Witchclass Cycle One

 

New Cycle start Monday, April 21st, from 7pm. 

$10 per class, pay as you go.

The Silver Broom

46 Railroad Ave, Sayville NY 11782

This is our longest running class series.
Amy Krinner, my best friend & High Priestess, started teaching together 16 years ago to help clarify, educate & provide feedback to the burgeoning amount of information on Witchcraft.

We offer 3 different cycles on Witchcraft:

• Witchclass Cycle One: The Basic Art & Science
• Witchclass Cycle Two: Spellbook
• Witchclass cycle Three: Gods & Goddesses.

The cycles need not be taken in order & are geared toward practical application & living a magickal life.

For more information check out our website at www.drawingthecircle.com. or drop us a message at DrawingTheCircle@aol.com.

Blessed Be

Rev. Mark A. Lyons

~~~~~~

Witchclass Cycle One Description & Curriculum:

Whether you’re a Witch, a Witch in training, or just curious, these classes are a fun introduction to the Craft.

With a focus on the Witch’s Rede: “An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will” students learn the basics in the Art & Science of Witchcraft.

Join us for another cycle of this educational & enjoyable journey through the basics of Witchcraft. This 13 week series is in its 14th year of bringing together Witches of every race, age & spiritual background. We have trained Mothers & Daughters, Sisters & Wives. We have taught husbands & brothers, boyfriends & co-workers alike. We have made friends. We have discovered family. We have woven a community strand by strand.

Classes 1 through 11 are open. Classes 12 and 13 are closed,
Private Make up classes are available upon request.

Class One – The Basics of Witchcraft: What is a Witch? What is Witchcraft? Discussions on: the Witches Rede poetic version, the 13 principals of Witchcraft, Grounding / Centering, Witchcraft as an Art & Science. What is a Book of Shadows?

Class Two – Elements & Sacred Space: What are the 5 elements? Discussion of: elemental correspondences, the Pentacle, Altars, Purifying / creating sacred space

Class Three – Basic Spell Casting: How do you cleanse & consecrate? Discussion of: proper spell ingredients, symbolic correspondences, timing Magick with the Moon, phrasing your Intent, wording, taglines & loopholes for safe & effective magick.

Class Four -Astrology ( Intermediate Spell Casting): How Astrology effects Magick & Spellwork. Planet / Sign / House / Intent correspondences. Astrological aspects & spellwork (New & Full Moon alignments)

Class Five – Gods & Goddesses (Advanced Spell Casting): How Spirit = Energy, Plugging spells into divinity, Discussion of different pantheons, Gods & Goddesses Correspondences.

Class Six – The Wheel of the Year: Discussion of: the 8 holidays (holy days) of the Witch’s year, the 4 seasonal quarters, the 4 seasonal cross quarters, Seasonal Correspondences, Long-term spellwork, Ceremony / Ritual ideas.

Class Seven – Circle Casting: What is a Magickal Circle ? What does it do & how does it work? Programming circles. 6 easy to use versatile Circle Casts How to write circle casts for all occasions. Hands on demonstration.

Class Eight – Quarter Calls: What is a Quarter Call? Differences between Elements & Elementals. The how-to’s of Quarter calling: stirring, summoning, calling. How to close Quarters & Extensive directional correspondences

Class Nine – Divination: How a Witch uses divination. We discuss: Tarot, Runes, pendulum work, scrying & other oracles in the use of witchcraft. Several quick & easy spreads to help you fine-tune your magick.

Class Ten – Magickal Tools: Elemental correspondences with the different tools. How tools are used to focus our own inner power.
Magickal Tools show & tell. Fundamental teaching that “The Power is in the Witch.

