Drawing The Circle Productions INC

Update: NYFW, P&M, Burning Webs & Higher Shellfish

Blessed Imbolic,

Though it hasn’t been a very cold winter, today marks the midway point through the season. Regardless of groundhogs & shadows, it’s pretty easy to see that Spring is on its way. Even so, the more yin than yang tides of the season are certainly drawing us more inward than outward. We can expect to experience more of that, which is a good thing.

Not that there’s any lack of activity to attend to, at least not on my end. My schedule has been jammed packed with work in my world as well as in the Wonderland of Fashion. New York Fashion Week is one week away & I have been in NYC helping my friend Eila on a new project, one that is opening many doors for her. I get to happily assist: keeping the vibe high as I watch with great delight how things are lining up for her. It is great fun & very rewarding to help make another person’s dreams come true, especially with such a close & dear friend whom I consider a sister.

I am taking a week off from my duties at The Silver Broom & as a teacher through Drawing the Circle to go deeper down the rabbit hole that is NYFW. There are a few events early next week on the calendar. Wednesday night’s Prayer & Meditation group may be canceled, as a new opportunity may be surfacing for me to be at in the city on 2/8. But we will know that for sure soon & will make the appropriate changes to the schedule as it unfolds.

But let me say that last night’s inaugural meeting of Prayer & Meditation was really cool. The sharing in the first hour was really well balanced with the application of spiritual practice in the 2nd hour. The words & energies just flowed & as fried as I was from a long day in NYC, I had a blast. Feedback was good, but my own astonishment at how uplifting it was is my own proof that this was a good change to make to the DTCP weekly event schedule. YAY!

This leads to the subject of my own personal Imbolic intentions. At Yule I cast to be in the Vortex more & more consistently. The Vortex is in reference to the Teachings of Abraham via Esther Hicks. It describes a vibrational escrow in which all the things we ask for are held until they manifest into form. The trick is getting into the Vortex to be a vibrational match to that which we desire, which means emotionally feeling good more than not. Simple, but not always easy. This is the focus of our weekly Tuesday night’s Vortex Appreciation Group.

To build on my Yule intention now at Imbolic, I am really focusing on the 2nd Chakra as it correlates to the 2nd sabbat of Imbolic. Its Shadow is Greed. Its Grace is Piety, a word that I am discerning & experiencing on ever deeper levels of meaning. The usual definition of piety is ‘reverence for God.’ But in the 1 on 1 dynamic of the 2nd Chakra, it is more like respect & reverence for each individual in my life, sexuality, creativity & money. Fun stuff, but it does take some work aligning it all. Thankfully we have a month & a half to get it all together little by little.

I have a candle lit as I write this, reminding me to keep my boundaries clear & to remember that each person I interact with is really God in the process of awakening to their truth. This makes forgiveness a bit easier, as I can see them as an aspect of myself growing, healing & learning just like I am. I may not always agree with people, nor do I have to enmesh myself in the dramas & illusions people wrap themselves in like webs. Please, I have enough of my own to dissolve. But a lot of these will be dealt with in the 3rd Chakra & the sabbat of Ostara come March.

Still, does the form of an illusion matter? No, not really. One person’s insecurities & fears are but a mirror of my own. What differs in form is the same in content. So the work is the same: forgive, forgive forgive, allow, allow, allow, even if I don’t choose to be around it alot. The work is worth doing. The more in the Vortex I am, the easier it is for me to make peace with myself & where others are in their process. Then it is easy to let go, move on & attract to myself the next step in my own journey.

So it is that the fire of Imbolic illuminates on a 2nd Chakra level, inspiring me to give through the Grace of Piety instead of demand & grab through the Shadow of Greed. Remember, Greed isn’t just about money. It is about power, attention & one of the most heinous, the Greed to be right even in the face of truth that we are otherwise. That’s a bitch. But I have the light of Breid or Brigit, the Goddess of Fire, Inspiration & Creativity to clear away the webs of what’s not real anyway. Though it may certainly appear to be until it is confronted. Best dressed? Worst dressed? Um…we are spirit dressed as separate human beings first. Undo that illusion & whether it is couture or crap is less important. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Allow, allow, allow.

