Imbolc 2013 Part III; Fashion, Romance & Honor

Some time has gone by since my last blog. I wrote Part II right before going into New York Fashion Week & what a week it was. I needed time to integrate, because I’m not the same person who wrote that last blog. It’s me, but a lot has changed. I will attempt to briefly tell the story in 3 parts.

Fashion:

Fashion Week was incredible. My friend Eila & I have been going to the Spring & Fall shows for the past few years. Our experience has been an ongoing evolution. Every season brings its joys & challenges. We have both grown as a result & as a result, the projects are expanding in scope & getting more fun. Our way is being made, if not easier, then more fun.

For example, working with Starr Films on the No Wire Hangers pilot was a lot of fun for me. I’m Eila’s assistant, so I’ll do just about anything. My Virgo self just kicks in & I go from Fashion Photographer, to ‘Scout’ meaning I scan for certain people for Eila to interview. I even do stints as ‘MAL the Amazing Walking Coat Tree,’ but I really love it. It’s sort of a Virgo obstacle course; serve & keep an eye on the details. I did. Meeting Marilu Henner was my highlight of the week. I ‘gay-flirted’ with her, snapped her picture, made her laugh & she touched my face in appreciation. I made Elaine Nardo from Taxi giggle. That’s just cool.

The cast & crew on No Wire Hangers were great. We had fun & got some amazing stuff for the show. It has been a really long time since I was part of something so directly focused in the entertainment field. I have been skirting it here & there with Eila of course. But this was more immediate & hands on. It was like being on a migratory TV stage; cameraman, director, talent & GO! I had a blast. I was treated really well & I got to serve, the Virgo word, 2^nd maybe to the word analyze.

What I learned throughout the week is still integrating. It has to do about honor on many levels; honoring yourself, honoring others, honoring the process. Honoring where everyone was allowed me the spiritual flexibility to stay cool & move on when things got bumpy. Then I actually witnessed the expansion in the situation, though more often in retrospect.  In other words, every bump moment led to a better idea & a fresher direction when I stayed honorable & calm. Much has evolved within me & I’ll even go far to say Eila & I’s experience of Fashion Week has been stepped up a notch. It keeps getting better, healthier & more balanced.

I made new friends, learned some new skills & certainly applied spiritual principle throughout. In short I was able to alchemize what would appear to be a commercial, cosmetic journey into a spiritual & very honor based experience. I’m glad it is only twice a year, but I wouldn’t trade these weeks for what they bring out of me spiritually.

Romance:

You know, I’ve always been fond of Love Spells. LOL! That’s the understatement of the blog. I started studying magick & Witchcraft as a teen. Who wouldn’t dabble in love magick? Well, I did & learned the price paid very young. I now consider it one of the most dangerous forms of magick & as a result of wisdom gained; I keep my Love Magick aimed at ME.

That said, every now & again I’ll let the universe know that I’m ready to do more than have a quick spin around the sexual dance floor (Booty Call Spells). I wanted a longer adventure, one that has plenty of sweet, slow dances. So, I’d occasionally light a candle, toss some petals in the canal behind my house, chant something simple then forget I did it. It was magick that said, “I’m ready, I think…for the highest good & all that. In Perfect Love & Perfect Trust, let the music begin.” I don’t target anyone. There are no hairs or nail clippings involved, no business cards or pictures. I just put it out there in a general way; say ’so mote it be.’ & get back to work.

Whether it was a spell that set the wheels in motion, the Angels hearing 2 people’s prayers or just the path the Gods intended all along, I am now a boyfriend. There is no one more surprised than me, but it is accompanied by feeling very lucky that I made it here. Mind you, I don’t really believe in luck.

My new man is a great guy & a somewhat shy Cancerian. He’s beautiful, warm, smart, communicative & really sweet/romantic. I grew up with female crabs all though my life. But the Cancerian male is a whole other shellfish. He’s better than I expected, honestly. At this point I’m keeping him anonymous only because if you are in my life, you know him & like I said, he is a “somewhat shy Cancerian.” I really honor that, as I am used to dating 4 alarm extroverts. We are going at a healthy & very sweet pace.

We met on Christmas Day as if by chance. We spent New Year’s Eve together at our annual party in my home. We had a magickal night & everyone got along greatly. Seeing each other once or twice a week since, well… it was clear that monogamy was imminent. So I hatched a plan. By Valentine’s Day we made it official. We are now boyfriends.

