Lady Rhea Interviews On Knowledge Of Spirit Radio
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July 28, 2013 -
PRLog -- Lady Rhea was born Aurelia Bila and grew up in the Bronx near Gun Hill Road. Her parents, “good Italian Catholics,”
she said, took her to church on Sundays and, fearing violence from local race riots, pulled her out of public school after ninth grade and enrolled her in beauty high school on the Grand Concourse. She shopped for hippie-style jewelry at botanicas in the area, and was exposed to Santeria, which was practiced by some of the local Puerto Rican population. I saw my first Santeria altar and identified with it immediately,” Lady Rhea said. Her search for a crystal ball led her to the Warlock Shoppe in Brooklyn Heights, where she met Herman Slater, who would open the Magickal Childe, a shop on West 19th Street in Manhattan that became the center of occult life in New York City, and where she later worked.
For years, Lady Rhea has offered spiritual advice to her clients. Unlike most botanicas in the Bronx, she draws from many pagan religions, not just Christianity.“It’
s more of a spiritual center than just a store,”
she said. Her magic shop on Webster Avenue, which is a block away from Fordham University, lies within a larger botanica called Original Products. Many customers come seeking enchanted candles, her specialty. Others seek romantic or medical advice. Rhea, 58 and Italian-American, is just over five feet tall, with blond hair falling on the sides of her glasses. A pentagram hangs from her neck, over her powder-blue sweater. A gay, Wiccan high priestess, Rhea Bila owns the shop with her partner, Sandra Rivera. They’
ve been at the Webster Avenue location for four years.Magickal Realms consists of a glass countertop, in a 64-square foot space. Inside the countertop, there are stones, necklaces and rings for sale.While many botanicas in the area sell Catholic products, her shop has T-shirts depicting Hindu gods, as well as voodoo kits and other pagan items.
In her temple, she plans to teach Buddhism classes, and currently has a card-reading room, and a jewelry shop. She’
s also merged her Wiccan religion with Santeria, calling it “Wiccaria,” in which people practicing Santeria can offer vegan, or non-animal sacrifices, to their gods. She wants people to know that her shop embraces all constructive religions. “I consider myself global,”
she said. When she embraced paganism 36 years ago, she become more open to all of the different names under the pagan umbrella. Lady Rhea has written 2 books
"The Enchanted Candle" Citadel Press and "The Enchanted Formulary"
Knowledge Of Spirit Radio hosts both Jesse Bravo and Alan Cox with the help of Lady Rhea will explore and undertand the misunderstanding of Witchcraft. Knowledge Of Spirit Radio airs every Friday from 6-8PM CST on UPRN 107.7 Fm New Orleans or you listen live on Knowledge Of Spirit Radio (
http://www.knowledgeofspirit.com)
