Lady Rhea is not the kind of witch you’ll find in a pointy hat this Halloween. She is a real workaday witch, grinding out a living selling magic products in a booth at Original Products, a grocery store-sized botanica in the Bronx. She’s been a practicing Wiccan for nearly four decades, making her one of the longest-serving high priestesses in New York City.
“I am a Wiccan high priestess and Witch queen,” she says. “My age — I’ve been in the craft since ’73. I have a lot of coven people and people who are attached to me over the last years, so one of them coined me ‘Pagan Mother.’ Call them up and I’ll say ‘Hello, are you listening? This is Pagan Mother, call me.’ ”
This week, Lady Rhea will see a small increase in Halloween-related sales, but most of her clients come looking for the same things that have kept her in business all these years: money, luck and love.
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