It looks to be a very interesting month. As I traverse between the world of Witches & the world of Fashion through the looking glass, I am sure the Grace of Piety & Brigit’s fire will be my ally. I intend to stay in the Vortex as much as possible, if only because I’m kinda selfish that way. Besides, I’m better at helping others when I’m feeling good myself, so it’s a kind of Higher Selfish inspired through Piety rather than Greed. It all fits when you step back & look at it & really, there’s no other way I would rather live. Unless we are also serving Higher Shellfish.

I invite you to take a look at our websites www.drawingthecircle.com & www.thsilverbroomministries.org for up to date info on events etc.. Amy & I are doing our best to juggle this growing empire we started so many years ago. It’s good to have such good friends along the way & it is certainly fun to watch with great eagerness the beauty & adventures which are unfolding.

I wish you all the very best & brightest of the season. By all means if you haven’t yet, ignite the fire in your belly, as 2012 is already a year offering great contrast, challenges, joy & much uplifting fun if you are willing to play the game.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President

Drawing the Circle Productions INC.

DrawingtheCircle@aol.com

631-968-8307

www.drawingthecircle.com

Hello People,

Well, March is here. Leap year & all, February was an intense & wonderful month for me. I don’t think I ever worked so much in one month, especially such a short one. New York Fashion Week in tandem with my own work teaching kept me booked pretty solid. But as will happen, the unexpected happened.

Before I even go there, I want to say plain & clear that I really make it a point to take 100% responsibility. If I don’t live as I teach, I’m pretty much screwed in my own mind. When I say that I am a deliberate creator of my own experience, I’m holding myself to that through all of the seeming successes as well as the seeming pitfalls.

So, wouldn’t you know it, I burnt out. Not emotionally, mentally or spiritually, but somehow physically. I got a cold/mild flu & an apparently tenacious one. Without going into specifics, I got my plug pulled. I know it happens & I know there’s a whole crapload of bugs floating around. But I really was blindsided by this.

Sunday Services at The Bellport UU Church was great. I spoke on the Law of Attraction in terms of Emotional Manifestation & I kicked ass. I flew out of there floating & I hope they did too. Then Bam, later that evening something shifted & I know something was up. You know that feeling, all of a sudden gold turns to lead, just a little at first, but a subtle alarm goes off. I started with the 4 thieves vinegar, hydrated by drinking enough Vitamin drinks to fill a bathtub & got some rest.

Come Monday, I was able to teach, thanks to Amy who really carried Witchclass Cycle One: Quarter Calls. But once I got home… BLAH. Tuesday was odd; I had 2 clients & the Vortex Appreciation Group that night. Once the first client didn’t show & I tuned in to my gut, I canceled the other reading & the class. I thought by now this would have passed, but I ended up canceling all of my events this week through to Thursday.

OK, big deal right? I got sick & had to cancel events. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve had to do this in 20 years of event planning. But still, I LOVE what I do & was very ‘in the Vortex’ about my week’s business; teaching, reading & then heading to Jean’s Place: The Sacred Hearth in New Jersey this weekend to do even more of it. I know when I booked February that it was going to be a lot of work in Sayville, then a lot of work at NYFW, then a lot of work in Sayville again.

But still, if I create my own reality & am eager to work every night, loving it, what the hell happened?  I really don’t discuss symptoms, why get that specific when it feels so bad even typing it? But let me say, I could drug myself up & plow through, but that feels even worse. I make a point to be as clear as I can be when I work & that persistent wobbly achy thing just wasn’t improved by all of the over the counter meds I threw down my neck. I saw the only way through this was THROUGH it.

To that end, I am getting my shit together & getting ready for Jean’s Place. Once I’m there, I don’t even have to leave until I head back to L.I. Sunday afternoon. So I’m calling this one a healing/working retreat, optimistic that I will be returning refreshed & renewed just like I do every time I go to Jean’s. It’s a working thing, but I’m confident t will help me get back into balance.

