Whether it's the aroma of homemade candles and incense, the glimmer of quartz and crystals or the shop owner sporting a witch’s hat – walking into Madam Michelle’s Metaphysical Emporium is an experience like none other in downtown Sault Ste. Marie.
If the store is a bit of a change from the norms of Ashmun Street, it’s a 180-degree career change for the Madam herself, who outside of the 10 a.m. to 7p.m. Monday-Friday store hours, is lifelong resident Michelle Sibbald.
Before swapping books of spells and such things, Sibbald was handing out menus of sauce-covered wings as part of a 15-year career in the hospitality industry.
Like many Americans the two years of the pandemic not only interrupted the routine of work itself, but offered a chance to re-examine career paths.
Sibbald, who earned a degree in psychology, said her retirement dream was always to open an occult-like shop such as the one Dan Aykroyd’s character Ray owns in the film Ghostbusters II.
With the encouragement of her boyfriend and fellow Sault-area Ghostbuster Mike, along with the business background she picked up from her last career, Sibbald went for it.
“It was a hard mental jump,” said Sibbald, who found help through Northern Initiatives, a non-profit helping small businesses as well as her local Old Mission Bank loan office.
The store has been having its fair share of traffic since opening.
“I knew there was a large population of people who practiced various artforms, but I underestimated how big it was and how varied it was,” Sibbald said. “It really is from every spectrum of society.”
Sibbald said her biggest sellers are Tarot cards and books.
“I’m glad to see the written word isn’t dead,” Sibbald said. “I was not sure about books because you can find everything online, but there’s something about holding a book and being able to make notes in it.”
It was studying for her psychology degree that first sparked Sibbald’s interest in the occult world. She would research ancient medicines and how they were used to treat psychological orders centuries ago.
“There are a lot of mental disorders that need help with modern medicine and there’s no substitute to that,” Sibbald says with a loud disclaimer to follow that advice. “But there are a few things that were almost diet, mineral, vitamin-based deficiencies.”
While the pandemic opened up a path for her dream, it’s also given more time for people to join Sibbald’s passion for the metaphysical.
“There’s been more time for people to learn. It’s almost pushed us into a new age of enlightenment, a new spiritualism,” Sibbald said.
Because of that, Sibbald said she has been learning alongside her customers, which puts them at ease when they come into her shop and talk with them in a different light than as she did running a restaurant.
“Getting to interact with people, having conversations, learning from the stories they tell me – having that warm fuzzy-feeling when they say I was actually able to help them with a situation,” Sibbald said.
“If you’re interested, come in and ask questions,” Sibbald said.
Madam Michelle’s Metaphysical Emporium is located at 224 Ashmun St. in Sault Ste. Marie.
