I'm leaving town for a few days for my Grandmother's 100^th birthday.  I've been scanning and going through old family pictures for a slideshow and thought I'd share a few.

My maternal Grandparents, Jo and John Williamson, soon after their wedding.

Grandma worked for years in the Lamar University Library.  Check it out, Card Catalogue!

My Mother (Janet) and my Aunt Jo.

My Aunt Jo re-christened her father as Dado when she was a kid.  It stuck, so her is Dado, Grandma Jo, Me (John Michael) and Bitsy (Aunt Jo's dog) It's a waggon we are sitting in, not an over-sized cake pan like I first thought.

Grandma and Mom in Grandma's big old southern kitchen.  I  loved that old house, it was torn down to make a freeway.

Nother picture of the house.

Merry Christmas.

My Great Aunt Eleanor Dicks died a few weeks ago.  I didn't know her.  For most of my life she lived in Florida and I probably only met her half a dozen times, she was just a character in my Grandmother's stories.

It's strange when you can't relate to the people you are related to, but I found out more about her at the memorial service than I had heard about her in my entire life.  She was a nurse, she was a baseball player back in the days of the Women's League, she was a mother of two and she is still a mystery to me.

My Aunt Eileen (three siblings named Eileen, Edith, Eleanor, and Wayne - go fig) had a memorial at her church in Hubbard, OH last weekend.  It was a small service, My aunts and uncles were there, I was the only cousin, a few members from the church and a minister who looked like the Wizard of Oz desperately trying to come up with something to say about a woman he knew nothing about.

Eileen is the last of four children and you could see her narrow shoulders slump during the service.  Even though she lives nearby I barely know her as well, but I can see my Grandmother in her and feel a connection.

Magic is everywhere.

I went out dancing last night.  

I am an admitted hedge witch.  Cities leave me feeling drained (and I lived in NYC for four years), I love the life and power to be found in nature.  The feel of the grass under my feet, even when it's asleep, the dirt, stone and deeper power of the molten rock.  I love the touch of branches and leaves tangled in my hair.  That moment when you feel your consciousness spread out like a fog across the landscape and you fade into the background.

A nightclub is an entirely different form of life. The building, the lights, the music and the people become a living organism - it's pulse the downbeat, it's breath smoky and sweet, it's blood both clear and amber and it's mind alive with passion, lust and longing.  It is alive.

I walk in and my shields snap into place, smooth as stone, clear as quartz and strong as the life in my blood.  I take a deep breath, tasting the power of this place, knowing it will welcome me if I become a part of it.  I feel the edges soften and my mind expands out like the striking of a dandelion clock.  The dance floor pulls me like gravity, it is down and all I have to do is fall.

Lights.  Music. Pulse. Power to be found in every movement.  Look for the beings hiding in the shadows, enjoying the free energy.  Smile and watch them flee - this dance is mine... but the next is yours and after that we join in the raising of power in movement, and joy, and freedom, and sweat.

Dance.

Ride the wave or loose yourself in the swirling undertow.  Both are fun.  Both are power. We often

Forget.

Our modern world keeps trying to forget the power of dance.

We try to tame our music.

Dance.
it makes the crops grow.

Sing.
it brings the sun.

Sweat.
it brings the rain.

Love.
it brings life.

Understand.
it brings enlightenment.

Good afternoon, My name is John Michael Thornton, Thank you for coming. I would like to start off by clarifying the title of my talk here today – the full title was "This I Choose" – Ethics and Responsibilities of the Modern Mystic was the tagline to the original title. I bring this up not because they cut my beautiful and beloved words… they did, but because my central thesis for this discussion is the importance of choice and choosing and I don't want y'all sitting there wondering where that came from.

Also, since I see some people I know in the room I should explain about the pages of notes here. See, I don't usually write out my lectures, I show up with a page or two of notes so I don't mix up the organs associated with the second and third chakras and then fly with the energy of the room. That's my normal way of teaching, but after I proposed this topic last fall I started over thinking the whole thing. It didn't help that I was obsessed with Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog at the time and was this close to turning the whole thing into a musical, I already had songs picked out when I came to my senses, It's only a blessing that was before Glee came out. Musicians would have been a stretch but there is no way I could have afforded backup dancers.

Shaboop

So please allow me to introduce myself – I am a psychic and teacher and I am immensely please to say that has been my full time job for two years this January. Who else here has gone full time? Isn't it awesome?

I was off and on, part time, hobby kind of thing as a psychic for sixteen years, before giving in and letting it be my life in 2007. My parents are both metaphysically inclined, I was raised with the Edgar Cayce Readings and Ray Stanford and we were always very involved with the ARE. Psychic work, metaphysics, and exploration of the stuff of the Universe were always respected vocations growing up.

At 15 I trained as a psychic at the Natural Psychic School of Metaphysics and I've been giving readings with varying frequency ever since. The structures and mores of the metaphysical community have always intrigued me and for a long time I wanted to be a preacher. (specifically a televangelist, {nervous laugh} Youthful indiscretions) I studied Religion and ethics at Youngstown State University, graduating in 1998, worked at the A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) in both the Youth and Family Life Department and The Archives before moving to New York City to wear a tie and pretend to be a normal, non psychic, person. It didn't work out.

I moved back to Ohio in 2004 and continued to circuitous journey that has lead me here – Psychic, Teacher and Yoga instructor. 10 million times better than being an office laky and normal person.

I have taught and lectured a bit all over the place the last few years Including Youngstown, Rochester, Columbus and LilyDale. Which reminds me – as I was griped at in LilyDale for "Inappropriate Language", I said hell once and sucks twice, Chick in the front row with the HAIR was counting. Let me give a brief disclaimer: this lecture contains adult content and language, view discretion is advised. I bring this up because I don't want to get caught up in a long tedious discussion of language or sex. I believe there is too much emphasis put on proper language and sexual morays and not nearly enough on how we behave toward one another. So other than the comment I could not care less about "bad language" or what two or more consenting adults do in private, I would prefer to stick to more substantive issues. If you want to talk about sex and cussin, save it for the questions at the end.

Second, while I have thought long and hard about the issues we will be discussing here this afternoon, Sadly, I have no Missives of truth from on high, no stone tablets or wisdom of Solomon, and while I have many a time wanted to smite those I see as con-artists or scammers I have no great moral or legal authority to do so. I don't even have a lycra superhero costume to slip into so to strike fear into the hearts of evildoers… as much as I may want to.

This I Choose- Ethics and and Responsibilities of the Modern Mystic Continues in Part 2