Let’s just keep in mind that I have been a slut, though one with integrity, for a long time. My road to this guy was a long winding & yes, twisted one. I’m 44. I’ve been out of the closet since junior year of high school.& have experienced True Love, Great Love, Fast Love, Cheap Love, & of course, the turd in the punchbowl, Unrequited Love. All of them were lessons. Each relationship got me consistently clearer about what I want & who I want to be in an intimate, romantic, monogamous relationship. Welcome to my mid-40’s, I’m off the market & in love with a good man. Go Figure! Is nesting soon to follow? He likes to clean. That helps. I don’t.

BTW, it’s not like the lessons stop. Oh no, life goes on for the Witch, the Lover, the Teacher & all the other parts of my Soul. But this man is more than a Lover. He is a companion; responsible, has his shit together & willing to grow into being the best he can be. Who am I not to dance to this music, even though it started with Christmas carols in the air? It happens when you least expect it, right? I honor him & am more than willing to see where this adventure may lead.

Honor

What weaves the first 2 subjects of Fashion & Romance together is what I learned about Honor & how it ties into the Season of Imbolc. Remember, the sabbats aren’t just days, they are full seasons, opportunities to attune to & grow with the cycles of nature; go with the flow. It’s what Witches do. Plugging the sabbat into the 2^nd Chakra & its sacred Truth, “Honor One Another” is the silver thread that ties both evolutions together in my life (See part I & II of this sabbat blog.)

The 2^nd Chakra is umbilical, connecting you to the 2^nd Chakra of every person you had, or have in your life. The quality of that energy determines not only the health of the relationship, but your own spiritual, mental, emotional & physical health as well. Every relationship we have teaches us in terms to get clear about what we want & who we want to be in relationships. I’m not just talking romance & sex here; we’re talking individual relationships with parents, friends, family & even our relationship with Money & Creativity. That’s a lot.

So as I underwent both simultaneous stories of Fashion & Romance, I was able to hold the coordinates of Honor One Another. Even if I didn’t know how to in the moment, I had the desire to honor the person I was dealing with. If I wasn’t honored back eventually, I did something to shift that, usually in myself/honored myself & things worked out perfectly, honor was always restored on both sides.

Wacky huh? You’d think there was magick afoot or something. It was magick perhaps, maybe a few circling spells in the atmosphere decided to land all at once, an enchanted blitzkrieg of sorts. But I also know I did my inner work. I wasn’t trying to manifest anything specifically. I just kept an eye on my internal energies in how they felt. I kepy myself in alignment with Source, Spirit, my Gods etc & I did it only because I wanted to feel good emotionally. As a result I grabbed the brass ring, or in this case 2 beautiful silver boyfriend rings & a new evolving project that bridges the Fashion, Entertainment & Spiritual worlds.

So, who knows what happens next? Ostara is less than a month away & already my calendar looks wild. I guess I’ll just have to keep blogging. I’ll keep you in the loop. But mind you, Mercury turns Retrograde this week. So keep your spell check on & your spells checked 2 or 3 times.

Blessed Be,

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

www.drawingthecircle.com

Imbolic 2013 Part II

So, today is 2/1/2013 & Imbolc is here, depending on who you ask. I will celebrate it tomorrow with some magick & probably a whole box of candles. But today, I just about bounced out of bed before I even realized it’s a High Holy Day. My to-do list is really jammed packed, but I did want to blog a bit more before suiting up & getting things done, as that’s part of what Imbolc is about; Banishing Winter & getting ready for Spring.

Now I know as a business owner that there is always plenty of work to do. There are days that, though I don’t have any events booked, I have plenty of ‘unpaid’ stuff to do. This is true of all of us. There is paperwork, housework & the ever present spiritual work it takes to keep us in balance. But what makes life fun, most of the time, is the creativity that we get to employ as we go.

For example, I have been working with one of my best friends Eila Mell for the past few years in the world of fashion. I left that world many years ago, in my teens, when I tried my hand/face/body as a model. I hated it. It was impossible for me at the time to balance my internal growth, which I chose to do, with the rigors of being evaluated purely on how I looked. I burnt out after a year of small success & huge rejection, which is what modeling entails for all but the few. Soon after that I began teaching & found my true career doing so.

