Insurance Giant Denies Coverage to Metaphysical Store

A major insurance carrier recently canceled service for a Fort Worth metaphysical shop out of alleged fear of the occult.

Ivy Aranaught, owner of the 3-year-old Higher Purpose Emporium on the North Side, said that after the adjusters at her now-former provider Nationwide perused HigherPurposeEmporium.com, they decided not to renew her contract at the end of the year.

“They didn’t want to cover me after … reading about my services,” Aranaught said. “They particularly didn’t like the readings, spellwork and rituals that I offer. … It was crazy. … I hate that people are like this and that their personal dogma and ideologies can in fact dictate what a small business can or cannot do.”

U.S. underwriting law says insurance companies cannot discriminate against protected classes such as race, national origin, sex, or, as with the case of Higher Purpose, religion. At Higher Purpose along with her business partner, Aranaught, who is pagan, a Völva, and a traditional witch, offers seeress readings, classes, cleansings, and cord-cutting rituals to go with maintaining a Love Cart, full of free food, water, clothing, and toiletries for needy customers.

“Needless to say,” Aranaught has posted, “this is a hostile place to have this sort of business, and my store, myself, and even my employees get harassed by some extremist or another pretty regularly. This time, though, it has actually affected my store.”

The law is clear: Insurance companies cannot raise rates or deny service to anyone based on their race, national origin, sex, or religious beliefs.

In an email, a spokesperson said Nationwide has a “zero tolerance policy for discrimination” and that agents are “independent contractors and are not employees of our company.” As one of the country’s largest insurance providers, the giant generated $32.5 billion in revenue last year and employs around 25,000 people across the country. Like most major corporations, Nationwide’s 2023-24 political campaign contributions are almost evenly split between Republicans (52.48%) and Democrats (47.52%).

Aranaught feels a possible “purge” of clients explains Nationwide’s decision to cancel Higher Purpose’s contract now as opposed to earlier in their partnership. “I don’t want this place to not be here anymore because of something so trivial as bigotry and small mindedness.”

Aranaught started a GoFundMe campaign for help with paying for a new carrier. From the $1,065 raised as part of a $10,000 goal, she has been able to obtain the services of Goosehead Insurance.

The alleged discrimination, Aranaught said, “hit me pretty hard, honestly. … I was mostly really defeated-feeling. I have had to deal with so much bigotry ever since I have been open. Whether it’s religious extremists and nationalists coming in and asking me stupid, offensive questions like, ‘So where is all the devil stuff?’ or ‘Do you worship the devil?’ Or if it’s actual protests against and gun threats during my Pride Fair I hold each year, this has been hard but doable. This time? This time, I was hurt but also just pissed off. How we live in a place where people try to block your ability to run your business just because they don’t like it is just crazy.”