Jean’s Place: My Home Away from Home

Every month or so I pack up my stuff & take my show on the road. I go to my friend Jean’s place to do readings & teach. It’s a professional gig, I get paid, room & board. It’s a sweet deal & always a lot of fun. Here’s why.

I met Jean at an annual camping event for the clergy program I had belonged to at the time. She was an Elder of the organization & we bonded very quickly over a group discussion of a hypothetical Pagan Barbie doll & what accessories she might have. We howled with laughter that night along with Diane, Jane, Tony, Kristine & of course my Amy was with me. 

We all went through a lot together as clergy training, in this case Wiccan, is a challenge. We had our share of joys & tears throughout, bonding us together long after we left that program.

We chose to meet at Jean’s place, as it was big enough to hold all of us, including Tony & Kristine’s son Damien who we have all watched grow up. (He taught Amy how to play Indiana Jones & Star Wars Lego on the Wii.) It was located centrally enough, that it made sense to meet up as often as we can, which averaged about twice a year. 

Those beginning years at Jean’s place were therapeutic, magical on occasion & always hysterically funny. The lineup of who could make it would vary a bit. But we always manage to see everyone at least once a year.

It has become my getaway, my home away from home. A place to rejuvenate, just chill & graze on good food all day long. It was at Jean’s that I discovered my love for pesto on Swiss. With a nice piece of wheat baguette, really, so satisfying. Jean introduced us to her, at the time, co worker Ilona, who became the resident foodie, always bringing a carload of Wegmans goods & filling Jean’s coffee table with enough chip, dip, cheese, fruit, bread, spreads & that’s not even touching the sugar tirade of desserts.

We also got to know Melissa, another co worker turned friend of Jean’s, who in many ways acted as a liaison to the outside world, bringing in other people to hang out. It was all very organic. We’d watch movies, trade readings, have a few cocktails. Really, it is the best time that does so much for me personally.

I return to Long Island every time feeling renewed, recharged & refreshed with a new perspective on my life here. That’s what vacations are supposed to do, right? The insights I would receive over a weekend would really shift my thinking with new clarity. It wasn’t epiphany level stuff regularly, though I get those semi- annually. But it has made a difference in my life for the better, for certain.

So, when Jean started discussing doing readings there, that Jane, Diane & Ilona who also read, could come & make some extra cash, I agreed to go for it. It’s a selfish thing for me really. 2 times a year was great, but I wanted more. That I could make enough money for gas, tolls & butts was enough for me. Over the past 2 years we have been developing the program, expanding it, offering classes as well as readings to the menu.

The Unofficial Motto!

I forgot to mention that Jean has both an indoor fireplace & an outdoor fire pit. They get used a lot, even in summer, though at night of course. We have spent so many hours at both outdoor & indoor hearths that it has always been an integral part of the Jean’s place experience. That’s why Jean decided to call it:

Jean’s Place: The Sacred Hearth.

See, Jean has a dream of owning & running her own bed & breakfast. She’s been talking about it for over 10 years. Little by little pieces of the puzzle come together & more are still showing up. Like I said, I try & go there once a month or so, though the holidays are tricky. But we do our best. We’ve been offering Friday night & Saturday readings, but have added classes this past year on Witchcraft, Ho’oponopono, Law of Attraction & even started offering Sunday Morning Services, which is great. We’re building a really sweet community & slowly expanding the events to include Wednesday & Thursday nights.

The original gang still gets together a few times a year & when we do, we don’t do business. But we still  hang out, often with the same people who come for readings & classes. Something good is growing at Jean’s Place, but as I look back I notice it has been growing since we met in the middle of the woods, under a pole tent, at a picnic table, cackling into the wee hours of the morning discussing Wiccan/Pagan Barbie with the button in her back that raises her arms into Goddess position when you push it. Really, these people are my family & we all share the same fucked up sense of humor.

