We were lucky to catch up with Maddie Charlton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Maddie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

It was the beginning of 2023, I slid one of my dusty books titled, “The Green Witch” back in the spot on the bookshelf. It was shortly after that I realized I had been studying similar books my entire life. I had no idea those books could intersect with my career. I decided to open RITUALS on a whim. I had been creating tea blends for family and friends for years. I never saw myself going further with it, but I decided to pour myself into it, signing up for every small business market and farmer’s market I could find. It led me on a path I never imagined.

6 months into the endeavor and 100+ online orders, I ventured to a rural area of Texas called Taylor. I was taken back by the historial architecture of this small town. The market I had signed up for was held at a 100 year old repurposed High School turned into a small business haven. I was thrilled by the idea of this. I learned that one of the rooms was vacant and I hopped on it. From there it just kept growing where I started to host my own events and grow my small business into a brick and mortar.

Every moment of this journey has been worthwhile, from the community to supporting other small businesses and local artists.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Maddie, When I first opened RITUALS, I never knew how quickly it would grow. I started by making herbal tea blends, smoke bundles (also know as sage bundles), and occasional candles. I really started to hone in on the medicinal values of plants and the blends. I would spend a lot of time wild foraging plants for the smoke bundles and shed light on why using alternatives to white sage is important.

The more small businesses I would connect to through the markets the more I started to feel a burning passion to bring awareness to other small businesses owned by marginalized communities. This passion coincided with finding a potential brick and mortar and it led me to lifting up other small businesses when opening RITUALS store front.

RITUALS is a wonderful combination of community, art, and alt-spirituality (occasionally labeled at witchcraft) — a few months into the brick and mortar was when I decided to host events that gave other small businesses of the same avenues a safe space to sell their crafts and connect with eachother.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

RITUALS is based in Taylor, Texas. If you’ve never heard of Taylor, it’s because it’s a small town. A small town in rural Texas, where alt-spirituality is not readily accepted.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried about this. There was a long list of “what ifs” when I decided that this would be the store front site of RITUALS. Luckily, it turned out Taylor had been waiting for something like this. It was a gentle and welcomed reminder that sometimes different does work.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ritualsherbal.com
• Instagram: @rituals.herbal
• Facebook: Rituals Herbal

Image Credits
@rituals.herbal