Redecorating the Soul...Becoming the City Wytch Secret Tea Society

A love letter to my readers.....

My Dear Readers and Friends,

I apologize for my long absence. About three weeks ago, I was suddenly plunged into a period of creative introspection, and as a result I’ve begun redecorating my soul here in a way that I hope you will enjoy.

Until 2003 I was the President of my families business, Schreibman Jewelers, one of Northeast Ohio's largest and most prestigious bridal registries, jewelry, gift, and tableware businesses. 

I spent my days styling food, tables and flowers, as well as helping so many young couples choose all of the beautiful things that make a house a home. I handled all of our marketing and public relations work. I worked on cookbooks and programs for Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, gave talks on entertaining and etiquette and threw tea parties & bridal showers by the dozens. My personal favorites were the cookie decorating parties we had every year with Mrs. Claus and the Christmas Tree festivals that I helped to chair every year. I lived a life rich in seasonal celebrations. I loved my wrapping room filled with glorious papers and bows. The holidays were just such a magical time in my store.

Closing my business in 2003 was really one of the most painful things I’ve ever done and I have spent the last 20 years trying to find other passions to replace it, but just recently I have realized that I have actually morphed into even more of who I was becoming back then, I just don’t have the brick and mortar ball and chain. I closed the business and became a homeschooling mother and truthfully? I’m a very happy homemaker. I feel so blessed that I’ve been given the gift of this time. In the last 20 years Jim and I created an amazing marriage that has sustained us through times good and bad. I homeschooled my son and have seen him become successful and happy in his chosen career and watched him marry the woman of his dreams. I’ve become a practicing herbalist and herbal educator. I build kitchen and herb gardens. I still get to do PR and branding work for several interesting non profits. I got my coaching certifications from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. I was able to provide care for both of my parents until the end of their lives. Most recently I’ve become a Fairy Granny.

Looking back in time I realize that I’d become too driven…too aggressive. By 2003 I had lost my Ikigai…my why…my sense of purpose. I was exhausted and frustrated…well really I was drowning, stressed and barely surviving. I am so grateful that my husband saw what was happening to me and insisted that I stay home in spite of the costs to us. It sounds so old fashioned, but truthfully? What I’ve accomplished this last 20 years would have been impossible any other way.

What I finally have realized after all of this time is that I went into the family business not because it was simply there, but because it was who I was. I love everything to do with creating a beautiful home and a family centered life. I may be a good witch but I have some very traditional (not conservative) values. I believe that living a beautiful life is all about embracing enchantment and weaving magic into every aspect of our lives. I love setting beautiful tables, planting gardens, doing reiki on my animals and talking to my healing herbs and flowers.

I believe that it’s important to know how to use a fork and knife properly but if you come to my house for dinner, you’ll be seated at a formally set table, but you can wear blue jeans and I’ll have my elbows on the table. Much to my amusement I own as many strands of pearls as my mother did and I love them. If I serve you wine it will be infused with herbs and magic, but it will be enjoyed in cut crystal goblets. Lighting candles with intention. Family dinners created as love-spells. Vases filled with flowers that are put together in a way that shares a secret message for their intended. Perfumes, oils and home scents that are evocative and change the feeling and mood of a room instantly. Enchanted garden parties set in orchards full of trees dripping with juicy ripe fruit and buzzing with honeybees. Wrapping beautiful presents and putting love into food. Homemade jams and syrups that can lighten your heart and of course all of the ways that we can celebrate the ever turning wheel of the year.

That’s what I want to write about and I hope that you will enjoy it.

Strangely, about three weeks ago I began to miss my business so much. Something in the past was calling to me..something I hadn’t completed. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that it wasn’t the store I missed as much as it was about stepping back into myself and wrapping everything that I have learned over the years into one package that I could share and hopefully inspire you with.

When I think about it though, I’ve really missed simply sharing this part of myself, and that’s where all of you come in, because you’ve so generously signed up to read this newsletter every week or so. I appreciate all of you so much, because you’ve given me the space to recreate something here that feels real and true to me.

You’ll have noticed by now that this page looks a bit different in terms of its colors and its name. When you walked through the doors of Schreibman’s, you were immediately enveloped in rich Williamsburg colors of rich Claret, Capital White and Washington Blue with accents of brass and Iron Mountain Gray. As soon as I recreated them here, I began to feel at home again. I changed the name from City Wytch News to The City Wytch Secret Tea Society, in an amused nod to the many Pre- Revolutionary War secret societies of that era. I even had fun creating a cypher complete with the colonial eagle we had mounted above our front door. Almost no one loves a secret society as much as a good witch, so I thought why not form one around the many delights of tea, beauty, mystery and good company?

The Garden Party by Will Moses

Over the last year, this magical community you’ve helped me create has become full of beauty and celebration. Your comments and contributions have inspired and empowered me to continue sharing my magic with the world. Your willingness to engage here with me has brought me to this place, of really remembering and finally celebrating who I am.

Speaking of Wytch….Please join me, for Spring is in the air, and what better way to welcome it than by gathering together for a magical celebration? Join us, the City Wytches Secret Tea Society, for a Witches Tea Party on Zoom on Sunday, April the 2nd at 7:00 pm EST. You can register here! Reigniting the Magic Within- A Witches Tea to celebrate Spring!!

I believe that creating a life you love is all about empowering yourself to make the healing choices that get your creative juices flowing. I see life as a celebration, a personal tailored seasonal feast that you get to enjoy every day!

I hope beyond hope, that my words inspire you to create the dreams that you’ve hidden from yourself.

If you ever run into me, you can count on me asking you, "What's your secret dream? Let's nurture it!" Together let’s embrace the simple enchantment and magic found in our daily lives and use it to create lives that we love, full of beauty and passion.

We may have never met, but I am so grateful to you, for the energy that you share with me. I am so glad that you’re here with me.

Now…LET’S TURN OUR MAGIC ALL THE WAY UP! Can’t wait to see you at the Tea!