NJ’s Good Witch of the Northeast: Getting otherworldly at Wyrd Witch in Atlantic Highlands

By: Ray Schweibert | April 19, 2024 |  Features |  Atlantic Highlands

By Ray Schweibert

If seeking to gain a deeper understanding of otherworldliness and interconnectivity, helping others harness their inner strengths to heal and grow, and exploring all matters of mysticism and spirituality are all qualities of being a witch, then Tiffany Berryman truly fits the mold.

Sharing a deep kinship to the history of the area she was raised in – largely through walks she took as a child with her grandfather and the wisdom he instilled – and as someone whose innate curiosity led to her earning a master’s degree in theology, Tiffany and her cousin, Jaclyn Conway, created Wyrd Witch in Atlantic Highlands in October 2023. The store offers a still-growing line of unique products and services, and will soon be expanding its hours as the warmer months approach (see WyrdWitchNJ.com)

Community Magazine NJ spoke with Tiffany recently by phone.

How did your passion for the spiritual, mystic and supernatural forces come about? Was this something that’s been with you since childhood?

When I was little, I was just a highly, highly sensitive child. I realize now that everything is energy, and the ability to kind of understand, process and regulate that energy was not something I understood as a child. I definitely had, very early on, what I consider to be mystical experiences. And because I was raised Catholic – I went to Catholic high school and Catholic college – I grew to love church, since the ritual of church I believed brought me a lot of comfort. But it’s definitely been what I would call a start-stop, start-stop sort of journey. Trying to figure everything out in the context of a modern life was probably my biggest challenge.

A lot of people, especially in organized religion, go to a church or a temple or a mosque, on a specific day, and the rest of the time they’re not, for the most part, identifiable by their faith. It’s almost like something that lives externally, and I’ve always believed that the land, the nature, the seasons – that’s the real magic, and that’s where I find my deepest connections to the creator, the spirit or whatever you would like to call (a deity or higher power).

What was your career path prior to opening the store?

It seems I’ve had probably 50 different lives. At one point I was on a television show on the YES (Yankee Entertainment and Sports) network (YesNetwork.com) that basically went to every single Yankees game, so when I say it’s been a wild ride, it really has been.

What was your motivation behind creating the store?

What I have specifically heard from women, time and time again, in the very short time that we’ve been open, is that they feel that there is more to life. I felt like I was meant for more. I opened the store, honestly, because I was fired from my corporate job, and a big part of the reason was because I was asking questions like “Why are we doing it this way?” My exceptional track record, my exceptional collaborative record, none of it mattered when I started to assert myself. At the store, I wanted to find ways to maybe help inspire women who might be at a crossroads, or figuring out how to take some pain and pivot. That’s really what I want the store to represent. To be a space to do that.

I know there are certain connotations about the word witch, so we kind of made it into an acronym that stands for Women Inspired To Create Herstory, because that’s what witchcraft really is – it’s giving the power back to the female aspects of divinity. And along those lines, we also made an acronym out of the (first) part of the name, which I use to mean When You Realign Divinely. That is, when you realign your life with something outside of yourself, bigger than yourself, whether it be your family, your religion, your culture, that will motivate you to impact and reach more people.

I started the store with my cousin (whose father is Tiffany’s father’s twin brother), and she’s more of the business’ corporate face. She makes things nice and I make them weird, like the yin and the yang. You need both of that.

I saw on your website that there are private sessions that you offer to help women, primarily, with things like healing, better understanding of mystic phenomenon, and/or realizing new potentials. Can you explain these?

Most people are really good, well-meaning people who for some reason or somehow got offtrack, or came out of the center and are seeking solutions. And obviously the way civilization is going right now it’s a little bumpy for a lot of people, and maybe church is not entirely fulfilling their need in that way. The sessions are designed to try to help with that.

Sometimes women want you to flip over a card and tell them that their life is going to be perfect. There’s still that perception. I tell them, look, I have no power, I cannot tell you the answers to the questions, but I can help you ask the right questions, and that’s what I use the sessions for. They’re more spiritual growth in nature, like how can we take whatever your situation is and pivot it. A lot of people already know the answers, they really just want some reassurance.

In fishing around on the Internet, I came across information that said the ancient word “wyrd” evolved into our modern word “weird.” Did that factor into the naming of your store?

Absolutely. In my academic studies, when I first started, I really delved into language and etymology and why we talk the way we talk. Originally what I wanted to do was pursue a doctorate, looking at the perception of good and evil after the mass production of the Bible sometime in the early 1700s. And it was also around then that Samuel Johnson created the first dictionary (1755), which, prior to that, people were saying and writing words that had 60 different meanings and spellings, many based on dialects from various villages.

Shakespeare called the witches in Macbeth the Weird Sisters. What that really means is that we actually do have the power to control our fate. A lot of times the treasure you seek is not about you, it’s about how can you help others, how can you help make things better for other people. So part of my mantra is “reclaim your weirdness,” because what makes you weird probably makes you different, but that’s your superpower. We’ve all seen the person who walks into a room and, for good or bad, can affect the energy in the room. We all have that, we just get to choose how we work with that energy, and I help people kind of hone in on that.

On Wyrd Witch’s Facebook page, you pan around the store and there’s a beautiful mural on the wall. Can you tell me about that?

That’s our Magic of the Bay mural, done by a local artist and a family friend who was very interested in what we were doing and wanted to help out. The rendering I asked her to create was a view standing, looking at the water down on First Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, but a little zoomed in to where you also pick up Sandy Hook, the Twin Lights, Hartshorne Woods, and Manhattan in the background.

The area is really rooted in history, and there’s so much weirdness and so much wonderfulness. Years ago I wanted to do something like this, and I knew it had to be here. We’re originally from Freehold and my grandparents lived in the Chapel Hill section of Middletown. My grandfather used to take me to the Henry Hudson Springs, and we’d walk the trails of Sandy Hook, and he’d tell me these stories of the Navesink Tribe and the original people who inhabited the land. I just kind of forged a lifelong connection with the land, and said “If I ever do have the opportunity, this is where I wanted to be.”

I’m happy to have the store, and I’m proud of it, but I really want to create a community. There are opportunities to do walking tours – most of the people in this area are, like me, transplants and not aware of how wonderful the land is that they sit on, and that’s the kind of point of spirituality: the door is always right where you are. I wanted the mural to reflect that. It features sights and landmarks that are all around us, but that some people don’t know about or just sort of take for granted.

Can you talk a little about what the store is stocked with?

It’s taking a little more time to stock the store the way I want because, number one, I only want crystals that are ethically sourced. I did my DNA test, and I’m all things. I’m a true American mutt. So being mindful and reverent of other cultures, while also using them to help people connect, is something that I don’t take lightly. So I’ll only stock things where I can trace the source, and that can be time consuming and it’s been a bit of a journey with that.

My tagline is “magical curiosities for you to witchify your life.” (All the merchandise) is rooted in astrology, the seasons, the cosmos of things, but pinpointing it to where we are. Everything from apparel with a witchy flair, to artwork. I’d love for our store to become a brand for a line that can be sold elsewhere. It’s my goal to be the Martha Stewart of witch décor. There really isn’t a representation of that, particularly for single women, which represent the largest demographic in the country.

I’ve had people come in and ask “what is this place?” But what they were really asking is “why is the name what it is, and is this a safe place for me to get weird?” And that’s kind of been the beauty of it. In the beginning I’d be offended by the question, but there is perception that you have to push past, for sure.

Wyrd Witch
78 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands
WyrdWitchNJ.com
732-579-3663