Class Eleven – Ethics & Etiquette & Cycle Review: What is expected of a proper witch in public ceremonies: Before, During & After ceremony. Ethical do’s & don’ts when; applying specific spellwork, healing, in public& when binding / banishing. A review of classes 1 – 10

Class Twelve – Ritual Design: Application of all that was learned in the first 11 classes. Basic ritual outlines from start to finish. The whole class participates in designing the Graduation Ceremony.

Class Thirteen – Graduation Ceremony: Performance of the Ritual designed in Class 12.

Certificates of Completion given to each student.

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

Full Moon 2014: The Divine Order Potion

  
The Divine Order Potion

By Pisces Sun & Virgo Moon.

God & Goddess in perfect Tune.

 

Jasmine & Lemon Pisces Sun

By your Magick Our Will be done.

 

Virgo Moon’s Lavender 

& Mint

Upon this water, now imprint.

 

Pisces Water & Virgo Salt

Divine Order we now Exalt

 

Holy Water, Sacred Brine

Their blessings be on you Divine

 

That all you touch will blessed be

With Order of Divinity.

 

With ease & grace you now preserve

The path we walk to craft & serve.

 

For the Highest Good & Harming None

As I will it so let it be done.

 

SMIB

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The truth is, Divine Order is always at work in our lives.

But if our lenses are cloudy, we can't see it.

This potion will help to clear you & whatever it touches in a way that can bring you & it into the flow.

Here's the Spell Outline:

• What do I want?: 
• To make a Holy Water based potion
• blessed with high emotion
• to release all aspects of life into the flow of  Divine Order

• Why do I want it?: 
• So I can relax into the process & know for once & for all
• that all aspects from big/general
• to small /specific are being handled by the Divine.
• In this I can relax & trust, go downstream,
• enjoy the ride knowing all is in Divine Order.
• Emotional Guidance Scale of Content to Joy.

• When: 
• Sunday March 16^th, Sun in Pisces, Moon in Virgo at 1:08pm

• Supplies:
• 1 Gallon of Water
• Essential Oils
• Jasmine 6 drops
• Lavender 6 drops
• Lemon 6 drops
• Peppermint 6 drops
• Bottles to decant (misters & spray bottles are fun too.)
• Stones
• Arrange 6 stones in a hexagon around the bowl of water, oils & salt.
• 1 Cup of Salt
• Carnelian-Jade-Jasper-Sapphire - Virgo
•  Amethyst-Aquamarine-Clear Quartz- Pisces 
• Large Bowl
• Wooden Spoon 

• Directions:
• Find a steady feeling place about your life in general
• or any subject you like.
• anywhere from Contentment to Joy.
• Pour most but not necessarily all the water in the bowl
•  set aside the smaller bottles for decanting.
• Place the salt with the bowl & the oils
• Surround with 6 of any of the stones listed above .
• Any combo will do, even if you only have 6 of 1 stone.
• Chant each line as you add each ingredient.
• Keep chanting the line until the ingredient is added
• & stirred deosil (clockwise) at least 3X with a wooden spoon
•   before continuing to the next line / ingredient.
• When all ingredients are added,
•  chant the spell with as much feeling as you can.
• Even if you are feeling Ease & Contentment,
• say it with that feeling.
• Charge the water with this feeling as you stir.
• When the power peaks finish the spell with so mote it be.
• Keep the feeling as long as you can, as the water settles.
• Ground & Center
• Add the Holy Water into the rest of the gallon of water
• Shake & decant into smaller bottles.

It's a water based potion, so it's all about emotion, but not made for drinking.

Blessed Full Moon & let me know how it goes.

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

A Leo Moon Spell for your Heart’s Desire

 

  

On this night & in this hour

I draw down Leo Moon Power

Focus on my heart’s desire

clears a path with Leo’s Fire.

Joyful & Easy, Warm & Fun

As I will it so let it be done.

So Mote it be!

