The Marriage of Beltane

The Marriage of Beltane

Beltane is always a very powerful time of year for me. It is the spoke of the Wheel of the Year where I really look back & clearly see an unbroken line of my path. Any & every sabbat can do that if we work it. I do. 15 & 8 years ago I started Drawing the Circle Productions; then with Amy & Kathy, The Silver Broom Ministries was born. Figuratively speaking I have a 15 year old boy & an 8 year old girl. But this blog isn’t about children, not directly. Beltane is about children… the making of them. It begins the Season of Fertility.

This blog is about the masculine principle & the feminine principle joining in a creative act. This isn’t about gender or genitalia. It is about Yin & Yang, Solar & Lunar & of course, God & Goddess. Since the Gods live within us, it is the Marriage of our own opposites like intuition & intellect, heart & head, etc. Regardless of your relationship status, you have a relationship within yourself that has the opportunity to find balance then join, for a time, to create something.

Beltane is symbolically linked with 4^th Chakra, the Heart. It’s Christian sacrament coordinate is Marriage. The Sphere is Tif’eret/Harmony-Balance on the Kabalistic Tree of Life. The synchronicity of symbolism at Beltane points to an opportunity to bring Divine Power through our hearts. Imagine emerald green light shooting from your hearts, like a cross between Green Lantern & Katy Perry in the Firework video.

 

In Brightest Day, Boom, Boom, Boom!

Then, there’s what is actually manifesting around me physically. This year at our annual Beltane Party my best friend is getting married to her man of over 11 years. It’s taking place in our backyard as the ceremony kicking off the ensuing Fire & Ice party. Amy is one of my best friends, my housemate, my business partner & the High Priestess to the coven we started 18 years ago, our oldest daughter.

Rich & Amy

Yeah, Amy is the other parent to all of my children. Our marriage is one of many things, but we have aptly been called The Wiccan Will & Grace, though not technically Wiccan. Amy is getting Handfasted to her fiancée Rich, who I have known & loved for over a decade. They will be surrounded by over 100 friends & family (Closer to 150 at the moment) and of course, an ice luge.

I shall name her Lila L'Luge

The luge isn’t actually being used in the ceremony. Though, that would be cool. I will keep it in mind should I ever literally tie the knot. The luge arrives after the ceremony & has become one of our personal & community traditions. Dionysus (God of Wine) is my Patron God. Because of that I don’t drink much; a paradox that makes sense to me. But at Beltane… I sorta make up for it. This year I will do my best to not be a dripping tear of joy hot mess for more than 15 minutes. The blessing of having all this happen at my home is I can make costume changes as many times as Cher in Vegas. So if I do get sloppy I am a quick shower & Moroccan Oil application away from looking my best again… Gods willing.

Not what I am wearing.

This year Beltane is close to overwhelming & hasn’t even hit yet. If each sabbat is a gong we ring & the echo carries throughout the 3 month season, then this year we are hitting it hard & with a lot of Love. The echo will be strong.

The Sacred Truth of the Heart Chakra is “Love is Divine Power.” Let’s see, at least 100 Witches & Pagans in attendance, the Handfasting of 2 people who are so very dearly loved, by me & concentric circles of hundreds of people. My back yard lawn is already a sacred space. It is about to become an exceptionally powerful vortex of Divine Power.

The funny thing is, we can do that anywhere, anytime; in our back yards or bathrooms it doesn’t matter. Great big huge sabbat blasts are great… I mean, yeah, wow. I usually need a good lie down & a cigarette after. But the energy we raise all year long builds a foundation for the powerful, pulsing and release of power that a sabbat can provide if we work it.

Dionysus with hidden thyrsus.

I’ll be working it. I am spring cleaning my house in Virgo detail. I am almost there with a week to go. When I tune in to the actual day my heart flies open. I’ll be spending the party with my man Jose at my side, drink in hand, surrounded by the most fun people I know & laughing so hard I cry.

That is my wish for all of you, for Beltane of course, but also for the entire Season of Fertility.

May you be surrounded by those you love.

May your heart open & Divine Power flow through it.

May you laugh so hard you cry as often as possible

& may the Sacred Marriage of God & Goddess,

Solar & Lunar,

Yin & Yang

be manifest within your hearts,

little by little,

all season long.

