On the Inside at QUANTUM ALCHEMY

The woman sitting across the table from me concludes more from 10 tattered cards than I have deduced from most novels. Karen Walter is a bright-eyed astrologist and an outgoing self-proclaimed witch who ostensibly defies most classical stereotypes. And as strands of orange sunlight drip through her storefront on Ninth Ave., Walter sprawls 10 painted cards across a wooden table. I see a glowing dragonfly, a three-faced angle on a cloud, a simple pyramid. She sees a privileged past, a shaky present, careers, romances and fate. From the back of her new-age emporium "Quantum Alchemy" Walter is espousing, with disturbing accuracy, my psychic secrets.

When it comes to metaphysics, I habitually err on the side of rational science. I am a skeptic. But Walter, a former accountant with a penchant for all things supernatural, has built her 5-year-old business on quashing skepticism.

"I think it's the specifics of the information that really get people," she says, grinning confidently.

It was specifics that got me. I am an amateur in Walter's world. But the lanky woman from Cherry Creek who surveys the shelves of witchcraft books, Tarot cards, crystals and herbs is not. She holds a vile of tincture.

"This one's to keep my energy flowing; I have had some blockage lately," she tells me. This store, it seems, is the crossroads of spirituality and science. The name itself reflects that thought, combining the strict science of quantum physics with the mythical history of alchemists, who, some believe, could transform iron into gold. Both Walter's services and her wares balance ten-uously on this line. While Astrology and witchcraft are somewhat intuitive, she says, they can also be taught and learned.

"Astrology is more scientifically based than some other psychic practices," she says. "Certain people are more inclined to it, more intuitive, but it is something that can be cultivated."

Working on that principle, Walter teaches classes in witchcraft, Tarot reading, meditation and herbal remedies. She also lines the store's shelves with books on Astrology, beginner Tarot kits, crystal guides and volumes of witchcraft information. So all this begs the question: Why? Why study witchcraft? Why probe the future?

"It's a spiritual path," she says. "It's a way to find where you fit in energetically in the world. It all helps to build a feeling of self-empowerment."

That was the case for Walter at least. Recovering from a rocky divorce, she turned to witchcraft in search of a spiritual path that is, as she puts it, "close to nature." For others, like me perhaps, it's a matter of simple curiosity.

The Basics: Quantum Alchemy 1209 East 9th Ave. Denver (303) 863-0548 www.quantumalchemy.com qalchemy@estreet.com Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 am to 7 pm; Sunday Noon to 6 pm -- Eric Olson

LOCAL ARTS

T hink of this as the Northwest Column. The area just northwest of downtown Denver just gets artsier and artsier. Every time I visit there's something new to see, to eat, and to enjoy. The area's latest addition is the relocated Ron Judish Fine Arts, now in a renovated church at 30th and Vallejo. The gallery's inaugural exhibition is a bell-ringer: nothing less than works by Alice Neel. The opening reception is Oct. 26, 6 pm to 9 pm; the show runs until Dec. 1 (And if you need more Neel, DAM's Neel exhibition will be up until the end of the year.) Judish has provided Denver with a wonderful place to see some really top-notch work. He has come a long way from his days running the DU School of Art and Art History Gallery. (Just mentioning those days elicits a grimace.)

Judish's new space is about a block from Mark Sink's gallery, Gallery Sink at 30th Ave. and Wyandot; unfortunately, their opening receptions were not hosted on the same night (Sink's was a week earlier). But you can still visit Sink's multi-artist Social Landscapes show through Jan. 14.

Another block away, in an unassuming grey/ green building, is Studio Completiva, the architecture studio run by Yong Cho and Catherine Mercer. They love the area of town for its diversity and its adventurousness. As Yong says, "We meet such great people here. . . and they're typically not bankers or lawyers, they're children's book illustrators." Though Yong and Catherine are both Yale architecture grads, Yong has a fine arts background, and both have numerous friends who are poets and artists. This embrace of creativity infuses their architecture. Recently settled in, Studio Completiva is already planning its next move Ð into a multi-use building the firm is designing. Just a few blocks away, of course.

All this excitement and activity underscores my disappointment at the closing of Charles Kristen Galleries. It was such a promising venue and great location. It hurts every time a gallery closes. The Sculpture Garden is still there at 32nd and Osceola, but it looks awful lonely.

--Kimberly MacArthur Graham