Litha 2014: Counsel, Gluttony & But-less Desire

 Litha 2014: Counsel, Gluttony 

& But-less Desire

My, what a powerful Beltane Season it has been. So much to do, so much fun & so much magick since our Beltane Ritual in the beginning of May, a lot went down that day & since. There are a few hints in my last Beltane Blog.

To start with we flash mobbed our own ceremony at Beltane. We held secret rehearsals, about 30 Women / Maenads & myself. I asked two of our ministers from The Silver Broom Ministries to write the worst ceremony they could, on purpose. They did.  

The circle cast had zero umph (on purpose) the quarter calls were also umphless & in the wrong order (again on purpose) & they scripted the Statement of purpose before Invocations, which is a procedural no-no. Really, it was a masterpiece of faux ca-ca ritual design.

Because I am known as a rather lightning-ish Zeus Archetype, we scripted that I would halt the ceremony, practically terrifying all in attendance, even those in on the joke. I stood up, scolded them, took control, did an invocation to Dionysus then said, HIT IT! 

The music began & Pharrell Williams' Happy blasted from the stereo. We got practically the whole place dancing & really, it was so much fun to watch my people cut loose & dance without inhibition. A few keenly intuitive people figured it out when they saw 2 really skilled ministers doing it all wrong. 

But on the whole, people were shocked, pissed at me, then stunned when they realized it was all a set up when we started dancing in unison. What a pisser! I had to swear to never try & pull that off again. (I had my fingers crossed, you never know what I will cook up for Beltane.)

There are no pictures of the "Happy Ritual" because part of the pact we made was that there would be no physical evidence of us dancing without inhibition.

Then, about 30 minutes later a major part of my Sacred Mother Maple, split off & crashed to the ground. We were all set to trim her down the next day in a sacred way, so she got the job started for us. That was magick in action folks & everyone was a bit astounded by it all. It was certainly a prelude of the many powerful changes & manifestation to come. BTW, no one was near it when it happened & no one was hurt.

That said, we are now at Litha / Summer Solstice & I am personally ready to step into those energies that my coven calls, The Full Moon of the Sun. Litha is the longest day, so it would correspond to Full Moon in the sense that the Sun is at its peak. The God born at Yule has matured & is now a KING, ready to rule & guide us through the dark half of the year.

Here’s the thing that had been puzzling me about Litha though. The Sun God is at his peak, but it is the first day of the Sun moving into the sign of Cancer, a feminine, cardinal, water sign. 

Part of it makes sense, when Summer hits, we do slow down a bit because it just gets so hot for the next 3 months, at least on Long Island. It is the perfect time to literally & figuratively chill out, rest, take vacation & look back upon all that has happened in the last 6 months since Yule. But the Sun, is a King, in the sign of Cancer? That made no sense. So, I asked my Gods about this.

Cancer is the sign where my Hera/Queen - Mother Archetype is placed in my chart. So when She said to me that She joins the King / Zeus in rulership as his Queen, it all clicked into place. This isn’t literal of course, but it does speak to the Anima/Animus balance, or the Yin/Yang, Lunar/Solar, Goddess/God energies within us. 

Though this flash of inspired insight came quickly & was greatly clarifying, it also came with a warning. It is an extremely powerful, creative & very Emotional time. I was reminded of a quote from Abraham-Hicks.

 

“If you were driving your vehicle at 100 miles per hour and you hit a tree, you would experience a very big crash. However, if you were to hit the same tree while your vehicle was traveling at just five miles per hour, the outcome would be considerably different. See the speed of your vehicle like the power of your desire. In other words, the more you want something, or the longer you have been focusing upon your desire, the faster the Energy moves. The tree, in our analogy, represents the resistance, or the contradictory thoughts, that may be present. 

It is not pleasant to run into trees, and it is also not pleasant to hold powerful desires in the midst of great resistance. Some try to remedy the imbalance by slowing down their vehicle. In other words, they deny their desire, or they try to release it, and sometimes, with great effort, they are able to diffuse the power of their desire to some degree, but by far, the better remedy would be to reduce your level of resistance.” Abraham

This means that we have the potential to increase the power of our desire / Fire / Solar energies, but have to keep an eye on our emotions to navigate, avoiding the ‘trees’ as it were, by reducing our resistance to the things we want to be, do & have. Not easy, but doable. It does take practice & since I’m not very good at slowing down in that sense, I am getting better at avoiding the trees through something my guides call ‘But-less’ desire.

It goes like this. So many of us want things, we feel the desire & then we follow it with a big BUT. Like, I’d really love to travel the world, BUT…  I’d really like to eat that chocolate, BUT…  I’d really enjoy having a partner in life, BUT…  You see this is conditioned in us since childhood, let along the thousands of past lives where we learned to but into our desires.

So, I’ve been practicing just holding my desires, fanning the flames as it were without sticking my but in it. I think this is what visualization is about at its core. We visualize the things we want to be, do & have without the resistance of why we can’t have it. We imagine ideal scenes free of resistance, just letting ourselves have the experience of what it would feel like to be, do or have what is wanted, without the rest of the contradictory stuff getting n there.

Then we open our eyes, the logical mind takes over & we wipe our buts all over the energy we just generated via visualization. I see well trained witches do this too. They will spend hours drafting a spell, writing it like a contract, going over every line, gathering the right correspondent magickal carriers, even working with astrological timing for the perfect day & moment to cast.

Then, we start spreading our buts around like it’s last call at the singles bar. Enough of that says Zeus & Hera to me. Just hold the delicious feeling of the desire & watch what happens. This isn’t about faith, or belief. It is about knowing. Know that you came into the world from spirit to create. Know that it’s all just a quantum hologram, an illusion of separation, a dream, an hour upon the stage to strut & hopefully not fret so much.

 

So it is that I encourage you to choose what you think & especially say these next 3 months. Litha corresponds to the 5^th Chakra, the Throat. 

The Grace of the Throat is Counsel, the Shadow Passion is Gluttony. Since the power of the Throat Chakra is Will Power or Choice Power, this makes sense. Will we choose to speak to ourselves & others in a way that calms & soothes, speaking positively & in an uplifting way? Or, will we be gluttons of negativity, chewing on ‘what is,’ or even worse, ‘what was’ rather than 'what could be?’

Thankfully we have a whole season to practice & perfect our choices of empowerment, choosing thoughts words & attitudes that empower us & speed us along, but-less & free of hitting trees. 

Maybe that’s what Mother Maple was trying to say. “I’ll take care of the trees, you just stay happy, because Litha is coming & the heat is going to be turned up, as it always is this time of year."

I really wish you all the very best of the season & that you can keep your but out of your dreams. Do the Cancerian Crab thing, keep your dreams to yourself or share in sacred space with those you trust & enjoy the fresh breath that uncontradicted / but-less desire always brings.

Blessed Be & Blessed Litha!

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

Magick, Miracles & Mysticism

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

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

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

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

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

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

Class One: 3 Levels of Power - The Basics

Class Two: The Chakras Part 1 – Sanskrit & Sacraments

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

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

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

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

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

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

Class Nine: Gods & Archetypes

Class Ten: Healing

Class Eleven: Alchemy & Incarnating

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

Class Thirteen: Wrap up & Application

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

Taking Ostara Personally

 

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

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

 

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

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

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

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

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

 This blog is about #2

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

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

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

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

 The Solar Plexus is the Yellow One

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

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

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

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

  Classic case of Entitlement vs Understanding

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

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

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

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

 

Hades & Persephone in Passing

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

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

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

Personally, that feels empowering to me.

Blessed Ostara,

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

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