So Mote It Be!

But… get the powerful, potent, pulsing, pleasurable, primal, Pagan release of power when you can.

Blessed Be & Blessed Beltane!

Rev. Mark A. Lyons.

Drawing the Circle Productions INC.
DrawingtheCircle@aol.com
631-968-8307 @ProfWitch on Twitter
www.drawingthecircle.com

In times of national tragedy...

 

"In times of national tragedy it is a challenge to reach for a higher vibration. Even in personal times of sadness, it often feels inappropriate to turn gently towards optimism. Yet if we look to the lives of the masters, those who came before us & graduated Earth School, we see that reaching higher is exactly what they did. Whether it is through prayer, meditation, charity, outreach, what have you; they attained mastery trough the focus of their minds & the opening of their hearts. That is when your spiritual practice matters the most & takes you the furthest."

Rev. Mark A. Lyons

Understanding Ostara

Understanding Ostara

Ostara is the third sabbat of the Witch’s Wheel of the Year. It is a sacred, holy day (holiday) as it marks the first day of Spring. In about a month & a half we enter The Season of Beltane/Fertility. I love Ostara, though if I have to pick a favorite sabbat, it is Beltane (May 1) but Ostara comes in a close second because it really is an enlivening time for me personally.

Where I live Spring really explodes. Here on the South Shore of Long Island we experience all four seasons full blast. One day it is freezing cold & the next it is sunny & warm, regardless of Groundhog predictions. The Sun makes its way into the first degree of the Fire Sign Aries & all the internal prep work we’ve done since Yule (Dec 21) starts externalizing like Crocus & Daffodils breaking through the surface of the Earth. Everything gets really green really fast here & with the coming of the Lilacs, I am just thrilled to breathe it all in.

Truth be told, I am a Summer person. I don't love the cold. I love to go to the beach, though after Hurricane Sandy I’m not sure how many beaches will be open for awhile. But I can still hit the arboretums & spend some time getting myself steadily & continually into energetic balance. Balance is a key word here, because Ostara is the Vernal Equinox & equinox means equal-night (2 hours of daylight & 12 hours of darkness in balance.) Sabbats are symbolic windows of opportunity where we can match ourselves to what nature is doing. So Ostara, along with its polar opposite Mabon/Fall Equinox, is about balance.

In other words, this season is very personal for me in terms of finding balance. Maybe not more so than others, we always need to find the balance in our lives. But the balance of the internal transformation of Winter to the external focus of Spring is one I relish dearly. Manifestations tend to come quickly for me this time of year & continues this way through to Litha/Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year.

It is also a very personal sabbat in that it is the third, correlating to the Third Chakra, the Solar Plexus. The Solar Plexus manages Personal Power, where the previous 2 manage Tribal/Group Power (The Root) & 1 on 1 Relationship Power (The Sacrum.) So we have a natural progression of power starting at Yule/Winter Solstice which teaches us how to deal with tribes & families, then at Imbolc we focus on our relationships with individuals. This is how we learn about relationships in life. First we acclimate to the families we are born into, then we learn from the individuals in our lives, especially the Mother & Father Archetypes or lack thereof.

It makes sense then that Ostara provides us with opportunities to clarify our relationships with our selves & our personal power. It is easy to see what a 'headline' personal power has become over the decades. Countless books, workshops & articles focus on the subject, ranging from all forms of self help, weight loss, business & the ever elusive processes of personal empowerment. It is a lot to sort through.

So it is that I do my best to refocus myself every Ostara, leaning in the direction of being a bit more spiritually selfish or Higher Selfish, as I call it. This means listening to & acting upon the gut feelings (Solar Plexus) I receive a bit more than usual, though obviously I practice that as much as I can all year around.

I liken this to the idea of Persephone, The Goddess of Spring, emerging from her 6 month stay underground with her husband Hades, the God of the Underworld. It is as if our intuition / feminine energy is percolating under the surface throughout Fall & Winter. Now it can emerge into the upper or external world through more action. Mind you, we do our best to act on our intuition all year long. But Ostara is when we can more easily take the risk to do so, if it feels right. 

But let's be clear, this process of evolving personal power often contradicts what others would have us do. At core, Ostara is a very selfish time, leading us to follow our own guidance rather than the advice & guidance of others in our lives.

