People of the OCQ: Dana
There’s a little magic in all of us and all around us, if we are open to feeling it. For Dana, she’s always felt the magic around her.
“I got my first tarot deck when I was thirteen,” she remembers. “I raise my children this way. You know, we celebrate all of the seasons. It’s important to us to have that close relationship with nature.”
In her adult life though, Dana often felt she had one foot in either world. She was working in a pop trendy culture of corporate management and then making wands and healing in her spare time.
“I was flying all over the States. We were going to meetings with all these celebrities and doing all these big, high-end events at really beautiful venues. Then I am also going to these Reiki retreats in a little cabin in the woods in Cedar on my days off. And so, it was so unbalanced.”
.
Dana found balance when life pushed her into Lobelia's Lair, which was Aura Arcana at the time. In 2019, Dana’s corporate contract of seventeen years ended with the closure of the retail store, and she shifted her focus to begin an artist full-time, making wands, jewelry and doing healing sessions. However, in the midst of COVID and due to the nature of her work, she began to feel isolated, and decided to do Reiki healing at Aura Arcana one day a week. Within a few weeks of working in the store, she saw an opportunity to work there full time. It wasn’t long after that she was approached if she would like to purchase the business.
“It was a dream of mine that I used to think about during really stressful times. Like how nice it would be to have a little healing center and have a little bit of retail too. But this, sometimes it still feels surreal to me that this actually happened,” she says.
After being in retail for 27 years, this was the first Christmas season Dana has worked where she surprisingly isn’t stressed out and dreading her work days. “I'm working longer hours, probably more than ever I did before, but it's the first time I've just been happy,” she says.
Dana hopes to share that happiness with her customers. She says Lobelia's Lair is where all people are welcome to explore a little bit of magic and even magic itself.
“There are so many beautiful parts to magic. Everybody has their own way that they feel through it. And everybody has their own way that they work with it. We are offer a space where we foster all of that,” she explains.
The store prioritizes on stocking Canadian made products, especially from local Island artists, with a variety of all things magic. They have crystals, tarot cards, jewelry, books, candles, and healing practitioners onsite too. The Space, a place across the way and owned by Lobelia’s, offers event rentals, yoga classes and more, to provide another avenue for customers to foster community and magic.
After taking over ownership of the store on September 27th, 2024, with the permission of the founder, Dana renamed the store back to its original name Lobelia's Lair. She has also added some previous décor from the original days like Victor and Minerva.
“They were like, pseudo famous in the store. Liberty had them in storage and I asked if we could bring them back,” she explains. “We are bringing back some of those little touches that people really resonated with. In a healing place, an energy place, those things are super important.”
Dana has plans to bring back the self-serve apothecary and a few more nostalgic items, while also adding her own personal touches to further create the welcoming atmosphere it provides.
“I have such an affinity for the store. I love it so much. And it's like one of my children,” she says. “I'm lucky because I'm coming into a business that has been long established by Liberty, who built such amazing relationships with people here. I know she is close to so many people in the Old City Quarter, and they have such a love for this place because of that. So being able to be part of that is just incredible.”
Lobelia's Lair is open seven days a week and is located at #8 - 321 Wesley Street.