Discounts now available for Military and StarAchieving Artists!
Use the coupon codes Military for 20% off of all readings for military personnel and veterans! Over the past few years I have had the privilege of reading for a few members of the armed forces, both active and retired. It has been a lesson for me to see both the benefits and dangers to these brave men and women and as long as the USA is involved in conflict I will be offering a 20% discount on readings for all military personnel and veterans.
Use the coupon code StarAchieving Artist for 20% off readings, cds and dvds for all artists striving for the stars! I spent years calling myself, and thinking about myself, as a starving artist. What a terrible way to think about yourself and what a rotten thing to affirm - I am an Artist, but I'm not starving! For all you artists you still waiting for the rest of the world to recognise you as the great talent you already know you are, I support you and I know you can make it, take 20% off. Thanks to SARK for the idea.
The energies of Mother Earth have felt riled and almost violent these past few weeks. For the first time in ages my sleep is troubled and I find my energy drained. The only times I have felt at peace are while teaching, meditating and during yoga. I suppose I should just do more of that!
If you are filling similarly unsettled I encourage you to take some time with the trees, they feel the disturbances in the Earth even more keenly that we do, but have the perspective to flow with the changes.
My garden is mostly in, the weather has not been cooperating, but no point in fighting it. I'm trying fava beans this year and they are the only things growing like gangbusters. I also have some remarkably beautiful lettuce by the name of Flashy Trout's Back Lettuce and Drunken Woman Frizzy Haired Lettuce. I buy all my lettuces for their names.
Scant announcements this issue, but Camille opens this weekend at the Victorian Players in Youngstown and marks my return to the stage after twelve years. It is a wonderful production with an entirely new translation by Thomas Copeland.
For the first time I will be teaching two versions of the same class simultaneously. Energy Anatomy – Power and Practice has gotten off to a lovely start with an extraordinary group that already feels cozy and encouraging. In July I will be teaching a weekend version of the same class and calling it Energy Anatomy Part 1, at the Silver Branch in Ashtabula, OH. It will be fascinating to see the differences with similar material taught in different formats. It promises to be electric!
Brew yourself some garden fresh mint tea, pour it over ice and enjoy the summer. Catch a lightning bug, feel the grass between your toes and feel the Earth spin under your feet.
UPDATE: Energy Anatomy Part 1 at The Silver Branch has been rescheduled for September 17th and 18th!
Happy Holidays!
I have a new favorite Christmas song – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sung by Annie Lennox. It is a dark and moody rendition that plays up the minor key and the darkness of some of the lyrics. The video is perfection – atmospheric and haunting. It reminds me that the frantic cheer and holiday glitz is a recent addition to the Christmas season.
I like Christmas, I really do, but I hate the commercialism and the forced cheer. I don't do well with forced cheer and in this, the darkest time of the year, it seems wrong. This is a time to rage against the dying of the light. The days are short and the view out my window is rather bleak and grey. The sun is going away and who knows if it will ever be back?
Our ancestors knew that this was a time to gather together. To light fires against the dark (and remind the sun it has a job to do) and celebrate that the supplies will last till spring. Bring inside anything green you can find to remind yourself that life lays under the snow. Celebrate the life that is hidden away and shelter the spark of life and light in every heart and home.
This is a time of hope for spring and renewal and rebirth. It is a time to huddle together against the cold and darkness. Spring is just under the snow and life and the sun will soon return to Earth.
The shortest day of the year is almost upon us. Clear away your darkness and prepare for the returning of the Light!
John Michael Thornton

Ok ya'll, I don't get political in this space very often, but please get out and vote this year. Vote for the libraries, vote for the schools, vote for the firemen so they can keep putting out those nice calendars and vote for candidates you believe in. If you hate everyone running in your local election, write in the Dali Lama or Elvis or Bugs Bunny. I know it sounds crazy, but even writing in a candidate helps improve the system. When there is a small voter turnout it allows the candidates and pundits to ignore the bigger picture and issues of the nation and focus on the smaller issues that divide and anger us. If even 75% of the nation voted in an election, any election, it would be a game changer and the game needs to be changed.
On a lighter note, imagine what would happen if thousands of people wrote in Bugs Bunny. Can't you just imagine Christine O'Donnell in a bunny suite telling us she's not a witch, she's just like Bugs?