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

Saturday Afternoon Readings with Mark

Due to the cancellation of The Tarot Workshop I am free to do readings this coming Saturday starting at 1pm.

Sessions booked at The Silver Broom Ministries in Sayville: 46 Railroad Ave. are $75 for an hour & $50 for the 1/2 hour. All readings are by appointment only.

Here is a link to the Intuitive & Tarot page on the DTCP website.
http://drawingthecircle.com/rev-mark-a-lyons/readings-with-mark-a-lyons/

Oh yeah, you can also do the PayPal thing here:
http://drawingthecircle.com/products/readings-and-sessions/

Is He/She Right for me Spell ?

Sun and Moon Spell ~ Is he/she right for me?

I haven't used this spell in years, but I plan to very soon. 

Dating is always so... interesting. 

So why not tilt the scales in your favor when favoring a new perspective belle or beau. 

I suggest doing this 2 part spell in 2 parts approximately 12 hours apart. 

Do the Sun Spell by Daylight & the Moon Spell by Moonlight.

Sun:

On this day and in this hour

I call upon the Sun’s great power.

I ask thee to create for me

A perfect opportunity.

A place to talk, a place to meet

Divinely led and discreet.

So I can see if it’s meant to be 

for ____________ to be with me.

For the Highest Good & Harming None, 

as I will it, so let it be done. 

So mote it be!

Moon:

On this night and in this hour

I call upon the Moon’s great power.

I ask for thee to give to me

Divinely led imagery.

Through my dreams please show me

If ____________ is meant to be with me.

For the Highest Good & Harming None, 

as I will it, so let it be done.  

So mote it be! 

Dating & the Single Witch

It is no secret that I enjoy my personal time. As a Professional Witch, I don’t get much of it. My schedule is so packed with work, both internal & external. The pursuit of happiness is daily & relies heavily on my spiritual practice & on the whole, I am very happy with the way my life is, as is. My coven is strong & healthy. My company is steadily growing & the Silver Broom Ministries is holding its own, getting better with each passing Moon Cycle.

Yet, the idea of Love, at least in the romantic/sexual sense has always been… tricky for me. Dating in particular has always been a tightrope walk, especially since I came out as a Witch. I have always been a Witch, even before I knew what name to call what I am. Recently I have faced a great deal of contrast on the subject.

With all of this internet connecting going on, where a person sees a picture & reads a brief profile, it’s never been so easy to meet someone in absentia. But the processes of ‘getting to know you’ cue Anna (musical theatre reference) those beginning questions are always a litmus test when perspective suitors ask me even the most basic questions.

“What do you do for a living?” Oh really? Do I have to answer this right now? Don’t you want to know how big my… ‘bishop’ is first? Most do. The temptation to lie outright is strong, but that’s not who I am. How easy it is to say, I am a teacher, which is true, just not the whole truth. Like it or not, Professional Witch is the truthful answer & I have come to consider that answer ‘asshole repellant.’ Those who can’t handle it, thinking I eat babies & worship Satan run, run as fast as they can (You can’t catch me I’m the muggle/once born man.)

That I don’t mind so much, as I said, ‘asshole repellant.’ If they can’t handle the Witch thing well, how are they ever going to handle everything in my life that comes with it? But what’s worse are those who find it so very… interesting. 

“No, I won’t cast a spell on you,” I have replied so many times. Mind you, I said won’t not can’t. (BTW, you just gave me permission to do so.) No, I don’t fly on a broom; the most air I have ever gotten is about 3 feet off the ground. But I can summon a storm with one. Not exactly good 1^st date conversation. Let’s not get into how many times I’ve been asked if they can come to an orgy that I surely must lead at Full Moon. Not that we’re not a decent looking group but, no, we don’t practice skyclad & orgies… not my thing. I am a Virgo, remember.

But, I recently started dating a Capricorn named Ken. I call him Capriken, in my head at least. He’s really beautiful, like, devastatingly beautiful. Blue eyes I could scry in & a body… well, let’s just say, he’s a work of art. But being a Cap, he’s also a piece of work. How we met is a saga in itself & too private to share here. But when we did meet, it was like lightning struck. The connection was undeniable, though we both try very hard to deny it. He was OK with the Witch thing at first, or so I thought.

