Magick, Miracles & Mysticism

Many years ago I struggled to find the overlap & connections between the may thought systems & spiritual practices in my life. As long as I looked purely from the physical & intellectual eyes, it confounded me.

Then one day, after a particularly deep meditation, I was shown that there are 3 Levels of Power in all things archetypally. After some research into the work of Caroline Myss, I had one of those coveted Ah-Ha moments & saw that my life & all that I teach can be categorized into Magick. Miracles & Mysticism.

In fact, it showed me there is a teachable bridge from one end to another, mapping the energetics of creativity & healing. So, I began to teach this 13 week series as inspired & have been doing so once or twice a year ever since.

Here is the series outline that I teach. Please comment with any questions you might have:

Magick, Miracles & Mysticism
with Rev. Mark A. Lyons
Admission $30. Reservation Required

Magick, Miracles & Mysticism is a 13 class series exploring a more in-depth look at metaphysics & spirituality.

Class One: 3 Levels of Power - The Basics

Class Two: The Chakras Part 1 – Sanskrit & Sacraments

Class Three: The Chakras Part 2 The Tree of Life & Sabbats

Class Four: Archetypes Part 1 - The Basics & The Survival Family

Class Five: Archetypes Part II - The Feminine & Masculine Families

Class Six:Archetypes Part III - The Divine & Wisdom Families

Class Seven: Archetypes Part IV - The Healer & Creative Families

Class Eight: Archetypes Part V - The Action &The Wild Card Families

Class Nine: Gods & Archetypes

Class Ten: Healing

Class Eleven: Alchemy & Incarnating

Class Twelve: Divine Purpose,The Shamanic Descent & the Dark Night of the Soul

Class Thirteen: Wrap up & Application

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

Taking Ostara Personally

 

Ostara, at the time I am writing this, is a few days away. But as usual, I’m getting its download early. 

Ostara / Vernal – Spring Equinox is a very powerful sabbat in the Witch’s Wheel of the Year. Not only can we take another step magickally in the spells / intentions we started at Yule / Winter Solstice:We shift from the 2^nd Chakra / Sacrum 1 on 1 relationship dynamic to the 3^rd Chakra / Solar Plexus our relationship with ourselves. In other words, we enter the terrain of Personal Power.

 

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I have always been a proponent of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. As a Witch, it’s just a very wise thought system based on ancient Toltec wisdom.

Personal power issues & wisdom lessons are year round if not daily. Following our gut is the simplest way to start practicing & refining our own self empowerment. The Solar plexus is the seat of Survival Intuition, the turn left, turn right guidance we are constantly offered. Whether we feel & act upon it accordingly is squarely in the center of personal empowerment.

When your Solar Plexus says NO & you say YES, you are sabotaging yourself. Period! Sure, small choices may seem small, but that’s the paradox of wisdom isn’t it: small things are big & big things are small very often on the spiritual path.

But there’s a more subtle & challenging aspect to all of this. Hence my above reference to The Four Agreements. They follow as such:

 This blog is about #2

Don Miguel Ruiz goes into each one in the book heavy duty. The whole book is life changing as is his follow up, The Mastery of Love, where he applies the agreements to personal relationships. There is of course a steady focus on the relationship with your Self/self.

But what draws my attention the most is the 2^nd Agreement of the four, “Don’t take anything personally.”

What could be more important at Ostara than a claiming of personal responsibility by making an agreement to practice, at least till Beltane / May 1^st to not take anything personally? It sets up a boundary to contain your own focus as well as protect yourself from emotional hell rides that delay you manifesting what you really want in your life.

To me it’s right up there with forgiveness, kindness & spiritual practice. Not taking things personally is a spiritual practice because you have to understand what’s really going on, which leads us to the Shadow & Grace of Ostara & the Solar Plexus Chakra, Entitlement & Understanding.

 The Solar Plexus is the Yellow One

When you take things personally & you get that knot in your stomach, look & see if there is an aspect of Entitlement at work. Entitlement is a tricky shadow, well they all are tricky, but this one particularly so because it is so very easy to spot in others, but not so much in ourselves.

What is Entitlement as a Shadow Passion? We can identify it easily on TV, especially reality TV. It is a sense of being owed something we didn’t earn or attract via our own life process of growth. We liken it to Princess Syndrome or The Brat Child Archetype. It’s toxic & nauseating, because it hits right in the stomach. 

