Residents of New Braunfels successfully stopped a local witch store from receiving $1,739.25 in taxpayer funding after a viral social media post sparked community outrage.
Concerns were raised when the July 28 city council agenda included an item to award business improvement grants to two entities, including the occult shop The Empress by Altar Space. The city’s website listed the proposed allocation: $1,739.25 for the witch store and $11,225 for the New Braunfels Elks Lodge #2279.
The Empress by Altar Space promotes events offering “free ritual materials,” sells “occult” books, and markets items such as “pentacle poison rings,” according to its website. One of the books available at the store, Magic Child, is described as a “bedtime spell for spiritual families” and encourages children to learn “grounding, breathwork, herbalism, casting a circle of protection, and talking to spirits,” according to publisher Red Wheel Weiser.
Local activist and New Braunfels resident Chase Taylor first sounded the alarm on his Substack, detailing the store’s offerings and alerting the community to the potential use of taxpayer dollars to support the business. His post quickly went viral, prompting a wave of backlash from local residents. Shortly afterward, the store’s owner withdrew her grant application, and the item was pulled from the council agenda.
“The applicant has WITHDRAWN her application for funds and is no longer seeking grant funding. As a result, the item has been pulled from the city council’s agenda for tonight’s meeting,” Joelynn Mesaros posted on Facebook.
Taylor told The Dallas Express that the incident reflects a broader disconnect between city leadership and the community’s values.
“The fact that the City of New Braunfels placed an item on the consent agenda which would have awarded tax dollars to go toward facilitating nighttime tarot card readings and seances just shows the disconnect between our city leadership and the majority Christian, conservative citizens who live here,” Taylor said. “I hope that this is a wake-up call for people.”
The Dallas Express reached out to store owner Elizabeth Dixon and the City of New Braunfels for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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