Eila is a fashion journalist & I felt called to help her out as an assistant. It was like the Gods said, “GO HELP HER!” with wry, knowing smiles on all 12 of their faces. If you go back in my blog to September of last year I wrote quite a bit about my experiences at New York Fashion Week 9/2012 & how I somehow miraculously managed to keep my spiritual balance. To date I have assisted her through 2 books, New York Fashion Week: the Designers, the Models, the Fashions of the BryantPark Era & Project Runway: The Show that Changed Fashion as well as 3 years of 2 Fashion Weeks per year.

Well, guess what? Fashion week starts next Thursday & we are already booked pretty consistently with events & a new project. No Wire Hangers, is a TV show we have been working on for the past few months & are ready to start shooting. Check out the Facebook Page at No Wire Hangers.

Thankfully I have a behind the scenes roll as a writer for the series. Actually, I am a comedy writer for it, so I don’t have to know dick about fashion in any way that requires expertise. That’s Eila’s gig, as well as Viktor Luna’s specialty. Viktor is a fashion designer & at this point best known for being in the top 3 of Project Runway’s Season 9. He’s a lot of fun to work with & as I get to know him better, I find he’s more of a Virgo than I am, in a very cool, stylish & detailed way. It's a great project to be included in & I get to pitch a billion idea of which maybe a million are funny, 'nuff said.

What does this have to do with Imbolc? Well, just about everything. We started ‘dreaming’ this all up right before Yule, 12/21.2012. It makes sense that with the creativity of the Season of Imbolc/Rebirth, that we would start giving it legs, shooting footage, editing & all of that now. It is slated to be presented to the public during Spring or the Season of Ostara, where we actually see the flowers, buds & eventually blooms.

As usual, my career is creative & takes me into new places that, seriously, I never thought I would be guided into. TV? Really? That’s where the Gods want me, at least for now? OK, says the Elder Witch in me. Do your best & kick as much magickal ass as you can, keep uplifting people & by all means have fun as you go. So you see, this season can be an amazing time of creativity, especially in how we see things. 

Creative thinking is at on the rise now & for the next month or so, so seek to see things differently. You have zero idea where it is leading, no one ever does. But if you bring that fun, saucy 2^nd Chakra energy to it (see last blog) you can really enjoy the ride & the adventure as it unfolds regardless of outcome. For now, all I have to do is keep my energy up & the funny coming. It is an adventure for sure.

Speaking of adventures, you know I am ever a pawn in the Gods' game of love & romance. Yes my Dears, I am dating someone on a more than occasional basis. This too is all about Imbolc, the 2nd Chakra & all that jizz, I mean Jazz.. I met him on Christmas Day. He is really wonderful & I consider him the best Christmas Gift I have ever gotten. Again, no idea where it is headed, but I know that if I keep my symbolic coordinates clear in my view, I will navigate this well & possibly end up with an actual 'regular' boyfriend.

It’s true, I may actually commit monogamy. I make it sound like an illegal act don’t I? Well, what do you want from someone who has spent years as a Spiritual & Ethical Slut? 

But more of that later in Part III where will sum this up with the Sacred Truth of the 2nd Chakra, "Honor One Another." Yep, it all dovetails, so check back again soon. In other words...

(To be continued, again)

Click here for Part III

Blessed Be,

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

 www.drawingthecircle.com

Imbolc 2013 Part I

 

The Goddess Brigit. Imbolc is Her day

There is a lot going on. As this writing 1/30/2013, Jupiter just turned direct after 4 months of a retrograde & I can feel it gearing up to plow forward. How lovely that it happens right before 2/2, the sabbat (holy day)  of Imbolc, also known as Candlemas & of course, Groundhog’s Day. The Sun will be halfway through the sign of Aquarius, 15 degrees at the precise moment & it marks midwinter with another month & a half till spring.

This is the first cross-quarter in the Wheel of the Year. Everyone knows the 4 seasonal quarters. They mark the beginning of each of the 4 season of which everyone is aware, Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall. However, it seems mostly Pagans & Witches know about the cross-quarters, each bisecting each of the traditional 4 seasons. So, imagine a wheel with 4 equidistant spokes, then add 4 more, also equidistant. This is the 8-fold Wheel of the Year & my long-term magickal clock.

