Perceptions of the occult are largely met with a of mix skepticism, fear, and curiosity. However, many pagans use their magic for good, such as The Good Witch, Patti Negri, and the fascinating and generous occult specialists Sal Santoro and Popi Mavros, founders of The Crooked Path. In addition to getting all your essential needs in spells, candles, oils, and herbs, Santoro and Mavros are also huge animal lovers. They support a lot of local shelters, like Burbank Animal Shelter, Vice Is Nice, and Frosted Faces. Please read our exclusive interview to learn more about Sal Santoro (SS) and Popi Mavros (PM).

Where are you guys based?
PM: Our shop is located in the very funky Magnolia Park district of Burbank, CA. The street has a lot of fun shops to visit and we love being in the neighborhood.

Being a celebrity occult specialist is far from what is perceived as a traditional occupation. What called you to the craft?
SS: I started out as a seeker of occult knowledge over 30 years ago when I was living in New England. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. And I’m still learning to this day.

What do you feel is the biggest misconception about witchcraft and magick?
SS: The biggest misconception I think is that people believe it has to be spiritual. I see it being used for practical use, causing change with will. It doesn’t have to be theological or philosophical.

PM: Another big misconception is that people think the word “occult” is evil and that people in the occult are part of a “cult”. Actually, occult is derived from a latin word and the translation is hidden knowledge. Nothing negative there.

What do you want people with negative preconceived notions about the occult to understand about your area of expertise?
SS: Honestly, people’s opinions aren’t going to prevent me from doing what I do. If people have a negative preconceived notion about what I do, then I just ask they respect my beliefs and let me do what I do, as I respect theirs.

Walk us through your typical work day (well before COVID-19). What do you do, what service do you provide?
SS: A lot of people come in looking for help on various topics. Instead of just giving them what they want, I try to teach them, make them knowledgable and empower them to do the work on their own.

You are both co-owners of The Crooked Path, an occult apothecary. What inspired you to open a shop? Can you tell us the story behind its founding?
PM: Sal was working as an armed security guard in downtown Los Angeles, which left me feeling extremely uncomfortable. So one day, I posed the question: What if we started our own thing. What would you want to do? He paused for a beat and responded, “I’d like to own my own metaphysical store”. The seed was planted and search for the right shop, location, business planning, etc. was on.

Jejune loves that you are animal lovers and support a lot of local shelters, like Burbank Animal Shelter, Vice Is Nice, and Frosted Faces? Can you tell us a little bit about your work with these shelters and why they are important to you?
PM: We have a mini altar with the Goddess Fortuna (Italian) or Tyhi (Greek). She’s the Goddess of Fortune. People make offerings to her to help bring good fortune to themselves. One day I saw the money offerings overflowing and thought, we need to do something with this. And because we love animals so much, we decided to match the offerings and donate it to different animal shelters. So if there was $150 in offerings, we added another $150 and submitted the donation. People making offerings to the Goddess really like the sentiment and we will continue to offer these donations once we’re back up and running.

Do you have familiars yourself?
SS: No, we don’t have familiars as they aren’t something you get, it’s rather something that finds you. We do have several pets though. My wife has a senior Vizsla dog, and I own three reptiles, a corn snake, a monitor lizard and an alligator lizard — all of which you can see when visiting the shop.

We were sad to hear that your in-store event fundraiser for Eye of the Cat got canceled due to COVID-19. Can you tell us a little bit about that event? Are you planning on rescheduling?
SS: The Eye of the Cat is an important shop to me. I interned there late 80s/early 90s. They are special people and I was devastated when I heard the news that their shop had extensive fire damage and lost two cats. They started a Go Fund Me page to help raise funds. My wife and I donated, but I felt we could do more, like bring the community together to help raise funds. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say if we can reschedule the event, as we won’t know when we’ll be able to host events with any volume of people.

How have operations been affected by COVID-19?
PM: Operations came to a crashing halt and then we went into scramble mode. We quickly moved some classes to zoom, while postponing others. And then put our focus on further building out our website with more product offerings. We now have over 1,000 products, and adding more daily. The feedback has been great and we appreciate all those who have supported us throughout this time.

We see you are still finding ways to give back during these times! You have already raised over $500 for Meals on Wheels and have just started online mask sales with 100% of the net proceeds going to the American Red Cross! Can you tell us a little bit about this?
PM: Yeah, I had several vendors reach out about selling masks. I didn’t feel it was an appropriate product offering and definitely didn’t feel good about taking money for them. So then I thought, why don’t we sell them and just donate the proceeds? I underestimated the volume of sales. We’ve raised about $900 thus far.

Where can we get your masks?
PM: Mask sales have slowed down, but you can still get them by visiting our site at www.thecrookedpathshop.com; we’re now down to two vendors selling. We’ve had a total of five at its peak.

Do you have any spells or rituals you have been performing in the midsts of all this? Anything you would recommend other witches to do during this time?
SS: It’s not like that for us. I’ve been continuing to offer spell crafting services for the typical stuff (like love, success, prosperity, etc.). We’ve seen an influx of people requesting spell candles specific for good health. Otherwise, it’s business as usual.

I’m big on crystals. any crystals that you think will help during this time?
PM: We don’t think a crystal can prevent us from catching the virus, but in terms of keeping us feeling more positive and protected, I’d recommend tourmaline, to consume negative energy, selenite to protect your space, and perhaps green aventurine to help with positivity and to bring optimism.

How are you staying positive during shelter in place?
PM: I’m generally a positive person so I’m just keeping busy, and communicating with friends and family. Sal is day dreaming about getting back to a European vacation, which seems to be helping.

What is your motto in life?
PM: “Never say never.” I say this because you just never know where life is going to take you. 25 years ago I would have easily said “I’ll never live in Los Angeles” and 10 years ago I would have easily said “I’d never own a metaphysical shop”, but here we are. Keep an open mind and let life unfold the next adventure.

To learn more about The Crooked Path, Sal Santoro, and Popi Mavros, please follow them via the following platforms:
www.thecrookedpathshop.com
Instagram: @thecrookedpath_la
Facebook: thecrookedpathoccult

Generosity In The Occult with Sal Santoro & Popi Mavros