I discuss this more in last year’s Ostara Blog: Understanding Ostara.

What the Four Agreements give us is a framework in which we can understand what’s happening to us & others when we are possessed by the Shadow of Entitlement. That Understanding is the only Grace I have ever found to untie that knot in myself whether it is my own shadow or another wresting with Entitlement.

  Classic case of Entitlement vs Understanding

So we can quite literally go with our guts through Ostara, keeping in mind that if we take things personally, we will derail & delay our own process, growth & the manifestations of what is wanted.

It behooves us to re-estimate day to day on how we feel in this chakra. One of the powers it manage is Self Esteem, the basic verb of self empowerment. When it twists, it’s an indication that we are thinking something without the Understanding that our soul has on the subject. So we can hear that alarm in our stomachs, pull back, reevaluate & re-estimate where we are in the moment.

Does this really have anything to do with me? Am I taking this personally? Does this trigger my own unfinished business inside? Am I playing Victim? Did I not keep my personal boundaries & Honor code in tact?

It’s a lot to look at & I am sure from personal experience that taking ‘personal time’ is essential to my own process. Without it, the alchemy from Entitlement to Understanding or lead to gold takes longer. But if I listen to the wakeup call, pull back & claim personal space, I can begin the alchemy by entering into the sacrament associated with the Solar Plexus – Confession.

 

Hades & Persephone in Passing

The good news is, I just need to confess my issues to myself & the Divine. If confessing to another person is required, I know who to turn to. But if I confess it to everyone & in a toxic way, it turns into gossip. So yes, even Gossip into Confession is alchemical lead into gold. 

It’s just really easy to alchemize it from gold to lead again. Personal power, boundaries, self esteem, intuition, self empowerment, it’s a lot, but we have a whole season to refine our personal power.

So I wish you a very blessed Ostara. It’s a Witchcraft week for me. I won’t have a day off till Sunday & even then, there’s stuff going on. But I will be traveling & teaching in New Jersey at Jean’s Place: TheSacred Hearth. We’ll be making Ostara Eggs & sitting round a bonfire.

Personally, that feels empowering to me.

Blessed Ostara,

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

Spell to Balance Magick & Spirit

I wrote this spell many years ago when I felt my magick wasn't as aligned with my Spirit as much as it could be. After too many times of needing to 'step away from the altar' due to anger issues, this spell really worked. The perfect materials showed up for me to grow spiritually, books, conversations & the perfect people appeared to nudge me forward on my path.

I did the spell often, once a Moon Cycle for at least a year until the candles were completely melted. I would relight the candles, say the spell, then meditate for a bit. I found it balanced my light & dark side as well as giving a permanent boost to my spells that continues to this day. Good luck & comment on how it goes.

Spell to Balance Magick & Spirit
Needed: black candle, white candle, anointing oils 
( I use oils that fit the need, one dark & earthy & one light & floral)
Anoint each candle & set the black on the left & white on the right.
 Empower with these words

Candle black & candle white:
balance, blend, heal unite.

Black, the deep & pregnant void,
magick power true;
candle flame, eternal flux, 
grant your strength to all I do.

White, The ONE & shining life,
Spirit’s guiding light;
candle fire, heal, inspire, 
help me do what’s right.

Black & White, below above, 
vengeful Crow & peaceful Dove.

Dark & Light in balance bless 
& stabilize my path's success.

In my mind & in my heart 
from deep within does balance start.

In my way & in my world,
outer balance now unfurls.
So Mote It Be!

 

 

Post Samhain 2013: Mapping the Underworld

OK, the title alone is misleading because technically Samhain doesn’t hit until the Sun is 15 degrees in Scorpio, which is Thursday, November 7^th, 2013. But for all intents & purposes, we’re already in it. It is also misleading because Samhain is a whole season, not just a day. Sure, we mark the beginning, but it doesn’t truly end its month and a half cycle till Yule / Winter Solstice or its 3 month run at Imbolc, February 2^nd.

But since we are already knee deep in the energy of the season I have some things I want to share. Yes, I have been in & out of the Underworld a handful of times since Mabon / Autumnal Equinox. Hell, I’ve been in & out of the Underworld more times than I care to count in this life. We all have. So I want to share my Underworld Survival Guide in this post because, like any good tour guide, I have lived in, survived & served in the terrain.