OK, so we’re moving into Imbolc, the Season of Rebirth. Yes, at Yule, the Sun was reborn & the cycle began again. But the sabbat before Yule is Samhain, marking the 3 month Season of Death. Imbolc ends that cycle with a theme of rebirth & indeed, creativity.

We have 8 sabbats that match & correspond with 8 Chakras; the basic 7 + the 8^th Chakra that hovers above the head. Each of these seasons gives us an opportunity to clear up a chakra in tandem with nature’s cycle of the seasons. In other words; the astrological & seasonal tides for each sabbat, Imbolc in this case, is perfect symbolic weather for working with the 2^nd Chakra, the Sacrum.

The Sacrum is an amazing Chakra, it manages the powers of 1 on 1 relationships, sexuality, money & more relevant to me at the moment, creativity. Yes, it is the sexual chakra & no wonder that Valentine’s Day falls within its season. Taken literally, sexual energy is creative energy, as it can create not just a new human, but drive us out into the world to make our way, hopefully for the better. This is also why, “Thunder only happens when it’s raining. Players only love you when they’re playing.”

Nicks aside, it really is a good idea to do some research on the 2^nd Chakra. The Sacrum is a very vital part of the whole energy system. No more or less important than any other, but without it, life is blah. It’s been called ‘the pump of the Kundalini system. In other words, it helps you get ‘it’ up. But ‘it’ is about creativity, drive, ambition & the desire to connect with another person or thing in an individual way. Yeah, it's also about boinking.

Here is a link to Caroline Myss’s website, specifically to the page on Chakras. This is a resource I have turned to many times over the decades, helping me to decode what’s going on in my energetically. The Flash presentation is really useful & puts new coordinates into the Chakras in a very practical way.

http://myss.com/library/chakras/

Check it out, think on this & check back soon for Part II.

(To be continued)

Part II

http://professionalwitch.blogspot.com/2013/02/imbolic-2013-part-ii.html 

Blessed Be,

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

 www.drawingthecircle.com

Yule 2012: Parties & Pouches & Wands

At this writing it is a little less than 3 days before Yule or Winter Solstice, which will be on Friday, December 21^st at 6:12am. Considering what has transpired less than a week ago, I ask you to forgive me in advance for the omission of tragic events that are being chronicled consistently in every type of media available. Though this does not surprise me; understanding the cyclic tides of nature, marking us clearly in the last few days of the season of Samhain, the last spoke of the Wheel of the Year, the season of Death. Even with the moon in Pisces, my natal Moon, it is hard to escape the somberness cast by recent tragedies. But still, were it not for my vocation as a reverend, I would certainly succumb to the waves, but cannot. It may be in my nature to slumber in somber, but there is too much to be done in preparation for what is easily one of the busiest weeks of my year.

You see, I am a Witch, to the bone & to my boots. I understand the mysteries of death. It comes with the job I suppose. If I have learned anything, it is that death, though apparently real in this world, is in itself unreal, an illusion to the immortal & eternal part of me. Thankfully this part of me is becoming more dominant in my awareness as I grow in my path of wisdom through experience. So it is that among all of the tasks on my to-do list that I must now gradually & gently turn my focus to Yule & the rebirth of the Sun. For in truth, there is no death without rebirth. We see this is nature & surely this applies to all of us; eternal beings clothed temporarily in the disguise of humanity.

Yule is indeed a time of good cheer, as what once seemed to die is slowly on the rise in its rebirth. Though the land will slumber until March & Ostara/Spring Equinox, the Sun itself will begin to rise day by day; lengthening the light minute by minute until it reaches its height 6 months from now at Litha/Summer Solstice. So I am challenged to not just shift my focus, but to embody this rebirth through a somewhat cautious optimism. I must do this, for the events ahead of me dictate it so. Not in some facsimile of joy, but to really reach for it & become that joy. It is what my path dictates & I am its willing pilgrim on that path.

In a few hours I will be attending a dear friend’s birthday party. The following day I will attend a lunch with that same friend & others that I meet with weekly. It is a treasured break from my work & career as a Professional Witch, where I get to laugh & be snarky for a few hours. Then Thursday we host our annual Silver Broom & Drawing the Circle’s Yule party at our center in Sayville. It is a well attended event each year, one where we gather to recognize that the rebirth we all seek is indeed coming. Because of Hurricane Sandy, we did not meet for our annual Halloween Party, so the community is most likely chomping at the bit for a party, a reprieve from the mundane craziness of the holidays.