That said the March Schedule is up on the website. Ostara is on its way & I am looking forward to the real external rebirth that the season holds. Yes, I am apparently faced with some interior work at the moment. Whatever this external set of symptoms is about, I’m deconstructing the internal aspects bit by bit. It is taking me a bit longer than I expected, but I also know the WHEN is not my business. I only have to stay focused on WHAT I want & WHY I want it.

Right now, I want to feel good, enjoy my work, kick ass in Jersey this weekend & have the best & most fun month of March that I have ever had. I want that for everyone actually, because doing what I love sort of requires people who want to come along for the ride. Conscious Co-creation is a lot of fun & even though I am in a bit of a dip on the fun scale, I’m working my way back one better feeling through, prayer, meditation, nap, potion, bath & did I mention nap, at a time.

Happy March to you all, let’s make the best of it.

Blessed Be.

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, Professional Witch

Tuesday, March 13th, 7pm

There are so many ways into the Vortex. So many techniques, games, exercises & processes have been offered over the years. Yet if you make getting into the Vortex ‘work’ it can create the very resistance you seek to overcome.

In these weekly gathering, we take the work out of the equation & really have a ball together. Though the conversations get deep, it is always uplifting & fun.

As we acknowledge that raising vibration is a gradual process, we drop the oars & let the current take us & turn us downstream, becoming the people our spirits have already become.

Admission is $10. Reservations Required.

Hello People,

It has been awhile since I have been inspired to write anything substantial. My work has been verbal for sure as of late, but more teaching & talking than through my laptop. How odd that now Mercury has turned retrograde that I finally feel like writing. Inspiration is a tricky thing, it comes when it comes & when it does, I am its willing slave.

Y’know, I have been studying spirituality & metaphysics for the majority of my life & I do mean the majority. I have people from my teens that remember me reading their cards on a picnic table at summer camp. At age 12, while other kids were out playing I was reading about the Olympian Gods & studying the work of Scott Cunningham. Now at 43, I’m still not stupid enough to think I have mastered any of it. But I can see the signs & writing on walls. Detecting patterns has always been a skill of mine & add that to the study of psychological symbolism… Well, sometimes stuff just jumps up in front of my eyes, though it has been there all along.

I’m a Virgo by Sun sign, born in September & ruled by Mercury, which as mentioned before is appearing to go backward in the sky, heralding all sorts of SNAFU’s & communication breakdowns. But being ruled by Mercury & learning so much about this stuff over the years, I’m kinda over it. I have come to some conclusions about all of this & this missive is what I have arrived at, for now.

First off, Astrology is like weather. It is good to know it is 90 degrees outside so you don’t wear a wool sweater. If it is raining, wear a hat. But by no means do we need to wail & scream because of the weather, it is beyond our conscious control. In other words, though many do, don’t whine about the weather literal or astrological. Mainly because ‘Witches don’t whine” at least not about such impersonal things.

Secondly, we are at a juncture in human history. “You create your own reality” has been around for so long it has become cliche. So cliche in fact that people forget that it is truth & always has been. HOW we create reality is always up for grabs & people are always coming up with ways, tips, tricks, exercises & plans to do just that more efficiently. What is prayer, healing, meditation or spellwork after all? This juncture I speak of, is about whether you know or believe in your own personal ability to create your own experience regardless of what the rest of the world is up to. Hold onto that, it will come up again.

Thirdly, as a human species we have a natural, automatic tendency to play victim at the drop of a hat. It’s not nice to look at, but there it is.The ego likes us to feel victimized so it can distract us from looking at how powerful we are & how powerful we’d be if we were deliberate in our process of creating. The Victim Archetype is one that is shared by everyone & everything. Archetypes being neutral, its light or positive aspect is the Victor Archetype, denoting our ability to re-estimate ourselves, set boundaries & overcome whatever is on our individual plate at the moment.

