“I’m not ashamed to be psychic, I’m not ashamed to be fluid,” she explains. “There’s no reason for me to cower or to hide…. And, I think that when people see that, it gives them permission to do that [too].”
Photo by Cyma Shapiro
When Matthews resident Gina Spriggs, 56, was very young and living in New York City, she began recognizing her innate and intuitive gifts. She easily saw other peoples’ essence and was one with those resonating on higher planes. Mentioning an “imaginary friend” to her mother one day, she was sent “directly to a shrink.” The assessment? All she wanted was to “get attention.”
Photo by Cyma Shapiro
At age 16, she began reading tarot cards to friends and family – a far-reaching, rooted love that grounds her to this day - it is what she does best - and remains a fundamental staple in her life and the life of others. (Today, she’s earned the title of Master Tarologist.)
For decades she did all this work “on the sneak.” However, in her 30s, she came in contact with a Master Tarologist – and for the first time, she found others with similar (and more experienced) gifts. They became her teachers.
During her pregnancy with her daughter, Gianna Medora Spriggs-MacDonald, now 24, she began to develop a distinct sense of smell. She assumed it came with being pregnant. She later learned that it is her daughter with a heightened sense of medical intuitive smell.
By the time she’d moved down south in 2007, she felt it was time to get real with herself and start anew. Gone were her second husband, and the remainder of her attempts to hide her truths. She said she “came out of the psychic closet; came out of many closets.” A flower had bloomed.
While she had worked in retail for 29 years, she was also exploring her unique gifts at her home, at others’ stores and at her (now-closed) office in Matthews. She was featured at and hosted psychic fairs. Continuing to hone her craft through study with Masters, she found a perfect melding of traditions by combining her intuition and clairvoyance with her tarot cards (supported by numerological, astrological and elemental methodologies). She is also a futurist (able to predict the future).
Photo by Cyma Shapiro
Today, she’s the proud owner of one of NoDa’s newest retail store. The metaphysical shop, Curio, Craft & Conjure, opened this past July with her daughter, now energy healer, Gianna. The store is infused with the principles of magick.
Magick (ma·gick) NOUN: The art of co-creating your desires by alchemically influencing outcomes through petition, ritual, and prayer.
“In looking at our specific demographic, we found that Charlotte’s spiritual and creative community thrives the closer you get to the city,” she said. “The creative energy flowing through NoDa made opening a store here an obvious choice.”
The duo’s work is intended to honor each individual’s gifts and help others claim their own power.
“I’m not ashamed to be psychic, I’m not ashamed to be fluid,” she explains. “There’s no reason for me to cower or to hide…. And, I think that when people see that, it gives them permission to do that [too]. I don’t think people should wait until they are 56 [to find themselves].”
Gina offers clairvoyance, intuitive work, and tarot card readings, Gianna has blended her own unique combination of energy work/clearing/intuitive work for clients.
The many unique goods offered include custom carved candles (based on your intentions), crystals, stones, herbs, honey spells, tarot cards, feathers, masks (honoring ancestors), joss paper/ancestor money, essential oils, curio water, gourd shakers, incense…."You go home with magick to go!” said Gina.
Photo by Cyma Shapiro
Gina said the store represents a melting pot of many disparate schools of thought and practice: Jewish mysticism, medicine women, Wiccan, pagan, hoodoo, and Santeria to name a few.
Hoodoo: traditional black American folk spirituality that developed from a number of West African spiritual traditions and beliefs.
“What we have is this melting pot magick,” she proudly states, referencing both her family background and unit and the store itself.
Gina is the author of several books including The Intuitive Tarot Workbook and Dirty Laundry. She leads workshops and has written articles for magazines. More than 12,000 people have taken her online Daily Om Tarot Training Program. She is an ordained High Priestess in healing faith.
“This is not a job for us,” she says. “This is how we live.”