But even that word, selfish, has a habitual sting for me that I'm still healing day by day. I was told growing up not to be selfish, but rather to behave in a way that made others more comfortable. But how selfish is that? "Don't be selfish & follow your own path, follow mine so I feel better, safer & more secure." That is the definition of selfish, coming from others. 

It took me awhile to realize the truth that the spiritual path is always a selfish one, because our paths are individually tailored to each of us. At Ostara I take the time to shift my daily focus to being more Higher Selfish than usual. I then let the chips fall where they may in terms of how others perceive me. If you are a people-pleaser, how I was raised but grew out of, this is not so easy.

Ostara marks this aspect of personal power astrologically with the Sun moving into the first degree of the zodiac sign Aries. Aries is also the first sign of the zodiac which corresponds to 'The Self.' Makes sense doesn't it? We can begin fresh, spring clean both internally & externally & enjoy the warmer weather giving ‘legs’ to our desires & personal manifestation in our lives. We are spiritually urged to break from tribal influences & forge our own way.

Ostara is also when we see the literal rebirth of nature all around us. So it is also the continuation & empowering of The Season of Rebirth that started at Imbolc.  

If we can align ourselves with the sabbat of Ostara we can make a more graceful transition & balance our inner & outer worlds. When we do this, our lives tend to 'spring forward.' But before we just bound ahead, there are a few things I feels are worth sharing. In other words, as wonderful as personal power is, it really needs to be tempered with wisdom in order for it to manifest in healthy ways.

For starters, the Solar Plexus has its own voice as all of the Chakras do. I hear/feel its voice like a camera aperture in that it has varying degrees of open or closed. When it is open it feels really good. Then it as it closes it slides down the scale to feeling rather icky when closed. This is how I make most decisions based on my personal gut. 

For example, let’s look at a quick hypothetical. If someone asks me to lie to cover something cool like a surprise party, my Solar Plexus is usually OK with this. It feels open, expansive & even excited if I feel like I can steward the secret for the good of the person, myself & the party. But if someone asks me to lie about something more … shadowed... well name it; financial gain, cheating regardless of situation or to cover a wrong done, my gut closes up & essentially says NOPE! Whether I listen to & act/choose accordingly is what Personal Solar Plexus Power is all about. This is the lesson of Ostara. Do I honor my own guidance?

This leads to the sacred Truth of the Solar Plexus, “Honor Thyself" the use of Thy indicating not just me as a person, but the divinity within me. The more I can do this A) the less stress & trouble I find myself in & B) the more personal creativity & fun I tend to have.

Another coordinate for the Solar Plexus is its Shadow & Grace powers. Each Chakra & hence sabbat, has a Shadow & Grace power association. For the Solar Plexus, the Shadow is Entitlement & the Grace Understanding. These shadows & graces can also be seen as the Seven Deadly Sins & the Seven Holy Virtues. Entitlement is running rampant on the planet as most often shown to me via reality TV & what is going on politically in the world.

Entitlement is toxic & can be described as an unhealthy sense of self, often using the word ‘deserve’ in a way demanding that which has not rightfully or vibrationally earned. In other words, I am entitled for you to treat me well no matter how I treat you. I am entitled to be happy, even if I don't work on myself. I am entitled to _____ regardless of my actions. You can probably guess the Gods don't go for that much. They are less so when we use past suffering as leverage in power plays to get what we want. It is very Diva/Prince/Princess Archetype oriented, though any of the Archetypal patterns can display this shadow in the blink of an eye.

The Grace of Understanding is the antidote to Entitlement. The more Understanding we have of who we truly are & who we may erroneously think we are, we see that Entitlement is unnecessary. As we uncover our true spiritual identity we discover we are already worthy of all the things we desire. Deserve just drops away in the light of our true worth. 

The Grace of Understanding is tricky though. It often involves us invoking the Grace when our guts are in knots over something we are personally involved in or attached to. Even watching something on TV can trigger it, like watching a national tragedy or a ‘celebrity’ behaving badly. We find ourselves personally agitated, even though we have no direct physical connection to these people, places & things.

