwick and Stefan McFayden of Three Notch’d Brewing Company, one mainly focused on their plans for their Richmond location. They wanted to have a brewery with a small system that could make small batches of beer with Richmond-area collaborators on a frequent basis. It seems like things are going to plan: That Richmond location opened in Scott’s Addition at the end of September 2016, and has brewed twenty-eight beers at time of writing, twenty of those being collaborations and twenty-six of the brews being unique recipes (only two of their beers have been made more than once). I recently spoke with McFayden, and sampled several of his beers at the collab house, including There Will Be Braggot, a honey-infused Belgian tripel brewed in collaboration with Black Heath Meadery, a highly aromatic Belgian IPA made with the organizers of the Virginia Wine Expo, as well as originals like a tropical gose and a dry Irish stout. The stylistic diversity is partly just due to the collaborative nature of the facility — one collaborator is unlikely to come into the brewhouse with the same ideas or goals as another. Another factor is Stefan McFayden. He’s a natural fit for the mercurial nature of working with a host of different collaborators, as he likes to brew a wide range of styles and enjoys bringing intriguing ingredients into the process.

McFayden brought up some past collaborations he’s particularly proud of, such as a blonde stout made with local musical artist Clair Morgan, the choice of that multifaceted style being a nod to Morgan’s diverse roles as bandmate, employee, and father. Also mentioned was a Hibiscus IPA made with the organizers of the First Fridays Art Walk, which came out pink thanks to the hibiscus, and of course RVA’s own collaboration with No BS Brass Band, The Broadberry, and Three Notch’d: the No BS Cream Ale.

Coming soon is Heroes PrevAle, a collaboration with non-profit Connor’s Heroes, an organization that provides support to youngsters that are undergoing cancer treatment. The cream ale is being made in support of a Connor’s Heroes art ball, and some of the pieces from that art ball will be put up in the collab house. After that will come a collaboration with the Library of Virginia, an imperial brown ale (some of which will be barrel-aged for a few months) made to coincide with a library exhibition called Moonshiners and Teetotalers, which documents the history of prohibition in Virginia. If it sounds like Three Notch’d is busy, that’s because they are — the brewery is booked solid through June or July with no shortage of willing collaborators likely waiting in the wings. If you are interested in working with Three Notch’d on a beer, a form can be found under the “About” tab of the Richmond location’s Facebook page. McFayden noted that past collaborators have all enjoyed learning about the brewing process and that collaborators have also enjoyed coming into the brewery for beer release days. The head brewer also commented that he’s been happy to be able to work with a diverse assortment of groups so far, and that he hopes each collaboration is a good representation of the collaborator involved in making it. The Three Notch’d slogan is “Leave Your Mark,” so it’s only natural that these liquid storytellers want to allow others to do just that with their own totally unique brews.

Champion Arrives


Champion Brewing Company planted its feet in downtown Richmond in late January of this year, and according to Taproom Manager Cary Carpenter and Head Brewer Ken Rayher, the reception from local businesses and customers has been quite warm. This branch of the Charlottesville-based brewery is still getting its beer from the Cville location at time of writing, but they hope to start making some of their own very soon.

Construction on a brewing system and a kitchen is underway, and the brewery has some exciting plans for both of those in the future. Rayher intends to brew a variety of beers in Richmond that compliments Champion’s already strong lineup. The lineup for the next few months is fairly stacked, as they intend to make a Saison (plus dry-hopped and fruited variants), a Biere de Garde (a malty Belgian style), a Zwickel (a rare, traditionally unfiltered German Lager style), a Dunkel (sort of a double Hefeweizen), some kettle sours (more fruited variants), and some small batch IPAs.

The plan is to have half of the downtown location’s twelve taps dedicated to those Richmond-brewed beers. As of now, there are no plans to do any extensive packaging at the brewpub, although the brewery does offer growlers to go. In terms of food, southern-style tacos and tortas will be offered by the kitchen, which will be managed by Jason Alley (of Pasture, Flora, and Comfort) and Michelle Jones. Carpenter and Rayher hope to be serving food and Richmond-brewed beers by the end of April.

2 Years for Black Heath

Although Scott’s Addition is now well known for its breweries, one of its mainstay alcohol producers makes another sort of brew — one of honey. Black Heath Meadery just celebrated two years of making mead (also known as honey wine) in Scott’s Addition this March, and they definitely seem to be prospering. The meadery also recently took home a gold medal in the Cyser (mead-cider hybrid) category for Blue Angel, a collaboration with Blue Bee Cidery, who just recently set up shop in Scott’s Addition.

Speaking to Mead Maker Bill Cavender recently, his enthusiasm for the area that he works in was clear: He’s enjoyed seeing the growth of alcohol producers and restaurants in the area, and often finds that people visiting his meadery are coming from visiting other local businesses. He also added that he’s met quite a number of out-of-town visitors that are in Richmond specifically to visit Scott’s Addition. Cavender said that it’s important to note that all of the Scott’s Addition alcohol producers, although technically competitors, all work together. Monthly meetings of the Scott’s Addition Social Club have allowed Bill and other alcohol producers in the area to sample one another’s products, and talk about ways to make business in Scott’s Addition even better.

So, obviously, Black Heath is no stranger to collaboration. They certainly have plenty coming in the near future: The Veil is working on a beer made with some bourbon barrel-aged honey and vanilla beans from Black Heath, a Cyser is in the works with Buskey Cider, and another Cyser is being made with Potter’s Craft Cider, some of which will be barrel-aged with Brettanomyces (wild yeast beloved for its sour, funky, and fruity qualities) and more fruit. In the spring, the meadery will release their Sour Cherry mead, made with Montmorency cherries, and their Ginger Honeywine, made with baby ginger root from Casselmonte Farm in Powhatan. Summer releases will include Proserpine, a pomegranate mead, and Passiflora, which is made with passionfruit. Cavender obviously stays busy, and has made quite a few different meads since opening up two years ago. Looking back on those two years and thinking about meads that he’d like to see make a return, he mentioned Hiver, which was made with a Saison beer yeast and aged in gin barrels. Hiver, French for “winter,” was only available once, at Black Heath’s opening. Hopefully Hiver and some other barrel-aged meads will make an appearance at the next anniversary. Until then, we’ve got a lot to look forward to from Black Heath.