Meet the Team
Gwenna Konzelmann
Co-Owner, Head Witch in Charge
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Gwenna Obscura has been on a twisting, turning pagan path since childhood. A voracious reader, she checked out every book about ghosts, the paranormal, metaphysics, and witchcraft from her public library at least twice. At about 10 years old, she read ‘The Witches Bible’ by Gavin and Yvonne Frost, which set her feet on the crooked path of witchcraft.
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Over the years, Gwenna expanded her knowledge through independent study, classes, workshops, and practice, practice, practice. A green, eclectic witch for more than 20 years, she is currently studying druidism and is a bard and member of The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.
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At SereniTea Emporium she reads oracle cards, and teaches classes and workshops on topics such as paganism, witchcraft, herbs, and divination. She has taught at Mystic South Conference in Atlanta and Beltane Brouhaha in South Carolina.
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Gwenna has been a belly dance performer and instructor for 16 years and incorporates the movements of belly dance into her spiritual practice. Previously, she was manager at The Enchanted Kitchen, owner of Concord Belly Dance, and worked in the newspaper industry for nearly 20 years, first as a reporter and later as a copy editor and designer.
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Joann Turner
Co-Owner, Head Witch in Charge
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Joann was called to the Craft when she spent summers in Sicily, Italy, with her grandmother who was the town healer and resident witch. She comes from a line of healers that stretches back more than 100 years. Joann was called to witchcraft at a young age but eventually, tarot led her down a path of spiritually healing people through tarot readings and teaching others. She has been reading tarot for more than 30 years.
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Joann is certified in tarot, is a certified Reiki Master and teaches classes and workshops on tarot, intuition, spells, and other divination tools at the SereniTea Emporium.
She is a New York native and formerly a medical instructor and registered nurse. Joann is a healer, always learning, willing to listen to others, and guiding others in the right direction. She is constantly expanding her mind and sharing her knowledge with others.
Aliya Foster
SereniTea Manager​
Aliya Foster has been interested in all things spiritual since she was young, when she started seeing a spirit that she nicknamed 'The Shadow Man.' She has always searched for the meaning and truth behind everything, including 'The Shadow Man.' As she got older, she didn’t see Shadow Man as often, but knew he was still around if she needed him. He always made her feel safe and helped calm her down. A therapist introduced her to meditation and stones to help her handle her anxiety. Her interest in stones, meditation, and other spiritual topics extended to tarot and runes while she was in college.
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Aliya is a shamanic witch with a specialty in helping spirits safely cross from this plane into the afterlife. She often uses automatic writing and meditation to help channel important messages to the people who need to hear them. She is a tarot, rune, and pendulum reader and loves passing her knowledge on to others. Her goal is to create a safe space for others to explore their own spiritual beliefs.
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Since graduating college, Aliya has spent her time expanding her spiritual knowledge. Her classes offer information on using spiritual practices and the resources and energies Earth has provided, to create meaningful and positive changes in our day-to-day lives. All her classes have an underlying theme: Spirituality on a budget. Aliya's aim is to prove that spiritual practices don’t have to be expensive.
She is also a crafter who makes custom rosaries, intention keychains, and necklaces, and is the owner of her own photography business, Crystal Visions Photography.
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Aliya loves helping others by giving them a safe place to explore, question, and understand their beliefs. She hopes sharing her knowledge and creating an open-minded environment will help others find love for themselves and help them feel more empowered in every part of their lives.
Angel Lajoux
Support Team
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Angel Lajoux has been fascinated with witchcraft since she could read. Angel is an avid reader who first started reading many fantasy books about witchcraft. Eventually, she checked out a book about pendulums at her local library. Scared to take the dive and not knowing that witchcraft was something she could practice herself, she stuck to fantasy. Angel has always believed in angels, the divine, ghosts, etc., but was not sure how that fit into her day-to-day life (she even had a ghost friend when she was younger). Once older, she finally made the decision to take the deep dive into witchcraft and will not look back.
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Angel is an eclectic witch, reiki practitioner, tarot, oracle and pendulum reader, and loves all things divination and intuition based. She is consistently learning, reading, and helping others create, organize, and teach classes. She hopes to spread positivity about witchcraft and mental health.
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Angel has worked on several projects to help promote mental health and has been able to help others who have mental illnesses and people who may have a family member with mental illness. Angel has also worked in the administrative field for over 6 years and has used her skills to help others so that they are able to free their minds of mundane tasks. Angel is also a crafter.
Angel is willing to help others, lend an ear, and wants to eventually work in the law field to make a difference in other’s lives through witchcraft, mental health, and justice. Her goal in life is simple: Help others through the skills she has acquired and continues to develop.