The first date had its usual common Witch comments from him. But they were shared in playfulness, which is fine. I don’t take myself that seriously, which is one of my hardest won powers. Nor do I take anything that personally, thank you Don Miguel Ruiz. But by the 2^nd date, when he saw where I live & how I live, it must have hit home. I live in a Witch’s cottage on the water & there are altars all over the place. He didn’t run screaming from my home. In fact, the date was good, up until the very end. As we were sitting in his car after dinner (Taco Bell, a man after my own fart) he said something that I knew, but for some reason lanced through my gut.

“You know, when you tell people you are Witch, they think you are crazy.” No shit, really? Have you met my family? No, you haven’t. What he meant was, when you told ME you were a Witch, I thought you were crazy. That was our last date & by that I mean the last time we saw each other face to face. He has kept in touch but, being a Cap, who knows if it is his schedule or his fear that keeps him from ‘doing dinner’ again.

Look, I know people think I am crazy when they find out that I ‘think I am a Witch.’ Oh yeah, I think it alright. But I also have the healthy coven, love of friends & prosperity to show at least I am good at it. So I don’t mind if they think I am crazy, ‘crazy like a fox’ comes to mind, though I am more of a lion than a fox, more predator than prey totemically.

So, letting Capriken do his thing, I turn my gaze once again toward other Witches, Pagans & other Magickal Folk. But that’s no bargain either. Dating within your religion may work for many, but not so much for me. It has never worked out, except maybe for a sabbat fling, a Moon Tide or long enough to fulfill some long ago made karmic agreement. It just turns into a power struggle eventually. I made a decision long ago to become the most powerful Witch I can be & mind you knowledge isn’t power, WISDOM is. Wisdom comes from experience & that, especially with men, I have in scores, pardon the entendre.

I am a powerful Witch, in many ways. I ride the cycles of nature, mark the Wheel of the Year & keep my eyes on the moon for timing. I know when to lay low & when to blaze brilliantly, like a volume dial on my energy field. The power struggle is usually political unfortunately. No, I’m not going to tell you my secrets, I just met you. No, you can’t see my book of shadows yet, we just met. I’d rather you meet my Mother first & if you can survive Hera, then maybe you’ll appreciate what lay written within its pages.

Even when it does work out, they want to take classes, join the coven etc. I have a rule about dating coven members; I don’t, nor do I date students. The power dynamic is too unbalanced in my favor. But I’ve given it a shot for what it is worth, more wisdom of course. In the end, in those cases, I do the ritual to turn a Lover into a Brother. It isn’t easy, but I got good at it after the 100^th time. It’s not so bad, as it has yielded many knowing glances in circle & inside jokes over the years.

So, here I am a single, successful & pretty powerful Witch. I love to date, albeit the inquisition aspect. I get to mix it up a bit & hopefully get dinner out of it, if not the occasional boink. But I also have immense knowing that whether single forever in this life, I am happy. I know my Gods have plans for me & single or partnered, I’ll be fine. No, better than fine, powerful, loved & evolving toward being the best I can be. I’ll sort the rest out after I croak.

Besides, if I do indeed have a Soulmate, a term I detest by the normal definition, then I have a few. They are all women & with them at my side & in my life I will always have a hand to take mine & an ear to share my highs & woes about men with. They get me, know I am not crazy & are always willing to help me keep my balance on the dating tightrope.

Capriken? Well, we’ll see. I’d love to gaze into those beautiful blue eyes again. Maybe they cast their own spell on me. But knowing the tides & seasons of the Wheel as I do, I’m fine with riding the wave & seeing what happens next.

Blessed Be,

Mark A Lyons

Professional Witch

www.DrawingTheCircle.com

Follow me on Twitter @ProfWitch

PS. Guess who just texted me? I suppose my laptop is an inadvertent magickal tool. Who knew?