We have Peter Venkman to thank for Nexus Occult Books and Oddities. Yes that Peter Venkman. From “Ghostbusters” C’mon.
A 4 year old Andrew Cox saw that classic paranormal comedy and immediately wanted to be the character Bill Murray portrayed. He was enthralled about the whole subject matter of ghosts and demons being manifested in the material world, even as he was laughing the whole time.
Thing is his very strict Catholic upbringing would halt any further curious excursion into that realm of possibilities.
Years later at the age of 9 he was finally privy to bare witness to “The Exorcist”. Yes, that “Exorcist”. The og “Exorcist”. Jeeze.
“That movie completely broke my brain,” Cox says.
This was also in the era of those Time Life Books with titles such as “Mysteries of the Unknown”, “Witches and Witchcraft” and “Ancient Wisdom and Secret Societies” being made available at local libraries. Not to mention TV shows like “Unsolved Mysteries”, “In Search Of…” and “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”, which further cracked Andrew’s young cranium.
“It did not take long for me to get completely obsessed with the occult.”
This is when Andrew began to collect books on the subject. Like, a lot of books. At age 14 he performed his first spell and before long his book collecting became an obsession. That obsession earned him at one point three stacked to the racks storage units, all filled with books and tomes generally geared toward the underworld and the other worldly.
Originally from Memphis, TN, Andrew Cox wound up in Tucson around 1992 before moving to Phoenix to study music. When that didn’t go as planned he basically moved around the US and at one point was managing metal bands and working for metal centered record labels before returning to Tucson and working in ad sales.
“I made good money but I was miserable,” he admits.
We also have a serious illness to thank with the opening of Nexus. That sounds grim but, work with me here.
Originally Andrew was going to wait to open his dream of an occult bookstore if and when some family money came his way. After defeating his illness, Andrew knew right then and there that life was too short and fragile. He threw caution to the billowy winds of the arcane arts and decided to manifest that dream of opening a space for said books and curiosities while developing a community for any and all people deep in or mildly interested in the occult.
It took a while to find a place, mainly because most landlords and commercial space renters were pretty worried about being in cahoots with anything to do with “the occult”. Luckily Andrew found what is now the permanent spot for Nexus in a retail strip on Speedway just east of Swan.
The doors of Nexus Occult Books & Oddities opened just over three years ago to both a round of appreciated applause and dubious dubiety.
“People either come in here and are super excited, shopping, asking questions, filling their arms with products or they walk in, see what we are all about, make a quick round and are out before I can even say ‘thanks for coming in’.”
Nexus is for sure a specialty shop but the constraints of just an occult bookstore are very loose to say the least. Not to say that you’ll find the latest Danielle Steele novel on the shelves, although you never know!, but there is a fiction section, books on art, gender studies, world history, martial arts and even role playing games.
That’s how I became a fan of Nexus.
About two years ago I decided to, finally, check it out. When I walked in I was dazzled by the vast expanse of underground, hard to find and rare books dealing with mythology, religion, cryptozoology, witchcraft and magick. You know, the occult. I struck up a conversation with Andrew and his store manager Zach Myers and immediately felt welcome. It was then that I discovered a small section of role playing games on the shelves. In the tight folds I found a vintage Ravenloft module, a horror/vampire series for Dungeons and Dragons. Being a long time player of D&D I knew what that thing was worth. Then I saw the price tag of $3 and, yeah, I snatched it up. Thanks Nexus!
At the time, there was an adjacent school next door called NAMES (Nexus Academy of Magick and Esoteric Sciences) which unfortunately was short lived.
“An estate company based in San Francisco bought the property and raised our rent, so much we had to shut down NAMES,” states Andrew with a heavy sigh.
They may not provide any classes at the moment but Nexus does offer Tarot readings and feel free to drop in anytime and ask questions. No seriously, these guys are really cool.
Books? Oh yeah. Games? You betcha. Crazy neat stuff you didn’t know you needed but totally do? Duh!
Nexus is also your place for incense, Tarot decks, jewelry, art, crystal balls, statues and my personal favorite, cauldrons.
“I wanted Nexus to be not just about books and objects but a safe space and a resource for the occult community,” Cox notes. “People may not know it but Tucson has a huge and tight knit occult community.”
Boasting some of the most haunted areas in the southwest, yeah. That tracks.
Nexus also does trade, consignment and will take donations. Regarding the donations point, please don’t go there and dump a bunch of Stephen King books you’ve been meaning to get rid of, because they have their fill of that. But if you have something in your or your cool aunt’s that recently passed, the one that always wore dark flowy clothes and thought “Practical Magic” was a Christmas movie, collection of books in good condition focused on witchcraft, astrology, divination, the paranormal, etc, they will most likely take it off your hands or cut you a deal.
“When I was in advertising I made good money, but I was pretty miserable,” says Cox. “I literally make no money owning Nexus but I couldn’t be happier.”
To those on the outside places like Nexus and the people that work there, visit and support it might seem a little scary to you. Fear not! Most if not all in the occult or metaphysical community are usually the nicest people you could meet. As a long/lifetime Metalhead and someone who is embracing their inner Goth at middle age, those that live and love on the darkside of this human wave take the slings and arrows of criticism and scorn with loving aplomb. Why? Because to quote Ron Weasly to Harry Potter after reading his tea leaves:
“You’re going to suffer but you’re going to be happy about it.”
Nexus and the occult community are happy in their own skins and are welcoming to everyone that accepts that.
And if you cross over to their dark light, the more the merrier.
Thank you Andrew Cox and Nexus! And thank you Peter Venkman. Without you who knows if we’d been bewitched with such a badass bookstore. That also sells something called “wet specimens”. Yeah, try getting that at Barnes and Noble.
Cheers!
Nexus Occult Books & Oddities
4865 E. Speedway Blvd.
520-334-0372
Yeah Write Mark 