  ~~~~~

This year the Leo Full Moon falls on a Friday that just happens to also be Valentine's Day. That is a powerful symbolic & planetary alignment. I suggest candle magick of any kind. 

The trick is to focus your mind (Sun in Aquarius) upon your heart's desire (Moon in Leo) without any contradicting thought or resistance. 

Hold the uncontradicted desire while you light a candle & chant the words, feeling as joyful, easy, warm & fun as you can.

Then just chill, let it go. Go have fun any way you can, small or large. Enjoy yourself & let things unfold. When you notice the candle, just bask for as long as 68 seconds & you allow the magick to flow even more.

Blessed Full Moon

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

Imbolc 2014: From a Bonfire to a Candle

 Imbolc 2014: From a Bonfire to a Candle

Imbolc/Midwinter is here. Thank the Gods! But it always comes. It is part of the cycle, another spoke of the Wheel of the Year. Imbolc is the 2^nd sabbat in the Wheel. It marks the halfway point of the Winter season, Groundhog’s Day, Feb 2^nd. 

Well, the scheduled day is always February 2^nd. But the astrological moment when the Sun hits 15 degrees Aquarius (Astrological cross quarter) is often days later. This year it falls on Tuesday February 4^th.

One of the biggest Witch’s tricks is aligning with the best of wherever you are in the solar & lunar cycles. It sounds so simple, but is not always easy. But hey, surfing the tides of nature is what being a Witch is to me. It is just wiser in my experience to align with the flow of nature & go downstream. 

 

Am I “24/7” about it? Is anyone? 

Of course I’m not. I forget every day. But that’s why sabbats are significant for me. They are reminders in my calendar with strong symbolic power. I get to choose whether or not I remember to let go, find clarity & cast my spells into that flow.

I usually have 1 spell that I will start at Yule & repeat at each following sabbat for the year. I know exactly what I’m going to cast this sabbat & the following through the year.

I’ve found by teaching the Craft over the decades that it doesn’t matter at what point someone starts doing ‘sabbat work.’ The flow is always present, just slow down. Focus on where you are in the Wheel & tune yourself to it.

Each sabbat gives a different passage into that same flow, if you want it enough. The more you know about the sabbats, the more opportunities you get to access the flow.

All the sabbats are solar, so I work with the element of fire; the power of desire & will. Will is about choice & decision. Think about the choice to light a fire under your ass or to a decision to pursue your passion.

Because the magick I start at Yule is my seed intention for the year, I cast with a big ass Yule Fire. Yule is Birth & it takes a lot of energy to birth something. My coven builds a big pyre in our big fire cauldron outside. We cast our spells into it. Like the one I blogged about this past December.

Now at Imbolc, I work candle magick. A bonfire is nice, but personally, it’s way too cold to stand outside for that long.  A candle is more focused than a pyre & easier to tend.

Imbolc is also called Candlemas by other traditions & religions, a day of blessing candles. So we have a gigantic group mind / thought-form momentum adding power. It is a big wave to ride.

 

 

Imbolc is also associated with the 2^nd Chakra, right below the navel. 

• It’s our sex drive, creativity & ‘gut feelings’ in a very yes/no way. ‘Go with your gut’ is highlighted.   

•  In Sanskrit it is Svadhisthana: One's own place or sweetest abode. 

•  It is associated with Yesod the Kabalistic Sefirot from the Tree of Life, a phallic / creative power. 

•  The Christian Sacrament is Communion. Which to me is about seeing the sacred context within any 1 on 1 relationship.

• The corresponding Grace is Piety. A word we have lost the true meaning of.  

•  The Shadow is Greed which makes sense in dealing with the sex, money & power aspects of the chakra.

•  For me, all of these are encapsulated in the Sacred Truth of the 2^nd Chakra, “Honor One Another.” 

So here’s how I boil it down for myself. Imbolc is linked to the 2^nd Chakra which manages the power of 1 on 1 relationships: my relationship to other individuals, my relationship with money, my relationship with The Divine is even highlighted here because the common name of the 2^nd Chakra is The Sacral Chakra, indicating sacred.

 

It’s a lot to cast for. So I'm taking the Aquarian route, since it is so astrologically available. Rise above it for awhile. See the larger picture. Get clarity about what I want for the whole. Cast for it, then go with the flow. It should be an interesting sabbat as it is also Superbowl Sunday.

So, if you are going to bet, bet with your 2^nd Chakra.

Amongst all of this, I’m getting ready for New York Fashion Week this coming Thursday so… Yeah, I know what I’m casting for along with my spell for this year.

At the moment I’m writing this, it is just after New Moon on Thursday January 30^th. So, the magick has already begun. I just did quite a lovely bit of spellwork at my altar & have a charming little talisman to conceal during NYFW. I do every year actually. 

I’m not kidding when I say I’m a Professional Witch! 

Every little bit of magick I can do now & through till next Thursday is only going to make this year's fashion adventure more fun than ever. 

 

So I encourage you, take some time before Sunday to slow down, chill & ask for clarity of desire. Get in touch with what you really want for your life. Think about it. Focus your mind – Aquarius – Fixed Air/Thought. Then zap it in a candle that goes with what you want. Anoint it with oil that matches (Olive Oil works in a pinch) and have at it.

Whether you are strengthening & focusing on what you started at Yule, starting something new, or coming your first time to Imbolc, really… Have at it! Feel the power of your own fire & it will illuminate steps ahead on your way toward it. 

Take the steps that feel best & then light up again. 

(I realize that last part is going to be interpreted in many ways, but I mean self illumination.)

Go with the flow folks. I wish you the best of the best of the season, because that’s what I want too. May it find you & wish me luck for Fashion Week.

Blessed Imbolc. 

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