So, when it comes to my own personal reality, what determines my experience is not about what Mercury is doing, or the temperature or whomever it is I am relating with. It has to do with how I choose to see it, think about it & shift my estimation of my self. “What others think of me is irrelevant. What I think of them is everything.”

That said, I am doing Mercury Retro a bit differently this time around. I am keeping an eye on 2 things at minimum. 1) My Victim/Victor Archetype & 2) my emotions. Simply put, if I think a thought & my emotions register a ‘bad’ feeling, I am off track. Emotions are guidance, plain & simple, They register whether I am thinking in alignment with my Source, Inner Bring, Higher Self, call it what you will. When I synch up with it, I feel good. When I don’t, I feel not so good. Forgive, adjust, forgive, adjust ad infinitum.

The longer I keep going down the thought/emotional road that feels icky, I am sure to experience things, events & people that match. This is hardly new. “As a Man thinketh, so he shall be.” Thousands of books have been written about the subject & after awhile, it just makes sense that the only thing I can control is what I am thinking. Far from a Pollyanna, I can at least accept that I am in control of my thoughts, adjust them toward alignment with Source & bit by bit experience my life differently.

So, Mercury Retrograde taken at its basic symbolic content is all about thinking differently, going over old thought systems & beliefs & tweaking as I go. In other words, if you don’t like what you are getting in effect, change the thinking that is the cause. This takes time for sure, a general gradual approach is recommended, as impatience, frustration & irritation is a sure sign I’m not thinking right, according to my own Inner Being’s point of view.

This is what happened when I got that nasty sinus infection a few weeks ago. I got hung up on timing, which is something we have zero control over. Getting there on time, hurrying, getting stuck in traffic & a lot of pushing did me in, but it was my own fault. I was zipping along, feeling great & then little by little I got frustrated that things were taking so long. BAM, head cold, consigned to my couch, coughing, aching & miserable for almost 2 weeks. As I rested, I reflected & as a result I learned this…

When you are going 5 miles an hour & hit a tree, it’s not such a big deal. When you are going 100 miles & hit that same tree, great big huge deal. Since slowing down our speed is not preferable spiritually, we only need to remove resistance by shifting how we look at the constant contrast of wanted & unwanted we will always be faced with in this dualistic paradigm we call life on Earth. That’s not done all at once, nor in a weekend. It is a lifetime process called the Spiritual Path.

Nothing new there. But since this is truth, why whine about Mercury, or politics, or relationships or health/money issues? If we create our reality, then being a Victim is impossible, an illusion we often choose, but still an illusion.

So my question to you is, “Do you create your own reality or not?” If your answer is NO, then good luck with that & get back to me when you want to know about the YES. If your answer is Yes, but don’t know how, well, that’s what I teach & how I do my best to live my life by example. Not easy, but when you know the laws & the rules of the game, this life can be a lot of fun & your ‘mistakes’ Mercury induced or not, are an opportunity to figure it out, make a course correction, forgive everything & restore some peace of mind that will eventually result in a better experience of this world.

Choice is what I am speaking about. We all have a choice behind our eyes in every moment. How do I want to think about this? How do I want to feel about this? What am I feeling now & what does that tell me about my alignment with Source & my path at this very moment? In other words, don’t whine & complain about what you have created deliberately or by default. Just step back, look at it generally & then gradually reach for thoughts that feel even a little bit better.

I will be teaching a lot his month. Hell with the Teacher Archetype fully entrenched in my contract, I cannot do anything else. But I will certainly do my best to release the resistance in my own thinking & treat Mercury’s retro phase as a friend helping me refine my own process. In this I shift from Victim to Victor & possibly even enjoy the ride regardless of what the planets, people, politics & a plethora of other beyond my control aspects are up to.