The Solar Plexus bunches up, not because the 'person' is evil, wicked, mean & nasty, but because we perceive them in a way the divine within us does not (Honor Thyself.) The crunch is about our own individual misalignment. By invoking the Grace of Understanding, we can work on that, see where we have behaved that way ourselves, in essence if not in form, then move gradually toward self forgiveness. This usually clears the discomfort we feel.

So this isn’t about understanding why people behave in toxic ways. It is about understanding how we are all interconnected, essentially all one & that our own patterns are being reflected back to us constantly. Ostara gives us an opportunity to channel The Grace of Understanding in a way that empowers us individually. It strengthens our boundaries, promotes internal/external balance, clarifies our personal Honor Code & allows us a healthy sense & practice of the ever erroneously touted self esteem. 

We can learn that self esteem not as a noun that we can have or lose. It is a verb. We are always estimating ourselves. Are we in alignment or out of alignment? Are we being, judgmental or forgiving? We can sense this in a very visceral way in the body via the Solar Plexus.

Add to this the 2 powers associated with Ostara through the Kabbalistic Tree of Life are Endurance & Integrity. Yes, we will have to learn how to endure the people, places & lessons in this world with integrity. Thankfully, that twinge in the Solar Plexus tells us instantly when we aren't hitting that balance square on.

All in All I dedicate myself to being the best that I can be, reevaluating my desires & the feelings & actions that follow. It is a time of personal forgiveness for actions not taken, intuition ignored & what others mirror back to me. It makes, “If you spot it, you’ve got it” a bit more visible to me & allows me to do a bit more spring cleaning inside my own soul. 

Hopefully it will also give me the energy needed to literally spring clean my home. Beltane is a month & a half away. This year I have a gut feeling it is going to be the most powerful & 'loving' one ever. So I have to get my house in order & find the balance  by acting on my intuition as much as possible.There is so much good stuff stirring under the surface. I am really looking forward to it all, shadow & light, with optimism & a sens of personal power.

May this season treat you well & may you treat yourself well as we make our way through yet another season of change & personal empowerment through Understanding Ostara.

Blessed Be,

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

A Prayer for Mercury Retrograde

Mercury Retrograde is an Astrological event that happens 3 times a year.

Because of the different shapes & sizes of planetary orbits, some planets appear to go backwards in the sky for periods of time. They don't actually reverse in orbit, but they appear to.

When this happens, the planet's sphere of symbolic influence tends to go backwards. for example; when Venus goes retro, relationships tend to get complicated or we go through a period of rethinking relationships, major purchases etc. In other words, we redo that content of the planet's energetic coordinated in our lives.

When it happen to Mercury, as it will this weekend, we have the opportunity to re-think everything in our lives. At the same time, people tend to experience a certain amount of chaos & turbulence in all things dealing with messages & communications. It's not a great time to sign contracts for example, as what we think during mercury retro tends to change once it comes direct. The tendency to misread detail is huge. So we are all advised again & again to slow down, rethink everything & examine detail before making any major decisions.

I also find it helpful, as a speaker, teacher & communicator, to emphasize clarity when I speak. Though even I get tongue-tied during Merc Ret. So here is a prayer I wrote several years ago. It is a prayer to Hermes, the Greek Messenger of the Gods, who is the pre-Roman version of Mercury.

I suggest this as a daily prayer. What in life is once & done? The intention is about grace, walking in grace, talking in grace & above all else, living in grace.

Let me know how this feels & works for you in the comments below & of course, I wish us all well through this potentially amazing time of rethinking our lives.

Blessed Be,

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

Prayer for Mercury Retrograde

Dear Hermes,

I know this Mercury Retrograde is a trying time.

Please, let your divine order permeate my life. I let it in so it can do its work.

May this time be used for my highest good & for the highest good of all concerned.

Align my life to your will. Use this retrograde as a time for refinement.

May I have grace through this month & next,

so I will easily & effortlessly become that which you would have me be.

Bless my path & my way. Remind me of the things I have to remember.

Open my eyes & my mind so I may find the things you have placed right in front of me.

Open & heal my heart, so if I do get frustrated & afraid, I have what I need to heal readily available.

Please Hermes, help me to see your will.

May your Divine order be wholly displayed in my life & in all my affairs,

so the world may see your might & glory. 

So Mote it Be.

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