You should see us doing ritual. Really the quarter calls alone… “Heeeeeere quarter, quarter, quarter, quarter,” in the South, of course. I have laughed at Jean’s Place more than any one place aside from my own home. So you can see why I go there so much & why I love working there. It is indeed a sacred hearth for me, as I hold that time sacred. It is also really cool to watch this thing grow over the years into a business helping people chill & expand. Or, as Jean herself has branded it “Love, Laugh, Learn, Grow.”

I am writing this now the night before I pack up Veronicar, my Saturn VUE & head out to Jean’s. I’m doing a 7pm Witchclass & have all day to drive the 3 hours, stop & get Arbys, which we are seriously lacking on L.I., get there, unpack, chill & do what I love most, in a place I love, with people I love, laughing so much I come close to urination more than a few times. 

The Sacred Hearth has really transformed my work into play at Jean’s. I do urge you to check it out & if you live in the South Jersey, Westampton area, drop Jean a line.

For directions or other questions, please contact Jean's Place at:
Silverserphant@comcast.net or
609-510-3895 from 9AM to 9PM, Monday thru Saturday. 

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JeansPlaceTheSacredHearth

OK, I gotta get some sleep. My pre-drive routine starts at 9am with Starbucks, as usual for any work day. But I know by the time I return on Sunday I’ll be ready for my work week to be really amazing.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President
Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter
www.drawingthecircle.com

Being a Reader

 

I got my first Tarot deck when I was12 years old, on vacation with my family in Key West, Florida. I pestered my Mom to bring me to my first ‘occult’ shop that I saw in a travel brochure in our hotel room. She really, REALLY didn’t want me to go there. But like any kid, I pestered her until she finally took me. 

Though she wouldn’t set foot in the place, she sent me in with some money. I bought my first Rider-Waite Tarot pack & a copy of “Tarot: A Handbook for the New Apprentice” by Eileen Connelly. Soon after, I was reading anyone who would sit still, looking up the meanings, literally by the book.

Mom wouldn’t let me read her, nor would any of my immediate family members. Little did they know that Tarot would become the cornerstone of my career. I have since read hundreds of people. My skills got better as I studied different authors. I read friends all throughout my teens & started charging for my readings once I moved to Boston for college.

Of course I also had a passion for being read, as my own skills hadn’t matured enough for the needed objectivity to read myself. As a result, I found myself learning more about different spreads & reading procedures than paying much attention to what was being said about my own fate & destiny.

My own intuitive skills developed quite a bit by the time I had gone professional. I was born empathic, having a Pisces Moon in my 8^th house. Intuitive empathy was truly one of those blessings/curses growing up, not understanding why I was so emotional a good deal of the time. I sorted that out in my 20’s as I began to learned to be more aware that what I was feeling was influenced by those around me.

Still, my real interest had moved toward clairvoyance. I read everything I could on the subject & subjected myself to endless exercises & practices to develop ‘clear sight,’ which is what clairvoyance really means. I got really good at it quickly as a result. 

I was able to receive what I learned to call intuitive flashes, quick pictures in my mind’s eye that would explain people, places, things & situations. After all, a picture, even in the mind, is worth a thousand words.

I really went professional in my 20’s when I returned from Boston to my home in Long Island, New York. The more clients I read, the clearer I became. This is what I tell my students now, that the best way to improve as a reader is to read as many people as you can. Intuition is a skill like any other & repetition is the Mother of skill. The extra cash helped egg me on as well, having the financial extras to get the things I wanted more than the essential I needed.

I began developing my own ethics bit by bit, as well as my own spreads to answer my own questions. That helped a lot, as I was attracting more & more clients that matched my own interests in life, romance being a primary focus. To this day my Relationship Spread has helped me & countless others get the clarity they need to move forward or away from the relationships we form in life.

So it is that I am still growing as a reader. I just keep getting better at it the more I do it. My skill I now call, Clairvoyant Empathy, a term I borrowed form a spiritual teacher I worked with for some time. In other words, I see stuff & I feel stuff, let’s keep it simple. 

Though I know many spreads, I now keep my readings clear with a handful of them including the classic 10 card Celtic Cross, the 5 card Elemental Spread & a modified 8 card Chakra Spread including the elusive & highly archetypal 8^th Chakra that hovers above the head.