Want to learn more? Well, I schedule a lot of events through Drawing the Circle & the Silver Broom to teach, expand upon & share all of this stuff I have learned. What is healing anyway of not this? What is Spiritual Growth if not the maturation of our thinking, perspectives & choices. If we don’t do this, we just whine a lot & the universe gives us more to whine about until it, of course, gets worse. Let’s turn that sucker around huh? What better way to use a retrograde phase? Genius stuff if you ask me & if you do want to ask me, you know where to find me to do so.

Have a great day no matter what & if you are indeed a Witch reading this, remember who you are & what you know. It is at least your choice & at best, your salvation from all things.

I will be at An Enchanted Evening this Thursday at the Broom. Hope to see you there or at one of the many events I am hosting this month. For more info check out our website www.drawingthecircle.com or one of our Facebook groups/pages.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President

Drawing the Circle Productions INC.

DrawingtheCircle@aol.com

631-968-8307

www.drawingthecircle.com

Our Facebook page has lots of fun links, quotes, videos & other stuff that tickles our fancy.

Plus it’s a bit more edgy than we can get away with here.

Click Here or the Circle Logo Above.

The Silver Broom Ministries · By Mark A Lyons

Blessed Ostara Everyone,

I wanted to wish you all a blessed sabbat & to write something a bit more in depth. But my schedule for the rest of the week is a bit busy. So, I figured a simple note would suffice, for now.

April’s schedule is in the works & we have a few new things on the schedule to be revealed soon. We’re just getting all the logistics together during Mercury Retrograde & that will take some time. But all is well & I am taking it all in stride.

So, here is a pair of invocations that Amy & I did many years ago. May it serve as an inspiration for whatever work you want to do this day & the season that follows.

Great Eostar, Goddess of Spring & Growth

We beseech your presence & aid in this night

That way may commune with your essence

& be reborn within our Selves.

Please empower us with growth tonight

that we may progress in our quest to better lives & living.

Thank you & welcome.

SMIB

Great God of the Sun,

you who have been known by many names.

We invoke you this night as you enter into the zodiacal sign of Aries,

new beginnings & the start of the Astrological year.

Be with us this night

that we may bask in your light & warmth,

strengthening your divine flame within us.

Please empower us that we may grow as do our intentions

into perfect manifestations.

Thank you & welcome.

SMIB

May the season find you well.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President

Drawing the Circle Productions INC.

DrawingtheCircle@aol.com

631-968-8307

www.drawingthecircle.com

This workshop is for those looking to deepen their experience with Tarot &/or are establishing a career as a professional Tarot Reader.

Each weekend is an exploration of Tarot implementing 3 levels of power The Literal / Physical, The Personal / Emotional – Mental & The Symbolic / Spiritual.

Each Workshop includes lectures, hands on exercises & personal instruction to facilitate a deep & resonant experience as a Tarot Reader.

Each participant receives a Rider Waite Tarot Deck as a working notebook Students are encouraged to write on these cards as they learn the system.

Workshops are by reservation only.
Course Syllabus

Level I – The Literal Interpretation: Card by card analysis, The mysterious history of the deck, Expanding Correspondences, The Psychology of the Tarot, Tarot Notation, Tarot Journal setup & exercises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Admission is $200 per level.
Payment plans are available.

WitchClass Cycle Two – Spellbook
with Rev. Mark A.Lyons & Rev. Amy Krinner

This course is the practical application of the skills taught in Witchclass Cycle One.

The focus is to build a Spellbook.

Each class will include a lecture on the type of Magick specified, including symbolic correspondences, deities & aspects of the Law of Attraction.

Each class will include pre-written spells, as well as an attempt at writing one as a group.

At the end of this cycle, the student will have an arsenal of spells for many occasions.

Course Syllabus

1. Introduction – Goals of the Course

2.Love Magick

3.Money Magick

4.House & Home Magick

5.Health & Healing Magick

6. Work , Career & Vocation Magick

7. Protection & Defense Magick Part I

8. Deity Magick

9. Enlightenment Magick

10. Potions & Powders Magick

11. Ritual Design

12. Graduation Ceremony

Admission is $15 & Reservations are Required