Hannah Monkley and Cauldron Creations Small Business Series

Magic with a Mission: Hannah Monkley and Cauldron Creations

In Gloucester, a witch’s shop built on intention, independent makers and community is opening its doors to the wider world.

For as long as Hannah Monkley can remember, she has felt connected to animals, nature and the path of a witch. She just didn’t have the words for it. Years of practicing witchcraft later, she opened Cauldron Creations in Gloucester, UK, with a mission: to bring “a little magic, knowledge, support and connection” to her city.

“Being a witch is a part of who I am,” she says. “It influences how I see the world and interact with it, how I live my life and what I believe in.”

More Than a Shop

Cauldron Creations is a one-stop shop for witches, spiritual practitioners and the simply curious. The range includes tarot, handmade pendulums, spell oils, candles, cauldrons, handmade besoms, incense, herb bundles, herbs, crystals and books.

But Hannah sees the shop as a gathering place. “It is somewhere people can ask questions, share experiences, find support and feel part of something,” she says. “Whether someone has been practicing witchcraft for decades or is simply curious about where to begin, or likes crystals, there is a place for everyone at Cauldron Creations.”

A Mission Rooted in Intention

The mission starts with the products. Before opening, Hannah often searched for a witchcraft shop with authentic products and found herself wishing for more thought behind what was on the shelves. “The way I practise witchcraft is deliberate and mindful,” she says. “I wanted my shop to reflect that.”

Her team makes a large share of the magical products themselves, often from ingredients they have grown or harvested. “We understand the ingredients, the processes and the intentions behind what we create,” she says.

For everything else, she turns to small independent businesses, which supply around 90-95% of the stock. Even the crystals come from a small, family-run start-up that orders in small selections, and Hannah hand-selects each one for its quality, appearance and “the energy I feel drawn to.”

Her standards are quality, originality, ethical considerations and fit with the shop’s ethos. “For me, it has never been about filling shelves,” she says. “It is about knowing what we are offering, feeling connected to the products we sell and sharing things that we genuinely believe have a place in someone’s craft.”

Guidance and Community

The shop also offers reiki, energy treatments, readings and guidance evenings. Hannah carried out many of the treatments herself in the early days. As the shop grew, she invited other experienced healers and readers to join, after trying their services firsthand. “This isn’t because I doubt their abilities,” she explains. “It is because I believe in understanding and experiencing what we offer first-hand.”

Workshops are created and run by Hannah and the shop’s in-house witch, Karen, on evenings after closing, which keeps the groups intimate at 15 people. The best known is the Witchcraft Community, which has run for almost three years and has been fully booked every month. “Seeing people return, form friendships, grow in confidence and learn together is a reminder that Cauldron Creations has become so much more than the shop I originally set out to open,” Hannah says.

Customers range from complete beginners to long-time practitioners to people who don’t practice at all. “Witchcraft isn’t one-size-fits-all, and neither is our community,” she says. “I want people to feel that they are visiting a space where they belong, rather than simply walking into a shop to buy something.”

Taking the Mission Further

The community has grown through workshops, social media and gatherings, including an annual Yule get-together. For Hannah, the payoff is simple: “sitting in a room, inside the shop I once dreamed of owning, surrounded by incredible people who have come together because they want to learn, share and connect through witchcraft.”

Next is an online shop, starting with customers across the UK, with plans to ship to the USA and possibly further. She also wants to bring the community workshops online in an interactive format, so people who can’t visit Gloucester can still take part.

“Growth isn’t simply about selling more products or reaching bigger numbers,” she says. “It is about making authentic witchcraft, knowledge and community more accessible to people who are searching for it.”

She ends with a line that sums up the whole shop: “I am not a witch, that has a witchcraft shop to sell witchcraft products. I am a witch, that has a witchcraft shop to share who I am with others.”

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