Aside from teaching, which is my passion, I get great joy out of doing readings. They have also become one of the mainstays of my income, allowing me to pay my bills & become the Professional Witch that I have evolved to be.

My practice has become simpler, working with clients & clairvoyantly tuning myself to their guides. I have also refined my understanding to 10 levels of spirit, like channels on a TV. I work with Guides, Masters, Teachers, Gods, Goddesses, Saints, Angels Totems, Healers & Ancestors. 

I’ve gotten so good at relating messaged that people often mistake me for a medium. But I’m not a medium. Though I work with non physical entities all the time, I still prefer communicating & working with the living rather than the dead.

That said, I have made quite a name for myself professionally over the decades. I now charge a bit more than I did in my 20’s. I started reading $30 for 30 minutes & $50 for an hour. That changed when I started my company Drawing the Circle Productions. When I set up shop I started charging $50 for 30 minutes & $75 for an hour, as long as the hour session was in my office in Sayville. That has suited me well for what is going on almost 15 years of DTCP’s journey.

But recently I was given the nudge by spirit to change thing up again. So here’s the new deal:

As of January 1^st, 2013 I am increasing my hourly rates to $100. That includes office visits, house calls, parties & phone readings. I only do 30 minute readings for $50 in my office at the Silver Broom in Sayville. I won’t do a 30 minute house call or phone session anymore what with gas & phone charges.

But I am also offering the opportunity for people to purchase gift certificates now through December 31^st at the soon to be old rate of $75 for the hour & will honor that soon to be discounted price in the new year. 

You can purchase a gift certificate at The Silver Broom or simply purchase a reading on my website: http://drawingthecircle.com/products/readings-and-sessions/ The $75 rate will be removed from the site on January 1^st.

Tonight I am doing a Tarot Party at a friend’s house. So I am spending my day chilling out, meditating & overall relaxing myself. I usually do these parties for 3 hours at the house call rate of $100/hour. That said, I look forward to using this skill even more as I am getting better at this every time I read, probably because it has become so much fun for me over the years.

It is my intention to help as many people as I can via Tarot & Clairvoyant Empathy. I teach it too, which combines my passion for teaching with this long developed skill.

Some consider me lucky, but I consider myself just another person who followed his passion, helping people get clarity on where they are & what they want rather than offer predictions. 

After all, with my background in Archetypal Psychology, Quantum Physics & Deliberate Creation, I am more interested in mapping our own destiny than suffering Fate.

I hope I get to read you soon & that you find your own intuitive voice guides you as well as my own has guided me.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President
Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter
www.drawingthecircle.com

PS: For more info on how I read, check out my reading page:

http://drawingthecircle.com/rev-mark-a-lyons/readings-with-mark-a-lyons/

PPS: Add a comment if I have ever read you & what you got out of it.

 

Post Sandy, Back to Work Update

Hi Folks,


We are still picking up pieces & putting them back together here at Drawing the Circle & The Silver Broom Ministries. All in all, we were very lucky with minimal damage to the home office & our center in Sayville, NY. We have electricity back, in both, but only have internet access in Sayville. So, keeping the schedule up to date with the many changes is tricky, but slowly doable.

That said, the Store at the Silver Broom is closed for the time being, but posted events on our DTCP website & our Silver Broom Ministries Facebook Group are up & running. If I have it up on either site, the event is a GO!

Personally, I have a lot on my mind I want to blog about very soon. There's nothing like a lot of time on my hands with no electronic distractions to get me praying & pondering. I will be working on my Samhain update soon, well, as soon as I can do it from my home, where I seem to write best. Once we have internet there you can bet I will be blogging again.

Until then, please stay safe, patient, warm & reaching for the Gods who made us; for comfort & guidance. The Gods know best & we are their children. Trust in them to guide & provide according to our skill at asking, listening & allowing them in.
Blessed Be,

Rev. Mark A. Lyons, President
Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter
www.drawingthecircle.com