The thing about a metaphysical shop, the people working behind the counter have to be a huge wealth of knowledge. People will come in and ask anything and everything, and all of it weird!
Fortunately, I have some tips on how to prepare for such a job.
First, learn everything you can about religion, from standard American christianity, catholicism, traditional judaism, several flavors of wicca, and greek, roman, nordic, egyptian, and hindu mythology. We don’t get a lot of muslims but it’s also very helpful to have a working knowledge of islam.
Then become able to field questions about herbology, aromatherapy, minerology, and ancient history.
Tread carefully and respectfully while learning about Native American (and other aboriginal peoples) traditions, symbolism, totems, and beliefs.
At the very least, understand key differences between Indian and Asian buddhism, Confuscianism, Japanese buddhism, and shinto.
Also know the similarities and relationships between Zoroastrianism, Confuscianism, and the stuff that Jesus was teaching.
Round it out with tons of arcane trivia about astrology, numerology, tarot, palmistry, dice, tea leaves, and runes.
Finally, brush up on your “new age woo-woo”, starting with UFOs, faeries, dragons, and archangels, work your way into spell casting and candle majikk, be able to identify 13 different styles of quartz crystals, and school yourself in color therapy, meditation, American buddhism, and satanism.
When you can do all of the above plus be able to have an intelligent discussion over the Thelemic vs Enochian vs Judaic styles of Abramelin oil, I’d say you would be 100% qualified to tend the average metaphysical shop.
For ours, one will also need working knowledge of American rootwork, and at least the basics of santeria and voudon.
We also have a pretty nice Hispanic following, so being able to speak some Spanish is a big plus.
And then there’s the hazards of our regional demographics: you will have to know how to avoid becoming entangled in political discussions and be able to disconnect your emotions when helping people of paths you may not personally like or approve of.
And last but not least, we maintain a “neutral ground” policy. We are like Switzerland. We flat out refuse to participate in witch wars, rumor spreading, and hate mongering. We have been known to administer a whupping or two in the past to folks insisting that we are going to engage in these stupid behaviors with people.
