MYSTICAL SHOP DEALS IN INNER SECRETS

The company on one side engraves trophies, and the store on the other side sells appliances. In between, The Mystic Shop deals in inner secrets.

Lisa Douglas and Tonya Brown give walk-in tarot readings -- a question and a wish for $10 or two readings for $15.

The shop at 729 Broadway, once used by a barber, now is open Tuesdays through Saturdays for spiritual consultations.

Douglas, who was a waitress and bartender in her previous working lives, said she and Richards have been talking about starting this business for a couple of years.

"Tonya got her income tax back and here we are," Douglas said, two weeks into the enterprise. Unfortunately, Brown's clairvoyant abilities are missing in action while she recuperates from an illness.

A tarot deck consists of 22 cards bearing pictures of traditional allegorical figures. Once shuffled by the client, the tarot reader uses the cards to gain insights into the person's life.

Douglas began reading for friends seven years ago after learning the rudiments from books. Anyone can learn what the tarot cards mean, "but you've got to decipher what they mean to that person," Douglas says.

To do that she contacts spirit guides, voices that speak to her in deep concentration. One is particularly helpful, she says.

"One of the spirit guides I call David. He's the strong one ... I believe all my answers come from him."

Douglas charges less for a reading than most psychics. "There are five levels of clairvoyance and I'm on the first level," she explained. "That's why I charge only $10."

At the first level, Douglas says, people are quite intuitive and can receive insights through dreams. At level five, she says, it's possible to leave the body and see the past and future.

At this point, customers are still trying to test her. One who dropped by Saturday morning wanted to know the name of the place she will be working and when she would start -- a specificity Douglas is not capable of if anyone is.

"I don't know how to handle that well yet," she said. "I try to be really up front about what I can do."

What she tries to do is "help people in a positive manner."

To do that, "I ask for God to bring down the light ... and ask for guidance to see the truth through Jesus Christ.

"I protect the cards," Douglas said. "There is a thin line between witchcraft and spirituality."

The cards led her to tell one man he has a drinking problem, and another that he is with the wrong woman. She doesn't advise anyone about what to do about those situations. "I'm not a psychologist," she says.

So far, people have been walking in off Broadway steadily, she says. Most want to know more about themselves and their relationships than about how to become a millionaire.

"Most people that come in here aren't interested in material gain," Douglas said. "If you're interested in that level of existence, you may not believe in tarot."

The store, decorated with different spiritual symbols, including a Buddha, also sells crystals and used books about spirituality.

Douglas hopes that fundamentalist Christians, who tend to fear the occult, can accept that she is simply following her own spiritual beliefs.

With a big smile, she says, "God's real cool."