Entry No. 34 — the Providence file — filed under: permanently-closed
Mother Mystic Spiritual Apothecary
For nearly two decades Rev. Mother Susan Asselin — psychic reader, Reiki master, hypnotist, herbalist — ran this storefront apothecary at 179 Dean Street on the edge of Federal Hill, opened in 2006. The stock was the real thing: bulk conjure herbs, resins, Lucky Mojo curios, intention-dressed candles, palmistry kits, with psychic readings and Reiki by appointment in the back room. It is gone now: Google Maps and Yelp both flag it permanently closed, the website is dead, and Asselin describes herself as a retired fortune teller, posting from Warwick. The Patheos and Providence Business News coverage of her hoodoo work survives as the shop's paper trail.
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The story
Rev. Mother Susan Breton Asselin built the shop out of her own biography. An adoptee raised in a Breton Celtic folk-Catholic family, she grew up in Olneyville, graduated from Central High School, and earned a B.A. from Providence College while raising five children. She was ordained in the Universal Life Church in 2001, and in 2006 founded the Temple of Divine Spirit, a nondenominational Pagan Spiritualist church, where she was crowned Queen Mother. Her training ran wide — tarot, spirit communication, Reiki, witchcraft, rootwork, hoodoo and conjure — beginning, by her own account, with a woman she called Memere Delia in childhood and running through cat yronwode's Hoodoo Magic Spells correspondence course. She made Reiki Master in 2008 and held a Certified Consulting Hypnotist credential from the National Guild of Hypnotists.
The storefront at 179 Dean Street stocked the working version, not the gift-shop one: more than a hundred bulk herbs, roots and resins, Lucky Mojo curios, rune sets, tarot decks, practitioner-grade aromatherapy oils, herbal and mineral baths, the Witches Almanac, and custom-carved candles and mojo bags made to order. Readings, Reiki and hypnosis — $100 for an hour — happened by appointment in back. The site billed it as “Providence's most mysterious shop,” posted hours of noon to seven Tuesday through Saturday, and noted that parking was on-street only: “we are not responsible for parking tickets.”
Then it stopped. The last working capture of mothermystic.com in the Internet Archive is 25 January 2021; the domain now bounces to a BuyDomains for-sale lander. Google Maps and Yelp both flag the address permanently closed, with no successor announced. Stale merchant directories still list it as trading, which is how a shop becomes a rumor.
What it's like
Nothing, and it is worth saying plainly before you drive over. 179 Dean Street sits on the West End edge of the Broadway corridor — two- and three-deckers, small commercial frontage, on-street parking where the signs mean it. There is no apothecary behind the glass, no back room, no one to read for you. Google Maps and Yelp both carry the permanently-closed flag, and the shop's own website has been dark since early 2021. If you are already in the neighborhood it costs two minutes to stand on the sidewalk and see what the block looks like now, but treat that as a footnote on a walk rather than a destination, and don't knock on whatever occupies the address. The live version of this errand is a mile down Broad Street, or three and a half miles south in Edgewood.
The move: There is no move here — the shop is permanently closed. Couples chasing the same itch should point the car at The Veiled Crow in Edgewood or Botanica San Lazaro on Broad Street instead.
📍 Before you go Permanently closed — verified August 2026 via Google Maps (marked permanently closed), Yelp (listing flagged CLOSED), and the dead official site. The owner appears to have retired to Warwick with no successor storefront announced. Old directories like the Federal Hill merchants page still list it as current; they are stale.
- 📍 Providence
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 179 Dean St, Providence, RI 02903
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Rocket to Mars — It is 500 feet away at 144 Broadway, open Friday through Sunday only, and it is the reason to be on this block at all now that the apothecary is gone.
- Botanica San Lazaro — A mile down Broad Street and still trading: the closest living version of Mother Mystic's candle-and-conjure shelf, in a different tradition.
- The Veiled Crow — Three and a half miles south in Edgewood, and the functioning successor for the witchcraft, tarot and reading side of what closed here.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
Is it actually closed, or just between locations?
Closed, verified August 2026. Google Maps and Yelp both flag the 179 Dean Street listing permanently closed, and mothermystic.com has no working Internet Archive capture after 25 January 2021 — the domain now redirects to a for-sale lander. Older merchant pages, including the Federal Hill commerce directory, still list it as current; they are stale.
Where do I go instead?
Two places, depending on which half of the shop you wanted. The Veiled Crow at 1862 Broad Street in Cranston (Tue–Sat 11–6, 401-919-5499) covers the witchcraft, tarot and mediumship side. Botanica San Lazaro at 726 Broad Street covers candles, saints, herbs and spiritual baths — the closer match to Mother Mystic's hoodoo lineage, given that this shop stocked Lucky Mojo curios and its owner trained through cat yronwode's course.
Can I still get a reading from Rev. Mother Susan?
Not through any public storefront or working website. She describes herself as retired, posting from Warwick, and there is no booking page to try. Treat the readings, the Reiki and the $100 hypnosis hour as part of the record rather than an offer.
How do I find 179 Dean Street?
Dean Street runs between Westminster and Broadway on the West End side of downtown, a short walk from the Broadway restaurants. Parking is on-street only and posted — the shop's own site used to warn customers about tickets, which tells you what the block is like.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: federalhillprov.com · Tripadvisor · Yelp · Google
last checked: 2026-08-25