Each year Amy & I craft Yule Pouches as gifts to all who attend. In each pouch is a combination of herbs & crystals chosen to signify intentions desired to manifest over the next Wheel of the Year. It is our tradition that we have become very adept at creating. I also post the spell & its ingredients each year so those who cannot attend can attempt at making their own pouch, or at least work the spell in their own creative ways. Here is the spell & its ingredients. I wish you all the best of success with it:

Yule Spell 2012:

Happy, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

Ingredients:

Happy - Catnip, Lavender, Witchgrass, Blue Lace Agate

Healthy - Spikenard, Galangal, Nutmeg,

Wealthy - Basil, Cedar, Cinnamon Oil, Mint, Aventurine

Wise - Sage

As the Yuletide Sun does rise,

With all the power it implies,

Waxing Sun with full surprise

Now manifest before my eyes.

All the good that does comprise

Happy, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise.

For the Highest Good & Harming none,

as I will it, so let it be done.

So Mote it Be!

You can see that we chose herbs & stones to correlate to each intention of Happy, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise. Though some of the ingredients may be a bit obscure like Galangal & Spikenard, I’m sure that a simple list of correspondences will suffice to help you choose easier to find substitutions. But what gives me so much joy is the making of these pouches & with Amy. We have become a well oiled machine of spell crafting. We cranked out 111 of them in under an hour. No easy feat, though the choosing of ingredients & the actual writing of the spell took me weeks. But should you make your own, or get one at one of the parties, I wish you all the happiness, health, wealth & wisdom that it inspires.

One thing that has given me great joy & distraction this passing Samhain season is the crafting of wands & staffs. I haven’t put my hand to craft other than magickally in decades. My own artistic endeavors have been in the spoken word alone for a long time. So it was with great surprise that I find myself obsessed somewhat with the making of these wooden objects, each a work of art for me, even if for me alone. They will make up the majority of gifts that I will give this year, at least to my magickal family. Yes, I am selling them at The Silver Broom’s shop is Sayville as well, with the proceeds going to help the Broom as well as myself get the bills paid.

The wood came from the trees that fell during the storm, as well as from a Sweet Chestnut tree that died this past year. Mother Maple, one of my biggest & most beloved trees threw off half of her wood during the hurricane. So it was with fierce determination that I set about the rebirthing of the form of wood into something truly magical & precious. Wands & staffs are surely more akin to Witches nowadays thanks to  Harry Potter. This is why I will ask each I give a wooden gift to, to go to the Broom & select their own. After all, the Wand chooses the Witch.

But I cannot escape the symbolism of the death of the trees being reborn as wands. It is what has kept my head down to my work; barking, sanding, carving, wood-burning & varnishing each piece. It has been my open eyed meditation. It has also provided me with a new vocation if you will. I have become an Ollivander of sorts; though the core of each are the wood itself, my own passion & intention sculpted into a new form, from that which has fallen.

Is this not what Yule is? Do we not look back over the past year & seek to identify the best through appreciation? Even in our New Year’s resolutions we seek to plant new seeds for growth based on the dead year left behind. So it is that I will, after this posting, get in the shower, go get a strong Venti Starbucks Latte & shift my vibration upward. I will party among the best of them this week, keep my focus held diligently, if not gently, toward the good that must come with the season if I look for it. Then, when the dust has settled, the tinsel packed away & the parties subsided, I will step into the a new year with my company, ministry & coven; wishing for myself & all I meet the very best that constitutes a life lived Happy, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise.

Blessed Be,

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

 www.drawingthecircle.com

Yule Sale ends Thursday, December 20th at Midnight!

Hey People,
I'm doing a Yule Sale for readings!
Buy a Gift Certificate for a 30 minute reading for $30 or an hour reading for $50 with Mark.
Purchase at The Silver Broom Ministries or online at:
 http://drawingthecircle.com/products/readings-and-sessions/
Sale ends Thursday, December 20th at Midnight.
Gift Certificates will be honored at the discounted price throughout 2013.