10/01/2026
We are excited for the next chapter for Blue Eagle Metaphysical Emporium. I have known Mitch for a good number of years ~ it has been a wonderful experience to have worked with him to support our community. Here's to a most blessed retirement 💚 Love ya lots!!
Michael, I am excited to see you take the reins and work with you in the years to come. Lots of light and love on your new adventure.
May Blessings to all from the Abitha's Family
PASSING THE TORCH: Honoring Mitch Rubin and the Legacy of Blue Eagle
For over forty years, Blue Eagle Metaphysical Emporium has been more than a shop in Albuquerque — it has been a home. It has worn many addresses over the decades, but wherever its doors opened, the same spirit walked in with it: a place where the curious found their first tarot deck, where the seasoned practitioner found the one herb they'd searched three states for, and where anyone, regardless of path or tradition, could walk through the door and feel seen. That home was built, tended, and protected for three decades by Mitch Rubin, now 71.
Mitch didn't set out to become one of New Mexico's most enduring spiritual entrepreneurs. He arrived in Albuquerque an artist — trained in graphic design, drawn to beauty, texture, and meaning. In 1996, he walked into the Blue Eagle Book Shoppe, then a small storefront on Lomas Blvd and found more than a bookstore. He found Wes — Wesley Vincent, the shop's founder and owner — who had met Mitch and invited him in. From that day on, the two built a life together, and a business alongside it, moving Blue Eagle from Lomas Blvd to Scottsdale Village in the Northeast Heights, out to the Westside, even a stint in Santa Fe and a chapter Downtown before settling back in the Heights for good. When Wes passed in 2007, Mitch didn't fold the doors — he carried Blue Eagle forward on his own, through an industry upended by big-box stores and online retailers, through the quiet, unglamorous work of showing up, year after year, for a community that needed somewhere to belong. In 2011 Mitch found a new source of creative retailing and a winning strategy with partner Spencer Nishiyama, and the two of them have run Blue Eagle together ever since.
That is the real accomplishment. Not just that Blue Eagle survived, but that it became a pillar — one of the oldest and most robust metaphysical shops anywhere in the state. Ask any longtime regular and you'll hear the same thing: Blue Eagle isn't just where they shop, it's where they were welcomed when other doors were closed to them. Mitch has always said it best himself: "My motto is that we have something to offend everyone. We either offend the Christians or the pagans. We have such a diverse collection of spiritual things and paths that people can take. I would say that the store is magical in that it creates a sense of wonderment and interest, and helps create a spiritual passion for individuals." That's exactly what he built — because he made sure of it.
I met Mitch over twenty years ago, and in that time I became one of those regulars myself — drawn back again and again for the feeling of walking into a space that understood exactly what it was for. Blue Eagle shaped my own path in more ways than I can count, and it is with enormous gratitude, humility, and reverence that I now step forward to carry that torch.
My own path has been shaped by lineage as much as by learning: I come from a line of hereditary witchcraft and curanderismo, and I have spent decades as an energy worker and student of the esoteric arts. Stepping into Blue Eagle doesn't feel like starting something new — it feels like continuing something I was always meant to help carry. Mitch's decades of devotion gave this community roots deep enough to hold whatever comes next, and I intend to honor every bit of that foundation as I build forward.
That said — the future is bright, and there is more coming. In the months ahead, you'll see thoughtful new additions to the shop: expanded offerings, a refreshed apothecary experience, and new ways for this community to gather, learn, and grow together. All of it rooted in the same spirit Mitch spent thirty years cultivating — a place with something for everyone, where every tradition is honored and every visitor is welcome.
To Mitch: thank you. For your artistry, your generosity, your stubborn devotion to a community that needed you, and for trusting this legacy into hands that will love it as fiercely as you did. Blue Eagle's story isn't ending — it's turning its next chapter.
To all of you who have made Blue Eagle your home for the past forty-one years: thank you for your continued trust and support. I can't wait to welcome you through those doors again.
With gratitude and blessed be, Michael Candelaria