Mapping the Underworld is only a so-so deal because it is so unique to each of us. The scenery changes so quickly when you are in it that it’s tricky to relate the landscape to one whom hasn’t consciously been there. But there are some features that are universal.

Spiritual Madness by Caroline Myss

Madness for example, is a common point of interest for the night tripper or for those who linger longer. I’m going to draw a fine line between Spiritual Madness & common insanity here, though insanity seems uncommon, it’s not really. We all have our moments, don’t we? 

But Spiritual Madness is one I see occasionally in myself & more often in the energies of those new to the spiritual path. Spiritual or Divine Madness is typified by a change in perception that destroys previously conceived ideas we thought were truth, but never were.

Imagine someone who has always felt victimized having a lightning bolt of “I create my own reality” whack them in the 3^rd Eye. That changes everything. Or consider someone all of a sudden feeling the life force of a tree & experiencing the pain of watching one cut down. If they try to explain what they are experiencing to someone who isn’t so aware, they appear mad. 

So it goes with Spiritual Truth. It destroys our illusions & we often go through period where we feel crazy, but really, it is spiritual madness as your system integrates higher & higher truths.

Another big hallmark of the Underworld is facing the Shadow. Whether you address the subject spiritually, psychologically or both, it has never been an easy task to face & embrace our individual, let along collective shadows. But if we don’t, we get possessed by them. They rule us like a virus in a computer. You can tell this after the fact when you say, “I don’t know what came over me.” Which really means something buried in the unconscious came up via the subconscious & up into the conscious mind. Not pretty at all, but necessary for healing.

 

I refer you to the work of Caroline Myss, especially her book Defy Gravity. In this, she defines 7 Shadow Passions that are actually updated forms of the 7 deadly sins. Thankfully she also relates the 7 corresponding Graces, which act as powers of healing for each shadow. Here is the list & yes, they correspond to the Chakras as well:

Chakra	Shadow	Grace	Sabbat
Root	Hubris/Pride	Reverence	Yule
Sacrum	Greed	Piety	Imbolc
Solar Plexus	Entitlement	Understanding	Ostara
Heart	Wrath	Fortitude	Beltane
Throat	Gluttony	Counsel	Litha
3rd Eye	Envy	Knowledge	Lughnasadh
Crown	Sloth	Wisdom	Mabon.

By tracking our shadow via the Chakras we can embrace ourselves a bit more compassionately & invoke the healing Graces. But you know, I also layer into this the 8 Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year; 1 Chakra/Shadow/Grace per Sabbat.  But, what about Samhain?

 The Wheel of the Year

At Samhain we get the opportunity to review it all & do the interior healing & maintenance needed to start fresh at Yule. This makes a lot of sense, as we die to the old we are reborn to the new, especially as the old self dies & the new self is reborn. Traversing the Underworld is tricky, but necessary for the Witch who wants to deliberately create their lives as works of art.

There are many road signs, mysteries & landmarks in the Underworld. As I said, mapping it is very personal & I could spend days illuminating the many I have found. But all of that aside I only know 1 way of healing it as you go & being elevated back into the Upper-world, as it were. That task / alchemical element is Forgiveness.

In my experience the whole process of letting go of the past isn't possible without forgiveness & the version we have been sold is faulty. Nor do I find much of a context for forgiveness in Witchcraft. No, you find more black candles & rusty nail spells than the spiritual practice of forgiveness.

That said, we can expand as magickal people into the depths of True Forgiveness, based on the quantum model of all thing being part of a unified field. This is why I turn to A course in Miracles, which presents the truth that not only are we all connected, we are all ONE in truth. In this, no matter who we appear to forgive, "All Forgiveness is Self Forgiveness."

So as I prepare myself for Yule via Samhain I will certainly withdraw my focus from this world a bit. Better that than to keep repeatedly being trap-doored into the Underworld. But should I find myself Underworld-ed, I will utilize the wisdom I have gained from previous forays there. Above all else though, I will use my alchemical power of Forgiveness to transform my interior lead to Golden Wisdom, gain the insight necessary & be reborn at Yule with my new intention for a new Wheel of the Year.

And... I will play with our new kitty.

Blessed Be & Blessed Samhain

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

 www.drawingthecircle.com