Los Angeles' unofficial meeting ground for magic seekers (and makers) may be Silver Lake's House of Intuition. Here, steps above a bustling Sunset Boulevard, as you climb past a bonsai-laden garden, is a center for the metaphysical that serves as a modern-day botanica. Botanicas are spiritual shops transported from Latin America, in which Catholicism is mixed with the occult to offer blessings, spells and curses. The House of Intuition draws on this tradition and adds its own California touch. Inside, spell-casting candles, crystals, house-made essential oils, tarot readings, sound healing and psychics await. The business's beginnings are equally mystic. Co-owners Marlene Vargas and Alex Naranjo went to a tarot reading and were prompted to start something that they had always wanted to do. Soon after, they left behind their trucking business, to take a risk. They opened the House of Intuition in 2010. Now, with help from family, they have added locations on Melrose and in Highland Park. But their flagship location remains a favorite among spiritual seekers; as House of Intuition teacher Naha Armády says, “Some people just like to hang around and absorb the good juju.”

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